"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
1. U.S. Military Proposes Challenge to China Sea Claims – WSJ Defense Secretary Ash Carter has asked his staff to look at options that include flying Navy surveillance aircraft over the islands and sending U.S. naval ships to within 12 nautical miles of reefs that have been built up and claimed by the Chinese in an area known as the Spratly Islands. Such moves, if approved by the White House, would be designed to send a message to Beijing that the U.S. won’t accede to Chinese territorial claims to the man-made islands in what the U.S. considers to be international waters and airspace…Officials said the issue is a complicated one because at least some of the areas where the Chinese have been doing construction are, in eyes of the U.S. government, legitimate islands, which would be entitled to a 12-nautical-mile zone.The proposal under consideration would be to send Navy ships and aircraft to within 12 nautical miles of only those built-up sites that the U.S. doesn’t legally consider to be islands, officials say.
Related: U.S. Gambit Risks Conflict With China – WSJ Although China’s own rhetoric is unyielding—it claims “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea—its actions are often pragmatic. For instance, a few months after its rig caused dangerous encounters between dozens of vessels from the two countries and anti-Chinese riots on land, China quietly withdrew it. It has since sought to patch up ties. For now, U.S. military options remain just that—options. Even if adopted by the Pentagon they would need presidential sign-off. If they are implemented, however, a serious concern is that conflict could arise from miscalculation.
2. The Sleeper Issue of 2016 Is China – Aaron L. Friedberg – POLITICO Magazine Policies must be judged by their results and, regardless of the intentions behind it, the Obama administration’s loudly proclaimed pivot has not stopped a serious, ongoing erosion in the American position in East Asia. In the long run this failure will likely prove to be even more significant than the other errors and missteps that presently command the most attention. And the candidates of 2016 will have to deal with it. Aaron L. Friedberg is professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University. He has served as national security aide to Vice President Dick Cheney
3. A Tipping Point in U.S.-China Relations is Upon Us » David Lampton speech in early May, warns on trajectory of US-China relationship // If developments continue along the current trajectory, both countries will have progressively less security, at higher cost; the probabilities of intentional, accidental, or catalytic violent confrontations will increase; the world will enjoy less cooperation on transnational issues requiring joint Sino-American efforts; and, economic welfare in both societies will be diminished. What can be done? Fundamentally, America has to rethink its objective of primacy and China must recalibrate its own sense of strength and what that entitles it to. Americans must find ways to accommodate China’s rightful desire for greater voice in international affairs and institutions such as the IMF, and China should improve relations with its neighbors—reassure them. The words “accommodation” or “compromise” in either China or the United States should not be dirty words. Both nations must be more realistic about their own power, what constitutes power, and how it can be exercised in a world in which a central reality is interdependence. Sino-American interdependence needs to be systematically reinforced, and joint security and economic institutions must be created. Balance and stability in Asia should be our objective, not the primacy of either side.
Related: 兰普顿对中美的悲观值得重视_手机环球网 Global Times says Lampton’s speech is worth taking seriously // 美国国务卿约翰·克里本周末访华的消息昨天正式公布，中美双方将就新一轮战略与经济对话以及习近平访美等事宜进行沟通。在中俄关系刚有过耀眼的呈现后，北京与华盛顿构筑互信的努力进入人们的视野。 然而中美关系或许不像这些日程所显示的那么令人鼓舞。美国霍普金斯大学著名学者兰普顿几天前的一个讲话引起中美战略学界的密集注意。兰普顿认为，尽管美中关系也有一些进展，但是整体上正在朝着一个不可取的方向发展。 他说：“不幸的是，自从2010年左右开始，情况发生了急剧的变化。美中关系的临界点正在接近。我们各自的恐惧比关系正常化以来的任何时候都更接近于超越我们对双边关系寄予的希望。我们正在看到对以积极为主的美中关系的一些关键的根本性支持受到侵蚀。” 多名接受《环球时报》采访的学者认为，兰普顿对中美关系的悲观描述值得重视。
