"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
I am back in Beijing and mostly over jet lag and whatever I caught on the plane so should be on a more regular publishing schedule this week. Lots to catch up on, thanks for your patience.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
1. With a series of major hacks, China builds a database on Americans – The Washington Post The targeting of large-scale databases is a relatively new tactic and is used by the Chinese government to further its intelligence-gathering, the officials and analysts say. It is government espionage, not commercial espionage, they say…The data could help Chinese analysts do more effective targeting of individuals, said a former National Security Agency official. “They can find specific individuals they want to go after, family members,” he said. The trend has emerged and accelerated over the past 12 to 18 months, the official said. An increase in Chinese capability has opened the way “for bigger data storage, for bigger data theft,” he said. “And when you can gain it in bulk, you take it in bulk.” // sucks for the affected people but this looks like legitimate espionage, and much responsibility lies with the incompetent US government approach to securing its own systems…
Related: Why OPM should have seen the latest cyberattack coming – The Washington Post According to a report by OPM’s inspector general’s office released in November, the agency couldn’t even find all of its equipment. “OPM does not maintain a comprehensive inventory of servers, databases, and network devices,” the audit, which reviewed the agency’s operations through September, found. That could make it a lot harder to keep them safe, experts said. “You can’t defend yourselves well if you don’t know what systems you have and where your data is,” said Richard Bejtlich, chief security strategist at cybersecurity firm FireEye and a Brookings Institution senior fellow. “You won’t be able to fend off an basic adversary, let alone an advanced adversary.” // can the affected employees sue the federal government for negligence?
Related: U.S. Was Warned of System Open to Cyberattacks – NYTimes The inspector general at the Office of Personnel Management, which keeps the records and security clearance information for millions of current and retired federal employees, issued a report in November that essentially described the agency’s computer security system as a Chinese hacker’s dream. But by the time the report was published, Chinese hackers had already cleaned out tens of thousands of files on sensitive security clearances, and were preparing for a much broader attack that ultimately obtained detailed personal information on at least four million current and former government employees. Even today, the agency is struggling to patch numerous vulnerabilities.
Related: China Hackers Got Past Costly U.S. Computer Security With Ease – Bloomberg Business The hackers who stole personal data on 4 million government employees from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sneaked past a sophisticated counter-hacking system called Einstein 3, a highly-touted, multimillion-dollar and mostly secret technology that’s been years in the making. It’s behind schedule, the result of inter-agency fights over privacy, control and other matters, and only about half of the government was protected when the hackers raided OPM’s databases last December. It’s also, by the government’s own admission, already obsolete.
Related: Commentary: New wave of China-bashing irresponsible, harmful to Sino-U.S. ties – Xinhua The recent anti-China hysteria moved another notch up Thursday when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said massive data from the Office of Personnel Management and the Interior Department had been compromised in hacking attacks. Quoting unnamed U.S. officials and Congressional sources, U.S. media quickly pointed a finger at China for the hacking, without providing further proof. These allegations and accusations seem to be part of a U.S. witch-hunt of China following the heightened tensions over the rift on China’s building activities in the disputed South China Sea…Basically, Washington needs to stop its witch-hunt of China, tune down its criticism of China, and learn to accommodate China in an unbiased way. Otherwise, the rivalry between the two powers is destined to worsen and have a destabilizing effect on world peace and security.
2. China’s Xi highlights pilot programs in deepening reform – Xinhua | At the meeting, the group approved guidelines on deepening reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and judicial system. The top leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) should be strengthened throughout the deepening reform of SOEs, the guidelines said, stressing the Party’s key role in supervising the companies’ management and operation.
