"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
中央财经领导小组详解三中全会亮点:60个任务|改革|三中全会|领导小组_新浪新闻 starting to release details of what is in the full Third Plenum decision…official from Central Finance and Economics Leading Small Group discusses on page 2 of today/s People’s Daily // 记者：党的十八届三中全会审议通过了《中共中央关于全面深化改革若干重大问题的决定》。作为《决定》起草和修改的亲身参与者，您认为《决定》有哪些值得关注的特点？ 杨伟民(中央财经领导小组办公室副主任)：全会通过的《决定》是新一届党中央动员全党全国各族人民全面深化改革的行动纲领、进军号角。对于《决定》的特点和蕴含的思想，我理解主要有五点：
Related: Party to flesh out reform promises by releasing full version of third plenum communiqué | South China Morning Post Beijing is expected to release the full transcript of a key policy document signed off at the Communist Party’s third plenum within a week after the meeting ended. Detailed reforms aimed at sustaining economic growth would be unveiled in the full version of the communiqué, said Zhang Zhuoyuan, who helped draft the document.
Related: The party plenum: Everybody who loves Mr Xi, say yes | The Economist a parsing of the document suggests President Xi Jinping (pictured above, centre) is tightening his grip on power, and with it his ability to achieve breakthroughs in economic and social reforms…The just-concluded plenum announced two institutional changes that suggest Mr Xi has moved fast to consolidate his position. The first of these is the setting up of a “state-security committee”. ..The other notable change is the establishment of a “leading small group” to supervise reforms. Such groups count.
Related: What’s in a Communiqué? – Caixin Disappointment abounds, but we should remember that the document released after the seminal 1978 meeting was just as vague
Related: Review & Outlook: Beijing’s Pivotal Plenum – Barrons.com it’s too early to dismiss the reformist rhetoric of new leaders Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang. A longer document decided at the plenum should be released in the next week and that will give more clues. Then there will be work conferences to further flesh out the direction of reform.
国资委酝酿国企新一轮战略重组 新华社——经济参考网 Xinhua’s Economic Information reports that SASAC is planning another round of “strategic restructuring” of SOEs.// 记者从多个权威研究部门获悉，根据十八届三中全会有关精神，当前国资委正在研究国企改革相关配套政策，完善国资监管体制机制，而国资委对国企监管重点由原来的“管资产”转向“管资本”。为更好的“管资本”，国资委酝酿对国企展开新一轮的战略重组，发展一批国有控股投资运营公司、成立一批投资基金公司、培养一批世界一流的实体企业。
Related: 国企改革方案将出台 央企红利上缴比例或提至30%_证券时报网 details of “top-level design” for SOE reform in the soon to be released Third Plenum decision? // 昨日(11月14日)，有消息称，即将出台的《深化国有企业改革的指导意见》(以下简称《指导意见》)，将对下一步国有企业改革进行“顶层设计”。但一名财政部内部人士对 《每日经济新闻》记者表示，根据他的了解，中央全面深化改革领导小组目前尚待配备专门的办公室及人员。从筹备进程及时间进度上来说，上述《指导意见》出台的时间有可能延至明年。
Related: 三中全会定调总框架 多领域细化改革值得期待_财经频道_一财网 China Business News says detailed reform plans in many areas underway, including SOE reforms..though of course “SOE Reforms with Chinese Characteristics”…// 据《第一财经日报》获悉，目前多部门正密集部署相关领域改革，具体细化措施值得期待。–国资项目有望允许非国资参股–国资委党委13日召开专题会议，传达贯彻十八届三中全会精神。国资委党委书记、副主任张毅在会上提出，要坚持解放思想、实事求是，要有自我革新的勇气和胸怀，跳出条条框框限制，冲破思想观念障碍，敢于提出改革新思路，拿出改革新举措。 在三中全会召开之前，国资委副主任黄淑和10月末在参加全国国资监管政策法规暨指导监督工作座谈会时提到，国资委正认真准备国资国企改革方案，争取三中全会后尽快出台，形成上下联动的改革局面。 三中全会公报在涉及国资的表述中，不仅强调了市场在资源配置中的决定性作用，强化了“两个毫不动摇”的提法，还对发展混合所有制提出了明确要求，对国有企业提出要推动“完善现代企业制度”的意见。 有知情人士表示，中国未来将积极发展混合所有制经济。
Related: China State Companies’ Dominance Tested by Market Pledge – Bloomberg The nation is likely to ease interest-rate and energy-price controls after the party this week assigned markets a “decisive” role in allocating resources, according to Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS AG, who formerly worked at the International Monetary Fund. Other reform options include opening more industries to competition from private operators…Wang of UBS said a “decisive” role for markets means China is trying to free up prices for “production factors” including labor, capital, energy and land. Pricing shifts for natural gas, oil, coal and power are being “gradually rolled out” and will continue, while the cost of capital “will be liberated as well,” she told reporters on a conference call yesterday. That means big energy consumers may see costs rise while companies that control resources could benefit.