Related: We Need to Stay Coolheaded | ChinaFile America has no need to fear China, but it ought to respect China. Now that China has more weight to throw around, having China play a more active role in regional and global affairs and pursue its own rational interests in a way that both conforms to the logic of post-World War II East Asia and accords with international norms, is the new common ground for China-U.S. relations. The Sino-U.S. relationship, one of both cooperation and competition, will still decide the future of humanity in the 21st century. China does not need to challenge the U.S. strategically; it is in China’s interest to help the U.S. play its leadership role elegantly in the Asia-Pacific region and in the world at large. To help the China-U.S. relationship develop in a positive direction, both Beijing and Washington need to stay coolheaded and avoid condemning, suspecting, and blaming each other in an overly emotional manner. Only this way can we guarantee a future in which China and the U.S. enjoy a rational, cooperative relationship.–Zhu Feng is Executive Director of the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea and a Professor of International Relations at Nanjing University. He was formerly Deputy President of the Institute of Strategic & International Studies and a Professor in the School of International Studies at Peking University
Related: 军报：决不能让互联网成为人心流失地 – 中国军网 p 6 PLA Daily Wednesday on the ideological struggle on the Internet. This author, and clearly he is not alone, believes China is in an ideological war with the West. Is it a war when only one side thinks it is a war? // 网上意识形态斗争虽无炮火硝烟，却充满“文明的血腥”，本质上是两种制度、两种价值观的对立，是敌我之间的殊死较量。敌对势力利用互联网这个便捷手段，构设“价值陷阱”，实施“文化冷战”，培植“第五纵队”，对领袖的泼污，对英雄的诋毁，对体制的嘲弄，对党政军的攻击等，可以说到了肆无忌惮的地步，把互联网当成倾销西方意识形态的“租借地”。中央文献研究室原主任逄先知一针见血地指出：“谁讲马克思主义，讲革命传统，就说你‘左’，让你抬不起头来。连人民民主专政都被人当成是‘左’的东西。谁对错误的言论进行批评，谁就被扣上‘文革大批判’的帽子，遭到围攻。”…当前和今后一个时期，西方垄断网络霸权、占据网络信息传播优势的格局难以根本改变。网上斗争的形势是严峻的、复杂的、长期的，总体态势仍是敌强我弱、敌攻我守。我们是“中流击水”，还是“顺流东去”；是当“沉默的羔羊”，还是做“英勇的斗士”，到了必须做出选择、必须坚决反击的时候。“主战场”要上“主力军”。我军只有紧紧跟上，站在前沿，打好反击战，才能捍卫“网络主权”，筑牢“网上长城”！
4. Senate Democrats vote to block Obama on trade – The Washington Post The Senate vote was a sharp blow to the president’s efforts to win approval for a new Asia-Pacific trade bill that has emerged as a top agenda item for Obama. Only one Democratic senator, Thomas R. Carper of Delaware, voted with the president Tuesday. Administration officials and Republican leaders immediately said they would bring a measure back to the Senate floor.
Related: Scenes from the Democratic meltdown – Manu Raju – POLITICO The vote does not kill the trade agreement — the Senate could reconsider the bill anytime — but it amounts to an embarrassing setback for the White House at a key time in the delicate, 12-nation TPP talks. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware was the only Democrat to back the White House.
5. Cabinet Think Tanks Prepare Draft for Reforming Oil and Gas Industry-Caixin The plan includes proposals for opening oil and gas prospecting to private companies, restructuring major state-owned giants and relaxing government control of crude oil imports, the sources said. The draft was prepared by government-backed think tanks including the cabinet’s Development Research Center on the orders of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, and the National Energy Administration. The proposals would be discussed by industry experts and officials in May and June, and then submitted to the central government, the sources said. The Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, the Communist Party’s top decision-making body for reform policies, has set the end of this year as a deadline for introducing a far-reaching plan regarding the industry. // does this include the merger the Wall street Journal has reported is under consideration?
Related: China Said to Plan Spinning Off Sinopec, PetroChina Pipelines – Bloomberg Business China’s economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, is leading talks on the initiative, according to four people, who asked not to be named as they aren’t authorized to speak publicly on the issue. The separation of the pipeline units would be part of President Xi Jinping’s reforms to allow markets a more decisive role in the economy. The NDRC has held talks since last year on the sale of the assets with the biggest pipeline owners and the utilities that buy most of the fuels, the people said. A final decision on the plan or the number of companies to be created hasn’t been made. The assets could be worth as much as $300 billion, according to an estimate by Neil Beveridge, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein
6. Now for the Clean-Up: China Crafts Solution for Local-Debt Mess – Bloomberg Business “Although banks’ earnings will be hurt by the lower yields of bonds (relative to higher interest on loans), we believe the market will value banks’ gain in risk reduction and liquidity over their loss in interest revenue,” Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS Group AG in Hong Kong, wrote in a note. Jiangsu, a province north of Shanghai, may become the first local authority to complete a swap, when it proceeds with a bond sale that it delayed in April, pending steps by the central government to buttress the program. The province now plans to sell 52.2 billion yuan of securities May 18, of which 30.8 billion yuan would be swap securities.
