"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
The Essential Eight
1. Killing C.I.A. Informants, China Crippled U.S. Spying Operations – New York Times Current and former American officials described the intelligence breach as one of the worst in decades. It set off a scramble in Washington’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies to contain the fallout, but investigators were bitterly divided over the cause. Some were convinced that a mole within the C.I.A. had betrayed the United States. Others believed that the Chinese had hacked the covert system the C.I.A. used to communicate with its foreign sources. Years later, that debate remains unresolved…But there was no disagreement about the damage. From the final weeks of 2010 through the end of 2012, according to former American officials, the Chinese killed at least a dozen of the C.I.A.’s sources. According to three of the officials, one was shot in front of his colleagues in the courtyard of a government building — a message to others who might have been working for the C.I.A…There was good reason to suspect an insider, some former officials say. Around that time, Chinese spies compromised National Security Agency surveillance in Taiwan — an island Beijing claims is part of China — by infiltrating Taiwanese intelligence, an American partner, according to two former officials…By 2013, the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. concluded that China’s success in identifying C.I.A. agents had been blunted — it is not clear how — but the damage had been done.
Comment: A deeply disturbing story, byline of four of the NYT’s top national security reporters, none of the China journalists. 2010-12 was a period when, if you believe the corruption reports, the Chinese security services were in turmoil, but they were still able to be so efficient?
We in the public may never know how bad the damage has been. Why is this leaking now?
The anecdote about an alleged spy being shot in a courtyard in front of colleagues has been ridiculed by Beijing, but I will say that in my last year in Beijing there was a story going around about diplomats being recalled and summarily executed. Doesn’t mean it was true, but it was interesting that it was believed by more than a few.
Related: Chinese paper applauds anti-spy efforts after report CIA sources killed | Reuters “As for one source being shot in a government courtyard, that is a purely fabricated story, most likely a piece of American-style imagination based on ideology,” it said.
Related: China detains six Japanese on suspicion of ‘illegal activities’ | Reuters “We were notified by China that three Japanese men each, six in total, had been detained in March by the Chinese authorities in Shandong Province and Hainan Province,” Suga told a regular briefing in Japan. Both of the provinces have big Chinese military bases.
2. No need to panic over financial deleveraging: central bank newspaper – Xinhua It said the deleveraging is much needed now, as China’s economic slowdown may lead to exposure of the country’s hidden financial risks….Recent moves to strengthen financial regulation and moderately deleverage the sector are not a kind of “shock therapy,” nor will they “detonate a minefield,” said an editorial published in the Financial News. 金融发展和监管要形成强大合力
Related: Regulator Wins First Round in Clampdown on Interbank Fundraising – Caixin Global In the second week of May, the net amount of funds that banks raised from selling negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs) was a negative 107.3 billion yuan ($15.6 billion), meaning they paid back more than they borrowed, according to Wind Information, a financial data provider. That’s the biggest weekly shortfall in net issuance since China introduced interbank NCDs at the end of 2013, and the third straight week of redemptions exceeding new issues, the data show
Related: 独家 ｜ 保监会：5月起实施保险市场分析监测信息报送机制-新闻-上海证券报·中国证券网 5月22日，中国证券网独家获悉，根据当前防风险、严监管需要，保监会将于5月起开始实施保险市场分析监测信息报送机制。此举旨在全面及时了解保险市场发展动态，快速掌握保险市场运行苗头性和倾向性情况，加强对保险市场风险的预判与防范。
Related: Restrictions to curb housing speculation in more cities-ECNS A 10-year ban on housing transactions in Baoding City, North China’s Hebei Province, made the national headlines on Monday, following a series of moves nationwide to cool the property market. Regarded by insiders as the toughest restriction on house purchases in China, the regulation requires buyers to hold properties for at least 10 years, the longest restricted period on property trade so far, after they receive a real estate certificate. 最严限售:拿房本后10年内不能卖 这3类人或离场
Related: Welcome to Jiaxing: where China’s red-hot property market has come to town | South China Morning Post In a latest sign of the heat in China’s red-hot property market, an auction of nine plots of land scheduled for Monday in Jiaxing, a city about an hour’s drive from Shanghai, attracted at least 425 bidders… At the same time, the city announced a lock-up period to curb speculation. Starting from Sunday, homebuyers must hold on to properties for at least two years before putting them up for sale.
