"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
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My China Insider column for this week is online at Dealbook. It looks at the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute, the recent economic data, China’s annual Spring Festival migration, the frugality campaign and the recent hackings–A New Year, but Some Old Issues.
Does China have a big problem with fake Hukous (household registrations) and fake identity cards? More and more corruption cases involve people who used multiple hukous and ID cards to acquire ridiculous amounts of property. Elder housing sister with her 41 Beijing properties, many at SOHO China developments, now looks like a piker compared to a police official in Guangdong who, along with family members, may have more than 170 properties–Police official being probed for fake ID – Xinhua. One report claims this official, now known as “房爷”, may have 192 properties–广东被曝有192套房公安局干部称:房产是弟弟的|陆丰|双重身份|经商_新浪新闻.
The South China Morning Post reports on two other new cases of officials using fake identities to hide ill-gotten wealth:
Following last month’s revelation that a banker in Shaanxi bought 41 properties in Beijing using fake identities, reports surfaced yesterday that two more officials – one connected to the same bank – concealed property purchases. An anti-corruption official in Heilongjiang allegedly bought more than 15 properties, registered them in his wife’s name, and then entered into a fake divorce to hide ill-gotten wealth. A senior banker at the Rural Commercial Bank in Shenmu county, Shaanxi province, allegedly colluded in his wife’s purchase of at least 12 properties in Beijing using three different identities.
Does the use of fake identities have an international angle? One reader thinks so and has allowed me to post their thoughts anonymously:
The use of multiple hukous to buy properties is a nice, juicy story right now, but multiple hukous and associated Shenfenzhengs [National ID cards] also give one access to much more serious scams with international consequences.
A second (or third, fourth, fifth) hukou/Shenfenzheng also sets up the opportunity for someone to apply for a Chinese passport under the assumed name of the those documents. With several hukous/Shenfenzhengs, bank accounts filled with their “hard-earned money” which are linked to those documents and several Chinese passports, this person can now apply for visas to Canada, US, Australia, and European countries and then make an investment that sets them up for a green card or equivalent and eventually citizenship and a passport. At that point, these people are beyond China’s jurisdiction and can move funds based on those fictitious IDs without fear of getting caught.
To be clear, I have not helped anyone do this, but I do know of more than one person who has several passports, all in different names, from a handful of OECD countries. I’m watching this fake hukou story with interest as it may soon lead to a Chinese citizen getting busted at a foreign border for using fraudulent means to obtain a passport.
Should foreign governments be paying attention? And why is Chinese media allowed to report so aggressively on stories that highlight corruption within parts of the Ministry of Public Security?
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
Reformers Aim to Get China to Live Up to Own Constitution – NYTimes.com – Through the decades, party leaders have paid lip service to the Constitution, but have failed to enforce its central tenets, some of which resemble those in constitutions of Western democracies. The fifth article says the Constitution is the supreme authority: “No organization or individual may enjoy the privilege of being above the Constitution and the law.” Any real application of the Constitution would mean severely diluting the party’s power.
Local Exaggeration in GDP: 5.8Trl Higher than Central Data-Caijing – Chinese officials have a strong incentive to embellish the economic data from regions under their governance with GDP a key index to assess officials’ political performance in the country. According to a host of figures released recently by local governments, GDP in all provinces (districts and cities) across China added up to 57.69 trillion yuan in 2012, compared with a preliminary reading of GDP of 51.93 trillion, which was compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics. The so-called “GDP fight” in Chinese between central and local governments has started since 1985, when a twin-track approach of accounting the economic output was first used among different levels of governments. There are also signs of widening gap between the local-combined data and the central data, from 2009’s 2.68 trillion to 2010’s 3.2 trillion, and 4.6 trillion in 2011, despite repeated condemnation from the central government over accounting irregularities.
In China’s Most-Watched Divorce Case, 3 Victories, 1 Defeat – NYTimes.com– the wife-beating Crazy English founder Li Yang// Yet Ms. Guo said that the financial terms of the settlement – Ms. Lee will receive 12 million renminbi ($1.9 million) and a fixed sum annually until her daughters reach 18 – showed that Chinese courts failed to uncover Mr. Li’s true assets and make him pay commensurately. “He hid almost all his money from the court,” said Ms. Guo. “And the court didn’t force him to reveal it. So in reality the settlement was very unjust.”