Related: China to boost local bond market with collateral rules – China Daily China is set to boost local debt swap by admitting municipal bonds as collateral for borrowing. Under the new rule, banks can pledge municipal bonds as collaterals in the central bank’s repurchase agreement operations and other liquidity support tools such as standing lending facility (SLF), medium-term lending facility (MLF) and pledged supplementary lending (PSL), reported Sina citing an inside document. Municipal bonds will also be considered as eligible collaterals for liquidity management in central treasury and local treasury of pilot regions, according to the news
Related: 置换债券可采用定向承销方式 需于8月底前完成经济频道财新网 万亿存量债务置换方案进一步明确。财政部、央行、银监会三部委5月8日发文明确，可以采取定向承销的方式。各地针对2015年第1批置换债券额度的定向承销发行工作，应当于2015年8月31日前完成。
Related: 地方债置换：“胡萝卜”不可缺，“大棒”更不可少观点频道财新网 这意味着贷款类债务被大概率行政摊派，非贷款类债务置换则以市场化和行政化并举的方式发行。地方政府与商业银行的利益诉求很难耦合，但形势不等人
7. India’s Modi Heads to China Amid Two Countries’ Growing Geopolitical Rivalry – WSJ Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first official visit to China this week comes as the two countries have substantially ratcheted up their geopolitical competition—a reflection, in part, of Mr. Modi’s more assertive policy toward Beijing. Both sides say they will try to bolster economic cooperation during the three-day visit that begins Thursday. Mr. Modi will meet top Chinese officials and business leaders in Beijing, Shanghai and Xian as he attempts to attract more investment for Indian manufacturing and infrastructure and forge a closer bond with President Xi Jinping
Related: High-altitude road and more guards planned for tense India-China border – The Washington Post Analysts say Modi has tried to strike a balance by reaching out to China on economic issues like trade while taking a strong stance against their expansionism throughout Asia. The two sides have clashed in recent days, with India protesting China’s investment in Pakistan’s Kashmir region and a widely-read opinion piece in a Chinese state newspaper accusing Modi of playing “little tricks over border disputes and security” and warning him from staying away from border areas.
Related: Ahead of Modi’s visit to Beijing, a Chinese state newspaper accuses Indians of ‘inferiority’ – The Washington Post The article, written by Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, was published in the Global Times on Tuesday. In the article, Hu argues that Modi has been “playing little tricks” to boost his prestige and apply pressure to Beijing. The article then went on to lament the poor state of Sino-Indian relations before laying the blame at the feet of Indian citizens and their media.
8. Chinese Maternity Tourists and the Business of Being Born American – Bloomberg Business He’s daughter was born in America as well. He and her husband, educated in Britain and from prosperous families, hoped to send their children to an international school in Shanghai that admits only foreign students. When the kids turn 21 they can petition for green cards for their parents, too…On April 30, He officially became a fugitive. The government charged He and nine others with alleged obstruction of justice, contempt of court, and visa fraud and issued warrants for their arrest. “It’s pretty ironic,” says Liu. “She did so much to get passports for her kids. Now they can come to America anytime. But she probably can never come again.”
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
China’s New Credit Growth Misses Economists’ Estimates in April – Bloomberg Business Aggregate financing, which includes bank loans and off-balance credit, was 1.05 trillion yuan ($169 billion), central bank data showed Wednesday, less than the median estimate of 1.2 trillion yuan in a Bloomberg survey of 22 economists. New yuan loans were 707.9 billion yuan, compared with an estimate of 903 billion yuan, while M2 money supply rose 10.1 percent from a year earlier.
Chinese Industrial Data Suggest Sluggish Stimulus Response – Bloomberg Business China’s industrial output growth ticked higher in April while investment slowed to the weakest pace in more than 14 years, suggesting monetary easing is trickling through the economy while more may be needed to spur a pick-up. Industrial output rose 5.9 percent in April from a year earlier, up from March’s 5.6 percent, and non-rural fixed-asset investment climbed 12 percent in the year through April, the weakest expansion since May 2000, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Wednesday.
China, when a hot money outflow threatens to become a torrent | FT Alphaville The hot money outflow issue is also a very good reason to not expect depreciation of the CNY as a response to so-called currency wars and stalling exports — along with China’s wooing of reserve currency status which will see it, notes Seb Galy, adopt IMF norms and give us some actual reserve composition data in the future. As Iley says (and we’ve stressed before): Validation of depreciation expectations would risk further accelerating bets on yet more weakness and leave the central bank chasing its tail. Any modest tinkering such as further widening of the CNY’s daily trading band from its current +/-2% will be delayed until the PBoC has more decisively stared down depreciation speculation. In the short-term that leaves China unable to fight back in the currency wars and having to ‘wear’ the biggest competitiveness shock to the economy since the Asia crisis, which, as we predicted, is pushing export growth close to zero so far this year.
