The Sinocism China Newsletter 11.12.14

"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

1. U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change | The White House official release

Related: John Kerry: Our Historic Agreement With China on Climate Change – NYTimes.com John Kerry: Our Historic Agreement With China on Climate Change

Related: China’s Environmental Goals Won’t be Hard to Hit – WSJ – WSJ the goals themselves hewed closely to the economic trajectory Beijing has charted under existing environmental policies, environmental watchdogs and analysts said. Under the terms of the announcement by Presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama , China will increase its share of nonfossil fuels in total energy consumption to around 20% by 2030, and carbon-dioxide emissions will peak — or start decreasing in annual absolute volume — around that year. That is roughly in line with the government’s five-year plan, or broad development blueprint, in 2013, which set a target for nonfossil fuels to account for 15% of China’s energy mix by 2020. Such fuels refer to renewable energy like hydropower, wind and solar energy.

Related: McConnell: US-China deal ‘unrealistic’ | TheHill Senate Minority Leader [soon to be Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wasted little time Tuesday night in blasting President Obama’s climate agreement with China as another costly, unpopular environmental move. “Our economy can’t take the president’s ideological war on coal that will increase the squeeze on middle-class families and struggling miners,” McConnell said in a statement minutes after the White House announced the bilateral deal.

Related: Politicians and Climate Experts React to U.S.-China Emissions Deal – NYTimes.com Al Gore: Today’s joint announcement by President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping to reduce their nations’ carbon emissions is a major step forward in the global effort to solve the climate crisis. Much more will be required — including a global agreement from all nations — but these actions demonstrate a serious commitment by the top two global polluters.

2. China, U.S. highlight new type of major-country relations – Xinhua For his part, Obama noted that the U.S. and China boast the world’s two largest economies and two energetic and innovative peoples. Strengthening cooperation between the two countries, which have seen their interests highly integrated, could benefit people in both countries and the world at large, Obama said. He said he is willing to exchange views with President Xi on a wide range of issues in a timely manner, and lift the new type of major-country relationship between China and the U.S. to a higher level. Before the meeting, the two heads of state had a walk at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in central Beijing. Xi had dinner with Obama and briefed him on China’s efforts in comprehensively deepening reform, advancing rule of law and strengthening the building of the ruling party. Xi told Obama that “we have found a development path suitable for China’s national conditions, which is the socialist path with Chinese characteristics,” noting that “we will unswervingly follow it.”

Related: A tale of U.S.-China contrasts: Obama sounds concilatory, Xi sounds competitive – The Washington Post Landler, who had done a reporting tour for the Times in Hong Kong, is well-versed in Chinese affairs. He asked whether Obama, despite the notes of harmony in both leaders’ official statements, was concerned by rising anti-American rhetoric in China. Then the Timesman asked Xi two questions — one about whether he felt threatened by the Obama administration’s Asia pivot and the other about whether, in light of a new U.S.-China agreement to relax short-term visa restrictions for students, tourists and businesses, he would consider doing the same for foreign journalists…The White House press corps returned to the hotel filing center, where Landler was greeted by a round of applause.

Related: [视频]习近平同美国总统共同会见记者_新闻频道_央视网(cctv.com) Wednesday CCTV Evening News on the Obama-Xi press conference…

Related: 新闻联播官网_央视网(cctv.com) first 20+ minutes of Wednesday CCTV Evening on Obama’s visit

Related: President Xi advocates new type of military relations with U.S. – Xinhua Xi said that defense departments of the two countries have signed agreements to establish a mutual reporting mechanism on major military operations and a code of safe conduct on naval and air military encounter between the two sides. The two militaries should deepen exchanges, mutual trust and cooperation based on these agreements, he said. China would like to make progress in the exchanges between senior officers of the two armed forces, smooth communication mechanism and conduct more joint trainings and drills with the U.S. side, he said.

