"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Happy Monday, going to get right into it…
The Essential Eight
1. New Round Of UN Sanctions On North Korea Likely Too Weak For Trump Administration
Comment: If the new round is as watered down as some reports predict do not be surprised if Trump enacts harsher sanctions on PRC financial institutions and individuals more closely connected with the central government leadership.
U.N. Security Council to vote Monday on weakened North Korea sanctions: diplomats – Reuters:
North Korea warned the United States that it would pay a “due price” for spearheading efforts for fresh sanctions for this month’s nuclear test, which followed a series of test missile launches, all in defiance of U.N. sanctions.
A U.S.-drafted resolution originally calling for an oil embargo on the North, a halt to its key exports of textiles and subjecting leader Kim Jong Un to a financial and travel ban have been weakened, apparently to placate Russia and China which both have veto powers, diplomats said.
Time for maximum pressure on North Korea, even without China’s permission – The Washington Post – Josh Rogin:
There are risks in confronting large Chinese banks, which are essentially arms of the Chinese government. Former top Treasury Department official Adam Szubin testified to the Senate Banking Committee last week that imposing sanctions on the banks could harm the Chinese economy and have unintended consequences for the U.S. economy.
Nevertheless, he said, the United States should move forward: “The only hope we have lies in a qualitatively different and more severe level of pressure — one that threatens Kim Jong Un’s hold on power,” Szubin testified.
Bannon’s solution to the North Korea problem – Videos – CBS News– Bannon suggests sanctioning PRC financial institutions
Comment: Interesting piece by Chinese academic Zhu Feng. I believe he speaks for a mainstream view inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), but MoFa is not the driver of Beijing’s North Korea Policy.
China’s North Korean Liability | Foreign Affairs:
Economic pressure is another avenue forward in solving the North Korea problem. There are many avenues for implementing sanctions: reducing North Korea’s coal and oil imports, shutting down North Korean front companies operating in China, expelling North Korean laborers toiling away in Chinese factories, barring Chinese banks from doing any further business with Pyongyang’s moneymen, and cracking down on a host of other avenues for cash to reach Kim Jong-un. China has halted operations for many if not all of these activities at one point or another over the last 15 years, sometimes simultaneously. But now is the time for China to be utterly comprehensive, to seal all the cracks and thus send a clear signal to North Korea—and the Trump administration—that Beijing will not stand idly by. Such pressure, of course, will not work on its own. Beijing and Washington must cooperate or at least coordinate their efforts for engagement with Pyongyang to demonstrate that Kim can still choose a diplomatic solution to resolve these tensions. As Pyongyang grows ever more belligerent, it becomes increasingly urgent for Beijing and Washington to restore cooperation over North Korea.
Comment: Axios reminds anyone who thinks Trump has a grand strategy for North Korea and is playing “five dimensional chess” with Pyongyang and Beijing that they give Trump way too much credit.
Axios Sneak Peek – What’s really happening with the U.S.-Korea trade deal:
Turns out Trump’s withdrawal from KORUS was much more than a serious consideration. It was as close as it gets to a done deal, stalled at the last minute by senior officials who raised concerns with Chief of Staff General, John Kelly, that the president hadn’t been fully briefed before making such a consequential decision…The only adviser encouraging Trump to terminate the deal immediately has been Bannon’s ally Peter Navarro, a protectionist trade hawk. Sources familiar with the arrangements tell me Trump has sent his trade representative Robert Lighthizer back for more negotiations with the South Koreans. Trump wants real, tough, concessions from Moon — a man he regards as a weak leader.
2. Javanka And President Trump’s Planned China Trip
Comment: There is a questionable rumor I have not been able to confirm that Ivanka went to China this last weekend; hope it is a false one. Usually the US would send the National Security Advisor to Beijing to prepare for a Presidential visit but it is unclear that Trump will do that. I do believe a cabinet secretary is going to Beijing in late September, to try to work out the deals of a “huge”, not incremental, deal Trump-Xi can announce during the planned November visit. Do not be surprised though if the visit does not occur in November, especially if the US starts sanctioning meaningful PRC financial institutions and connected individuals over North Korea.