Related: 习近平：树立改革全局观积极探索实践 发挥改革试点示范突破带动作用-新华网 会议审议通过了《关于在深化国有企业改革中坚持党的领导加强党的建设的若干意见》、《关于加强和改进企业国有资产监督防止国有资产流失的意见》、《关于完善国家统一法律职业资格制度的意见》、《关于招录人民法院法官助理、人民检察院检察官助理的意见》、《关于进一步规范司法人员与当事人、律师、特殊关系人、中介组织接触交往行为的若干规定》。会议强调，坚持党的领导是我国国有企业的独特优势。把国有企业做强做优做大，不断增强国有经济活力、控制力、影响力、抗风险能力，要坚持党的建设与国有企业改革同步谋划、党的组织及工作机构同步设置，实现体制对接、机制对接、制度对接、工作对接，确保党的领导、党的建设在国有企业改革中得到体现和加强。要坚持党管干部原则，建立适应现代企业制度要求和市场竞争需要的选人用人机制。要把加强党的领导和完善公司治理统一起来，明确国有企业党组织在公司法人治理结构中的法定地位。国有企业党组织要承担好从严管党治党责任。
Related: 中央深改组：强化国企纪检巡视 防止国资流失新闻腾讯网 解读1-国有企业要坚持和加强党的领导; 解读2-完善党组织在国企“政治核心作用”; 解读3-司法人员要管好生活圈交往圈
Related: 新华社评论员：用好改革试点重要一招——学习贯彻习近平总书记在中央全面深化改革领导小组第十三次会议重要讲话-新华网 解剖一只麻雀，可以看清弄懂内部结构；搞好一个试点，能为推动全局工作提供有效方案。按照习近平总书记所强调的，“对看得还不那么准、又必须取得突破的改革，可以先进行试点，摸着石头过河，尊重实践、尊重创造，鼓励大胆探索、勇于开拓，在实践中开创新路，取得经验后再推开”，我们就一定能以试点带动整体，积小胜为大胜，巩固全面深化改革的战略优势，夺取改革攻坚的全局性胜利。
Related: 经济参考网 -中央提出建国资监督体系 为国企改革提供保障 “坚持党的领导，加快形成国资监督体系，为下一步深化国企国资改革提供体系性制度保障。”中国企业研究院首席研究员李锦在接受记者采访时说，两个文件审议通过，将有利于保障国企国资改革顺利推进。 会议指出，防止国有资产流失，要坚持问题导向，立足机制制度创新，强化国有企业内部监督、出资人监督和审计、纪检巡视监督以及社会监督。 李锦表示，会议提到的“坚持问题导向”颇具现实针对性。在已开展的数轮针对中央企业的巡视中，中央巡视组发现为数不少的“权钱交易”“利益输送”“链条性腐败”，造成大量国有资产流失。更值得警惕的是，在一些企业中，部分纪检监察机构监督责任严重缺失，既存在监督不力和形同虚设问题，又存在个别人掩盖腐败和自身腐败问题。
Related: 做好深化国有企业改革大文章 Commentary in latest Seeking Truth on SOE reform, probably not what a lot of folks were hoping for // 习近平总书记对《中共中央关于全面深化改革若干重大问题的决定》作说明时指出：“国有企业是推进国家现代化、保障人民共同利益的重要力量。经过多年改革，国有企业总体上已经同市场经济相融合。同时，国有企业也积累了一些问题、存在一些弊端，需要进一步推进改革。”这一重要论断明确告诉我们：第一，要高度重视、自觉维护国有企业的地位作用。改革的目的是要进一步增强、更好发挥国有企业的作用。无论怎样改革，国有企业的地位作用不可削弱、不可动摇、不可替代。第二，要科学地、全面地、辩证地把握和判断国有企业改革的成就和问题。成就不容否定，问题不容回避。要在充分肯定成就、严肃直面问题的基点上深化国有企业改革。这为新形势下深化国有企业改革指明了方向。我国是社会主义国家，生产资料公有制是社会主义制度的经济基础，公有制为主体、多种所有制经济共同发展的基本经济制度是中国特色社会主义制度的重要支柱，也是社会主义市场经济体制的根基
3. Rescuers describe gruesome recovery of Chinese ship victims – LA Times As soldiers and other personnel worked through the night wearing white hazmat suits and life jackets, searching with flashlights, they said they encountered hallways jammed with furniture and other debris. At times, the stench inside the ship was overpowering and many bodies were swollen, stiff or decomposed. Locked cabin doors and rooms filled with mud and silt also hampered the recovery work, and firefighters were called in at times to clear passageways. More than 700 troops took part in the effort to remove the dead; a team of six was assigned to each body. Because the Eastern Star overturned in a remote area, the bodies had to be carried more than two miles to the closest road, then transported in vehicles to the mortuary in Jianli, a small agricultural town. // day of mourning today, you may notice all major websites have turned black and white for it
Related: 卫生防化队伍夜间进入”东方之星”舱内搜寻_网易新闻 slideshow of searchers inside the ship, must have been hell for the divers
Related: Eastern Star death toll reaches 431 – Xinhua The death toll from a Chinese cruise ship that capsized on the Yangtze River has climbed to 431 as of 11 a.m. Sunday. Only 14 people have been found alive so far, while another 11 people remain missing, according to the rescue headquarters in Jianli, central China’s Hubei Province.