JPMorgan’s Fruitful Ties to a Member of China’s Elite – NYTimes.com To promote its standing in China, JPMorgan Chase turned to a seemingly obscure consulting firm run by a 32-year-old executive named Lily Chang. Ms. Chang’s firm, which received a $75,000-a-month contract from JPMorgan, appeared to have only two employees. And on the surface, Ms. Chang lacked the influence and public name recognition needed to unlock business for the bank. But what was known to JPMorgan executives in Hong Kong, and some executives at other major companies, was that “Lily Chang” was not her real name. It was an alias for Wen Ruchun, the only daughter of Wen Jiabao, who at the time was China’s prime minister, with oversight of the economy and its financial institutions. // Front page story Thursday, including with picture of Wen Rychun–screenshot of NYT front page
Related: JPMorgan and the Wen Family – Graphic – NYTimes.com For two years beginning in 2006, JPMorgan Chase employed a consulting firm run by Wen Ruchun, the daughter of former Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China. During this period and later, the bank was involved with several companies in which members of the Wen family or their colleagues had investments. The bank’s primary ties to the Wen family and its colleagues are shown in the panel at bottom.
Related: The Most Disturbing Part Of The JPMorgan News Is That It’s Not Shocking At All | Peter S. Goodman Yet the takeaway here merely reinforces a truth that has long been evident to those paying attention to the pungent interplay of money and power in China: Despite the prattling of global business leaders that their presence in China is a wholesome boon to justice and right, elevating Chinese business standards and adding transparency to a system laced with corruption, they have frequently enriched themselves by engaging in the very dirty doings they claim to disdain.
Han Zheng: How Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone Works – Caixin In an interview, Shanghai party leader Han Zheng describes the painstaking steps that preceded the FTZ’s recent launch–By staff reporter Hu Shuli//translation of recent Caixin cover story.