China’s ‘Javanka’ fanatics dismayed as first daughter cancels visit | The Guardian
The trip’s cancellation will disappoint a legion of Chinese Javanka aficionados, many of them young, educated and upwardly mobile women who revere the president’s daughter in particular as a symbol of grace and drive. Two recent Chinese-language books – Ivanka Trump: Women, Wealth and Life and Love Yourself in Your Life: Ivanka Trump’s Law of Life – underscore the respect and affection the 35-year-old commands here.
3. Building An S&T Powerhouse
China Focus: China steps up building science and tech power – Xinhua:
China has made innovation the core of its 13th five-year plan (2016-2020), with the aim of becoming an “innovation nation” by 2020, an international leader in innovation by 2030, and a world powerhouse in scientific and technological innovation by 2050.
“We will accelerate R&D and commercialization of new materials, artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, bio-pharmacy, 5G mobile communications, and other technology to develop industrial clusters in these fields,” said a government work report issued this year.
On the weekend, Shi [Yigong], dean of Tsinghua University’s life sciences school, was awarded US$1 million as one of three recipients of this year’s Future Science Prize, a series launched last year as China’s version of the Nobels. Quantum satellite researcher Professor Pan Jianwei, 47, picked up the award for physical sciences while Peking University’s Xu Chenyang, 36, was the recipient in mathematics and computer science.
China building world’s biggest quantum research facility | South China Morning Post:
The National Laboratory for Quantum Information Science will be located on a 37-hectare site next to a small lake in Hefei, Anhui province. Some time this month developers will be invited to bid for a contract to construct the site, according to an article in Hefei Evening News, a daily newspaper run by the city government on Thursday.
Pan Jianwei, China’s lead quantum scientist who was playing a key role in the project, told local officials at a briefing in May that technology developed in the facility would be of immediate use to the armed forces, according to Anhui Business Daily newspaper.
Govt set to give AI sector huge policy boost – China Daily The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is teaming up with other ministries and related departments to draft new policies to better cultivate the AI industry, Economic Information Daily reported on Thursday.
Favorable tax policies will be rolled out to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises that are working on AI. More efforts will also be made to open government data and experiment with new ways to tap into data, the report said.
Meanwhile, new policies will be unveiled to channel more resources into AI research, in the hope of advancing innovation capability. More innovation centers will be established to achieve breakthrough, it added.
Comment: It would be nice to believe that because of censorship and ideological controls China can not innovate. It would also be nice to believe there are unicorns and trees that grow money. Are the political controls a tax on innovation? Absolutely, but a tax is not the same as an insurmountable barrier…
4. Beijing Pushes Electric Vehicles
China formulates national smart car industry strategy – Xinhua:
On June 13, the MIIT released a policy document for public opinion on fuel consumption control and new energy vehicle credits, requiring auto-makers to meet a new energy credit ratio of 8 percent in 2018, 10 percent in 2019, and 12 percent in 2020, to ease pressure on energy and environment. Xin confirmed that the policy would be put into effect in the near future.
Comment: Keith Bradsher reports that foreign car makers are planning to once again mortgage their futures to gain access to China’s electric car market.
China’s Electric Car Push Lures Global Auto Giants, Despite Risks – The New York Times:
Global automakers see the future of electric cars, and it looks Chinese. The biggest players are shifting crucial scientific and design work to China as the country invests heavily in car-charging stations and research and pushes automakers to embrace battery-powered vehicles.
China underscored that ambition over the weekend, when it said it would eventually ban the sale of gasoline- and diesel-powered cars at an unspecified date.
Chinese EV shares surge as government mulls petrol car ban – Reuters:
China has begun studying when to ban the production and sale of petrol cars, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday citing a vice minister who it said predicted “turbulent times” for automakers as they were forced to adapt.
Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, did not say when the world’s largest auto market would implement such a ban
Spiking Cobalt Prices Set to Drain High-Tech Battery-Makers – Caixin Global:
Over the last 12 months, cobalt prices have more than doubled to a current level of about $60,000 per metric ton ($66,140 per ton), versus $25,000 a year ago, according to the London Metals Exchange. That jump has helped fuel profits for miners of the metal, which is a key component in batteries used to power electric and hybrid cars, the two largest types of new-energy vehicles.
5. Xi Reminds Everyone He Has Brought The Communist Youth League To Heel
Book of Xi’s discourses on youth published – Xinhua:
A book including extracts of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s discourses on youth and the work of the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) has been published by the Central Party Literature Press.