China Home Sales Rise as Property Market Stabilizes Amid Easing – Bloomberg Business New-home sales jumped 16 percent to 485.4 billion yuan ($78.2 billion) last month from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data the National Bureau of Statistics released Wednesday. The 4.8 percent decline in the sales volume in the January-to-April period narrowed from 9.2 percent in the first quarter, showing “signs of a recovery” as developers added more supply after stimulus measures, according to a statement on the bureau’s website.
China makes fresh efforts to unleash economic vitality – Xinhua The government will cancel more approval items, make enterprise registration easier and waive administrative charges it deems unreasonable this year, Li said at a national teleconference of China’s senior and middle-level officials. The transformation of governmental functions should address people’s concerns, improve government services and strengthen supervision to guarantee a transparent, orderly and just market environment, the premier said. The meeting underlined the leadership’s resolution to tackle the long-standing issue of red tape, in the hope of promoting a more streamlined and efficient economy. Li stressed encouragement of start-ups and innovation as well as enhancing services in employment, financing and intellectual property, so as to attract valid investment and realize easy and fair services for all people. He also urged stronger monitoring of big data, cloud computing and “Internet Plus” put forward by Li which means the integration of the Internet and traditional industries through online platforms and IT technology.
Banking Regulator Tells Branches to Be On Guard for Deposit Scams- Caixin The banking regulator used a recent meeting to tell its branches across the country to beef up supervision over banks regarding fraud that takes advantage of people’s trust in lenders, sources with knowledge of the matter say. Since last year, several scams have been uncovered involving people who thought they were dealing with a bank but were really putting money into other accounts. The most recent case to be reported in the media involved a bank in Hangzhou, capital of the eastern Zhejiang Province. Investigators have found that the victims were bilked out of more than 100 million yuan.
Chinese bank extends more than 1-trl-yuan for housing renovation – Xinhua China Development Bank on Tuesday said its accumulative lending to housing renovation projects had topped 1 trillion yuan (164 billion U.S. dollars) as of May 8. As a major financial service provider for such projects, the bank said it had supported the renovation of substandard housing across the whole country. With the bank’s support, more than 1.12 billion square meters of homes had been renovated, benefiting nearly 11.4 million households.
Will China Join a Global Currency War? Pimco Doesn’t Think So – Bloomberg Business China is unlikely to engineer a competitive devaluation of the yuan as it seeks reserve currency status, according to Pacific Investment Management Co. A sharp drop in the currency would also hinder government efforts to transform Asia’s largest economy into one that’s driven more by consumption rather than exports, Isaac Meng, a portfolio manager at Pimco in Hong Kong, wrote in a research note released Wednesday.
4 Stocks for Riding a Slowing China Bull – Barron’s While investors are upbeat on the longer terms prospects for China’s bull market, some are refining their stock selection in search of companies that offer an attractive mix of valuations and earnings growth that will stand their portfolios in good stead as China’s policy makers seek to navigate the world’s second largest economy past its current challenges. It’s that focus on solid stocks that has lead Goldman Sachs to nominate Tencent and Cinda Asset Management as two of their favored plays.
Banishing Ghosts But Looking for Life: A Chinese Ghost City Two Years On – China Real Time Report – WSJ Some, like Henan province’s Zhengzhou, have evolved into fully functioning cities, having passed seemingly unscarred through the trauma of a premature after-life. Others, however, still look as though they will never grow up to be a real boy. That seems to be fate of new Tieling city, about an hour’s drive north of Shenyang in northeast China. Old Tieling is a city of about 340,000. Plans for a new Tieling were launched by the local government in 2005. When the Wall Street Journal visited in early 2013, it was the model of a ghost city. Two years later, the city is starting to look more lively.
China Workers Said to Protest Pay at Indebted State Firm – Bloomberg Business The demonstrators marched through the streets of the city of Deyang to the offices of China National Erzhong Group Co., demanding redress for wages that have been cut to as low as 360 yuan ($58) a month, said the officials, who asked not to be identified as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The workers also called for central government aid for the company and a probe of management for possible corruption, they said.
China faces ‘no capital flight’, says Commerce Ministry -China Daily China has again ruled out the possibility of massive capital outflow, saying an overwhelming majority of foreign companies that pulled out their investments in the country were shell firms, The Beijing News reported on Wednesday. The average investment scale of those firms is relatively small, and 20 percent of them entered China less than five years ago, said the newspaper citing Tang Wenhong, head of the Department of Foreign Investment Administration of the Commerce Ministry. Tang added that only 19 foreign companies out of the top 1,000, based on their 2010 revenue in China, have canceled their investments in the country so far, 10 of which have been turned into domestic enterprises via shares transfer.