4. America’s ‘China Consensus’ Implodes | The National Interest The realization that things are not going as the United States expected is leading many in the policy community to frantically cast about for an alternative China strategy. One recent entry into the China policy sweepstakes was a piece in the Weekly Standard proposing a “new” China strategy—Democracy promotion with explicit support for anti-regime elements. This tends to be the default neocon approach to most unpleasant regimes. Never mind that it is littered with failures. Why let reality get in the way of an ideologically satisfying theory?..Regardless of which assessment is correct, there appears a growing view that the current U.S.-China relationship, one partly cooperative and partly competitive may not be sustainable. Whether Washington and Beijing can find pathways that tilt the relationship more toward the cooperative than the competitive elements of the relationship is really part of a larger challenge facing the United States: how to accommodate U.S. interests to a transforming world in a static international system but an increasingly polycentric world where power is diffused. But as we enter Silly Season, with 19 Republican candidates and counting, don’t hold your breath.-Robert Manning
5. Chinese university revives research on official ideology to head off suspicious values – Global Times Chinese leading universities have initiated a series of activities to encourage the study of Marxism. In addition to naming a building after Karl Marx, Peking University has also started compiling a collection of Marxism classics, using a name that puts it on an equal footing with collections of Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian texts. Despite government efforts to stress ideological education, Western ideas such as liberalism, conservatism and religions have much bigger impacts on the minds of students. The launch of the Marx collection along with other related projects is hoped to raise the profile of Marx, buttressing the governance of the CPC.
6. Censorship and Salesmanship at America’s Biggest Book Fair – The New Yorker When I approached Franzen at the PEN rally, he told me that, after visiting China, he’d come to understand the case for censorship. “China has known so much misery, so much social instability in the last century, that there’s this deep cultural fear of it that cuts substantially across political lines,” he said. “From the point of view of the Chinese government, trying to maintain social stability, there are reasons for censorship. And that’s a point of view that has a right to be heard, in the same way that the writers we were supporting here have a right to be heard.”
Related: ‘Censorship Breeds Prejudice in the Long Run’ | Foreign Policy What is it like to grapple with Chinese state censorship? On May 29, Foreign Policy sat down with Bao Pu, Guo Xiaolu, and Hao Qun, better known by his pen name Murong Xuecun, in FP‘s Washington, D.C. office. Bao Pu is the founder of New Century Press, a Hong Kong publisher, and a political commentator and activist. Guo Xiaolu is a novelist and filmmaker in the U.K. Murong Xuecun is a Beijing-based author who has spoken and written about the Chinese censorship regime. (The three were in town as part of a trip organized by the New York-based PEN American Center focused on freedom of speech in China.)
Related: Chinese Censorship of Western Books Is Now Normal. Where’s the Outrage? | Foreign Policy In September 2014, I was commissioned by the New York-based free speech advocacy group PEN American Center to investigate how Western authors were navigating the multibillion-dollar Chinese publishing world and its massive, but opaque, censorship apparatus. Writing the resulting report, Censorship and Conscience, was fun and important work. Many China-focused writers and people in the industry had a sense of how bad the censorship problem was for Western authors, but no one had satisfactorily mapped the contours of the problem. Did it affect everyone, or just nonfiction writers who couldn’t avoid touching on Chinese human rights topics? How often were writers caving to censorship requests, or were they just as likely to opt for publishing without cuts in Taiwan or Hong Kong?
7. AP News : Money laundering investigation stymied by China, Italy says Police in Florence wondered where all the money was going. Italy’s economy was heading off a cliff, but its Chinatowns were booming. Luxury cars snaked past Chinese betting parlors and garment factories that hummed into the night. Chinese immigrants were buying up Italian coffee bars and real estate. But their prosperity was not reflected in local tax records. “What do they do with the money?” said Pietro Suchan, then deputy public prosecutor in Florence. “Do they eat it?”
8. Japan’s deputy prime minister to hold talks in Beijing | South China Morning Post Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso will hold talks with China’s Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Friday, an official with direct knowledge of the schedule said, amid signs of a thaw in relations between the two nations. He is also scheduled to hold talks with China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei on Friday night. // China seems very focused on calming the East China Seas issues and repairing relations with Japan, may show there is hope for finding some kind of offramp in South China Sea
Related: China, Japan finance ministers meet for cooperation – Xinhua Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei (C) co-chairs the Fifth China-Japan Finance Dialogue in Beijing, capital of China, June 6, 2015. The dialogue was held in Beijing on Saturday after about two years of delay due to sour relations
Related: Chubby Blue Cat Hints at Thaw in Ties Between China and Japan – NYTimes “Stand by Me Doraemon,” the first in the cinematic franchise made with computer-generated 3-D imagery, has become the highest-grossing Japanese movie in China since its release on Thursday. In its first four days, it took in 237 million renminbi, or $38 million, $14.2 million of that on Sunday alone. That toppled the single-day box-office record for an animated feature of $10.8 million, set by “Kung Fu Panda 2” four years ago. The Doraemon movie is the first Japanese film to be shown in Chinese theaters since an “Ultraman” movie in July 2012.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
China’s Stock Market on Track to Reach $10 Trillion in Value – Bloomberg Business The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 8.9 percent this week, its biggest jump this year, to close above 5,000 for the first time since 2008. Companies with a primary listing in China were valued at $9.7 trillion at the end of trading Friday, an increase of $4.8 trillion since the end of 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Japan’s stock market is valued at $5 trillion, while the U.S. is at almost $25 trillion. The Shanghai measure has jumped 146 percent in the past 12 months, the most among major global benchmark indexes
China to Revise Margin-Trading Rules – WSJ The China Securities Regulatory Commission is revising the rules in a bid to achieve “orderly development” in brokerage firms’ margin-trading and short-selling businesses, the regulator said in a brief statement posted on its microblogging Weibo account Friday. The CSRC will publish the amended rules “when time is ripe,” the statement said, without elaborating.
