"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Thanks to those of you who completed the Sinocism Reader Survey November 2014 yesterday. If you have not done so yet please take the 2-3 minutes to fill it out. If you are in China you will need a VPN to access it as it is hosted on Google.
Thank you.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
1. 习近平在福建调研时强调 全面深化改革全面推进依法治国 为全面建成小康社会提供动力和保障_新闻频道_央视网(
Related: 习近平：全面建成小康不能丢了农村_新闻_
Related: Xi stresses continued efforts to improve CPC work style – Xinhua | Xi made the remarks during an inspection tour at the weekend to southeast China’s Fujian Province where he worked from 1985 to 2002 and served as the governor of the province in the late 1990s.
2. 王岐山《人民日报》撰文：反腐败是输不起的斗争-中新网
Related: Tigers and Flies-How two years of graft probes have shaken China’s political elite-South China Morning Post Long multimedia piece, good summary of crackdown to date
Related: 中央批准最高检成立新反贪总局 直接查办大案要案_新闻频道_中华网 Supreme People’s Procuratorate has been approved to establish an “Anti-Corruption General Office” // 华网北京11月2日电（记者陈菲）
Related: 中纪委官员涉向周永康报信_网易新闻中心-
3. For Obama and Xi, fight against Islamic State a brief moment to agree | Reuters Both countries have flagged that President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping will discuss the issue when they meet on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing….some experts note that the United States’ rhetoric on the group may be swinging back in favor of Beijing. “The United States stands by its decision to designate ETIM a terrorist organization by executive order in 2002. Furthermore, we support the U.N. designation of ETIM,” Daniel Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told Reuters.
4. U.S. Blocks China Efforts to Promote Asia Trade Pact – WSJ – WSJ The U.S. has blocked China’s efforts to use a leaders’ summit to begin negotiations on a free-trade zone spanning the Pacific, people close to the matter said, as the world’s two largest economies tussle over influence in the region and billions of dollars in trade. China, the host of this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on Nov. 10-11, has sought to highlight its expanding international role by pressing for a pact known as the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific.
Related: Australia offered top role in China’s $57b infrastructure bank–Australian Financial Review Cabinet sources who witnessed the internal government debates have told The Australian Financial Review that the Chinese government offered Australia a senior role in running the bank provided it met the deadline 10 days ago to become a founding member. It has also emerged that Singapore, India and Indonesia pushed Australia to take a regional leadership role by joining. After cabinet agreed in principle to join the bank, the National Security Committee of cabinet baulked two weeks ago – while Mr Hockey was in China – due to pressure from the United States and Japan. It regarded the Chinese proposal as a rival to the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank (ADB), which it dominates, and therefore a strategic threat in the region.
5. 住建部副部长谈楼市政策：去行政化不是救市–财经–
6. 国信办：年内出台互联网新闻管理新规-搜狐IT SIIO officials says new Internet news management regulations coming by year end, part of effort to expand body of law to manage the Internet // 新京报讯 （记者张婷）昨日下午，
Related: 国家网信办“依法办好网站，讲好中国故事”
Related: Fei Chang Dao: Internet Regulator Lu Wei: “I Believe That Some Websites May Not be Accessible” To rule the country in accordance with the law it is necessary to rule the Internet in accordance with the law, and to rule the Internet in accordance with the law it is necessary to use rule of law thinking to promote the rule of law-ism in the Internet space. Ruling the Internet in accordance with the law it is first necessary to rule the Internet in accordance with the Constitution, and all the regulations that we promulgate, for example the “Nine Prohibiteds” and “Seven Bottom Lines,” every single provision was promulgated in accordance with China’s Constitution… Now we must further strengthen ruling the Internet in accordance with the law, operating the Internet in accordance with the law, managing the Internet in accordance with the law, going online in accordance with the law, and using the law to regulate behavior in Internet spaces. // 国新办新闻发布会 official site for the SIIO press conference, complete with video and transcript
7. Foreign TV shows online will need permits | China Daily China’s TV watchdog released tougher regulations for foreign TV shows available on online streaming sites, raising concerns among Chinese fans and the online video industry. The regulations, released by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, said all foreign TV shows and movies must have permits and be reviewed by TV watchdogs before being made available for viewing online, which means that Chinese audiences will have to wait to watch the shows and will not be able to follow them simultaneously with fans overseas. The discussion hit the top 10 hot topics on Sina Weibo.