The 189 paragraphs of discourses are extracted from over 40 major speeches, instructions, congratulatory letters, and reply letters dating from Nov. 29, 2012 to May 3, 2017.
The discourses expound on the major theoretical and practical issues concerning youth and the work of the CCYL under the new situation. They also point out the historical mission and paths of growth for contemporary youth.
6. Governing The Country According to The Law, And The Party
When the Law Meets the Party | by Ian Johnson | The New York Review of Books:
The Sun Zhigang case is often considered the beginning of the weiquan movement, which is carefully analyzed in two recent books, one by Eva Pils and the other by Sida Liu and Terence C. Halliday. Pils focuses on prominent human rights lawyers who worked for the most part in Beijing and were active before the “709 Incident” in 2015. Liu and Halliday have conducted a national survey of criminal defense lawyers—essentially a subset of the weiquan activists—and explore some effects of the crackdown. But many of the broader conclusions drawn in each book are similar and together they provide an invaluable empirical assessment of the movement.
7. Put Down The Pu’er?
Drinking some as I write this…
Insiders from China’s lucrative pu’er tea industry are planning to sue the well-known anti-fraud campaigner Fang Shimin – better known by his pen name Fang Zhouzi – for 6 million yuan (US$923,000) after an online squabble over the drink, according to news website Yunnan.cn.
In his post, Fang said drinking pu’er tea could expose users to aflatoxin, which is capable of causing health problems such as liver disease or cancer.
Fang Zhouzi on Twitter…lots about his Pu’er allegations-方舟子 (@fangshimin) | Twitter
8. PRC Interference in California’s Internal Affairs?
California Resolution Shelved After Chinese Opposition | AP:
A California senator says Democratic legislative leaders are squashing his attempt to stand up for practitioners of a banned Chinese spiritual movement under pressure from the government of China. The Senate last week shelved a symbolic resolution condemning persecution of Falun Gong practitioners after lawmakers received a letter from the Chinese consulate warning the measure would be detrimental to relations between California and China.
Comment: PRC lobbying works. Remember the threat from Congress to rename the street in front of the PRC embassy in Washington DC “Liu Xiaobo Square”? That died a quiet death after intense pressure.
Business, Economy And Trade
China’s Factory Prices Give Global Inflation Unexpected Lift – Bloomberg China’s producer-price inflation accelerated to 6.3 percent in August from a year earlier, exceeding all but one of 38 estimates in Bloomberg’s survey of economists. That data released Saturday followed 5.5 percent readings in the prior three months and was unexpected for analysts, who have been forecasting more moderation in pricing pressures.
China’s Surging Excavator Sales May Have Already Peaked – Bloomberg But this may be as good as it gets. Sales growth has slowed from 109 percent in July, data compiled by Hong Kong Teng Yuan Co. shows, while at the provincial level, sales in Jiangsu and Shandong — two of the biggest buyers — decelerated to 80 percent and 67 percent respectively after more than doubling in July.
Is China’s economy on the brink of a new boom? Digging for answers in industrial numbers | South China Morning Post A spike in sales of construction equipment, along with improved profitability at industrial enterprises and a hefty surge in the prices of raw materials such as coal and steel, is fuelling the debate about whether China has entered a new boom cycle. Ren Zeping, chief economist at Beijing-based Founder Securities and a former researcher for China’s cabinet, is a leading advocate of the “new cycle theory”.
PBOC to Remove Reserve Requirement on FX Forward Trading – Bloomberg Effective Sept. 11, the People’s Bank of China will stop requiring financial institutions to set aside cash when buying dollars for clients through currency forwards, the people said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak on the matter in public. The ratio is currently set at 20 percent. The PBOC didn’t immediately reply to a fax seeking comment after usual working hours.
China’s Latest Bond Default Is a Cautionary Tale for Investors – Bloomberg Wuyang Construction Group Co., a builder in the eastern province of Zhejiang, defaulted on two putable notes totaling 1.36 billion yuan ($211 million) last month. Bondholders are now up in arms, claiming in an Aug. 23 filing posted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s website that the company didn’t disclose a raft of transgressions in sale documents for the bonds, which were sold in 2015. Three phone calls to Wuyang Constructions’ headquarters in Hangzhou went unanswered, and the company didn’t respond to a fax from Bloomberg News.