China sees 166 firms getting listed this year – Xinhua China’s securities watchdog said that 166 companies got the green light to be listed on the stock market as of Friday, with more than 100 billion yuan (16.3 billion U.S. dollars) raised from investors. These companies have gained funds in the amount of 104.1 billion yuan from their initial public offerings (IPOs), and the figure surpassed the 69.1 billion yuan raised for the whole year in 2014, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced Friday.
China Market Bubble Still Taking On Air – WSJ Hitting 5000, many will note, puts the Shanghai composite within spitting distance of its record close of 6092, reached in October 2007. The rise from 4000 to 5000 took only 40 trading days. But in inflation-adjusted terms, 6092 would be close to 7500 in today’s yuan. The Shanghai market is also trading at 22 times trailing earnings, compared with 70 at the 2007 peak. That leaves a long way for China to prove itself sillier than the last time. // love some of the western commentariat condescension and omniscience about the market here…what were many saying when the SHCOMP was around 2000?…still sticking with what I said last September and earlier this year
China’s ‘Policy Driven’ Bull Market Has Legs – Barron’s So why do we at Lombard Street Research remain overweight Chinese equities after having turned bullish last December?…All in all, we expect the upswing to continue for now. But investors should watch out as political expediency will not trump fundamentals forever.
Disenchanted Chinese tech companies plot escape from New York | Reuters On Thursday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang encouraged more of such companies to return, particularly those with “special ownership structures,” referring to the contractual loopholes employed by many Chinese firms to evade restrictions on foreign ownership. China is lining up the finances to assist the repatriation. Investment bank China Renaissance has teamed up with Citic Securities to raise funds to help delist and underwrite new listings in China, while Shengjing Management Consulting has launched a fund-of-funds that intends to repatriate about 100 Chinese firms.
Shadow Banking Cases Threaten to Overwhelm China’s Courts | The Diplomat Many bankers and economists have been looking at shadow banking in China. But what happens when debtors fail to pay their debts or challenge the lending arrangements? When parties to shadow lending end up in dispute resolution, it raises unique issues for the institutions that hear those cases. What few outside of China have noticed is that shadow lending disputes account for an increasingly large proportion of civil cases in the Chinese courts and involve increasingly large amounts of money. The law on shadow lending is particularly unclear and fluid, causing uncertainty for debtors, lenders, and jud
Sichuan Can Provide National Economy with Room to Maneuver, Its Governor Says-Caixin The southwestern province of Sichuan has been falling behind regions along the coast in economic development, and is also stuck with a large amount of debt, partly the result the two major earthquakes. Despite this, during a recent interview with Caixin, the province’s governor, Wei Hong, said Sichuan’s potential for growth can provide the national economy with “room to maneuver” if it can get the backing of the central government. Wei, 61, has spent more than three decades in Sichuan rising through the ranks of government. He also shared his thoughts on how the country should approach macro-economic adjustments to maintain steady growth.
Car-Hire App Company Ends Promotion ‘Due to Gov’t Pressure’-Caixin The company running two major car-hire applications said on June 4 it is ending a promotion that gave passengers free rides on Mondays, apparently due to pressure from taxi firms and the government. The company behind the Didi and Kuaidi smartphone apps was running a promotion that gave passengers in 14 cities, including Beijing and Guangzhou, two free rides on Mondays, starting on May 25 and continuing to June 15.
China Said to Double Local Bond-Swap to Defuse Debt Bomb – Bloomberg Business China has granted another 1 trillion yuan ($161 billion) quota to provinces to swap high-interest debt into low-cost bonds, doubling the previous amount, according to people familiar with the matter. The increase comes as the first stage of the bond swap is under way. Commercial banks have been buying such bonds after the central bank flooded the interbank market with cheap funds. The Ministry of Finance didn’t immediately reply to a fax seeking comment on the enlarged quota.
‘Lehman moment’ unlikely in China, according to former Fed head-China Daily “The current slowdown in growth is not the result of fiscal or monetary policies, but economic transformation. It is the right thing to do,” Bernanke said, while noting the need for diversification into service sectors. “Deregulation is necessary to encourage the private sector to initiate all the changes.” Bernanke also said that the Chinese government is facing a lot of challenges, including the quality of bank loans, shadow banking concerns and property market fluctuations. However, “a Lehman moment” is not likely in China. “The government is pretty much aware of the risks and has got all the resources to tackle the problems as they emerge,” Bernanke said.