习近平突临杨白冰追悼会 吊唁藏深意_多维新闻网 – interesting from Duowei on Xi’s attendance and comments at Yang Baibing’s memorial service//据知情人士向多维新闻透露,直到前一天,杨白冰的追悼会并没有设定如此高的规格,他们的家人在低调着预备第二天的告别仪式,杨家人得到的消息仅仅是现任政治局常委刘云山代表中共高层出席。但是就在1月21日追悼会的当天清晨,习近平突然提出要亲往杨白冰追悼会现场。消息一出,其他5名原本不计划参加追悼会的常委也纷纷紧急修改行程陪同前往。对此该知情人士指出,“习近平此举最主要的目的是在政治上彻底给杨家平反,也借机给当年因‘杨家将事件’受到不同影响的军队高层及他们的后代一个交代,也给那段历史一个重新解读的机会,其政治意义不可小觑。”…最终,习近平借着杨白冰去世这个场合,将整个中共三代领导人的政治排名方案落实。正如前文所说那样,江泽民与杨白冰之间的矛盾,也是一个公开的“秘密”,习近平此举,不乏“警醒”江泽民的意味在里面。再加上给江的政治生涯“盖棺”,可谓是“杯酒释兵权”,四两拨千斤地将江泽民的政治影响减少到了最低。 今天回头再看上世纪八十年代之后的中国政坛,邓小平对杨家兄弟的“过河拆桥”,是为了保证刚刚上台的“江核心”、为了保证中国的改革开放大业,为了中国不再出现“太上皇”、“军人干政”的政治局面,在做法上是稍有粗糙的无奈之举;江泽民与杨白冰之间的恩怨,是当时“新主”和“老臣”之间在军权、政治理念等方面所存在的不可调和的矛盾;而习近平今天所做的一系列事情,则是一个带有毛、邓色彩的中共领导人,为了缓和党内旧有矛盾、清除“老人政治”所做的直面历史、给历史一个交代的最为妥善的举动。
China corruption fire sale: Limited time only! | beyondbrics– Local media reported last month that the anti-corruption agency of the Communist party, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, authored a report saying that a wave of luxury home sales had begun last November by officials fearing investigations. The commission denied that story this week. The denial might actually be nearer the truth. As Bill Bishop, a commentator on Chinese news, has noted, the data provide no evidence whatsoever to support the view that there has been a fire sale of ill-begotten villas. On the contrary, property prices have rallied since late last year. If some officials have been rushing to sell their homes, even more people have been swooping in to buy them. But why let the facts stand in the way of a good story? That at least is the philosophy of the estate agents who have been using panic sales as a motif in their advertising.
Shenzhen Launches “Breakthrough” Land Reform – Economic Observer – Shenzhen’s very limited land space is thwarting industrial development in the city. In a move to relieve this pressure, the government has approved “breakthrough” land reform.
激斗油品国标_杂志频道_财新网 – Caixin cover story on gasoline and the recent smog// 雾霾阴影下,油品国标禁锰降硫别无选择,谁付成本?石化、汽车和环保三方激斗,惟消费者缺席
Asia Unbound » What To Do About Chinese Cyber Espionage? – All of these articles suggest a real problem in the U.S.-China cyber relationship: it seems to be happening primarily through the media. Cyber has been a topic at the Strategic and Economic Dialogue and other more formal discussions. But these do not seem to be succeeding in either mitigating the problem or addressing the mistrust between the two sides. Today the New York Times reported that President Obama has broad powers to order a pre-emptive cyber strike; the PLA Daily retorts that the United States is using the military to respond to network challenges and could trigger a worldwide arms race. Unless we find a better medium than the major papers to signal our disapproval, the PLA Daily may be right.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Thai Tycoon Pulls Off Ping An Deal – WSJ.com – People familiar with the correspondence between the Chinese regulator and HSBC and Charoen Pokphand said that in recent weeks communications with the regulator had run smoothly and one of them said that the questions had been routine. The approval for the deal came just hours before the deadline set by regulators. The deal is expected to be completed on Wednesday.