Related: The glitter of bronze: China’s mid-sized cities are enjoying a property boom | The Economist a rally in China’s property market, which began in its big cities in 2015, is filtering down to these also-rans. Housing prices in third-tier cities are up by 7% over the past year on average, and by much more in the best performers (see chart). Their markets have remained hot this year, even while their bigger peers have cooled off. This has helped to reduce the stock of unsold homes. The amount of housing for sale has fallen almost continuously for the past 14 months, the longest sustained decline since records began in 2001.
Related: China Whacks Another Mole With Developers’ Dollar Bonds in Focus – Bloomberg Applications for new offshore bond deals by Chinese real -state companies and vehicles set up by local authorities haven’t received approvals from China’s National Development and Reform Commission since April, according to bankers familiar with the matter.
Related: China faces ‘acid test’ over credit bubble-FT $$ Nearly a third of fund managers say the recent tightening of credit by authorities in Beijing, who are taking aim at the shadow banking sector, is now the biggest tail risk for markets, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey released this week. Not since January of 2016 has China ranked above the threat of a eurozone break-up as the biggest worry for investors.
3. North Korea says ready to deploy, mass-produce new missile-AP The solid-fuel Pukguksong-2 missile flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles) and reached a height of 560 kilometers (350 miles) Sunday before plunging into the Pacific Ocean. North Korea’s media said more missiles will be launched in the future.
Related: North Korea Launches Another Missile, Defying Moon’s ‘Circling’ Diplomatic Efforts – Caixin Global “China is opposed to North Korea’s missile launches, which violate U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Hua Chunying, spokeswoman with the Foreign Ministry of China said Monday at a regular press briefing. In response to a reporters’ inquiry on her comment to the U.N. meeting, Hua said the international community should uphold three points of consensus, which are to seek a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, to fully follow U.N. Security Council’s resolutions, and to solve the nuclear issue through peaceful means.
Related: Chinese fighters buzz U.S. spy plane, underlining differences over surveillance, North Korea – The Washington Post The Air Force said the plane was on a routine mission in international airspace in the East China Sea, a broad expanse of ocean. But China’s Ministry of National Defense said the incident occurred in the Yellow Sea, the northern part of the East China Sea that lies between China and the Korean Peninsula. An American official told CNN that the plane has been regularly deployed in northeast Asia to gather evidence of possible nuclear tests by North Korea.// Comment: If the US has video they should release it
Related: China says willing to put South Korea ties back on track, urges THAAD resolution | Reuters Xi told Moon’s representative Lee Hae-chan on Friday that his visit showed the importance the new South Korean leader attached to relations with Beijing. “China, too, pays great attention to the bilateral ties,” Xi said in comments in front of reporters in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. “We’re willing to work with South Korea to preserve the hard-won results, properly handle disputes, put China-South Korea relations back onto a normal track and benefit both peoples on the basis of mutual understanding and mutual respect,” he said.
4. China unveils market reform for oil and gas industry – Xinhua Chinese authorities on Sunday announced a reform plan for the country’s oil and gas industry, eyeing better efficiency and competitiveness by giving market a decisive role in the sector. The plan was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, or the cabinet. “Market should play a decisive role in resource allocation and the government role should be better played in order to safeguard national energy security, boost productivity and meet people’s needs,” according to the reform guideline. 中共中央 国务院印发《关于深化石油天然气体制改革的若干意见》
Related: China Seeks More Private Money for Its Massive State-Owned Energy Companies – WSJ More detailed guidelines for industry reform are expected in the coming months, said Lin Boqiang, who researches China’s energy policy at Xiamen University. “Most of these have been talked about before,” he said.