POLITICS AND LAW
记者揭秘首都网警：发私信警示违法发布者 -凤凰新闻 首批50个省市公安机关统一标识为“网警巡查执法”的微博、微信和百度贴吧账号1日集中上线。据公安部介绍，这是一项开展网上公开巡查执法工作，全面提高网上“见警率”的举措。中国网警也就此“从幕后走向前台”。那么，作为一个近些年发展起来的新警种，网警到底是一支怎样的队伍？他们的工作状态是什么样的？为揭开网警的“神秘面纱”，《环球时报》记者近日走进北京市公安局网安总队“网警巡查执法”团队，亲身体验网警的日常工作。// Global Times takes a look at Internet police in Beijing
数字王国实际控制人车峰被查公司频道财新网 Che Feng, controlling shareholder of Digital Domain, whose stock collapsed earlier this week in Hong Kong, detained this week in Beijing. He is also the son-in-law of former PBoC head Dai Xianglong // Caixin’s abridged English translation of this article here
Chinese Regulator’s Family Profited From Stake in Insurer – NYTimes – 2012 The company that bought the Ping An stake was controlled by a group of investment firms, including two set up by Mr. Dai’s son-in-law, Che Feng, as well as other firms associated with Mr. Che’s relatives and business associates, the regulatory filings show.
Point Piper’s Altona mansion sale dodged foreign investment laws | afr.com Fairfax can reveal that businessman Wang Zhijun paid $52 million for the harbourside mansion through a complex holding structure of shelf companies and holding trusts, including opaque nominee arrangements stretching from the Melbourne suburb of Elwood to the British Virgin Islands. The revelation solves the most talked-about riddle in Australian real estate, but raises major questions about the growing tide of offshore money washing into Australian real estate.
How the Tiananmen Massacre Changed China, and the World « China Change – Hu Ping 26 years have passed, and the Chinese Communist Party has not collapsed. On the contrary, it’s become stronger than ever, and its rapid economic growth is widely acclaimed to be “the China miracle.” Perhaps more surprising, though, is the fact that along with its economic reform China has seen no reform, or even softening, of its political system. Furthermore, recent events have shown that the Communist Party has become even more dictatorial domestically, and has abandoned its dictum of “biding time” on the international stage and is instead openly throwing its weight around.
Under Latest Court Reform, China’s Jury Is In-Caixin Some scholars and judges have praised the changes, saying the result will be fairer trials. Others have questioned whether it’s wise to give jurors a bigger role in the legal process. Many judges in Chongqing are objecting to the reforms, said Shi Pengpeng, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing who recently traveled to the southwestern city to solicit judges’ views. “Some judges thought a reform that increases the size of a jury and expands their participation options reflects a lack of trust in judges,” said Shi. And some judges may be opposing the plan for less-than-honorable reasons. “Many administrative and judicial officials want to have control because that leaves room for rent-seeking,” Shi said. “They will resist anything that reduces their power.”
全面依法治国是国家治理领域一场广泛而深刻的革命 “QiuShi Autumn Stone” commentary in latest Seeking Truth on comprehensively governing according to the law as a broad and deep revolution in the area of national governance // 蓝图已绘就，目标在召唤。党的十八届四中全会制定了全面推进依法治国的总蓝图、路线图、施工图，标志着依法治国按下了“快进键”、进入“快车道”，对我国社会主义法治建设具有里程碑意义。只要我们把思想和行动统一到全会的重大决策部署上来，在党的领导下坚持依法治国、厉行法治，就一定能实现全面推进依法治国总目标，在建设中国特色社会主义法治体系、建设社会主义法治国家上不断见到新成效。
State Governance in the Internet Era « China Copyright and Media This article was originally posted on the Red Flag Manuscripts/Seeking Truth website on 22 May. Song Fangmin The 3rd Plenum of the 18th Party Congress put forward the overall objective of comprehensively deepening reform, which requires “perfecting and developing the Socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and moving forward the modernization of State governance systems and governing capabilities”. The modernization of State governance systems and governing capabilities transcend and develop traditional management, they cannot do without the support of modern Internet and informatization technologies, this is a major change with revolutionary significance, and requires our deep research.
Will China Close Its Doors? – NYTimes OpEd Ira Belkin and Jerome Cohen The drafters of this law do not understand how China has benefited from its opening up. All they see are sinister “foreign agents” instigating change. It would be a mistake for China, and unfortunate for the rest of the world, if its leadership caves in to its most radical elements and tells the world that, while foreign investment is welcome in China, foreign ideas are not. // but are the “most radical elements” behind this, or is this the ideological “new normal” driven by Xi himself?