Related: Shanghai Party Boss: We Complement Hong Kong – Caixin Hong Kong need not feel threatened by Shanghai’s FTZ based on city leader Han Zheng’s special interview with Caixin–By staff reporter Hu Shuli
Related: Balancing Financial Reform and Risk in the New Zone – Caixin Shanghai leader Han Zheng says liberalizing financial services, with limits, is central to the city’s FTZ strategy–By staff reporter Hu Shuli
专家解读纪检双重领导：防止”屁股指挥脑袋” _新闻_腾讯网 anti-corruption plans coming out of the Third Plenum should not be ignored amidst all the talk of reform or no reform// “我觉得这是一个变革的积极信号，是一个重要的开始。”对于官方近日释出的中共纪律检查工作“双重领导体制”话题，北京航空航天大学公共管理学院教授、中央纪委监察部特邀监察员任建明教授如是评价。十八届三中全会闭幕次日，中央纪委常委会召开会议，强调“要立足当前、着眼长远，研究制定纪律检查工作双重领导体制具体化、程序化、制度化的意见，注重制度设计的细节。”
Related: 南方周末 – 反腐到了突破关口 ——反腐专家把脉三中全会后反腐路径 Southern Weekend talks to anti-corruption eexperts about what is next after the Third Plenum// 2013年11月9日至12日，十八届三中全会在北京召开，反腐话题备受瞩目。据了解，中央将发布下一个反腐五年规划，即《建立健全惩治和预防腐败体系2013-2017年》。 在这个承前启后的节点上，南方周末记者访问多位反腐学者，请他们解析过去一年反腐动作的特征，以及下一步的走向。
NSA Leaks Hurting US Tech Sales In China – Business Insider Although Beijing has not prohibited state firms from purchasing Western-made technology services and equipment, the government has sent a clear message to chose Chinese-made equipment first, China-based executives say. “While a formal document hasn’t been issued, in the future we will try to buy IT equipment from domestic brands, such as Lenovo,” said a person familiar with technology purchases at one of China’s four big state-owned banks. “The government’s signal is pretty clear – they want to rely less on U.S. products, such as IOE (IBM, Oracle and EMC Corp,” said a former China-based telecommunications executive
Leaders remain undecided on property tax | South China Morning Post Liu Shangxi, vice-director of the finance ministry’s Institute of Fiscal Science, said yesterday that the government would expand the scope of consumption taxes as well as add ones on resources and environmental use. “But there’s no clear conclusion on the property tax right now,” Liu said. “Predicting when a property tax will be levied is like fortune-telling right now. “The government will not roll out a property tax simply aimed at dampening property prices.”
Related: 房产税为何呼之难出？-法制晚报 on why so hard for china to push a property tax…one of main reasons is a real property tax is effectively forced asset disclosure…// 社会敏感问题。房屋问题是一个非常敏感的社会问题，目前各地出现的“房叔、房姐”等，无不触动着老百姓们敏感的神经，人们之所以如果关注此类信息，是因为房屋跟“以权谋私、贪赃枉法”等腐败问题密切相连。一旦开征，个人在房屋方面的财产情况就会变得透明，其所引发的问题考量着政府在反腐工作上的决心和魄力。
中国土豪化精神分析：人人都有一颗土豪的心|土豪|富人|tuhao_新浪新闻 New Weekly cover story on the “Tuhao” new rich // 【土豪传】仇富的阵营悄然松动，“土豪”是友非敌了。若抛开做派和品位这一层，他们其实是在物质上率先实现了中国梦的人。“土豪”不可恨也不可怕，可怕的是这种未来：社会分化为土豪与屌丝两大族群，土豪继续缺乏与财富匹配的文明，而屌丝仍然缺乏上行的机会。
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Local $1.6 Trillion Debt Pile Impedes Rate Freedom: China Credit – Bloomberg “Investors are expecting interest-rate liberalization to accelerate and funding costs to increase quickly, so it’s very hard for bond yields to come down,” said Min Shuai, a Shanghai-based fixed-income analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co., the nation’s third-biggest brokerage. The yield on 10-year government bonds rose 47 basis points this quarter to 4.47 percent yesterday, the highest level since 2008, according to Interbank Funding Center data. One-year sovereign debt yielded a record 4.16 percent on Nov. 11, after a 61 basis point advance this quarter. The rate was at 4.12 percent yesterday. The yuan, which has gained 2.3 percent this year, advanced 0.02 percent to 6.0915 per dollar as of 11:25 a.m. in Shanghai today.
China Banks Pay Most for State Funds in Six Months; Swaps Rise – Bloomberg “People are surprised the PBOC refrained from conducting reverse repos today, and the treasury deposit auction result came higher than expected,” said Li Liuyang, chief financial market analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (China) Ltd. in Shanghai. “All these indicate liquidity is tight.”
State Companies Emerge as Winners Following Top China Meeting – WSJ.com Some analysts argue that the communiqué’s language promoting the private sector as well as the critical role of free markets means that the party expects to gradually open some sectors to competition or figure out ways to provide better financing and aid to such firms. Arthur Kroeber, managing director at Gavekal Dragonomics, a Beijing economic-research firm, said boosting competition could make state-owned firms more efficient as well as providing opportunities for private firms. There is “a willingness to let the position of state enterprises be eroded at a more rapid pace” than in the past, he said….State-owned companies contribute 26% of industrial output, according to Nicholas Lardy, a China specialist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. But state-owned companies have near monopolies in energy, transportation, banking and other sectors that are considered critical to economic stability.