Related: China marks six priorities for new-type of major-country relations with US – Xinhua The six priorities in China’s diplomacy with the U.S. include the communication between high-level officials, mutual respect, cooperation in all aspects, management of disputes, collaboration in the Asia-Pacific and joint actions on global challenges, according to Xi // Xinhua original–习近平强调从6个重点方向推进中美新型大国关系建设 

3. China Turns Up the Rhetoric Against the West – NYTimes.com Some have questioned the sincerity — or pointed out the hypocrisy — of the party’s tirades against the West, noting that many party officials have children or other family members living and even applying for citizenship overseas. Mr. Xi’s daughter, Xi Mingze, attended Harvard University under a pseudonym. “How can Chinese officials really be anti-American?” asked Zhan Jiang, a media studies professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University. “Anti-foreign sentiments will always be present in China because of China’s unique history,” he said. “However, the public’s opinion of the West will not change because of what the party says.”

Related: Beijing Aims to Blunt Western Influence in China  – WSJ “It used to be that everyone thought ‘Oh, we’ll get in there, get some capitalism going, and China will flip eventually.’ Well that hasn’t happened,” said Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the New York-based Asia Society. “Not only has it not happened, but China has demonstrably declared that it isn’t their intention or goal.” In December 2012, shortly after he was named Communist Party chief, Mr. Xi suggested to Mr. Carter that his center change tack. The Carter Center had been working in China since the 1990s, monitoring village elections and, later, researching government transparency. Still, Mr. Xi told Mr. Carter the research institute should refocus on U.S.-China relations, according to the people.  //  seems to be a creeping realization that the liberalization promised to help sell engagement over the last 3 decades is not really happening…bit late, not many other good options

Related: Xi’s Rapid Rise in China Presents Challenges to the U.S. – NYTimes.com At the same time, Mr. Xi’s administration has resurrected and amplified traditional party themes that China’s woes have been exacerbated, even instigated, by “hostile forces” controlled by Western governments. Chinese officials accuse the United States of seeking to topple Communist Party rule, most recently by supporting pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, a charge the United States government denies. “There is this contradiction between this Cold War ideological thinking about hostile foreign forces and U.S. subversion, but at the same time saying that they want to have this new type of great power relationship,” said Susan L. Shirk, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who was a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration.

4.  Abbott’s awkward APEC moment over Asian infrastructure bank The Conversation The AIIB is indeed dominated by China. The 21 founding member countries agree the basic parameter determining the capital structure of the new bank will be relative GDP. Taken at face value, this would give China a 67.1% shareholding, with the next in line being India at 13.3%. Of course the complaint the AIIB is a unilateral institution relies on painfully circular logic. If the US, Japan, Korea and Australia refuse to join, then any hopes of the AIIB becoming a multilateral institution are neutered. If these four countries were on board, China’s share would immediately fall to 24.5%. For its part, China not only invited Australia to participate but also offered the country a senior role in its running. Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei has made it clear he expects China’s shareholding will be diluted as other countries come on board.

Related: ADB’s Head Says It Can Cooperate with China’s New Infrastructure Bank – Caixin Caixin: What’s your view of the AIIB? Takehiko Nakao: There are still huge infrastructure funding needs. The ADB has played a very important role in this region for 50 years. Some people say that the new AIIB is for infrastructure and ADB is for poverty reduction. This is not really true. Poverty reduction is our ultimate goal, but the way we promote poverty reduction is mainly through building infrastructure. In the 1970s, the ADB began to support building infrastructure facilities for the agricultural sector. We are upgrading our financing capacity and improving efficiency to provide services to 45 developing member countries, including China. All banks should be in accord with international circumstances and social standards. After the AIIB set up, the ADB will cooperate with it in some fields.