Canyon Bridge Is Said to Ready Imagination Bid Minus U.S. Unit – Bloomberg Canyon Bridge, which says it’s based in Silicon Valley with an office in Beijing, is keen to structure a bid to avoid scrutiny from U.S. regulators, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The company’s $1.3 billion purchase of Portland, Oregon-based Lattice Semiconductor Corp., whose programmable logic chips are used in military communications, is being opposed by U.S. national security officials, and President Donald Trump is considering whether to block the deal.
China Sends One of the West’s Most Critical Materials Soaring – Bloomberg Tungsten, used to harden steel in ballistic missiles and in drill bits, has surged more than 50 percent in the last two months amid growing concern about supply cutbacks in China, where about 80 percent of the metal comes from. The country is clamping down on polluting mines and enforcing production quotas.
China’s trillions remain out of reach of foreign funds – FT The licenses were granted by the Shanghai government as part of a pilot project based in city’s free-trade zone. For foreign financial groups looking to tap vast pools of wealth in China, they were a breakthrough. However, they are still waiting for another more powerful regulator, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, to issue the quotas needed to run the businesses.
CEFC China Energy Buys 14% of Russia’s Rosneft – Caixin Global Privately owned CEFC will acquire the stake from a consortium of commodity trader Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). The purchase price reflects a premium of about 16% on the 30-day volume-weighted average price of Rosneft shares on Friday, according to a statement issued by Glencore.
人民日报：在改革中做强做优做大国企|国有企业|国企|改革_新浪新闻 Comment: Front Page 9.11.17 People’s Daily commentary on building strong and excellent large SOEs through reforms
Short Sellers Take Fight Against Chinese Companies to the Big Screen – WSJ A documentary called “The China Hustle” premiered Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival. The 84-minute film features prominent American short sellers including Carson Block of Muddy Waters LLC, who in 2011 undertook an aggressive crusade against Chinese timber company Sino-Forest Corp., and James Chanos, one of Wall Street’s most vocal naysayers on China. The film, written and directed by Jed Rothstein, took about two years to produce. Its backers include American documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney and billionaire investor and entrepreneur Mark Cuban.
Trust issues? China targets a $3 trillion shadow banking industry | Reuters The trusts, at the heart of a vast shadow banking industry, are being pressured to step up compliance and background checks, and are being pushed towards greater transparency. But the fast-growing 20 trillion yuan ($3 trillion) industry, whose lending operations are cloaked behind opaque structures, will be tough to rein in, according to employees at some trusts.al Trust, offer rare insights into the industry, and reveals just how hard it will be to police it.
China Closes Prominent International Hospital: YOUR Most Important Lesson for the Year | China Law Blog According to the article, the hospital, Shanghai Redleaf International Women’s and Children’s Hospital, was “founded by Canadian investors” and it had “signed a 20-year lease for prime real estate owned by the military on central Shanghai’s Huaihai Road and started catering to foreigners and wealthy Chinese more than four years ago.” But because “The People’s Liberation Army has been banned from commercial activities since 1998” the hospital was being forced to close.
Chinese builders got Trump golf-club job | Tribune News Service Trump’s partner, DAMAC Properties, awarded a $32 million contract to the Middle East subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corp. to build a six-lane road as part of the residential part of the Trump World Golf Club Dubai project called Akoya Oxygen, according to news releases released by both companies. The club is scheduled to open next year.
China Is Said to Ban Bitcoin Exchanges While Allowing OTC Trades – Bloomberg The ban will only apply to trading of cryptocurrencies on exchanges, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the information is private. Authorities don’t have plans to stop over-the-counter transactions, the people said. China’s central bank said it couldn’t immediately comment. Bitcoin slumped on Friday after Caixin magazine reported China’s plans, capping the virtual currency’s biggest weekly retreat in nearly two months // Comment: A clear PRC regulatory stance on bitcoin, even if it is to ban trading of it, may be good for BTC as ongoing China risk cloud id removed once and for all.