Four ways to tell China is serious about markets | Considered View | Breakingviews China’s new buzzword is “decisive”. That’s how the ruling party described the role it wants markets to play in the economy. It’s hard to see whether it’s more than just talk. But there are four visible ways to tell whether China means business.
US stand-off with China threatens trade talks – FT.com a disagreement between China and the US over how “tariff-rate quotas” for agricultural products are administered is among the latest items threatening to derail the negotiations. The dispute is a proxy for the broader battle over China’s treatment within the WTO. Beijing has tended to be grouped with developing countries within the trade body, nations which under WTO practices are often accorded special treatment or exclusions from rules. But the US and others increasingly argue that, as a rising economic power, China is a special case and ought to be subject to the same rules as the US and other rich countries.
U.S. says China must do more to safeguard trade secrets | Reuters Ambassador Gary Locke said a “long road” lay ahead before rights holders in China could feel confident that their IPR would be protected under the law. “Rights holders, including many Chinese, have told us … that courts lack consistency in the application of procedural remedies and that damages awarded do not fully compensate for losses or fail to deter future infringers,” he told a forum. “So long as such entrepreneurs’ efforts go unrewarded, China’s efforts to develop an innovative, 21st Century economy will remain stunted.”
Yuan Halts Three-Day Decline on Record Fixing Before Lew Visit – Bloomberg China’s yuan snapped a three-day drop as the central bank boosted the daily fixing to a record before U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew visits this week. The People’s Bank of China raised the reference rate by 0.04 percent to 6.1315 per dollar, the strongest level since a peg to the greenback was removed in 2005
上海自贸区现2000吨金库 相当于3个篮球场大(图)_资讯频道_凤凰网 2000 ton gold vault in Shanghai FTZ// 日樱北路、洲海路路口，上海自贸区一个不起眼的物流园区内，相当于3个篮球场大小，可以容纳2000吨黄金的金库已经完工、即将开放。 2000吨黄金存储量可以满足中国两年的黄金交易需求。
Huxiu — Alipay’s Yuebao grows from 55.6bn to 100bn within 1.5 month On November 14th, Tianhong Fund announced on its microblogging account that the scale of Yuebao, a monetary fund product, has exceeded 100bn yuan and its investors are about to reach 30m. Yuebao was launched on June 13th this year and became the first public offering of fund of over 100bn yuan in the country.
河北计划4年内削减钢铁产能六千万吨-新华网 Hebei announced plan to cut annual steel production capacity by 60 million tons by 2017 to improve air quality.// 新华网石家庄１１月１４日电（记者曹国厂）为改善环境空气质量，河北省不久前印发了《河北省大气污染防治行动计划实施方案》。根据该《方案》，到２０１７年，河北将削减钢铁产能６０００万吨，力争甩掉重污染帽子。
VW hit by 2.6 million vehicle recall focused on China | Reuters VW’s Chinese unit said 640,309 vehicles would be recalled from November 25 over the oil checks, while the country’s quality watchdog had already announced on Wednesday that 207,778 Tiguans would be pulled off its roads.
Volvo Discovers the Benefits of Being Chinese – China Real Time Report – WSJ Sweden’s Volvo Car Corp. has been approved for inclusion on a Chinese government procurement list, according to the China-owned car brand, opening a door to the nation’s influential official-fleet market. The company was added in September, Michael Ning, Volvo spokesman in China, said Wednesday. “We are on the list,” he said. “But we don’t know how the government will purchase.”
China’s smog threatens health of global coal projects | Reuters Beijing’s plans to tackle pollution largely target coal-fired power, which will hit already slowing demand in the world’s top importer of the fuel. With China’s coal demand the primary driver for a slew of mine investments over the past decade, this trend could derail a list of capital intensive coal projects from Australia to Indonesia and Mozambique.