Related: 油气体制改革六个看点-新华网 看点一：完善并有序放开油气勘查开采体制; 看点二：完善油气进出口管理体制; 看点三：分步推进国有大型油气企业干线管道独立; 看点四：改革油气产品定价机制; 看点五：鼓励具备条件的油气企业发展股权多元化和混合所有制; 看点六：完善油气储备体系
Related: Right Time, Uncertain Direction for Natural Gas Reform – Caixin Global natural gas is still a relatively insignificant component of the nation’s energy mix, comprising slightly less than 3% of total energy consumption last year. One limiting factor, experts say, is government-supervised price-setting by the Big Three state-owned energy giants–PetroChina, Sinopec and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC). The pricing system has been blamed for rendering natural gas less competitive than high-carbon fuels. The Big Three, whose main business is oil, comprise a formidable oligopoly. PetroChina alone controls about 70% of all natural-gas production and sales in China. Sinopec and CNOOC handle 16% and 10%, respectively.
Related China’s Oil Giants Outline Major Spending Splash – Caixin Global The Big Three — China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) — recently committed to ambitious investment schedules for 2017 by announcing plans to spend around 371 billion yuan ($54 billion) combined. Budget plans were outlined in annual reports released by each company in between March and April.
5. Trump’s new trade rep Lighthizer struggles to win over Asian partners | Reuters In a stormy first foray abroad for Robert Lighthizer, the new U.S. Trade Representative failed to get Asian and Pacific countries to back the Trump administration’s “fair trade” agenda as the two sides disagreed over protectionism. With the United States on one side and the 20 other members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on the other at a meeting in Vietnam, a planned joint statement had to be scrapped because of their differences.
Related: China tells U.S. trade representative stronger cooperation needed | Reuters China’s commerce minister Zhong Shan told new United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer the two sides should strengthen cooperation and manage disputes in trade, according to a statement on the website of China’s Ministry of Commerce on Monday. The two met on Sunday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum
Related: U.S., China accelerate beef talks; deal possible by early June | Reuters As part of a trade deal, U.S. ranchers are set to halt the use of growth-promoting drugs to raise cattle destined for export to China and to log the animals’ movements, according to the USDA. The two sides are negotiating to meet a deadline, set under a broader trade deal last week, for shipments to begin by mid-July.
Related: Disagreements surface over China-backed trade deal | Reuters The RCEP talks, which began in 2012, have been given new impetus by the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. But officials involved in the talks say the target to complete the discussion stage by year-end may be hard to meet given disagreements over several issues. India in particular is reluctant to give up on tariffs, they say.
6. China’s New Megacity: The Anti-Beijing | Foreign Policy Popular reaction to the Xiong’an announcement was full of implied dissatisfaction with the Chinese capital’s status quo. Upon hearing the news, many web users paid homage to Liang Sicheng, the defiant architecture scholar who, in the 1950s, insisted that old imperial Beijing be kept intact, while a new city should be built in its vicinity to accommodate the new capital’s expanding industry, commerce, and government. His vision of Beijing was diametrically opposite to that of Mao, who famously told colleagues that he would like to see industrial chimneys all over the city from the towers of Tiananmen.
Related: China starts construction on new high-speed rail line – People’s Daily Online The passenger line will connect Beijing and Bazhou, a neighboring city 80 kilometers to the south. Bazhou is also adjacent to Xiongan New Area, the country’s emerging development zone. With a design speed of 350 kilometers an hour, the railway will be completed in 2019, according to project manager Huo Jianli.
7. Farming the World: China’s Epic Race to Avoid a Food Crisis-Bloomberg That leaves China with a stark ultimatum: If it is to have enough affordable food for its population in the second half of this century, it will need to make sure the world grows food for 9 billion people. Its answer is technology. China’s agriculture industry, from the tiny rice plots tended by 70-year-old grandfathers to the giant companies that are beginning to challenge global players like Nestle SA and Danone SA, is undergoing a revolution that may be every bit as influential as the industrial transformation that rewrote global trade.
8. Amid industry pushback, China offers changes to cyber rules: sources – Reuters The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) called the meeting – with around 100 participants, including representatives from global technology firms – to present last-minute changes to implementation rules for China’s new Cyber Security Law which is due to come into effect on June 1. One of those changes was a new 18-month phase-in period from June, two attendees said, suggesting the law would not be fully implemented until the end of 2018.