Chairman Wang Jianlin Meets with Former Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR in Hong Kong-Wanda Group Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin met with Mr. Tung Chee-hwa, Former Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Hong Kong on September 8, 2017 // Comment: Look, I was not stopped at the border…
How Beijing secretly injected billions into China’s consumer economy | afr.com Shanty town renovations are not new in China. An extensive program was rolled out as part of the government stimulus package in response to the global financial crisis. However, the change is in the increasing use of subsidies so that residents can buy existing homes rather than be relocated to low-cost public housing. Subsidies can take the form of a cash payment or a coupon that the property developer can then cash in with the local government. This is a form of compensation for those residents who have had their homes demolished and doesn’t need to be paid back.
Politics And Law
Provincial tobacco offices shut for acting as high-end clubs – Global Times The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) of China has closed all the representative offices of provincial tobacco bureaus and companies in Beijing after the offices were revealed to be serving as high-end clubs to treat officials.// Comment: Does Li Keqiang’s brother still work for the STMA?
Beijing Suspected in Hacking Yacht Owned by Chinese Billionaire Guo Wengui – Washington Free Beacon The FBI was called in on the yacht hacking and has launched an investigation into the suspicious cyber incident, as well as a similar electronic disruption on the ship, and the buzzing of the vessel by a drone aircraft. Asked about the investigation, an FBI spokeswoman in New York declined to comment.
Chinese fugitive’s asylum application tests US judicial system – Global Times “Political asylum” has become a business in the US. Fully aware of the country’s political prejudices against China, some American lawyers take advantage of the prejudices to lure potential customers in an attempt to generate lucrative profits. These illegal activities have attracted attention from US federal law enforcement agencies, which had taken actions against a number of law firms in New York City before.
Treasure Trove Exposed in Office of Deposed Unicom Chief – Caixin Global Details like this about the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) investigation of Chang in 2014 emerged this week in the CCDI’s official magazine, which ran a short article describing the day CCDI officials paid a surprise visit to Chang’s office. In late 2014, after the CCDI had uncovered large amounts of shopping vouchers, phones and other items received as bribes in senior Unicom executive Zhang Zhijiang’s office, they turned their eye to the very top of the organization — in other words, Chang — the magazine reported.
Minitrue: Rules for 19th Congress Media Coverage – China Digital Times (CDT) All media work units and personnel: Do not spread or give credence to rumors. News releases on the 19th Party Congress must use Xinhua wire copy as the standard. Any interviews with experts or scholars must be approved by work unit leadership and the Central Propaganda Department
China court releases video of Taiwanese activist confessing to subversion – Reuters Lee Ming-che, a community college teacher known for his pro-democracy and rights activism, went missing on a trip to mainland China in March. China’s authorities later confirmed that he was being investigated on suspicion of damaging national security. Lee said that he accepted the charge of subversion and expressed regret in videos of his comments released on social media by the Yueyang City Intermediate People’s Court in central Hunan province. // Comment: The video
中共中央党校 – 学习时报网_刘云山：领导干部要注重提高政治能力 Comment: Liu Yunshan says in long Study Times piece that leading cadres have to improve their “political capability”…politics, as always, in command…
The People Behind Chinese State Media’s Viral Videos – SixthTone Studio One is not one of Xinhua’s regular news teams, but an on-demand task force drawn from multiple news teams. Its job is to cover major events involving President Xi; its first major video production was “When the Great Way Prevails,” a clip commissioned for the Beijing Belt & Road Forum in May that drew over 200 million viewers online. Xinhua’s performance on overseas social media shows that Studio One’s efforts are paying off, says Ni Siyi, the associate director of the agency’s general desk and the man charged with orchestrating promotional strategy on foreign social media. “Our animated BRICS introduction video was watched more than 10 million times abroad [in the first 12 hours],” he says. “Whether it’s text or visuals, any post hashtagging Xi will trigger much more traffic — dozens of times more than any other topic.”
虞海燕自带亲信指哪打哪 王三运疯狂敛财阳奉阴违_政经频道_财新网 Comment: Some interesting details in latest episode of “shapr sword of inspections” on the corruption of former Gansu Party Secretary Wang Sanyun, who was also once a top aide to current Organization Department head Zhao Leji. Was Wang’s takedown unrelated to Zhao? [CORRECTION: I meant Wei Minzhou…sometimes the corrupt officials just become a blur…thanks to the alert reader for pointing out the mistake]
Foreign And Defense Affairs
China, Pakistan Blast Trump’s Afghan Strategy: ‘No Military Solution’ in Afghanistan – Breitbart The top diplomats from Beijing and Islamabad blasted President Trump’s newly unveiled Afghanistan strategy, saying that the only way to end the Afghan war is through dialogue with the Afghan Taliban jihadists who maintain a good relationship with China, courtesy of the jihadist group’s supporter Pakistan.