POLITICS AND LAW
人民日报评论员文章：把握全面深化改革总目标-时政频道-新华网 ——二论认真贯彻落实十八届三中全会精神… 1992年，邓小平同志提出，再有30年的时间，我们才会在各方面形成一整套更加成熟更加定型的制度。今天，中国站在改革开放的新起点上，从国家治理的角度提出长远目标可谓正当其时。向着这一目标奋力前行，中国改革的航船一定能劈波斩浪，带领13亿人民迈向社会主义现代化的新航程。
习版军机处：内外兼备 有官无僚_中国_多维新闻网 new State Security Committee like the 军机处 Office of Political and Military Affairs of the Qing Dynasty? // 清华大学中美研究中心主任孙哲对照美国国家安全委员会认为，中国版“国安委”是兼具内政外交军事，对内社会治理、对外捍卫国家利益的跨部会机构，与美国版完全不同。在组织的建设上，凸显多机构的协调极为重要。效率问题需要得到重视和提高，在决策过程中表现出较强的“变革性”和协调能力。 北京市社会科学院满学研究所所长赵志强则将国安委与军机处作比。他认为，还原军机处的本来面目——是与官僚化的内阁互补协同，堪称大国中枢决策高效运作的治理标本。国安委应发挥中枢决策的效用，应对危机、高效运作，有官无僚，创新不僵化。
上海传达全会精神 韩正称坚决果断推进深层次改革_财经频道_一财网 中共上海市委13日上午和下午分别举行常委会和全市党员负责干部大会，传达党的十八届三中全会精神。
肖钢：资本市场将迎来新一轮难得的发展机遇_股票频道_一财网 11月14日上午，中国证监会党委召开党委中心组（扩大）学习会议，认真学习党的十八届三中全会精神，并结合我国资本市场改革发展实际，对证券期货监管系统学习贯彻十八届三中全会精神作出了明确要求和部署
[视频]【十八大一年来】从严治党树新风 重拳反腐动真格_新闻频道_央视网 Thursday CCTV Evening News sings the praises of the corruption and extravagance crackdowns// 铁腕纠正四风的同时，重拳惩治腐败。一年来，11名省部级高官涉嫌严重违法违纪而落马，让百姓看到了中央对腐败的零容忍。9月中央纪委监察部官方网站对外开通，平均每天收到800多份实名举报，社会公众深度参与到反腐工作中。半年内中央启动两轮巡视工作，重心就是“找问题”。
View From Beijing – Council on Foreign Relations Robert D. Hormats provides insight on consensus building for economic policy as a result of the Third Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party’s Eighteenth National Congress.
Hailing China’s Third Plenum | Brookings Institution The following is the transcript from Cheng Li’s interview with China Radio International about the outcome of China’s Third Plenary Meeting of the 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress.
Local Chinese gov’ts urged to fulfill pre-set reform tasks – Xinhua Altogether 22 major reform tasks were put forward after the new leadership took office in March. “This year’s reforms have been progressing smoothly on the whole, which played an important role in promoting a steady and sound economic development,” according to a statement issued after the executive meeting. “But the reform measures in some fields have not been implemented. Great attention should be paid to that and efforts should be made to speed up the reforms,” the statement says.
A Few Bad Men: Li Tianyi, gang rape, and a media circus | That’s Online But was all of this necessary – or, to put it in the words of Pi Yijun, “Are the Lis really so powerful anyway?” Pi, a professor of juvenile crime at the University of Politics and Law of China, believes that Li’s original road-rage sentence in 2011 was overly heavy, due to public pressure. “Just how many brawls do we see on the street everyday?” he points out. Pi says he has seen “too many” young men similar to Li, making the same mistakes as him and ending up in one of China’s brutal boot camps for young offenders. Here, he says these juveniles risk “cross-contamination,” where “good kids” mix with the bad and pick up their criminal habits. As 18-year-old Li enters his adult life with a decade-long stretch inside, Pi has only a bleak prognosis. “The earlier one is sent to jail, the more likely he will commit crimes again later in life,” Pi says. “So, no, I don’t think Li Tianyi will be a much better man when he comes out.”