Related: Chinese viewers in their millions are captivated by western television hits | The Guardian Not everyone is impressed. For a market of 1.4 billion people, a total of £17m in sales of British programmes and formats in 2013 seems like a “long walk for a short drink”, says one senior UK TV executive. // and likely will be a longer walk for a shorter drink with the new rules coming on foreign video online
8. China’s Transition: Third Plenum, One Year On | Bloomberg Briefs–PDF Bloomberg Brief, in conjunction with Bloomberg Economics, has invited leading experts to gauge progress, and the challenges that remain.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
China Oct services growth slips to 9-mth low, property weighs | Reuters The official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 53.8 in October from September’s 54.0, which was the weakest reading since January, the National Bureau of Statistics said. ..The sub-index of new orders inched up to 51.0 in October from September’s 49.5, which was the lowest since December 2008. “Sub-indices for sectors such as railway transport and real estate remained below the 50 point and market demand weakened,” the bureau said. The sub-index measuring employment fell to 48.9 in October – the fourth straight month when it was below 50, and was down from September’s 49.5.
China’s growth in danger of slowing more sharply – FT.com Bankruptcies are another area where the pain has not yet really begun. Han Chuanhua, a bankruptcy lawyer at Zhongzi Law Office in Beijing, says the number of bankruptcies has increased in recent months but many companies that should be going bust are not. In many cases this is because local governments simply order courts not to accept bankruptcy cases because they do not want job losses or loss of tax revenue recorded in their jurisdictions.
China Hedge Funds to Blossom Under New Rules – WSJ – WSJ One of the main outcomes of the industry’s official recognition is that hedge funds can abandon the restrictive structures they were doing business under. For example, a typical structure would be for a fund manager to simply be the adviser for the assets held by a trust or a securities company, which would sell and market the fund in its own name. As part of the new regulations, funds are allowed to independently issue their own products, as long as they register them with the Asset Management Association of China, a self-regulatory industry organization supervised by the securities regulator.
Shanghai to speed up FTZ reforms: mayor – Xinhua The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) will carry out a series of new reforms to further facilitate trade and shorten its negative list next year, said Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong on Sunday. The Shanghai FTZ will continue to open up its service industry with new measures and build a unified administration system for intellectual property rights protection, said Yang at a conference attended by international entrepreneurs.
Man Running World’s Biggest Wealth Fund Takes On Riddle of China – Bloomberg Understanding what’s poised to become the world’s largest economy is crucial for Slyngstad as he manages a fund that Norway predicts will reach $1 trillion in less than three years. He’ll be in China this month, visiting Beijing and other cities. “Every time I come back, my perception of China has changed,” Slyngstad, who turned 52 today, said in an Oct. 29 interview in his fifth-floor office in Oslo. “There has been more and more of a question mark over what’s the next step for that economy. The uncertainty among investors is partially due to the very simple fact that it’s more difficult to know what’s happening in that large economy than in any other.”
Chinese courts, banks to share defaulters information – Xinhua The SPC and the China Banking Regulatory Commission have jointly issued a circular on sharing such information online, and according to the circular, Chinese banks will take measures such as restrictions on loans and issuing credit cards to people who have defaulted on court orders. The banks will also help the courts in information inquiry, fund freezing and seizing regarding such defaulters’ cases, the circular said.
深刻认识我国经济发展新趋势（
Tough Love for Hapless Chinese Investors Abroad | The China Story Having served as Vice-Minister of Finance and Chairman of China International Capital Corporation, few are better placed in China to reflect on the problems facing a new, big global investor than Jin Liqun 金立群. Speeches he has delivered over the last few years offer four main lessons for Chinese firms investing abroad.
China Expands Access to Its $4.3 Trillion Interbank Bond Market – Bloomberg Qualifying participants will require minimum net assets of 30 million yuan ($4.9 million) and use a separate trading platform to banks, brokerages and insurers, according to an Oct. 17 statement posted today on the website of the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors. The amount of bonds outstanding in China doubled in the past five years to 28.27 trillion yuan, of which 26.31 trillion yuan was accounted for by the interbank market, ChinaBond data show.
国家部委审批权四成取消或下放_国内_新京报网 The Beijing News on significant progress in last year streamlining government approvals // 国务院一年多来先后取消和下放632项行政审批等事项，
POLITICS AND LAW
Local party chiefs vow to take blame for failures in anti-graft drive | South China Morning Post Party chiefs of eight provinces and municipalities – including Sichuan, Guangxi, Shaanxi and Shanghai – have pledged to take responsibility for any negligence in promoting the ongoing anti-corruption campaign, the nation’s top anti-graft watchdog said. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in several reports posted on its website that inspectors had warned that officials who were found to be concealing any cases of corruption by their subordinates or relatives would be severely punished.