Related: China’s ‘Marshall Plan’-Xi Jinping bids to take leadership away from the U.S. – WSJ Editorial And by shortsightedly refusing to participate in the AIIB and lobbying allies to decline, thus denying the US the ability to influence from within, the US will likely end up helping China in the region.  //  Will Beijing’s gambit work? Its belief that profit and development are the keys to international relations has persuaded it that the U.S. will soon become isolated in the region. The Obama Administration’s half-hearted embrace of the TPP also hasn’t helped, though that may change with a Republican Congress prepared to give the President fast-track negotiating authority. Then again, Asian nations have good reason to distrust an authoritarian government bent on recapturing past glories while ignoring international norms and the rule of law, as it does in the South China Sea. That gives Mr. Obama an opportunity to recapture the trade initiative in Asia, assuming he remains serious about a “pivot to Asia” that was once one of the central promises of his Presidency.

5.  Xi Gets a ‘C’ in Report Card on China’s Policy Program: Economy – Bloomberg Analysts were most impressed with progress on fiscal policy, where the central government is redefining the taxation and spending relationship with China’s provinces. Advancement on financial liberalization, rural-land policies and measures to change the ownership structure of state-owned enterprises were seen as lagging behind expectations, the survey showed.

6.  传言称明年GDP将下调 CPI或保持不变?_财经频道_一财网 CBN reports that the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference likely to set 2015 GPD target at 7%…too bad they will still have a target

7.  Occupy Central leaders prepare to surrender as police make plans to clear sites | South China Morning Post This comes as police sources say the force may begin executing from tomorrow the injunctions taken out against the Mong Kok and Admiralty sit-ins. A core member of Occupy Central told the Post that the three organisers of the civil disobedience movement and its volunteers were planning to surrender to police on Friday next week, in an attempt to show that they were willing to accept the legal consequences of joining the “unlawful” pro-democracy protest.

Related: Barack Obama denies US involvement in Occupy Central protests | South China Morning Post “I was unequivocal in saying to President Xi that the United States has no involvement in fostering the protest that took place there,” Obama said at a joint press conference with President Xi Jinping. “These are issues ultimately for the people of Hong Kong and the people of China to decide.

8. 河北科级官员家中搜出上亿元现金 房产68套_新闻_腾讯网 a Qinhuangdao, Hebei official found with 120 million RMB cash in his apartment, along with 37 KGs of gold, 68 properties //  @中国日报:【河北一科级干部家中搜出1.2亿现金】11月7日上午,河北省召开落实中央巡视组反馈意见整改动员暨警示教育大会,会上通报,秦皇岛市某科级干部涉嫌受贿、贪污、挪用公款,在其家中搜出现金约1.2亿元,黄金37公斤,房产手续68套。河北省纪检机关要求全省以案为鉴,从案件中汲取教训。

 

BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE

Xi Jinping unveils China’s plan for Asia-Pacific free-trade pact | South China Morning Post China upped the ante in its bid to be the Asia-Pacific’s economic leader when President Xi Jinping unveiled a plan for a Chinese-led regional free-trade framework to visiting foreign leaders yesterday. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit ended with all 21 Apec economies endorsing China’s plan to create a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). It was the first major international gathering held in China since Xi took power in late 2012.

China Opens Door Wider to Foreign Investors – WSJ – WSJ Since the program was announced in April, the Hang Seng Index has gained 3.9%. The Shanghai Composite Index has surged 17.5% in that time, as investors anticipated a flood of cash flowing in, making it one of the world’s top-performing major benchmarks this year. The program has a daily limit of $2.1 billion for investment into Shanghai-listed shares, with an overall cap of $49 billion. The overall amount mainland Chinese investors can invest in Hong Kong stocks is $40.8 billion, capped at $1.7 billion a day. China typically moves slowly on overhauls like these, and investors hope the cap is loosened over time.