‘I am like a ghost now’, says censored outspoken scholar Zhang Lifan | South China Morning Post Blogs belonging to one of the most outspoken liberal-minded scholars in China were removed from a number of large Chinese portals on Tuesday in the latest attempt at online censorship. Zhang Lifan, 63, is a prominent scholar of modern Chinese history and outspoken critic of the Chinese government. He is the son of Zhang Naiqi, a founding member of one of the eight official-recognised political parties in China that were regarded as allies of the leading Communist Party. ..Zhang speculated that the censorship was a response to his call for public debates with pro-communist party academics opposed to constitutionalism
国企成都高投集团董事长平兴涉嫌犯罪被移送司法_网易新闻中心 Chairman of Chengdu Hi-Tech Investment ( http://www.cdhtgroup.com/ an SOE) detained, sounds like related to Li Chuncheng case//中新网成都11月14日电 14日，记者从成都市纪委获悉，成都市纪委对成都市高新投资集团有限公司董事长、总经理平兴进行了立案调查。经查，平兴的行为已构成严重违纪，有的问题已涉嫌犯罪。其涉嫌犯罪问题移送司法机关依法处理
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China, Yemen pledge to step up ties – Xinhua Hailing the two countries’ political mutual trust, mutual respect and healthy development of bilateral ties, Li said China will continue to support Yemen’s efforts in safeguarding its stability and development as well as advancing its political transition process, adding China is willing to upgrade the two countries’ bilateral relations to a higher level. China is willing to increase cooperation in all fields, create better plans for economic and trade cooperation, further provide assistance for Yemen in personnel training, encourage more Chinese companies to conduct business in Yemen and broaden financing channels, said the premier.
In Philippine relief efforts, China beat by Ikea – Yahoo News China has pledged less than $2 million in cash and materials, compared to $20 million provided by the United States, which also launched a massive military-driven rescue operation that includes an aircraft carrier. Another Chinese rival, Japan, has pledged $10 million and offered to send troops, ships and planes. Australia is giving $28 million, and Ikea has offered $2.7 million through its charitable foundation.
China says people sympathetic about Philippines, online criticism unrepresentative | Reuters Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said he was certain most people were actually saddened by what had happened in the Philippines, where up to 10,000 could have died when Typhoon Haiyan tore through the middle of the country last week. “I don’t know how much comment you saw on the internet, but believe me that the Chinese are a nation who have a lot of sympathy, a people who love peace, who are happy to do good deeds,” he told a daily news briefing.
独家解密：解放军为何突然取消渤海军事行动_资讯频道_凤凰网 不过从今日中国海空军的实力来看，除了隐形飞机和巡航导弹，已经再无任何国家能够出动海军舰艇，强行穿越海峡攻入渤海，防御老铁山水道的任务已经大大淡化，但从备战以防万一的战略思考来说，进行扫雷布雷训练还是有必要的，而进行扫布雷训练，实地进行很有必要，因为涉及到海流、涌浪等一系列真实的海区状况，是不能像导弹射击一样可以挪到他处进行的。 综合来看，笔者认为最有可能进行的是关于海上扫雷布雷的训练，当然其他高科技武器实验的可能性也不能排除。
China Tests High-Speed Precision-Guided Torpedo | Washington Free Beacon Rick Fisher, a China military affairs expert, said the new torpedo signals a shift in China’s past practice of relying on Soviet-Russian and stolen American technology to build torpedoes. China also is said to be using Russian underwater warfare know-how to build a torpedo-killing anti-torpedo. The killer torpedoes are launched against incoming underwater torpedoes that, like the reported new Chinese weapon, are immune to U.S. electronic countermeasures. “If China is developing torpedoes that are able to out-fox towed decoys like the U.S. Nixie system, then it becomes more urgent that the U.S. Navy deploy its own ‘anti-torpedo’ torpedo,” said Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
中国军用无人机列装七大军区 担负不同任务(图)_新闻_腾讯网 more on China’s drones…//据《解放军报》关于军队日常训练的报道显示，目前在北京、沈阳、兰州、济南、南京、广州、成都七大军区以及空军都装备有各型号的无人机，担负不同的任务。 综合这些报道可知，目前我国无人机主要担负空中侦察、战场观察和毁伤评估等任务。不过，在这些报道中，尚未显示我军无人机执行远程战略任务以及攻击性任务。