陕西国土厅原厅长王登记被查:暗中参股多家煤矿|王登记被查|
山西一校长身绑钢丝惨死桥下未立案 警方:系自杀_网易新闻中心-网易新闻客户端 interest
Think tanks face hurdle in answering Xi Jinping’s call | South China Morning Post “The call to develop a new type of think tank is [designed] to promote China’s modernised governance to tackle challenges from an increasingly complex economic, social and political development environment,” said Lu Hongjun , president of the Shanghai Institute of International Finance. “Xi’s ultimate goal is to get China’s top thinkers to provide useful advice on policy, not just theoretical support and interpretations,” said Lu, who is also chairman of the International Financial Centre Association.// now probably much harder for US think tanks to take Chinese money
贵阳 制度“天网”打造平安升级版（迈向法治中国）–法治–
Update on Specialized IP Courts | China IPR – Intellectual Property Developments in China At a conference on October 25 that I attended at Tongji University (photo above), IPR Tribunal Deputy Chief Judge Jin Kesheng 金克胜 updated a large crowd of academics, officials, lawyers and students on how the court was going to develop. . Judge Jin had a long experience as a legal academic, and has often commented on the relationship between IP and other legal developments. He noted that the SPC is actively drafting a judicial interpretation on the jurisdiction of the courts. He stated that the three specialized IP courts will adjudicate both first and second instance cases. They will also adjudicate both civil and administrative matters. Current “three in one” adjudication experiments (combining civil, criminal and administrative jurisdiction) will be largely unaffected. He referred to the Foruth Plenum several times, and pointed out that the pilot in cross-region jurisdiction in specialized IPR court is a pilot for the future court’s reform in cross-region jurisdiction on other subject matters.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Xi stresses CPC’s absolute leadership over army| China Daily Chinese President Xi Jinping said the army is under the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the principle should always be firmly upheld. “The Party commands the gun,” said Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman, at a military political work conference held in a former revolutionary base in the township of Gutian, Fujian Province on Thursday and Friday. The ideological and political development is the lifeline for military building and has safeguarded the CPC’s absolute command of the troops, Xi noted. // queue more evidence-free punditry that Xi doesn’t control the PLA…certainly possible, but much evidence suggests just the opposite
党媒解读“新古田会议”释放信号：旗帜鲜明反对军队国家化-
解放军敲定明年政治工作总基调：整风整改，对号入座_中国政库_
在古田会议光芒照耀下继续前进——
“谢正平”痛斥军中“大老虎”，“解辛平”又说了什么？_
Chinese submarine docks in Sri Lanka despite Indian concerns | Reuters Submarine Changzheng-2 and warship Chang Xing Dao arrived at the port on Friday, seven weeks after another Chinese submarine, a long-range deployment patrol, had called at the same port ahead of a visit to South Asia by Chinese President Xi Jinping. “A submarine and a warship have docked at Colombo harbor. They called on Oct. 31 and will be here for five days for refueling and crew refreshment,” Sri Lankan navy spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya said. // how do Chinese PLA sailors behave in foreign ports?
Ding Yuan: Safeguarding history’s truths| China Daily Ding Yuan became a convert in the early 1990s. He went from being a high-tech professional in Silicon Valley to a persistent and indomitable fighter for preserving the historical truth of World War II. His mission is to illuminate the dark chapter from 1931 to 1945, when Japan invaded China and its army committed countless war crimes and atrocities against Chinese civilians, leaving tens of thousands dead and wounded and scarred for life. Ding, 71, serves as executive vice-president of the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia, a Cupertino-based human rights organization that was established in 1994.
Supreme People’s Court’s new policy on protecting the rights of the military and military personnel | Supreme People’s Court Monitor The details of how the 4th Plenum Decision is being implemented by the Supreme People’s Court are gradually being made known. This blogpost looks at one discrete (and specialized) area, relating to national defense and the military in the civilian courts.
China develops anti-drone laser – Xinhua The machine is able to shoot down various small aircraft within a two-kilometer radius and can do so in five seconds after locating its target, said a statement released Sunday by the China Academy of Engineering Physics, one of the system’s co-developers. Characterized by its speed, precision and low noise, the system is designed to destroy unmanned, small-scale drones flying within an altitude of 500-m and at a speed below 50m/s, it said.//useful for celebrities and those who value privacy everywhere, hope they commercialize it
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Hong Kong Protests Dent Approval Ratings Not Markets–Bloomberg Briefs interesting set of charts
Hong Kong police charge British banker with double murder – Yahoo News Hong Kong police charged a 29-year-old British banker who worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch with murder after the grisly discovery of two female corpses, including one in a suitcase, in his upmarket apartment, investigators said Monday.
Taiwan helps 200 stranded Chinese tourists in Palau return home | – CNA The tourists, scheduled to leave Palau on Oct. 23, were stranded on the island because their flight was canceled due to mechanical problems, the ministry said. As Palau has diplomatic ties with Taiwan but not China, the tourists sought help from the Taiwan embassy there on Oct. 25, according to the MOFA.