Iron-Ore Swaps Rally to 15-Month High as China Seen Accelerating – Bloomberg – Iron-ore swaps rallied to the highest in 15 months on speculation Chinese steel mills need to restock before the New Year’s holiday and data showed industry expanding in the world’s largest importer. February contracts rose 2 percent to $156.50 a dry metric ton by 12:04 p.m. in London, according to GFI Group Inc. That’s the highest for the next month’s swap since October 2011, according to data from SGX AsiaClear, the largest clearer of the derivatives used to hedge prices and bet on Chinese growth
三线地产僵局 – 经济观察网 - 专业财经新闻网站 – 导语:开发量很大,但人气没跟上,没有新的产业,商业过不来,生活不便,前不着村后不着店,冷冷清清。甚至新的商业免三年五年房租都无法把商家吸引过来,因为如果没有人气,商家是不敢冒此风险的。
Real Estate Bubble Expands to Third and Fourth Tier Cities – Economic Observer Online – ~ Yingkou (营口) is a third tier coastal city in Liaoning Province located between Shenyang and Dalian. The city’s goal is to become a large tourist city with a population of one million, but at the moment, it’s the new focus of China’s real estate bubble. ~ A Yingkou real estate market research report obtained by the Economic Observer shows that in 2012, the potential future supply of properties from 42 major projects in the city reached 14 million square meters. If the properties are sold at the 2011 rate of 2 million square meters annually, it will take six to seven years to unload all of them. A developer said that the city has the most serious real estate bubble in Liaoning and that the six to seven year estimate is probably too conservative. ~ A worker at a real estate agency in Yingkou estimated that, even if the entire existing 500,000-person population in the downtown area all moved to the new developments, many homes in the area would still be unoccupied.
China Signals Central Bank Leadership to Change Next Month – Bloomberg – China signaled it’s preparing for its first new central bank chief since 2002 as an official newspaper said Zhou Xiaochuan will step down from his position next month. The China Securities Journal, published by the state-run Xinhua News Agency, didn’t attribute the information to anyone in its Feb. 2 profile of Zhou, governor of the People’s Bank of China. The ruling Communist Party previously indicated in November that Zhou would leave, without saying when, by omitting him from its central committee list.
“房姐”牵出“神木购房团” 潘石屹被指封口“洗钱门”_中国经济网??国家经济门户 – 在陕西神木“房姐”龚爱爱背后,似乎还隐藏着更为庞大的“购房团”,其盘根错节的利益纠葛笼罩在三里屯SOHO上空。潘石屹这位房产界大佬,已经成为公众目光的焦点。
Soho’s Zhang Xin: ‘Factually Wrong’ to Say China Has Commercial Property Oversupply – China Real Time Report – WSJ– but how many MNCs lease from SOHO China? Their buildings in Beijing at least may be full (office space; not retail) but also tend to be poorly constructed, poorly maintained, lacking enough elevators, tenants very local firms it seems…// There’s no problem with oversupply in China’s commercial property sector, according to one of the country’s leading developers. “It’s factually wrong to say that there’s a problem with oversupply,” said Zhang Xin, Chief Executive Officer of Soho, one of China’s largest commercial real estate developers. The company recently switched from a build-to-sell to a build-to-hold strategy, hoping to capitalize on rising rents and asset prices. The firm’s focus is on grade-A commercial property in Beijing and Shanghai and there are currently no plans to expand into second-tier cities. “Most companies in China now, if they are multi-nationals, have a Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing office. In other cities, I don’t see as deep a demand yet,” said Ms. Zhang.
Loans to Steel Traders in China Pose Risk – Deal Journal – WSJ– The potential defaults by steel-trading firms would amount to a relatively small portion of overall loans made to those firms and are unlikely by themselves to make a significant dent in the financial health of Chinese banks. But the problem loans point to a broader failure by the country’s banks to properly assess lending risks, which leads many analysts to believe that the banking system is less robust than official statistics suggest.
China’s money supply should not be misinterpreted – People’s Daily Online– Statistics show that China accounts for half of the world’s new money supply since the global financial crisis. Certain people thus accused China of over-issuing currency, and attributed the country’s rapid gross domestic product (GDP) growth to over-issuance of the yuan. The alarmists completely ignored objective conditions, and failed to uncover the reasons behind China’s massive money supply. As a result, a supposedly rigorous discussion of a major economic problem was filled with meaningless uproar.