Business, Economy And Trade
Stiglitz’s China Whiz Says Excavator Demand Shows Growth Isn’t Over – Bloomberg Surging Chinese demand for excavators shows that the current of fiscal stimulus running through the nation’s economy has a long way to go. That’s according to Mo Ji, chief economist for Asia ex-Japan at Amundi Asset Management, who called a bottom to China’s slowdown in late 2015 well before it was a consensus view. Now, Mo’s using high-frequency data sets — like sales of construction equipment — to form her view on the economy’s underlying trends.
China’s Jan-Apr power consumption up 6.7% yoy – CGTN China’s power consumption in January-April rose by 6.7 percent from a year ago, 3.8 percentage points higher than the same period last year, signaling a pick-up in economic activities, the country’s economic planner said at a press briefing on Thursday.
China, Russia Aim to Deliver Big Jets by 2027 to Take On Boeing – Bloomberg State-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd. and Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. aim to hand over the plane to customers by 2025-2027, UAC Chairman Yury Slyusar said at a briefing in Shanghai Monday. The new plane will need “billions of U.S. dollars” in investment, he said.
Foreign investors welcome US credit agencies to China bond market-FT $$ In a bilateral trade agreement announced this month, China’s pledge was framed as a concession to Donald Trump, who has criticised China for unfair trade practices and investment barriers facing US companies. But the commitment follows a series of moves by China since last year to attract foreign funds into its bond market, as Chinese authorities grapple with capital flight and a weakening currency.
China’s investments in the US are setting off a clash of statistics over jobs — Quartz This week a report from advisory firm Oxford Economics, commissioned by the fairly new US rail industry lobby group Rail Security Alliance to look at the potential impact of China’s state-owned manufacturers in the US freight car manufacturing sector, estimated as many as 65,000 jobs could be lost. In April, meanwhile, research consultancy Rhodium Group, put out a report that highlighted tens of thousands of jobs associated with Chinese investment in the US. Here’s a closer look at two different perspectives on Chinese investment in the US.
Cracking the China Conundrum: Why Conventional Economic Wisdom Is Wrong: Yukon Huang:: Amazon Comment: very much looking forward to this new book, chatted about it with Yukon Huang at a dinner party Saturday night, expect some ursine heads may explode…
China Plans to Open Up Commodity Trading to Foreigners to Bring Down Prices – Bloomberg
China to lift curbs on foreign fund offshore investments | Reuters
New Home Rental Laws Place Focus on Tenants’ Rights – Caixin Global
China Nearly Doubles Tax on Some Sugar Imports to 95% – WSJ
Politics And Law
Party Officials With Ties to Fallen Tianjin Mayor, Chongqing Police Chief Absent From Key Local Party Meeting – Caixin Global As local party committees across China start to hold party congress meetings to choose new leaders ahead of a major political reshuffle scheduled for later this year, analysts are keeping a close eye on any absentees to spot any political headwinds. At times in China, sudden absences can point to an official being under investigation for alleged corruption, although there have not been any official announcements regarding the individuals from Chongqing and Tianjin. // Comment: Wang Hongjiang, member of Tianjin Party Committee, head of Tianjin United Front Work Department, Caixin says was a “close aide of Huang Xingguo, Tianjin’s mayor 2008-2016”; Cheng Qisheng, secretary general of the Tianjin Party Committee, still in hospital after overdosing on hospital pills; Chongqing police chief He Ting missed the the “67-member presidium opened on Sunday”; Song Aiping, member of Chongqing Party Committee Standing Committee, also missed the meeting, and her name removed from list of members on the local Party-run portal. Tianjin been a nest of corruption for years; will Sun Chunlan remain unscathed?