LOCKED IN THE CABINET – POLITICO Magazine Cabinet members quickly realized that complaining wasn’t a great idea. Determined to make something out of his Commerce perch, Locke pressed to be admitted to the big economic team meetings where all the key decisions were made by the West Wing’s A-team players. He attended a few, but did little to impress Obama or his team, and was eventually shipped off to Beijing as ambassador to China. “He was never heard from again,” recalls a former member of the economic team. // toxic, anonymous backstabbing
China off the hook for smog surge in Japan with volcano now being blamed | South China Morning Post Just days after elevated levels of toxic PM2.5 particles in the air above parts of Japan were blamed on pollution from China, scientists identified an erupting volcano as the real culprit.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Taiwan singer Deserts Chang forced to cancel China concert over flag row | South China Morning Post Taiwanese singer Deserts Chang has been forced to cancel a performance in China amid controversy about her display of a Taiwanese flag at an overseas concert, it was announced on Thursday. “A recent unexpected episode in her performance has caused various interpretations … we have decided to suspend the concert out of concerns for performance quality as well as the audiences’ welfare and safety,” her agent Tsai Yu-ching said in a statement.
Taiwan Restricts Chinese Investment Amid Trade Pact Review – Bloomberg Taiwan announced stricter rules for investment projects by Chinese companies as President Ma Ying-jeou seeks to overcome lawmaker resistance to legislation that would boost economic ties with China.
TECH AND MEDIA
How to Get Censored on China’s Twitter – ProPublica Some of the research for this investigation was conducted in collaboration with a team at the Spatial Information Design Lab and the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, at Columbia University. The Columbia project, called “Jumping the Great Firewall,” uses a similar methodology and was pursued in partnership with the Pen American Center and Thomson Reuters.–If you work as a Weibo censor and are willing to speak to ProPublica about your experiences, please contact us at weibo@propublica.org. Here’s our PGP key.//interesting requests for comments from inside
China’s Lenovo PC Maker Vaults to Third in Smartphone Market Behind Apple, Samsung – China Real Time Report – WSJ The Chinese PC maker, which has been selling smartphones outside of China since 2012, became the world’s third-largest smartphone maker by shipments in the third quarter, overtaking South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc., according to data from Gartner released Thursday. Lenovo overtook Hewlett- Packard Co. as the world’s biggest PC maker earlier this year.
Rejecting Billions, Snapchat Expects a Better Offer – NYTimes.com On stage at an industry event in September, Mr. Spiegel said that he wanted to duplicate the success of overseas chatting applications like WeChat. Many such companies, particularly WeChat and Line, have found ways to make money from their applications through virtual goods and games. WeChat, which is based in China and operated by a company called Tencent, allows its users to subscribe to brands like Starbucks and Nike and receive messages from them. Line, a Japanese messaging app, has $10 million a month in revenue from selling stickers that users can send to each other while chatting with friends.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
组图：木雕《清明上河图》载入吉尼斯纪录_新闻_腾讯网 wow, 12m long wood carving of the famous painting “Along the River During the Qingming Festival”// 郑春辉的木雕《清明上河图》长12.286米，高3.075米，宽2.401米。作品采用镂空雕、透雕、浮雕和莆田精微透雕等雕刻技法创作，画面中人物，景物惟妙惟肖，立体感强，层次分明，雕工精致。图为民众在参观木雕《清明上河图》
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Rich nations must pay up if U.N. climate talks to succeed: China | Reuters Slow-moving U.N. negotiations on fighting climate change can advance only if rich nations fulfill their promise to provide billions of dollars in finance to developing countries, China’s chief climate negotiator Su Wei said Thursday. He told reporters in Warsaw that developed nations should make good on pledges made in 2010 and immediately pay the promised $30 billion to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate change. Rich countries also need to clarify how they intend to scale that up to $100 billion per year by 2020, he said.