二套房停贷传言引热议 如房价上涨过快调控将加码 新华社——经济参考网 – 近日,“二套房停贷”传言频出。究其根源,房地产市场普遍回暖,市场看涨预期与调控预期同时加强是调控传言的主因
Institutional Investors in Beijing-Shanghai Line Seek to Sell Shares –Caixin – Ping An Asset Management Co. Ltd. and the National Council for Social Security Fund proposed in the second half of last year that China Railway Investment Co. (CRIC) buy back their shares, despite the fact that the company that built the Beijing-Shanghai bullet train line performed well in 2012….Last year, revenue from ticket sales on the Beijing-Shanghai line totaled 17.38 billion yuan, not including revenue from ads and station shops, a source close to the company said. The revenue of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Co. can cover its authorized operating costs, depreciation costs and interest on its loans. Its annual depreciation cost was 5.5 billion yuan, and interest payments amounted to 6 billion yuan. Operating costs were more difficult to calculate because the company has entrusted local railway bureaus, namely the Beijing, Jinan and Shanghai bureaus, to operate the line.
Peterson Institute for International Economics–China Economic Watch | A Blueprint for Rebalancing the Chinese Economy – Nicholas Lardy and Nicholas Borst// Hot off the press, here’s our new policy brief on economic rebalancing in China. The paper takes an updated look at the key policy reforms necessary to achieve economic rebalancing, sketches out a feasible rebalancing scenario over the next decade, and analyzes the domestic political challenges. As always, your public and private comments on this paper are welcome.
Why Not To Worry About Chinese Outflows – Business Insider – China just reported its first capital account deficit since 1998. But Standard Chartered’s Stephen Green and Wei Li write that there is no reason to worry about hot money flowing out of the count
POLITICS AND LAW
人民日报-厉行节俭 人人有责(厉行节约 反对浪费) 本报评论员 – call for frugality once again on page 1 of people’s daily, most read story
What’s Behind China’s Sudden Campaign to Restrict Food Waste? | Tea Leaf Nation – Xi Jinping, China’s new Communist Party chief and presumptive next president, is perhaps the only one in the country who can change the national conversation merely by making a comment to an article. But a recent comment about food waste, which has attracted perhaps more attention than real policy changes, could lead China’s focus back to government corruption.
媒体称多地严查公款吃喝后部分名酒价格暴跌_网易新闻中心 –baijiu prices crashes in face of frugality campaign?// 新华网上海2月4日电 近来,中央等有关部门要求严查公款吃喝。“新华视点”记者采访发现,茅台等名酒价格应声下跌,跌幅普遍达20%至30%。
人民日报-年会可以有 奢华必须刹(厉行节约 反对浪费)–中央出台八项规定和习近平总书记作出厉行节约、反对浪费的重要批示后,反奢靡反浪费成为很多人的主动选择。临近春节,年会中的公款吃喝现象成为关注焦点,奢华年会尚未杜绝,提倡办节俭年会的呼声高涨。奢华年会依然办,怎么刹?
习近平7年插队地将建知青体验园_多维新闻网 – liangjiahe village, where xi jinping spent 7 years, to become an “educated youth experience zone”?// 【多维新闻】习近平上位前后,他所插队7年的延安梁家河村也成为不断的话题,外界希望从这段特殊的经历中窥伺到习近平身上可能留下的烙印。大陆媒体披露,根据规划,这个地方在40年后的今天即将“消失”——全村人将搬到镇上,取而代之的则是在保护原貌的基础上建成的生态农业示范区、标准化养殖产业区和知青文化体验区。
Not Rising, But Rejuvenating: The “Chinese Dream” – The Diplomat – Many talk of China “rising.” Chinese view their fortunes as a return to greatness from a “century of humiliation” — and not a rise from nothing.
Expert defends China’s Internet management – Xinhua | English.news.cn– A Chinese legal expert on Monday refuted criticisms from the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the country’s supervision of the Internet and social networking services. A HRW report released last Thursday alleged that Chinese government’s restrictions on Internet users violated the freedom of expression. Wang Sixin, a professor of law with the Communication University of China, said in an article published by Xinhua Monday that such accusations are groundless and misrepresenting.
“人权观察”滥用人权领域的话语权 – 新华国际 – 新华网 – 2012年1月22日是星期天,也是中国人龙年春节即将到来的除夕。不知是有心还是无意,美国非政府组织“人权观察”选择在这一天,发布了它指责世界90多个国家和地区人权状况的《全球年度报告(2012年)》。其中关于中国的部分在660多页的报告中虽然只占10余页的篇幅,但是其对中国人权状况的歪曲和指责,着实令人惊讶。
Will Re-Education Through Labor in China End Soon? – China Real Time Report – WSJ – The appearance of stern criticism of laojiao is cause for hope, even though some lawyers and citizens remain skeptical about the extent of reform. The comments discussed here do suggest that policy seems to be moving in favor of reform of laojiao. However, even if that occurs, Human Rights Watch researcher Nicholas Bequelin rightly argues that “regardless of which route is chosen, any improvements on paper might be quickly reversed in practice if not accompanied by more comprehensive legal reforms.”