消息称监管层约谈三基金公司 要求配置创业板股票_TechWeb more reports that regulators have called in funds for a chat about being careful with ChiNext shares // 5月13日消息，监管层紧急约谈来自北京、上海、广州三家基金公司有关负责人，要求各自控制买入创业板股票的节奏，在风险控制前提下，适当配置创业板股票。 报道称，三家大型基金公司均属于在创业板投资上骁勇善战的典型。尽管基金契约并未对买入创业板有具体约束，但监管层表示，基金应该平稳建仓，特别是新成立基金不宜建仓过快，避免对二级市场造成较大冲击。 据了解，上述三家基金公司中有一家新发成立一只基金产品，规模超过100亿，建仓伊始就比较大比例买入创业板股票。其他两家的表现业在创业板投资上表现活跃。
POLITICS AND LAW
Mother of Man Killed at Train Station Says He Grew Tense after Drinking- Caixin Xu Chunhe, a farmer with three children whose family is from a village in Qingan County, in Heilongjiang Province, was shot dead by a police officer he fought with at the local train station. This angered some Net users, who thought the officer should have used other measures to handle the situation. Witnesses told Caixin that Xu took a police baton from the officer, who has been identified in media reports as Li Lebin, and hit him with it. “Then the officer took out his gun and a shot was heard and Xu was lying on the ground,” one witness said. Witnesses also say Xu threw a girl, who has been identified as his daughter, to the ground. Xu’s mother, Quan Yushun, said her son told her he was in a bad mood and wanted to travel to Dalian, a large city in the province of Liaoning, to see an aunt. On May 2, he took his mother; daughter, 7; and two sons, aged 5 and 6, to the Qingan Railway Station and bought tickets.
公安部介入调查庆安枪击案 当地回避律师取证新闻腾讯网 受害人家属代理律师调查取证困难重重，他们先后依法赴庆安县公安局等部门调查取证，却全吃了闭门羹。律师去庆安县公安局要求询问事发当天的出警警员，却被告知这些警员们有的休假，有的生病了。
一声枪响，庆安官场全面崩塌 Qingan shooting has led to unravelling of web of local corruption in the county // 公安部大员来到庆安，庆安人民积累的怨愤都要找到一个出口了，民办教师孙广旭、陈船明举报庆安县大批官员涉嫌买卖300个教师编制，而且列举了一个详细的表格。庆安县买卖教育系统编制大名单，一个编制约3万到5万元，共300个编制被卖出。举报人不怕被打击报复，等纪检人员来调查。因为他们列举了自己的姓名和电话，他们的勇敢和诚意也是不怕核对的。看来庆安教育部门的地震也大抵在所难免。 差不多同时，庆安县检察院职员举报检察长魏鹏飞腐败违纪，也有详细的事实和数据。因为上访如果遇阻不让登车最后倒毙如徐纯合也不是个例；现在大员下访，正是递呈子的好机会。
Police torture in China still routine despite reforms: rights group | Reuters The report was based on interviews last year with 48 recent detainees, members of their families, lawyers, former officials and an analysis of court verdicts in China. “They handcuffed me and then hung the handcuffs on the windows,” a former detainee based in the central province of Hunan told Human Rights Watch. “I was hung like a dog.” The report focused only on suspects of non-political crimes, such as robbery and organized crime, said Maya Wang, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch
Senior official urges innovation of social sciences study – Xinhua Liu Qibao, head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a review meeting on projects of the 2015 National Social Sciences Foundation. Research fellows of social sciences should base their studies on China’s social reality, draw experience from international frontiers and sharpen their own creativity, said Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. They should uphold socialist values, promoting the “Four Comprehensives”, and at the same time carry on cultural traditions so as to provide constructive suggestions to enhance national development, he said.
The Future is Already Present? How the Draft Foreign NGO Management Law Could Be Applied | China Law & Policy These provisions, which give expansive, unchecked powers to the PSB, will have a chilling effect on both foreign and domestic NGOs if they are allowed to remain in the final law. Additionally, the inclusion of administrative detention puts China that much further from being able to ratify the ICCPR and be in-line with international standards. But this draft has yet to become law and if there is a silver lining in all of this, it is the fact that the National People’s Congress (NPC) has opened the draft to comment, even comments from the object of the law itself: foreign NGOs.