China’s Xi Jinping’s global leadership role doesn’t involve dealing with the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar — Quartz China, for its part, said in a statement Aug. 31 that it condemns the violent attacks occurred in Rakhine, and “as a friendly neighbor,” it supports Myanmar’s efforts to maintain peace in the region.
Air Forces of Pakistan, China Begin ‘Shaheen VI’ Exercises | The Diplomat Xinhua added that Pakistan had sent an undisclosed number of JF-17 Thunder fighters and its own early warning aircraft—likely Pakistan’s Shaanxi ZDK-03 K. Eagle or Saab 200 Erieye—to the exercises. The JF-17 Thunder (known also as the FC-1 Xiaolong) single-engine, lightweight, multi-role fighter was co-developed by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry group. The Pakistan Air Force is the only current operator of the aircraft.
Yang Jiechi to visit Jamaica – XInhua Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Sept 9 that State Councilor Yang Jiechi will pay an official visit to Jamaica on Sept 10 at the invitation of the Jamaican government. // Comment: Just Jamaica, not Cuba, Venezuela or other countries in the region? What about hurricane aid?
Work Begins Soon to Bring Haiti into ‘Silk Road’ After China Invests US$30 billion to Develop Infrastructure | News | teleSUR English The People’s Republic of China is preparing to carry through with plans to invest a massive US$30 billion in developing Haiti’s infrastructure, including power plants, sanitation works, water systems, railways, affordable housing, and marketplaces, in an agreement that is expected to have a major social, economic, and developmental impact.
Nepal and China fast track rail link in aftermath of Sino-Indian border row | South China Morning Post At the same time, China is rolling out optical fibre networks in Nepal, spelling an end to India’s internet service monopoly in the country.
China Builds Road to Nepal Border, Sets Up Flag – RFA Chinese soldiers and civilians building a road from southern Tibet to Nepal set up a banner and Chinese national flag at the border this week, inviting Nepalese citizens on the other side of the line to help them extend the road farther into Nepal, a local source said.
Understanding China’s Third Sea Force: The Maritime Militia – Fairbank Center China has the world’s largest maritime militia, and virtually the only one charged with involvement in sovereignty disputes. Only Vietnam is known to have a similar force with a similar mission. China’s PAFMM is a set of mariners and their vessels which are trained, equipped, and organized directly by the PLA’s local military commands. While at sea, these units typically answer to the PLA chain of command, and are certain to do so when activated for missions. While most militiamen have civilian jobs, new units are emerging that appear to employ elite forces full-time as militarized professionals.
Chinese fishing fleet only sails to Senkakus under order of Beijing：The Asahi Shimbun One fisherman in his 40s who is part of Wu’s crew explained that five years ago after the Japanese government acquired the Senkakus, Chinese government subsidies of 1 million yuan (about 17 million yen, or $158,000) was distributed annually to boats joining the fleet sailing toward the Senkakus. However, the amount has steadily decreased and now the annual subsidy is 250,000 yuan. This year only two fishing boats have left Shipu port for the Senkakus. Over the years, the number of boats and the frequency of their trips have decreased.
China is leaving Donald Trump’s America behind- FT $$ Comment: Sequoia’s Michael Moritz also has the fever. Did he meet with Daniel Bell this trip? // A week in China is enough to persuade anyone that the world has spun back to front. The benefits of immigration, the quest for fresh discoveries, the desire for education, the recognition of the benefits of stability, purpose and enterprise are flourishing in China at the very time that they are being maligned, belittled or ignored in the US by Donald Trump.
Hong Kong, Macao And Taiwan
Website of pro-democracy party Demosisto hacked and replaced with ‘patriotic’ content | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP According to a screenshot provided by the party, the hacked website apparently showed a comic version of Joshua Wong – its jailed secretary-general – holding a book of the Basic Law, with the hashtag “Anti-Hong Kong independence, support Basic Law interpretation.”
Tech And Media
Xiaomi Nails Staffers in Supplier Shakedown Scheme – Caixin Global Xiaomi’s audit and security department said a group of workers solicited and received bribes as well as illicit gifts from the manufacturer’s suppliers, thus “seriously damaging” company interests, according to the report posted on the news website Sina.com.