Malaysia criticised for deporting six Uygur Chinese | South China Morning Post– Citing credible sources, Human Rights Watch said the six men were held earlier last year for allegedly attempting to leave Malaysia using false passports. It said the men registered with the UN refugee agency in Kuala Lumpur while in detention and were to have their claims reviewed when they were deported. Malaysian police clandestinely transferred the men into the custody of Chinese authorities, who escorted them back to China on a chartered flight, it said.
痛哭的安监总局副局长也火了 至少5块名表价值不菲(图) – wenxuecity.com –
Anti-graft body probes traffic police|Society|chinadaily.com.cn – A former senior traffic police officer in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, is being investigated for serious disciplinary violations, while 39 officers from the city’s vehicle administration office are being probed for allegedly taking as much as 21 million yuan ($3.37 million) from driving test takers. Liang Zhixiong was removed from his post as director of the Zhanjiang Vehicle Administration Office and put under shuanggui early this year, according to the city’s Party anti-graft body
NBS reveals Gini coefficient methods (2) – People’s Daily Online– “The major issues in Gini coefficient figures are not their calculation formulas, but the problems in data collection caused by increasing forms of gray income,” said Zheng Xinye, a professor at the School of Economics at Renmin University of China. “A lack of data from high-income households also artificially lowers the Gini coefficient, because wealthier people usually do not like to respond to surveys,” Zheng noted. Zheng said the main cause for lower results in the NBS figures is that they used different household samples. “The income of the wealthy households surveyed by the bureau is lower than in those surveyed by the institutions.”
人民日报-各种版本 引发热议 哪个基尼系数更靠谱?(深阅读) People’s Daily on controversy around the Gini calculations- 不过,岳希明和李实表示,靠统计方法、调查方法的改进,不可能改变一个更基本的事实,即目前某些高收入居民拥有大量灰色收入,这是导致目前数据偏差的重要原因。解决这些问题不是统计部门的责任,而只能靠推进完善制度,提高透明度,把权力关进笼子,靠公众监督来消除隐患。
【舒立观察】反腐不可靠情妇_杂志频道_财新网 – 从情妇反腐的视角,兼看微博反腐的局限。反腐任重道远,在舆论监督的意义上,还是要推动新闻专业主义的成长,让新闻媒体客观、公正、深入的报道成为反腐利器
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
War with Japan means disaster, win or lose – Globaltimes.cn– But I think that Japan defies China on the Diaoyu Islands more out of its belief that if given another 20 years of peace, China can orderly resolve some problems as it wishes. By then, Japan will be no match for China in GDP, and will lose its century-long sense of superiority toward China. But for China, if a war over the Diaoyu Islands dispute erupts, even if China wins the war, its modernization process would be broken for a third time, with existing problems delayed infinitely rather than solved. The author is a researcher at Institute of Modern History under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
习不听不看安倍言行 战略定力破日双面外交_多维新闻网 – Duowei again says a Chinese landing on the Diaoyus might not be far off…//中国在钓鱼岛上面的战略已经从搁置争议发展到逐步控制。中国在钓鱼岛海域的全天候、立体式、常态化的巡航已经成为既定的事实,不会因为日本方面的“抗议”或者“善意”就会让步。中国领导层如今关心的并不是日本如何说,因为改善中国关系的唯一条件就是在钓鱼岛问题上承认争议。中国如今关心的是中国下一步怎么做。中国在钓鱼岛战略上一步一步皆是有条不紊,逐步进入钓鱼岛的核心层面,行政巡航只是第一步,海军训练是第二步,军机护航是第三步,下一步是什么,是登岛还是驱赶日本船只,也许在不久的将来就会出现。
Concern rises as China’s air pollution blown over Japan – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun – Officials and health experts say the woman has cause for concern, as the air pollution blanketing many Chinese cities last month drifts over the East China Sea to Japan.
Newspaper: dialogue and action can improve Sino-U.S. relations – Xinhua | English.news.cn– the Zhong Sheng piece highlighted in Monday’s Sinocism// “China deserves the same respect as the U.S.. Any attempt to impede China’s efforts to defend territorial sovereignty and realize national unification will certainly hurt the feelings of 1.3 billion Chinese people,” it says. “Only by replacing the Cold War mentality with cooperative thinking, and confrontation and containment with contact and dialogue, can Sino-U.S. relations develop healthily,” the commentary said.