One Love: How Foreign NGOs & Governments Should Respond to China’s Draft Foreign NGO Law | China Law & Policy the increasingly unbridled power of the public security apparatus, evident in the draft Foreign NGO Management Law as well as the draft National Security Law, which was published only days after the NGO law, should frighten any entity that deals with China – be it a not-for-profit, a business or the U.S. government. To ignore that development and to believe that the supremacy of the PSB is somehow limited to only civil society issues is to do so at the peril of all of the United States’ interests in Asia, including business and military interests.
信访局副局长：不能把上访人员当“维稳对象”新闻腾讯网 国家信访局副局长张恩玺今日表示，不能简单把信访与维稳等同起来，更不能把上访人员当作“维稳对象”，这是与法规规定相悖的。
人民日报锐评：律师不该热衷舆论“死磕”–观点–人民网 如今有些人一看新闻或微博里有律师在“死磕”，第一反应几乎都是先把板子打在司法部门的身上。原因很简单，在如今各种舆论场的“耳濡目染”中，有人已经形成了一种“死磕”就等于“为权利而斗争”的刻板印象。这种脸谱化的片面夸张，一旦进入到真相的晦暗不明中，就容易被人激化成闹剧：前不久，在北京通州一名女律师向社会“求救”说“法官打人”，舆论立即义愤填膺地声讨法院，但事实却是该律师不甘案件不利而自伤来反诬法院施暴，结果真相大白之时，无论是法律职业的形象还是公众的同情心都已两败俱伤。
Six cult members jailed in central China – Xinhua Six members of the “Almighty God” cult that shocked China with a murder in a McDonald’s last year have been jailed for between two and four years as the country cracks down on the banned organization. The six, identified as Tang Li, Chen Xiaoming, Duan Heping, He Xing, Zhu Shihe and Gao Xiangwu, were convicted of “breaching law enforcement by cult activities,” according to the verdict issued on Wednesday by the Wuling District People’s Court in the central Hubei Province.
Chinese police order Yining residents to hand in passports in latest crackdown | The Guardian A notice posted in Yining city, nearly 2,000 miles west of Beijing and near the country’s border with Kazakhstan, said all passports should be surrendered by 15 May. “Those who do not hand in their passports on time will be reported to the entry and exit bureau and, according to the relevant regulations, their passports will be cancelled,” the memo from a local police station said.
湖南省委副秘书长马勇接受组织调查—中央纪委监察部网站 Ma Yong, deputy secretary general of the Hunan party committee, is under investigation
第二届国家网络安全宣传周将于6月举行-中新网 据中国国家互联网信息办公室12日消息，第二届国家网络安全宣传周将于6月1日至7日举行。 该活动由中央网信办、中央编办、教育部、科技部、工信部等十部委联合主办。 第二届国家网络安全宣传周将以“共建网络安全，共享网络文明”为主题，结合网络安全形势，培养公众网络安全基础意识，突出青少年网络安全宣传教育。 宣传周期间，将推出首次公众网络安全意识调查，并为青少年“定制”网络安全意识教育培训活动，包括设立国家网络安全青少年科普基地，开展青少年网络安全系列竞赛等。
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Will the 2016 congress be the moment of change in Vietnamese politics? | East Asia Forum Partly intertwined with the rise of civil society is the return of patriotism, which in its contemporary form tends to be anti-China and pro-Western. Suppressed during the 1990s and 2000s, this nationalist sentiment has been reinvigorated by the conflict with China in the South China Sea. Such sentiment has recently exerted substantial pressure on the government to veer away from the Chinese orbit.
China, Afghanistan vow stronger security cooperation – Xinhua China’s top security official Meng Jianzhu vowed to boost cooperation with Afghanistan in fighting against terrorism and drugs on Tuesday. While meeting with Afghanistan Interior Minister Olomi Noorol Haq, Meng called on both countries to implement consensus reached between state leaders, expand cooperation areas and promote new progress of bilateral strategic partnership.