Viacom’s Paramount Pictures Hasn’t Received Funds from Financing Deal with Chinese Partners – WSJ Shanghai Film Group Corp. and Huahua Media in January agreed to cover 25% of the cost of every movie Paramount makes for three years. But the funds have been held up by regulatory hurdles on foreign investment imposed by the Chinese government, Paramount Chief Executive Jim Gianopulos said at a media investor conference.
The Tale of 80 Million Fans and 3 Chinese Boys (Part II) – Elephant Room: Make China Relatable For those that didn’t know, or preferred not to know about TFboys in the past, 2015 was the year that they were eventually confronted with the reality: like it or not, the three boys were no longer a niche, underground idol group relevant only to some maniac fans; instead, they had bursted into the mainstream as a fully-fledged social phenomenon, penetrating into public spaces in a blockbusting gesture that shocked the entire Chinese population
Chinese Prefer the Sound of Silence When Getting Messages From Mom – WSJ WeChat’s 2016 user report shows that while people over 55 made up only 1% of the platform’s user base, one out of five messages they sent were voice, compared with one in 10 for users under 21.
Society, Art, Sports, Culture And History
Stanford political scientist John Lewis dies at 86 | Stanford News John W. Lewis, a Stanford political scientist who pioneered new ways of thinking about U.S.-China relations and launched some of the first Asian study programs in higher education, died Monday at his home on the Stanford campus. He was 86.
A Drag Queen for the Dearly Departed | ChinaFile And so we come to today and the boisterous funerals that are now common in rural China. What to make of these images of funerary cross-dressers captured by Tomoko Kikuchi?
Wang Hairong, first female vice foreign minister, dies at 79 – Global Times Wang, 79, died of an undisclosed illness in Beijing, news website thepaper.cnon Saturday reported, citing the Counselor’s Office of the State Council. Wang was born in Changsha, Central China’s Hunan Province in September 1938. Her grandfather, Wang Jifan, was an elder cousin of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong. // Comment: And a translator for Mao, died on 41st anniversary of his death
Energy, Environment, Science And Health
285 Polluters Detained, Including Those Dumping Raw Sewage – Caixin Global Inspectors toured eight provincial-level areas, including Jilin province in the northeast, Shandong and Zhejiang province in the east, and Sichuan province and the Tibet autonomous region in the southwest during a monthlong investigation that began Aug. 7. The inspectors uncovered more than 18,000 cases in which environmental laws were flouted, and they detained 285 people in connection with various violations, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said.
Over half of firms in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region violating environmental rules – Global Times According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, inspections of the enterprises in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding cities found that 22,832 of 41,928 enterprises have environmental problems, accounting for 54.5 percent of the total. Among them, 7,180 were found to be causing pollution, 67 releasing excessive emissions, 2,480 failing to install waste treatment facilities, and four were suspected of faking monitoring data.
Environmental investigation launched as 300 tonnes of dead pigs found buried in east China hillside | South China Morning Post The incident came to light when a resident of Huzhou in Zhejiang province reported a foul smell coming from the site to a member of a team of visiting officials who were on a nationwide environmental clean-up campaign, Xinhua reported on Monday. An initial investigation by the city government unearthed the decayed pigs, which had been buried in 2013 and 2014 by a medical waste treatment company, the report said.
Agriculture And Rural Issues
Govt to step up development of grain industry – Gov.cn The circular sets a target of building a modern grain industrial system that suits the country’s national conditions by 2020, with national quality rate of grain increasing by 10 percentage points, value added of the grain industry increasing by 7 percent yearly, and processing rate of grains hitting 88 percent.
Education
Weeks after row over academic articles, China says imported publications must be legal – Reuters “All publications imported into China’s market must adhere to Chinese laws and regulations. Publication importers are responsible for checking the content of their imported publications,” it said without elaborating.
Books And Literature
Writing Chinese ‘Writing Chinese: Authors, Authority and Authorship’ is based at the White Rose East Asia Centre in the University of Leeds, UK. Bringing together writers, translators, publishers, literary agents and academics working in the field of contemporary Chinese literature, we aim to foster closer links and dialogue, and to help promote contemporary Chinese writers in the UK.
Jobs And Events
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