The Jamestown Foundation: China and Venezuela: Equity Oil and Political Risk– Tied to these fundamental challenges is what is already known about Chinese national oil companies (NOCs) and their use of global equity oil acquisitions. A wide range of reports from international oil organizations like the International Energy Agency (IEA) to policy think tanks to academic publications have all indicated that frequently the majority of Chinese NOC’s equity oil is actually resold on local or international markets [5]…Ultimately, then, a significant portion, sometimes the majority, of oil that “China” receives through the CDB-led loans-for-oil deals with Venezuela is most likely in fact resold by its NOCs, never physically arriving in China. Such oil resales (at least of oil products) may be standard behavior for other international oil companies, but for China’s state-owned firms it has political consequences.
China’s string of fake pearls | Daniel W. Drezner– So, to sum up: despite Pakistan prostrating itself before China, Beijing has been extremely leery of getting too enmeshed in that country. It has rejected repeated requests for military basing, and only now has a commercial Chinese company agreed to manage a port that appears to be the Pakistani exemplar of “white elephant.” So please, no “strong of pearls” posts from the national security blogosphere today. These pearls are about as fake as you can get.
Expert: Jet’s landing on the Liaoning marks four breakthroughs – People’s Daily Online – The successful landing of the J-15 fighter jet on the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, marks four technological breakthroughs, senior colonel Li Li, deputy director of the Institute of Military Science under the National University of Defense Technology, said in an article recently published in Study Times.
Navy Plans to Build Fewer Ships, Right as It’s About to Get Busier | Danger Room | Wired.com– The U.S. Navy has finally and officially given up on long-standing plans to expand the fleet from today’s 285 major warships to 313 sometime in the next couple decades. Instead, the expansion will halt at 306 large ships, according to the latest Navy planning document, obtained by Defense News. Officially, the lower goal is a result of careful analysis of U.S. strategy, the needs of regional commanders, ship service-life and the capabilities of the shipbuilding industry. (Navy officials anticipated the shrinkage last year.).. Unofficially, there is another huge factor: money. For all the talk inside the Pentagon about strategy driving budgets and not the other way around, the Navy is anticipating shrinkage right as it also anticipates playing a larger role in U.S. national security
PLA general warns against ‘accidental warfare’ | South China Morning Post– “It is the final minute of the race,” said Liu Yuan, political commissar of the People’s Liberation Army’s General Logistics Department, in a reference to the country’s past 180 years of history, when efforts to revive the country’s economy were repeatedly destroyed by wars. “We should not be interrupted by accidental [warfare] again,” the official Global Times on Monday quoted Liu as saying. “What the Americans and the Japanese fear is that we will catch up with them, which is why they exhaust every possible means to suppress China’s development. We should not fall into their trap.” The Global Times report was an edited and abridged version of an essay by Liu on studying the spirit of November’s Party Congress report. The newspaper did not specify when Liu wrote the article
刘源:为了保卫战略机遇期 不排除会对外出手_资讯频道_凤凰网 – 当然,为了更长时间地维持这个和平发展的战略机遇期,不排除“该出手时要出手”,现在的战略机遇期也是小平同志1979年、1983年打了两仗打下来的。但“兵者国之大事,生死之地、存亡之道,不可不察也”。小平同志教导我们要韬光养晦,当年卧薪尝胆的勾践能够忍辱负重,韩信能忍受胯下之辱,为什么?为了忍一口气,等发展强大以后再踹它两脚。所以说,这个机遇期,我们能不能忍,关系到我们能不能后发制人,能不能实现跨越式发展,这可是一个考验。
China’s creep into Greenland is setting off alarm bells – Quartz– Much is made of China “going green.” But maybe more attention should be paid to China going to Greenland. The island nation’s government has okayed a $2.35 billion iron ore mining project backed by Chinese steelmakers that could bring in some 5,000 Chinese workers and would see around 15 million tonnes (16.5 million tons) of iron more shipped to China annually. It would be Greenland’s largest industrial development, bringing in more than its current annual GDP. The Chinese are arriving just in time. Though Australian and Canadian companies currently dominate in exploration of Greenland’s natural resources, actual mining has been kept to a minimum so far.