CHINA MONEY- Retail investors finally buy blue chips, but for how long? | Reuters Xiao Shijun, stock analyst at Guodu Securities in Beijing, said the rally had little to do with China’s economic fundamentals, which show weak domestic demand and deflationary pressures, both of which are bad for stock prices. “Except a small bounce in the second quarter, the economy has mostly staged a weak performance this year,” he said. “It’s government policy support, such as the connect, that has sparked the market rebound, based on low valuations.”

Shanghai Stock Discounts Vanish as No Easy Money Left – Bloomberg Five days before the city’s exchange link gives foreign investors unprecedented access to mainland shares, their valuation discounts versus Hong Kong counterparts are disappearing. The largest yuan-denominated stocks have gone from an 11 percent discount in July to a 2 percent premium yesterday, the priciest level in 14 months, according to Hang Seng Bank Ltd. Just 17 of the 68 dual-listed shares tracked by Bloomberg have lower valuations in Shanghai, versus 26 three months ago.

Alibaba and Others Push to Improve Delivery, on Singles’ Day in China – NYTimes.com On Tuesday, tens of millions of Chinese like Ms. Jiang bought more than $9 billion worth of products online in honor of Singles’ Day, China’s de facto e-commerce holiday and the world’s largest Internet shopping event. But buying is one thing. Delivery is another.

Hong Kong Scraps Yuan-Conversion Limit as Stock Link Begins – Bloomberg The 20,000 yuan ($3,265) conversion cap has existed since 2004, when Hong Kong became the first city outside of China to allow banks to accept yuan deposits. The end of the restriction puts locals on a par with non-residents, who have been able to buy unlimited amounts of China’s currency in the offshore market since August 2012. The change will take effect on Nov. 17, the same day the Shanghai stock link begins, according to Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Norman Chan.

Extell One57 Executive Leaves for Chinese Property Firm – Bloomberg Jeffrey Dvorett, who helped oversee the construction of New York’s One57 for Extell Development Co., has left the firm after nine years to join a Chinese real estate investment group seeking to expand in the U.S. Dvorett is now head of development for Kuafu Properties LLC, a New York-based firm started last year “with the vision of being the ultimate bridge between Chinese investors and the United States real estate market,” he said today in an e-mail addressed to friends and colleagues.

China’s anti-corruption push may drive wealthy overseas – FT.com Insurance companies particularly like acquisitions abroad and are expected to soon become a major source of Chinese money going offshore. But the Chinese buyers are increasingly smaller, less known entities. In many cases, the source of the financing is unclear and the distinction between the company and its owners is murky, says one Hong Kong based lawyer who has worked on a series of such deals – not all of them successful. // remarkable that the FT writes on such a serious topic without making any mention that China unveiled new rules on overseas investment in September that make it much easier for firms to invest abroad. So the Chinese government is actually encouraging what the FT says is capital flight?

国资委与铁总等密议资产整合 央企出海战略渐明_宏观政策_宏观频道首页_财经网 – CAIJING.COM.CN 合力“出海”战略的大体思路是相关央企按板块形成统一的行业国际公司,一致对外竞标。就南北车整合而言,最终可能各自拿出涉及海外产业的资产,组成一家专注于拓展海外业务的新公司

 

POLITICS AND LAW

China targets ‘wild imams’ in mass public sentencing | Reuters hina has jailed almost two dozen people including “wild imams” who preach illegally in the western region of Xinjiang where the government says Islamists are waging a violent campaign for a separate state, Chinese media reported on Tuesday. The 22 suspects were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 16 years at a mass public sentencing in Xinjiang on Monday, the state-controlled China News Service reported.