China-funded highway projects to continue in Sri Lanka: minister – Xinhua Sri Lanka will continue its multi- million U.S. dollar infrastructure upgrade that includes major projects with China, the country’s Highway and Investment Minister Hashim has said. Minister Hashim met with Ambassador Yi Xianliang to exchange views on bilateral infrastructure cooperation, a statement from the ministry said on Tuesday. The minister thanked China’s long- term support to Sri Lanka and appreciated Chinese companies’ contributions to its economic development
解放军首建飞行事故抄告机制，通报所属部队时须抄告主管机关中国政库澎湃新闻-The Paper 飞行安全是军队安全工作的重要方面，也是战斗力建设的重要内容。由于飞行事故的偶发性、突发性、不确定性强，历来是安全防范的重点和难点。受飞行安全管理制度机制不够完善等因素制约，我军各军兵种航空兵部队之间过去对事故信息沟通交流不畅，呈现各自为战、相对封闭的管理模式，飞行事故防范难度大。为改变这一状况，总参近日组织总部机关、各军兵种及武警部队分管飞行安全工作的领导、飞行安全专家和飞行员代表，召开全军飞行安全专题研究会，分析飞行安全面临的形势任务和风险压力，研究飞行事故发生的特点规律，集中会商防范飞行事故的对策措施，决定建立实施全军飞行事故及重大征候抄告机制。
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
China warns Taiwan opposition leader over independence calls while in U.S. | Reuters China warned the leader of Taiwan’s main pro-independence opposition party on Wednesday against engaging in activities promoting the island’s independence while she is in the United States later this month. The remarks by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office came two weeks before Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and a presidential contender in January elections, meets government officials, academics and overseas Taiwanese in the United States.
TECH AND MEDIA
Tencent Earnings Beat Estimates on Surging Smartphone Games – Bloomberg Business WeChat had 549 million monthly active users and the mobile version of QQ had 603 million users at the end of the quarter. Tencent is helping make money from instant messaging by adding payment services and making it easier to access e-commerce. Online advertising sales more than doubled to 2.7 billion yuan in the quarter, the company said.
WeChat is Tencent’s ace in China’s online entertainment race | Reuters “You clearly see the growth of (Tencent’s) position,” said TCL Multimedia CEO Hao Yi, who works with many of China’s Internet companies, about the firm’s video business. “A couple of years ago they were nowhere. The WeChat thing, indeed, this is a killer.” In recent months, Alibaba and Tencent have taken their rivalry overseas, both setting up offices in Los Angeles to slug it out for programming deals with Hollywood studios and producers. While both groups have financial firepower, WeChat could be a clincher for Tencent in winning deals with content producers.
百度反腐7名员工被查：涉嫌职务侵占与商业受贿|新浪科技新浪网 Baidu tells employees in an internal email that 7 of their colleagues are under investigation for corruption. email included in this article // 百度披露，原百度渠道部高级总监宇晖、企业市场部高级总监金治、大客户销售部副总监陈祯锋、渠道部高级经理赵志勇、百糯成渝云贵大区总监王林、百糯成渝云贵大区销售主管蒋青苓、董生敏、百糯西安分公司销售王磊，因涉嫌商业受贿或职务侵占被公司解除劳动合同，并被移交至相关司法机关依法处理。
Baidu Leads in Artificial Intelligence Benchmark – China Real Time Report – WSJ is the supercomputer in Silicon Valley, and does it use the Intel chips the US government recently banned for export to China for the government’s latest supercomputer? // The company’s Minwa supercomputer scanned ImageNet, a database of just over one million pictures, and taught itself how to sort them into a predefined set of roughly 1,000 different categories. This meant learning the difference between a French loaf and a meatloaf, but also trickier challenges such as distinguishing a Lakeland terrier from a wire-haired fox terrier.
纪录片运行中国-顶级首播纪实台央视网(cctv.com) How China Works, Discovery Channel’s China-funded documentary series, streaming for free on CNTV.cn
库克密会中电信高管 涉合同续约及新iPhone引入|库克|中国电信电信新浪科技_新浪网 今天上午，苹果公司CEO库克拜访中国电信，商谈双方合作事宜。据知情人士透露，双方会谈内容主要涉及新合同的订立，此前的合同为期三年现已到期。在今天上午的会谈中，中国电信副总经理高同庆为主要代表，会谈内容包括新iPhone的引入。 该人士透露，库克昨日已与电信总经理杨杰等人进行过会谈，就双方的合作达成初步共识。后续双方还将就此事展开进一步的谈判。//Tim Cook meets with China Telecom to discuss renewing contract-Chinese media
Chinese vice premier meets Apple CEO – Xinhua Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong met with visiting Apple CEO Tim Cook Tuesday in Beijing, calling on the high-tech giant to do more in promoting China-U.S. scientific, educational cooperation. During a meeting at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound, Liu spoke highly of Apple’s business development in China and its active cooperation with China in science, technology, education and other fields. She called on Apple to further invest in the country, play a bigger role in promoting China-U.S. exchanges, cooperate in relevant areas and make greater contributions to enhancing China-U.S. ties.