China’s People’s Daily rejects hacking allegations by US media | South China Morning Post– The People’s Daily accused the United States of fanning “fear of China” out of self interest, saying that it has invoked national security as a justification for trade protectionism and economic sanctions. “America keeps labelling China as hackers, simply playing up the rhetoric of the ‘China threat’ in cyberspace, providing new justification for America’s strategy of containing China,” it said.
Broad Powers Seen for Obama in Cyberstrikes – NYTimes.com– One senior American official said that officials quickly determined that the cyberweapons were so powerful that — like nuclear weapons — they should be unleashed only on the direct orders of the commander in chief. A possible exception would be in cases of narrowly targeted tactical strikes by the military, like turning off an air defense system during a conventional strike against an adversary. “There are very, very few instances in cyberoperations in which the decision will be made at a level below the president,” the official said. That means the administration has ruled out the use of “automatic” retaliation if a cyberattack on America’s infrastructure is detected, even if the virus is traveling at network speeds.
Review & Outlook: Barbarians at the Digital Gate – WSJ.com– wonder when the chinese wsj will be blocked…fighting words from the wsj// Still, whatever else the Chinese thought they were doing by hacking us, they didn’t stop the publication of a single article. Now they have only magnified their embarrassment, as their intrusion was eventually bound to be detected and publicized. Perhaps they will now try to deny us travel visas, harass our journalists or otherwise interfere with our business in China. Meantime, we read that the FBI is investigating China’s media hacking and treating it as a national security issue. It’s also a plain-old crime, undertaken by a government that fancies itself the world’s next superpower but acts like a giant thievery corporation. The Middle Kingdom might once have been the center of human civilization. But in the digital world, the Chinese are the barbarians at the gate. Whatever they think they’ve learned about us by sneaking around our inboxes, the world has learned a great deal more about them.
TECH AND MEDIA
HTC plans cheaper phones for China as revenue sags | Reuters– The former contract manufacturer’s fortunes have been declining sharply since the second half of 2011, as the growing global dominance of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in smartphones quickly deflated the success of its own brand’s rapid rise. China, the world’s most populous nation and a rising consumer power, is a key battlefield for smartphone makers with its still low levels of penetration, but its price-conscious consumers pose a dilemma for premium brands keen to maintain their high-end image but eager to tap the mass market. HTC Chief Financial Officer Chang Chia-Lin told a conference call for investors on Monday that his company, which has tended to rely on developed markets for most of its revenue and in China has focused on mid- to high-end models, was now ready to offer smartphones priced less than 1,999 yuan ($320) – currently its cheapest phone in China.
2012,微博改变驻华记者 – 专题 – 南都周刊 – 一些非媒体人的博客,在2.0的中国政治报道新局面中冉冉升起。名为“中国播客”、“单位”、“茶叶国”、“上海人”、“中国数字时代”和“中参馆”等自媒体,成为这一年分析中国政治必须要参考的英文媒体。
It’s Game On for Firms in Mobile Device Industry – Caixin – Chinese mobile game operators like Guangzhou Gude Network Technology Co. had reason to cheer in 2012, as it and many other industry players enjoyed rapid growth. Gude Chairman Xu Yuan called the year a turning point for companies in the industry. Gude’s role playing game, World Online, had monthly revenue of 18 million yuan and average revenue per user of 300 yuan. Additionally, a number of mobile game companies, who only a few years ago seldom saw monthly revenue of 1 million yuan, last year broke the 10 million mark, Xu said.
Sohu Falls on Profit Outlook Missing Estimates as Costs Rise – Bloomberg – Profit excluding some items probably will be 50 cents to 55 cents a share, the Beijing-based company said in a statement today. The average of five estimates on that basis was 77 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Labor and bandwidth costs are rising as the company grows and its traffic increases, “particularly on the video side,” Chief Financial Officer Carol Yu said on the earnings call.