Xi Jinping well placed to revive Mao spirit: Qi Benyu As the last member of the ultra-left Cultural Revolution Group formed in 1966, Qi, who is now 83, said he hopes Xi can learn from Mao and lead the country back to the path of proletarian revolution. Qi, who now lives in Shanghai, is believed by some to have helped heat up the atmosphere during the Cultural Revolution. He is said to have contributed to the events that led to the purge of Liu Shaoqi, who was China’s President from 1959 to 1968 and was once Mao’s right-hand man in propaganda. Qi later spent 18 years in prison after being knocked down in a political struggle…Now Qi sees Xi as the person who could revive Maoism. Xi should push for revolution all way until it really succeeds and brings down special interest groups, Qi said. If Xi cannot turn China back to socialism, he at least should take Russian President Vladimir Putin as an example and confiscate illegal assets held by the elites, Ming Pao quoted Qi as saying in an exclusive interview.  //  don’t think anyone really cares what Qi says these days

AP-Hacker-hit Tibetan monks ‘detach from attachments’ “Attachment can lead you to all sort of trouble and we Buddhists believe that non-attachment alone can lead you to happiness,” 30-year-old monk Jamyang Palden told The Associated Press at a cafe in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, before giving the philosophy its Information Age twist: “We have to learn to be suspicious of email attachments.” The Internet safety slogan, one of several messages championed by digital security group Tibet Action Institute, is an example of how human rights defenders are seeking creative ways to protect activists from electronic espionage.

 

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Exclusive: China seeks greater role in Afghanistan with peace talk push | Reuters Documents seen by Reuters show that China put forward a proposal for a “peace and reconciliation forum” that Afghan officials said would gather representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the Taliban command. The Chinese plan, discussed at a recent meeting of nations taking part in the “Istanbul Process” on Afghanistan’s future, comes as U.S.-led combat troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan after 13 years of war.

The U.S.-China Deals: What Comes Next? – China Real Time Report – WSJ Potentially as important are two military accords reportedly near completion that, taken together, could substantially reduce risks in the security sphere that could threaten the entire relationship. The two prospective agreements would apparently cover close approaches involving vessels and aircraft on the high seas and in international airspace, as well as large-scale military maneuvers, including exercises. Military-to-military hotlines at the operational level would be created to facilitate information exchanges. Ideally, the agreement on vessels and aircraft would involve not just naval ships but also Coast Guard fleets, fishing boats, commercial aircraft, and virtually all other ships or planes.

Chinese national arrested while trying to flee US months after high-speed car chase: Shanghaiist Police began pursuing Zhou’s white BMW on the Golden State Freeway (5) near downtown LA after he refused to pull over for speeding and swerving. The 40-minute pursuit reached speeds of around 115 mph, according to police, although the driver did managed to come to a complete stop at least three different times as he approached red lights. The student was released early the next day after posting 75,000 USD bail. Court documents showed that Zhou didn’t show up to his scheduled court date on September 10, according to NetEase, leading the judge to issue a 17,000 USD bench warrant for his arrest. Despite this, Zhou still tried to fly back to China from LA on the afternoon of October 25, but was intercepted by police at LAX

传解放军总后高官落马 或又是刘源手笔_中国-多维新闻网 Duowei on rumors that deputy head of the PLA General Logistics Department, Liu Zheng, is under investigation //  近日海外纷传,解放军总后勤部副部长刘铮日前被调查,但官方一直未公布他被查原因。这是刘源2010年12月出任总后勤部政委后,第二名被调查的副部长。

 

TECH AND MEDIA

Tencent Quarterly Profit Misses Estimates as Costs Climb – Bloomberg Third-quarter net income rose to 5.66 billion yuan ($924 million) from 3.87 billion yuan a year earlier, the Hong Kong-listed company said in a statement today. That compares with the 6.1 billion-yuan average of 10 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Tencent is trying to capture the consumer shift to mobile devices as it adds new games and offerings to its WeChat and QQ messaging services to draw revenue from the free apps’ users. The Shenzhen-based company, which made 3 billion yuan of sales from mobile gaming in the second quarter, has said it expects revenue growth in the business to plateau as it shifts focus to improving the quality of the games.