TECH AND MEDIA
Easing Alibaba Concern Helps Vipshop Surge to Record – Bloomberg Vipshop surged 4.3 percent to $229.29 on Oct. 31, capping an 11-week stretch that saw the company’s American depositary receipts lose 26 percent of their value leading up to and immediately after Alibaba’s $25 billion initial public offering, before rallying 34 percent to an all-time high. The Bloomberg index of the most-traded Chinese stocks in the U.S. rose 1.4 percent for a 3.3 percent advance in October. // since VIPS IPO some idiots argued it was a fraud based on Alexa data. Alexa data is basically worthless when it comes to the Chinese Internet, and mobile usage. If you read a report about any Chinese stock citing Alexa data as a key piece of the evidence presented, seriously question the judgement of the author
Alibaba Profit, Revenue Seen Rising 45% in First Results After IPO – China Real Time Report – WSJ scheduled to release its inaugural earnings as a public company for the July-September quarter on Tuesday, before U.S. markets open. Here is what you need to know: EARNINGS FORECAST: Analysts have added Alibaba to their coverage lists, and many of them are expecting the company’s stellar growth to continue. On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting a net profit of $1.16 billion for the quarter, up 45% from a year earlier
Amazon will offer global shopping and ultra-fast delivery in China–TechinAsia To be clear, this doesn’t mean you can buy goods off of Amazon China from anywhere in the world. Rather, it means that Chinese consumers will be able to shop on Amazon’s US, German, Spanish, French, and Italian stores and have whatever they order shipped directly to China. Amazon China is also launching an “international shopping” feature that should make it more convenient for Chinese customers to shop for goods they want from foreign Amazon shops. Moreover, the shipping may not take as long as you’d expect; Amazon China has arranged partnerships with EMS, UPS, and other global shipping companies that should bring international orders to Chinese doorsteps faster than ever. The new partnerships promise to help customers get their orders through customs quickly, and some items may arrive within three days of being ordered.
工商总局要求京东等电商防双十一先涨价后打折-搜狐IT SAI
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Orthodox Christianity in China: A comb worth fighting for | The Economist Whatever remained of the Russian Orthodox presence in China—which had begun with a spiritual mission established by Emperor Peter the Great—was virtually destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. These days the only place in mainland China where Russian services are regularly held is a recently rebuilt church in the country’s embassy in Beijing. Services happen much less often at a restored church in Shanghai (pictured above) and there are small, priest-less communities scattered through other parts of China. One Orthodox resident of Beijing told me he knew of about two dozen Chinese converts to Orthodoxy; they were usually people who had switched from evangelical Christianity or Catholicism after a deep study of Christian history. By some estimates the total number of Orthodox Christians in China is between 10,000 and 15,000.
Watch: Official Beijing 2022 Olympic Bid | the Beijinger the official promotional video
震动 汶川抗震小英雄涉嫌诈骗46万元 – 成都商报|成都商报电子版|成都商报官方网站 Lei Chunian, hero after the Wenchuan earthquake who saved 7 classmates, was named “heroic youth”, now charged with fraud…allegedly cheated 21 people out of 463,000 RMB by promising them he would his his “connections” to help them but never did
范曾赋诗文艺座谈会造拍砖 光明网力挺：他发自肺腑|范曾|认识历程_凤凰文化 artis
新华网：让人警觉的“范曾现象”-搜狐评论 Xinhua questions the motives of those attacking Fan Zeng // 近几日，范曾先生忽然成了网上的“热门”人物，
Show me the money–Science Magazine freed from the paywall // At a time when China is spending heavily to recruit talented overseas scientists, the dispute between COER and Leonhardt is a cautionary tale. Interviews with other foreign-born recipients of Thousand Talents awards reveal that host institutions in several instances have seized the reins, controlling everything from the application process to grant administration. Among Thousand Talents awardees interviewed by Science, ignorance of the program’s nuts and bolts—even at the most basic level, such as the amount of money they are due—is the norm.
FOOD AND TRAVEL
Wanted: 500,000 pilots for China aviation gold rush | Reuters The aviation boom comes as China allows private planes to fly below 1,000 meters from next year without military approval, seeking to boost its transport infrastructure. Commercial airlines aren’t affected, but more than 200 new firms have applied for general aviation operating licenses, while China’s high-rollers are also eager for permits to fly their own planes. The civil aviation authority’s own training unit can only handle up to 100 students a year. With the rest of China’s 12 or so existing pilot schools bursting at the seams, foreign players are joining local firms in laying the groundwork for new courses that can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars per trainee.
BEIJING
Beijing enforces traffic restriction for greener APEC – Xinhua | English.news.cn traffic excellent so far today, AQI high though around 100 // According to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, starting Monday, 70 percent of the municipal government’s vehicles, around 19,000 of its fleet, will face driving restrictions. An odd-even license plate policy for cars, including those from outside Beijing, will be put in place from Nov. 3 to 12. Depending on the license plate, cars will only be able to drive on alternating days throughout that period.