In China, growing evidence that Apple’s wares are no longer worthy of cloning – Quartz – The best iPhone knockoffs in China are made by a company called GooPhone. The company’s clones of the bodies of Apple’s iPhones are so perfect that their devices would be indistinguishable from Apple’s own models were it not for the giant “GooPhone” logo on the back. And that’s telling: GooPhone doesn’t want to fool consumers into thinking they’re buying an iPhone; rather, GooPhone wants consumers to know that they are getting the best Android-powered, iPhone-like device money can buy.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Victims of Henan Bridge Collapse to Receive Equal Compensation – Economic Observer One of the reports in the paper also quoted a relative of one of the victims as saying that government officials had told him that as the accident occured in Henan, the compensation offered would be in keeping with Henan standards, “they said those with a urban household registration could get more than 400,000 in compensation, those with rural household registrations would at most get 180,000 yuan in compensation.” This afternoon, another report appeared on Dahe.cn or the “Henan Newspapering Network Center,” which is run by the Henan Daily Publishing Group which owns the Henan Business Daily. This report said that the latest news from the authorities managing the investigation and clean up at the crash site was that the local government has decided to award compensation to victims according to an interpretation of the compensation laws put out by China’s Supreme People’s Court which came into effect in 2005. Urban and rural residents will receive the same level of compensation.
China art market: auction houses see slump in 2012 sales | beyondbrics– The Chinese art market, which in 2011 was reported to have leapfrogged the US to become the largest in the world, took a severe battering in 2012 and may have already lost its number one position, according to the front-page story in February edition of The Art Newspaper. According to the publication, sales at China’s two largest auction houses, Poly Auction and China Guardian, have plummeted by more than half. Poly, part of a conglomerate which also includes the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, saw sales drop from $1.9bn in 2011 to $965m in 2012. China Guardian reported $1.8bn in 2011 but just $820m in sales in 2012.
The Chinese Grammar Wiki is 1 Year Old | AllSet Learning – It’s already been over a year since the Chinese Grammar Wiki – officially launched on January 22, 2012. Over the past year our whole team has been had at work iteratively improving the Chinese Grammar Wiki. When it launched, we felt pretty good about having 500 articles on the wiki. We now have over 1200.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH
Calvin Quek: China’s energy plan on PM2.5 and water-energy nexus is “significant new thinking” | The Green Leap Forward 绿跃进 – Head of Sustainable Finance at Greenpeace East Asia based in Beijing, and also the former executive director for the Beijing Energy Network, to discuss the recently announced 12th Five Year Energy Development Plan
关于约顿 – Yeadon Domes Recreational Air Structures – maker of the anti-pollution dome at Dulwich and maybe other international schools in china
Car emissions contribute to dense smog in Beijing: research – Xinhua | English.news.cn– Emissions from motor vehicles, coal-burning and cooking contributed to the dense smogs in Beijing in January, according to research results issued Sunday. The three factors made up 50 percent of the contributions to the five heavy smogs last month, according to the research of the “haze’s cause and control” group under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
Who will pay for cleaner gas? – Xinhua | English.news.cn– Beijing is the only city in China to have adopted the Beijing-5 standard, equal to the Euro V vehicle emissions standard, which caps sulphur content below 10 ppm (parts per million). China’s developed regions, including Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, use the national 4 standard of 50 ppm or below, while the remaining regions have adopted the national 3 standard, which allows the sulphur content in fuel to be as high as 150 ppm. But cleaner fuel may also mean higher prices. When Beijing and Shanghai switched from the national 3 standard to the stricter national 4 years ago, petrol prices rose by 0.2 to 0.3 yuan (0.03 to 0.05 U.S. dollars) per liter.
环保部拟推空气质量“一票否决” 新华社——经济参考网 – 《经济参考报》记者4日从知情人士处获悉,为进一步推动跨省份跨区域大气污染联防联控工作,环保部正在拟定涉及19个省份的考核办法,其中包括大气污染治理项目投运率、机动车黄标车淘汰率和尾气检测率等多个指标,并争取对空气质量实施一票否决制。
FOOD AND TRAVEL
Ministry acts on dairy safety|Industries|chinadaily.com.cn – China has become the world’s largest baby formula milk powder market, because many Chinese parents have had low confidence in its own domestic brands since 2008. About 80 percent of imported dairy products were from New Zealand in 2012, Wang added. Chen Zhuolin, the mother of a 15-month-old girl, said: “I’ll never allow my baby girl to have domestic milk powder, even though I pay a lot more for imported baby formula.” She said that she was going to Hong Kong every month to buy baby formula. Some regions, including Hong Kong, have just issued amount restrictions on purchasing milk powder, as a result of many parents doing the same.
JOBS AND EVENTS
Wandou Labs seeks a community manager for SnapPea – Wandou Labs seeks a community manager for SnapPea (www.snappea.com). You’ll manage our growing community of users from around the world (SnapPea is the version of Wandoujia for all users outside of China). You’ll also promote SnapPea to new users via Android blogs and other media outlets.