Wechat Launched Wechat Contacts App with Free Calls — China Internet Watch Only users who use this Wechat app can make and receive free calls. The caller is redirected to leave a voice mail if the receiver does not pick up. According to the official introduction, the app uses 300K data for every one minute’s call under 2G/3G/4G network. Users might need to pay for the data to the networks. But, under Wifi the service is totally free. We tested this app in the team and the voice quality is very good; even better than regular network voice calls. The three telcos in China should be very nervous right now.

Xiaomi to buy stake in Youku Tudou as part of online video push | Reuters In a joint statement on Wednesday, the companies said the transaction would take place on the open market but did not specify how large the smartphone maker’s stake would be or how much would be invested. Word of the stake acquisition, coming a week after Xiaomi pledged to invest a total of $1 billion to expand its Internet TV content, adds to the frenzy in China’s fast-growing online video market. E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) already owns nearly a quarter of Youku Tudou.

Baidu Tells Employees about Five Accused of Taking Bribes, Embezzling – Caixin One case said to involve two department heads at search giant who took money to make certain websites appear more popular than they really were

Alipay Will Do What Alibaba Couldn’t, Jack Ma Says: List in China – Caixin Alipay is the country’s most popular online payment tool and is controlled by Ma. As part of Alibaba’s strategy to go global, Alipay will list on a stock exchange someday and hopefully that will happen on the A-share market, Ma told national broadcaster China Central Television. “A primary reason for going public is that it calls for more transparent corporate governance and puts stock investors and users around the world in a position to supervise the company and take part in its development,” Ma said. “For various reasons, Alibaba cannot list on the A-share market, but we hope Alipay can list on it.”

【头条拌饭】网曝广电总局12月或… – 头条网 TouTiao.com 你关心的,才是头条! Film and TV regulator to limit actor salaries starting in December, per this report  //  近日,微信公共账号爆料称广电总局或将于12月出台“明星限薪令”,对演员片酬进行限制。随后有媒体报道称从知情人处确认消息基本属实,总局已进入内部征求意见阶段。 “限薪令”就是对演员接片子的价格进行限制。据爆料,一些剧组正在将艺人们的演出合约延后签约,而艺人那边很有点人心惶惶,不少正在谈戏的演员不停催促片方签合同,但片方主要就是想等着“限薪令”下来。

广电总局管理网络视频内容 婚外恋一夜情将被删_网易新闻中心 more restrictions on online video content coming, cleaning it up to better adhere to socialist core values  //  和电视台播出的内容不同,网络视频内容一向以大尺度见长。日前,广电总局发布《广电总局关于加强互联网视听节目内容管理的通知》,对网络视听内容的“大尺度”进行管理。 通知中不仅规定婚外恋、多角恋以及情色等内容要进行删剪,同时对暴力、血腥、凶杀等内容也进行了管理,而不少网剧也将受到牵连,进行整改。

China’s iQiyi to Buy 1,000 Hollywood Titles in 2015 to Meet Surging Demand but how many will the regulators approve for streaming?  //  iQiyi, the film unit of Chinese search giant Baidu, will have distribution rights to over 1,000 U.S. movie titles next year to meet swelling demand from its users for Hollywood content. The group has already revealed plans to make seven local films and one Hollywood- style film next year.

 

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

王中军“两朵花”搬回内地税费估算:9056万_财经频道_一财网 Wang Junzhong will have to pay 90M RMB in tax to bring his newly purchased Van Gogh into China

 

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH

Hank Paulson Targets Climate Change Via China’s Building Codes – WSJ – WSJ The former U.S. Treasury secretary has worked on the front lines of environmental protection in China for years and has the ear of the top Chinese leadership: He has been calling on President Xi Jinping ever since Mr. Xi was a provincial official and Mr. Paulson was running Goldman Sachs . Mr. Paulson is now focused on China’s massive program of urbanization, perhaps the world’s greatest environmental challenge. More than half of all the new buildings in the world are going up in China, Mr. Paulson says, and buildings account for 40% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, of which China is the biggest producer.