Senior official calls for strengthened rural CPC organization – Xinhua Senior leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Liu Yunshan on Saturday stressed the importance of consolidating the Party’s rural network. Liu, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a meeting in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, from Friday to Saturday. Liu highlighted the leading role of CPC grassroots-level organizations in rural areas, requiring them to better implement the Party’s policies while improving abilities to serve the people.
中央编办推出机构检索平台 无需再问“度娘”-搜狐科技 新华社北京6月4日电(记者华春雨)由中央编办政务和公益机构域名注册管理中心(CONAC)推出的中国机构检索平台4日首次向公众开放，将提供权威可靠的党政机关官网网址导航，今后公众上党政机关官网办事将无需再通过商业搜索引擎。
“朝阳群众”可多些复制 在全国其他地方，片警基本也走进了社区，但力度还有待商榷。笔者所在的社区，每家门户上都贴有当地社区警官的联系方式。这种“门神”的方式能达到什么样的效果，还有待商榷。但一眼望去，民是民，警是警，两者没有治安事件，也很难得产生某种交集和互动。 只是想说，群众对于治安防范的力量是无穷的，他们会放大出最大智慧来维护自己家园的一方净土。人民警察也只有走进群众中去，才会发现身边更多的“朝阳群众”。这样的帮手，你值得拥有。// the “Chaoyang Masses” policing model is worth paying attention to, seems like a throwback to the much more intrusive neighborhood committees and community “policing” of yesteryear
Pressure from Chinese Authorities Forces Ex-Detained Feminist to Shutter Organization – NYTimes Wu Rongrong, one of the five detained women and the founder of the Weizhiming Women’s Center in Hangzhou, China, said she had no choice but to shut down the organization on May 29 after four of her six full-time employees and most of the center’s volunteers left after they and their families came under police investigation
解放日报：反腐“节点”到了 别断章取义–评论-人民网 近日，中央纪委监察部网站刊登 《突出执纪特色》 一文，网上转发此文时，不少标题都做在“反腐败是把双刃剑”上。一些人对这个提法“特别敏感”，甚至带出了某种猜测：是不是反腐的“节点”到了？这其实是一种误读。 细读这篇发表在“加大纪律审查力度、遏制腐败蔓延势头”专栏上的文章，丝毫没有发出任何“节点”信号，而恰恰强调的是，在当前“依然严峻复杂”的形势下，党的纪律审查工作要不断与时俱进，通过深化“三转”，把纪律和规矩挺到最前沿，突出执纪特点，体现纪律审查的政治性。当然，《突出执纪特色》一文中是有“反腐败是把双刃剑”之说。且不论“此说”并不是该文的中心论点，其表述也不是独立成句，而是在“要转变政绩观，抓早抓小”开头的一段中提到的。完整表述是：“反腐败是把双刃剑，打的是违纪违法党员干部，疼的是组织，损害的是党的形象”。
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China: We have right to set up air exclusion zone – CNN Video Amb. Cui Tiankai talks to Amanpour
China-U.S. common interests outweigh differences: Chinese ambassador – Xinhua The common interests between China and the United States outweigh their differences as they are having more cooperation than disagreement despite the recent dispute over the South China Sea, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said Tuesday.
G7 to express concern over East, South China Sea: newspaper | Reuters Group of Seven leaders will express their concern over any unilateral action to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas amid tensions between China and a number of Asian countries, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper said on Saturday. At the end of the summit in Germany, which starts on Sunday, members will release a declaration calling for maintaining an international order of seas based on international law, the report said, without citing sources. No country will be singled out.
So You Want to Be a PLA Expert?-War On The rocks If for some reason you are having difficulty finding a starting point, then begin with your ABCs: Kenneth Allen, Dennis Blasko, and Bernard “Bud” Cole. These three former military officers offer some of the best analysis available on the PLA Air Force (PLAAF), the PLA Ground Forces, and the PLA Navy (PLAN), respectively. In addition to bringing their military expertise to bear on the challenges of evaluating a foreign military, all three have voluminous publication records. This is not to say that talent is in short supply coming up; one need look no further than the prolific Andrew Erickson on the PLAN, Michael Chase on the Second Artillery (China’s conventional and strategic rocket forces), Daniel Hartnett on military policy, and Timothy Heath on party-army relations among many others. However, chances are if a journal article or book does not make at least a nod to the ABCs of PLA studies, then it should be viewed with suspicion.