天津港原董事长于汝民被开除党籍 涉嫌拉帮结派及受贿政经频道财新网 Comment: Another corrupt Tianjin official, this one Yu Rumin, formerly chairman of Tianjin Port Group
Guo Wengui’s Fans Tweet Trump for Guo’s Protection – China Digital Times (CDT) Guo has not yet released the evidence he claims will back up his allegations, instead wishing to “let the bullets fly for a while” before holding a “global news conference” at an as-of-yet undisclosed date. In the meantime, Guo’s concerns for his personal safety appear to be growing. This week, the billionaire released an English-language video, in which he introduced his assistant and his lawyer as contacts should something happen to him
潘石屹：对郭文贵造谣的回应-潘石屹-财新博客-新世纪的常识传播者-财新网 Comment: SOHO China’s Pan Shiyi’s responds to Guo Wengui’s allegations, says they are all lies
About – TUCKER LEVIN, PLLC Comment: Guo Wengui’s lawyer, introduced by Guo in this video as his emergency contact // Duncan Levin is a highly respected expert in the space of anti-money laundering, internal investigations, and anti-fraud. After a lengthy career at the highest levels of state and federal law enforcement, Mr. Levin now regularly consults with a variety of businesses facing complex challenges, including regulatory, investigatory, and anti-fraud issues. Mr. Levin served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice specializing in money laundering and asset forfeiture and on the senior staff of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where he was Chief of Asset Forfeiture and supervised money laundering cases.
人民要论：把坚决维护党中央权威作为根本政治要求–理论-人民网 Comment: Chairman of the Agricultural Bank writing on page 7 of the 5.22.2017 People’s Daily on the importance of Xi as the core, reaches back into the Communist theoretical pantheon including Engels, Lenin, Mao, Deng…so what exactly is this trying to lay the groudwork for at the 19th Party Congress? And why is the Ag Bank Party chairman writing this? // 确立习近平同志的核心地位是我们党的郑重选择 一个成熟的马克思主义政党在其发展过程中，必然要形成领导核心。恩格斯在《论权威》一文中深刻指出，权威和服从不是由人的主观愿望确定的，而是社会发展的客观要求。列宁强调：“历史上，任何一个阶级，如果不推举出自己善于组织运动和领导运动的政治领袖和先进代表，就不可能取得统治地位。”回顾世界社会主义发展史，维护权威历来是马克思主义政党建设的重大课题。从我们党的历史来看，党的领导核心的形成，对于推动党领导的伟大事业向前发展发挥了极其关键的作用。在长征途中，遵义会议确立了毛泽东同志在党和红军中的领导地位，使党中央的领导坚强有力，中国革命的面貌才焕然一新。正是在党中央坚强有力的领导下，一代又一代中国共产党人团结带领人民接续奋斗，中国革命、建设、改革事业才取得了举世瞩目的伟大成就。正如邓小平同志在总结党的历史经验教训时指出的：“任何一个领导集体都要有一个核心，没有核心的领导是靠不住的。”–周慕冰-（作者为中国农业银行党委书记、董事长）《 人民日报 》（ 2017年05月22日 07 版）
Beijing Court Rejects Complaints From ‘Woman of Courage’ Eviction Lawyer-RFA Authorities in the Chinese capital have rejected a lawsuit filed by housing rights lawyer Ni Yulan against the Beijing police department. Wheelchair-bound Ni, 54, had filed the complaint after being repeatedly evicted along with husband Dong Jiqin from a series of rented apartments after police put pressure on their landlords.
庄严的承诺 历史的跨越——党的十八大以来以习近平同志为核心的党中央引领脱贫攻坚纪实新闻频道央视网 庄严的承诺 历史的跨越——党的十八大以来以习近平同志为核心的党中央引领脱贫攻坚纪实 // Comment: Lots of propaganda love now for the anti-poverty efforts
Chinese senior official stresses poverty reduction – Xinhua A Chinese senior official has urged united front departments to make more efforts in poverty alleviation in old revolutionary base areas. Sun Chunlan, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during an inspection tour in east China’s Jiangxi Province from Thursday to Saturday.