China Seen Overtaking U.S. as World’s Biggest Oil User – Bloomberg “A landmark is reached in the early 2030s, when China becomes the largest oil-consuming country, crossing paths with the United States,” the agency said in a summary of its World Energy Outlook, which forecasts long-term energy trends. The full findings of the report will be presented at a press conference in London today.

China Oil Companies Suffer Reversals in the Middle East – Bloomberg Chinese oil companies have invested $73 billion in energy assets globally since 2011 to secure supplies and feed the country’s growing demand. They now operate in more than 40 countries and control about 7 percent of worldwide crude oil output, according to the IEA rep

China Medical News: Health insurance cover for 95% of Chinese? More like 30%. Eric X. Li threw used 95% figure last week at his panel at the Economist China summit  // For the last few years the official Chinese media have been proudly trumpeting the claim that almost all Chinese are now covered by government-funded basic health insurance. Health minister Li Bin’s recent statement that “China’s public insurance schemes have achieved over 95% health coverage in urban and rural populations” was accepted and repeated uncritically by Lancet editor Richard Horton  on a recent visit to China. But wait a minute … is it true? The Atlantic last year reported Chinese academics saying that the true figure was likely to be much lower. And this week we have further confirmation that health insurance cover is nothing like 95% – especially for the most impoverished and vulnerable of China’s citizens, the ‘floating population’ of migrant workers

China Endorsing Tobacco in Schools Adds to $10 Trillion Cost – Bloomberg Anti-tobacco groups say efforts to reduce sales in the world’s largest cigarette consumer, such as a ban on smoking in public places introduced in May, have been hampered by light penalties, a lack of education about the dangers of smoking and the fact that the regulator, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, also runs the world’s biggest cigarette maker, China National Tobacco Corp. China has more than 320 million smokers, a third of the world’s total, and about 1 million Chinese die from tobacco- related illnesses every year. Reducing mortality in the country from cardiovascular diseases, for which smoking is a main risk factor, by 1 percent a year over the three decades to 2040 could generate economic value equal to 68 percent of China’s 2010 real gross domestic product, or $10.7 trillion, according to a World Bank report published in July.

Corruption crackdown targets doctors running clinical trials The National Health and Family Planning Commission has released a new position statement entitled “Administrative Measures for the Clinical Study Projects of Medical Institutions” which will force clinical trials to be run under the auspices of hospital research committees rather than individual doctors or their departments. The new rules stipulate that to clinical trials will be co-ordinated by a Clinical Study Administration Committee in hospitals, and funding  for trials from industry will be channelled through hospitals rather than a particular department or individual doctor.

 

AGRICULTURE

Grain Import Binge Puts China on Pace to Beat Year-Old Record – Caixin Chinese companies imported around 72.5 million tons of grain from January to October, data from the General Administration of Customs show. The increase mainly involves sorghum, barley and soybeans, which are all important to food processors. China could set a record for grain imports this year. It imported 74.4 million tons of soybeans, rice, wheat and corn last year, customs data showed

经济参考网 – 价改试点扩围或成一号文件重点 多项重大土地政策蓄势待发 农产品价格体制改革试点有望进一步扩围。《经济参考报》记者日前从多位权威人士处获悉,除现有试验品种和地区将延续,有关部门正研究在广西开展食糖的目标价格补贴,如通过论证,将写入明年的中央一号文件。除此之外,土地制度改革将进一步深化,包括集体土地入市等重量级政策或将于明年推出

 

JOBS AND EVENTS

China’s Energy Crossroads: Forging a New Energy and Environmental Balance On Tuesday, November 18, The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation will co-host a Capitol Hill launch for NBR’s 2014 Energy Security Report, “China’s Energy Crossroads: Forging a New Energy and Environmental Balance.” This event will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Reserve Officers Association (One Constitution Avenue NE, Washington, D.C.)

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