A Salt Water Perspective on China’s New Military Strategy | RealClearDefense Many Chinese scholars, and almost all American observers, believe that China’s maritime policy experienced a fundamental change in 2012. In that year, China became much more assertive at sea. This policy shift (zhuanbian) was formally endorsed by Xi Jinping at the July 2013 Politburo session cited above. In the official summary of his remarks, Xi calls for China to “safeguard national maritime rights and interests and focus on promoting a shift toward overall planning and consideration of both rights protection and stability maintenance.” In this scarcely penetrable prose, Xi is saying that in the past China had attached too much importance to stable relations with its neighbors, to the cost of “rights protection.” Under Xi’s leadership, China would balance these competing objectives in a way that favored rights over stability. That this formulation appears in the new white paper suggests continued support for Xi’s more assertive policies in the maritime domain, despite the reputational and other costs China has paid since 2012. Thus, the new white paper sheds light on Chinese resolve to pursue its current path of expansion in maritime East Asia and provides documentary evidence of the policies guiding Chinese behavior at sea
China military stresses Party control in face of ‘liberal’ enemies | Reuters “When political discipline is firm, then the ruling Party prospers; when political discipline is weak, the ruling Party falls… Liberalism has always been the great enemy of strictly maintaining political discipline,” said the paper, citing a 1937 warning by the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong. “Still today, political liberalism floats up from the dregs from time to time,” the paper added. // 严守政治纪律 不犯自由主义
Now, India gets to tug at China’s ‘string of pearls’ – The Times of India An agreement signed with Bangladesh on Saturday allowing Indian cargo vessels to use the Chittagong and Mongla ports has huge strategic implications. Chittagong port has been developed by China and is part of its famed “string of pearls”. Ostensibly a commercial port, there has been a belief that China could use it for strategic purposes, particularly since Beijing is also believed to be developing a deep sea port off the island of Sonadia at Cox’s Bazar. For India to gain access to use the port is a big achievement both in economic terms, and also as an expression of greater trust with Bangladesh.
Can China’s Nuclear Submarines Blockade India? | The National Interest Blog India is growing increasing concerned about China’s submarine deployments in the Indian Ocean, as Beijing ramps up talk of being able to blockade India with nuclear submarines. This week, the Indian-based news outlet, NDTV, cited unnamed Indian naval sources as saying that India’s Navy is worried by China’s increasingly frequent submarine deployments in the Indian Ocean.
U.S. bears arms in India-China rivalry – POLITICO Defense Secretary Ash Carter is expected to sign agreements with India to bring U.S. defense companies closer to helping the Indian navy build its own aircraft carrier and to encourage cooperation on jet engines — an effort to influence what could be the defining rivalry of the 21st century, between India and China. Carter made the first-ever visit of an American defense chief to a major Indian naval base and is holding high-level meetings in New Delhi focused on what the Pentagon calls “maritime security cooperation.” But Carter’s three-day stay is just as much about shaping India’s relationship with China.
Top White House adviser on Asia policy is stepping down – The Washington Post Evan Medeiros, a China expert who has worked at the National Security Council during all of Obama’s tenure, will step down as the agency’s Asia director on Thursday, officials said. He will be replaced by Daniel Kritenbrink, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. // hope he writes a book, been on the front lines of the relationship for years
How Great a Security Threat Is China to the United States? – The Atlantic–James Fallows Huge number of Americans spend huge portions of their lives thinking about relations with China. Journalists, academics, business people, diplomats, financiers, military people, travelers, musicians, filmmakers, museum curators, college enrollment officers, lawyers, you name it. Trust me: You could spend all day, every day, following the listservs and websites trying to weigh the latest indications from China. // a bad idea, your brain will melt, trust me
High-Speed Rail Aids Disaster Deployments by Chinese Military – NYTimes As the China News Service reported last year: “The high-speed railway has given wings to China’s military.”
What China’s Lack of Transparency Means for U.S. Policy | ChinaFile-Susan Shirk I am a political scientist and former diplomat who has studied China for more than forty years, and yet I still can’t answer some of my students’ most basic questions about China’s policy-making process. Where—in which institutional arena and at what level—are various policy issues deliberated and adopted? Which matters are decided by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and which by the government? What role does the People’s Liberation Army play in foreign policy? The CCP Central Committee has the formal authority to select the country’s top leaders, but who actually determines the slate of nominees to be ratified by the Central Committee?
Xi’s remarks on educating military staff published – Xinhua Chinese President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) Xi Jinping’s vision for the educating of servicemen has been published, the military authority said Wednesday. The book was published by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Publishing House, and was distributed to company-level military units.
Philippines Moves Toward New Naval Base Near the South China Sea | The Diplomat the Philippines has been in the process of constructing a new naval base opposite the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea (See: “A ‘New’ Philippine Navy Base in the South China Sea?”). Though Philippine armed forces chief General Gregorio Catapang, Jr. recently indicated that the base was a “top priority,” he also admitted that construction had been delayed by funding bottlenecks and the infrastructure there was still very much a work in progress.
ISIS’ ‘oldest jihadi’ an elderly Chinese man fighting in Syria with family | Daily Mail Online One child, who looks about 10 years old, tells the camera: ‘O Chinese kaffar (non-believers), know that we are preparing in the land of the khilafah (caliphate) and we will come to you and raise this flag in Turkestan with the permission of Allah.’ Anthony Glees, the director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, says the footage seems to be propaganda aimed at Uighurs.