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s social media debut in China embraced by competitors | South China Morning Post Lei Jun, chairman of fast-growing Xiaomi, and Deputy Senior Executive Yu Chengdong of Huawei Technologies both retweeted Cook’s post and said they welcome his visit. The two companies are second and third behind Apple in smartphone shipments in China. Huang Zhang, founder and chairman of Meizu, another domestic smartphone maker, commented “As a domestic manufacturer, we ought to learn from Apple in the aspect of environmental protection.”
小米手机首次开放线下销售 杭州出现“米粉”排队-浙商网-浙江在线 Xiaomi NotePro goes on sale offline in Hangzhou, report says people were lining up to buy // 昨天早上9点，杭州文晖路“小米之家(小米手机公司成立的直营客户服务中心，从2011年开始在全国多个城市推出)”门前出现了一支长队，排队的人不是为了买某款“杭儿风”早餐，而是为了买小米手机。
With Xiaomi Deal, Midea Bets on Smarter Future – Caixin By working with smartphone maker Xiaomi, the appliance manufacturer is diversifying its products and business culture
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Animated Deng Xiaoping set to hit silver screen this week-China Daily The historical documentary Mr. Deng goes to Washington, which premiered in the capital on May 12, not only reveals the details of an attempted assassination of Deng, but is also the first time animated images of China’s leaders have appeared on the silver screen. The film tells the story of Deng’s nine-day visit to the US in 1979, only a month after China established diplomatic relations with the US for the first time after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Telling stories of Chinese leaders through animation is very rare in China, but Mr. Deng goes to Washington interweaves historical footages, interviews and animated images of Deng.
China announces holiday for V-Day celebration – China Daily The Chinese government on Wednesday announced a national holiday for this year’s celebration of the 70th anniversary of the victory in World War II. A brief statement published on the website of the Chinese government, www.gov.cn, said the move aims to allow all people nationwide to participate in activities commemorating China’s victory in the war against Japanese aggression and the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War during the holiday on Sept. 3.
卫计委报告：未婚男性多在农村 未婚女性多在城镇国内新京报网 今天上午，国家卫计委召开月度新闻发布会。记者从国家卫计委家庭司编著的《中国家庭发展报告2015》中了解到，未婚男性多集中在农村地区，而未婚女性更多集中在城镇地区。
Woman in China beaten for her bad driving — and apologizes｜WantChinaTimes the man who beat her is in custody // A female driver who was beaten savagely by a young man in retaliation for a dangerous lane change, made a public apology on Monday, stirring public reflections on road etiquette in China. In the apology letter publicized by a newspaper, the woman, Lu Qin, said she apologizes for her reckless and irrational driving. “I am aware of my mistakes and would like to accept any punishment regarding my violations of the driving regulation.”
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Nepal earthquake highlights dangers of dam building in Tibet | Liu Qin Liu Qin – China Dialogue Hydropower development in Tibet is fraught with huge risks because of the danger of major earthquakes. What’s more, the projects might not be needed, say experts
国标委发布第五阶段成品油国家标准，再次提高油品清洁化水平绿政公署澎湃新闻-The Paper 据国家质检总局网站消息，为贯彻落实国务院关于成品油质量升级国家专项行动的决策部署，5月8日，国家标准委批准发布了第五阶段乙醇汽油、生物柴油和普通柴油国家标准，同时启动了第六阶段成品油系列国家标准制修订工作。
云南破获一起“猎杀大熊猫案” 10名嫌疑人被抓新闻腾讯网 10 arrested in yunnan for killing a panda…panda skin, 9.75KG of panda meat recovered. disturbing pics
Have your steak and eat it – beef with omega-3 fatty acids reared in China | South China Morning Post Can’t stand fish but know it’s good for you? Chinese-reared cattle have meat engineered to contain high levels of the beneficial acids associated with fish oils
BOOKS AND LITERATURE
Speaker Interview – Michel Hockx: Internet Literature in China | YCW Prof Michel Hockx is the founder and Director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Having studied and taught at Leiden University for many years he came to SOAS in 1996 and ever since became a leading expert on, among others, Modern Chinese poetry, the sociology of modern Chinese literature as well as contemporary Chinese Internet Culture. He spoke for YCW in London on 15 April on his latest book, Internet Literature in China.
BEIJING
No zombies allowed: Beijing set to regulate wearing horror make-up on trains | South China Morning Post The new rules did not explicitly impose a ban, and did not specify any punishment for violations. There was no explanation for the timing of the announcement. “Some costumes will cause panic, thus posing a threat to security [within the station]. So we discourage people from wearing them even though they are not banned,” Liang Jianwei, deputy head of Beijing’s transport police, was quoted by local newspaper Beijing Morning Post as saying.
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