李炳军：将讲政治落实到每一个工作细节–理论-人民网 将基层党建与脱贫攻坚紧密结合，坚决完成脱贫任务。确保到2020年农村贫困人口实现脱贫，是全面建成小康社会最艰巨的任务，也是我们党对历史和人民作出的庄严承诺。-（作者为中共江西省委常委、赣州市委书记） 《 人民日报 》（ 2017年05月22日 07 版）
白宫官员会见中国遭关押维权人士家属 透露特朗普中国人权问题的重视 – 博聞社 Comment: NSC Senior Asia Director Matt Pottinger meets with the wives of detained layers and activists who were in DC last week testifying to Congress
陕西省人大常委会副主任魏民洲涉嫌严重违纪接受组织审查_-The Paper Comment: Wei Minzhou, Deputy Part Secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Peoples Congress under investigation
Foreign And Defense Affairs
Xi’s selected remarks on army building published – Xinhua A book of selected remarks by President Xi Jinping on national defense and building a strong army has been published, military authorities said Sunday. The book includes 67 of Xi’s statements made between November 2012 and April 2017. 《习近平论强军兴军》印发全军团以上领导干部–人民网
Philippines, China play down Duterte’s talk of war in disputed sea | Reuters “The conversation was very frank. There was mutual respect, there was mutual trust,” Cayetano told reporters. “The context was not threatening each other, that we will go to war. The context is how do we stabilize the region and how do we prevent conflict.”
China to detail its Antarctic ambitions at treaty meeting – The Washington Post Chinese officials will detail their growing ambitions in Antarctica on Monday as Beijing hosts a meeting of nations that oversee management of the polar region amid concerns over its susceptibility to climate change.
Will the Arctic be the next stop on China’s new Silk Road? | South China Morning Post “Beijing’s strategy does not stop at belt and road,” Li Xiguang, a professor at Tsinghua University told a forum in Hong Kong on Saturday. Li is leading a field study on the economic corridor China and Pakistan are building as part of the trade route. “The full name of the strategy will be ‘One Belt, One Road, One Circle’, and the circle refers to the Arctic Circle,” Li paraphrased another Tsinghua professor, Hu Angang, as saying in a speech last month that was not reported in mainland media. // Comment: OBOROC? Perhaps can be shortened to ORC?
China Focus: China’s submersible Jiaolong to carry Xinhua journalist into Mariana Trench – Xinhua ts mother ship Xiangyanghong 09 set sail for the Yap and Mariana trenches, with Jiaolong and 96 scientists aboard on May 16, the beginning of the third stage of China’s 38th oceanic expedition. The ship arrived at the Mariana area Monday and started testing temperature, salinity and depth for Tuesday’s dive, the first of the expedition’s third stage.
Chinese premier to visit Germany, Belgium – Xinhua Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will pay an official visit to Germany and Belgium from May 30 to June 2, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying here on Monday.
China, Vietnam fight human-trafficking – China Daily We’re still engaged in a bitter battle to eliminate cross-border human trafficking, which arises out of unbalanced economic development and loopholes in social management,” Chen Shiqu, deputy director of the ministry’s Criminal Investigation Department, said recently in an exclusive interview.
Monday, May 22, 2017 | www.dailypress.senate.gov At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will proceed to a roll call vote on confirmation of the Branstad nomination.
Hong Kong, Macao And Taiwan
Xi congratulates Wu on election as KMT leader – Xinhua Xi said in his message to Wu that he hoped the two parties shall keep in mind the well-being of the compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, adhere to the 1992 Consensus and firmly oppose “Taiwan independence.” The CPC and KMT should stick to the correct direction for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and strive to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, X
Beijing warns Taiwan of continued lockout from WHO assembly unless it accepts ‘One China’ principle | The Japan Times China’s health minister has all but slammed the door on any more participation for Taiwan at the World Health Organization’s annual assembly until the island’s government accepts the “One China” principle. Health Minister Li Bin blamed the party of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, saying its refusal to accept the idea of a single China has torpedoed its ambitions to attend — leading to the first lockout of Taiwan as an observer state since 2008.
ROC government’s position on mainland Chinese authorities to interfere with Taiwan’s participation in WHA The Republic of China is a sovereign state. Taiwan is not a province under the rule of the People’s Republic of China, yet the mainland Chinese authorities continue, citing a variety of political pretexts, to exclude the 23 million of Taiwan from the international health system. This, we cannot countenance, nor will we accept. Their illegitimate actions will cost them the support of the international community, and elicit extreme disgust among all the people of Taiwan.