China’s New Regional Air Quality Regulations: A Win-Win for local air quality and the climate | ChinaFAQs When I went back to China this summer after my first year living outside of China in a decade I was not sure what I would find. The US press reporting on Chinese pollution had been so uniformly negative that I was not sure if somehow immediately after I left Beijing the improvements that had been taking place since the 11th Five Year Plan began in 2006 had suddenly stalled. What I found was quite to the contrary – new regulations that come into effect in 2014 are driving massive upgrades of the power sector and transforming the energy supply in central cities. As this new equipment comes on line and the Regional Air Quality (RAQ) Regulations enter into force, we can expect significant improvements in air quality.
Northern Chinese Brace for Smog Spike as Winter Heating Kicks In – NYTimes.com In a sign that Beijing will begin to address its pollution problems, the city government announced plans in October to replace four coal-burning heating plants in the capital with natural-gas-powered ones by the end of 2014. According to a Xinhua report, these four plants burned 9.3 million metric tons of coal in 2012, roughly 40 percent of the city’s coal consumption last year.
China Moving to End Some Cosmetics Testing on Animals – NYTimes.com In a document dated Nov. 5, the China Food and Drug Administration asked for opinions about proposed regulatory changes, including in the cosmetics approval system, “in order to improve regulatory management and improve consumers’ health rights.” Proposal No. 1, of three, says domestically produced, “non-special use” cosmetics no longer have to meet former requirements of testing on animals, starting from June 1, 2014.
FOOD AND TRAVEL
Would You Like Fries With Those Spicy Pork McBites? – NYTimes.com With competition heating up in China’s $174 billion dollar fast-food market, McDonald’s is seeking to up its game by capitalizing on the country’s increasingly voracious appetite for pigs. The result? Spicy Pork McBites.
BEIJING
北京启动楼盘利润审计 试图厘清项目情况严控房价|北京|楼盘|审计_新浪财经_新浪网 Beijing launching audit of profits at real estate projects
北京村民荒野挖出半裸女孩尸体 死者仅12岁(图)_新闻_腾讯网 11月5日上午，密云县河南寨镇提辖庄村村民在荒野地里挖沙土时，发现一名女童尸体。经警方判定，死者系该村一名12岁女孩，于半个月前失踪。尸体发现后第二天，警方将犯罪嫌疑人抓获。据死者家属介绍，犯罪嫌疑人之前是惯犯，怀疑死者生前遭到其性侵犯。但对于案件细节，警方未予透露。
软件实时掌握下趟车在哪 现78条线可查-法制晚报 今天上午，北京交通信息服务国际研讨会开幕。市交通信息中心联合公交集团、祥龙公交等，开发了基于苹果、安卓系统的智能手机终端软件“北京实时公交”。可实现公交到站实时查询、公交提示、公交换乘等功能，为市民提供出行参考。该软件开展了四次路测，受网络传输等因素影响，平均准确率在85%以上。
JOBS AND EVENTS
December U.S.-China Legal Exchange Event In early December, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of General Counsel is hosting the U.S.-China Legal Exchange, a longstanding forum that allows the U.S. business, legal, and academic communities in three U.S. cities to hear directly from MOFCOM, NPC, and State Council officials about important developments in China’s commercial legal and regulatory landscape. The topics for the full-day program are: (i) China’s Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Laws; and (ii) Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship in China, including Private Equity and Venture Capital. The Legal Exchange will be held in Washington, DC on Dec. 4, in Boston on Dec. 6, and in Orange County, CA on Dec. 9. For additional information and to register for the U.S.-China Legal Exchange, please visit: http://export.gov/china/uschinalegalexchange/.