Tech And Media
A Tip for Apple in China: Your Hunger for Revenue May Cost You – WSJ Apple’s latest predicament centers on its App Store. Last month, Apple told several Chinese social-networking apps, including the wildly popular messaging platform WeChat , to disable their “tip” functions to comply with App Store rules, according to executives at WeChat and other companies. That function allows users to send authors and other content creators tips, from a few yuan to hundreds, via transfers from mobile-wallet accounts.
LeEco founder Jia Yueting resigns as CEO of its publicly listed unit Leshi | TechCrunch Liang Jun, a Leshi vice president who joined the company five years ago from Lenovo, will take over the position. Leshi also said that its chief financial officer Yang Lijie is resigning for personal reasons and will be replaced by Zhang Wei, its China CFO.
Beijing Considers Tighter Rules On Bike Sharing Deposits – China Money Network Bike sharing companies registered in Beijing may be asked to put all bike deposits they have collected into a special bank account that will be overseen by regulators, according to Chinese media reports citing insiders. China’s mushrooming bike sharing companies have aggregated RMB6 billion (US$872 million) or more in user deposits, according to industry observers.
How a Plague on the Movie and Music Industries Became Their Chief Protector in China – WSJ Baidu’s about-face in the copyright fight reflects its emergence as a creator and buyer of content, a transition that continued recently when the company struck a deal to license original shows from Netflix Inc. NFLX 0.85% Other Chinese media companies are undergoing similar transformations, upending how entertainment is protected in the world’s second-largest economy, legal analysts say.
Energy, Environment, Science And Health
Everything You Think You Know About Coal in China Is Wrong – Center for American Progress In December 2016, the Center for American Progress brought a group of energy experts to China to find out what is really happening. We visited multiple coal facilities—including a coal-to-liquids plant—and went nearly 200 meters down one of China’s largest coal mines to interview engineers, plant managers, and local government officials working at the front lines of coal in China. We found that the nation’s coal sector is undergoing a massive transformation that extends from the mines to the power plants, from Ordos to Shanghai. China is indeed going green. The nation is on track to overdeliver on the emissions reduction commitments it put forward under the Paris climate agreement, and making coal cleaner is an integral part of the process.
A peek into China’s thriving black market for human placentas | South China Morning Post The trade in human placentas is banned in China, but the black market is alive and well, with sellers saying they can easily earn 100,000 yuan (US$14,500) a month, according to The Beijing News. 人体胎盘被倒卖 出租房变“制药厂”
Agriculture And Rural Issues
China Pushes Public to Accept GMO as Syngenta Takeover Nears – Bloomberg Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University and two other Chinese colleges will carry out the survey, said Jin Jianbin, a professor at Tsinghua’s School of Journalism and Communication. The poll, sponsored by the government, will be carried out in tandem with a campaign on social media to broadcast basic knowledge on GMO technology, which is widely misunderstood in the country, Jin said.
Education
Chinese student at University of Maryland slammed for biased commencement speech – People’s Daily Online The speech, though outwardly inspirational, soon triggered discontent among Chinese students around the U.S. Some complained that Yang had deliberately exaggerated the air conditions in her hometown of Kunming, which in fact has some of the best air quality of any Chinese city. Many wrote on social media that they were ashamed of Yang for delivering such a biased speech, playing up the wrong stereotypes about China. Netizens opined that the speech was in especially poor taste given that her parents, who allegedly know little English, were present at the ceremony.
Monash University suspends lecturer over quiz question about drunk Chinese officials-The Australian Monash University has confirmed it has suspended a lecturer after Chinese students complained about a quiz that suggested Chinese officials were truthful only when drunk. China’s Melbourne consulate-general intervened after a May 15 post by a student, Gao Song, complained about the quiz on Chinese social media site Wechat.
Food And Travel
Spending Spree Continues in China’s Tourism Sector – Caixin Global Direct investment in the tourism industry is predicted to reach 1.5 trillion yuan ($218 billion) this year, representing a more than 20% jump compared to 2016, according to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). The hottest area for investment in 2017 will be rural tourism, which attracted 2.2 billion tourists last year — or half of China’s total number of domestic tourists. Other growth sectors attracting investment include helicopter tours, big data, and internet-based tourism services, the administration said in a 2016 report on China’s tourism investment
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