China’s Military Might: First, the Good News – Bloomberg View So after laying out the evidence showing continued American superiority, why am I still concerned about the bad news? Measures of the overall balance of power between two countries are most relevant when considering wars of survival, such as World War I and World War II. But most international security politics involves coercive diplomacy and limited military engagements short of full-scale war. In such struggles, geography, politics, psychology and perceptions can play an even more important role than the military balances of power. In tomorrow’s excerpt, I’ll describe what that means.–This is the first of two articles excerpted from Thomas Christensen’s “The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power”
The China Dream: Great Power Thinking and Strategic Posture in the Post-American Era -by Liu Mingfu. English translation, published about a month ago // China Dream: Great Power Thinking and Strategic Power Posture in the Post-American Era examines the inherent conflict in U.S. China relations and the coming “duel of the century” for economic, military, and cultural dominance in the world. Written by a veteran Chinese military specialist, and scholar, it defines a national “grand goal” to restore China to its historical glory, and take the Unites States’ place as world leader. This is the definitive book for geopolitical understanding of what constitutes the “hawk” version of China’s national destiny debate and is critical for understanding China’s strategic goals in the 21st Century.
Col. Liu and Dr. Pillsbury Have a Dream: The Inevitable Showdown Between China and America | Foreign Policy On Monday night in a tony mansion in Washington’s leafy Georgetown district, two China hawks held a book party together. Unusually, one of them was Chinese: Liu Mingfu, a retired colonel in China’s People’s Liberation Army and author of The China Dream, a book about how China can displace the United States to become the world’s most powerful country. Liu suggests that Beijing should pour resources into its military, so that the United States won’t dare meddle with China in the seas off of its coast. “Turn some money bags into bullet holders,” he writes. Published in China in 2010, the book probably played a role in influencing Chinese President Xi Jinping to adopt the book’s title as his favorite slogan. The English edition was published in May, and Liu was in Washington on a book tour. Liu shared the floor with the mansion’s owner, Michael Pillsbury, a self-identified former “Panda hugger” and longtime China strategist at the Pentagon
Vietnam eyes Western warplanes, patrol aircraft to counter China | Reuters Vietnam is in talks with European and U.S. contractors to buy fighter jets, maritime patrol planes and unarmed drones, sources said, as it looks to beef up its aerial defenses in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in disputed waters. The battle-hardened country has already taken possession of three Russian-built Kilo-attack submarines and has three more on order as part of a $2.6 billion deal agreed in 2009. Upgrading its air force would give Vietnam one of the most potent militaries in Southeast Asia.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Tsai Ing-wen 2016: Taiwan Faces the Future | Center for Strategic and International Studies her recent talk at CSIS in DC
Authorities steadfast in promoting HK’s universal suffrage – Xinhua The package proposed by the SAR government is the most appropriate institutional arrangement for Hong Kong’s universal suffrage, said the commentary carried on the People’s Daily, China’s leading newspaper, adding it is in line with the Basic Law, decisions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, as well as national sovereignty, security and development interests. The commentary said the plan has given consideration to interests of all social strata, conforms to the SAR’s reality and has won broad support from residents. // 依法推进香港普选是中央坚定不移的立场
Mexico’s violent upstart drug cartel Jalisco New Generation targeting Hong Kong cocaine market and reaping huge profits, says official | South China Morning Post Investigations by the South China Morning Post found that the Sinaloa cartel – one of the world’s biggest, most established syndicates – maintained both a corporate and criminal presence in Hong Kong. In addition to trafficking cocaine to the city, the group also ran front companies and bank accounts which it used to launder drug funds, according to official Mexican documents and interviews with law enforcement sources.
TECH AND MEDIA
中央网信办阐释“中国好网民”四条标准-中共中央网络安全和信息化领导小组办公室 CAC explains the four standards of being a “good Chinese netizen”
Baidu apologizes for exceeding submission limit for ImageNet challenge | VentureBeat | Big Data | by Jordan Novet Chinese search giant Baidu today was revealed as the company that made more submissions than was permitted in the most recent ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge (ILSVRC), a major competition in the domain of image recognition. Stanford University’s Vision Lab, which runs the ILSVRC, announced today that from Nov. 28 to May 13, people associated with Baidu used at least 30 accounts to make at least 200 submissions. The rules for the competition permit no more than two submissions a week.
Focus Media to List in Shenzhen Through Jiangsu Hongda Merger – Bloomberg Business Jiangsu Hongda, a maker of silicon rubber used in baby bottle nipples, will pay 45.7 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) in cash, stock and asset swaps for Focus Media, according to a statement on the Shenzhen exchange Tuesday. The company will also raise 5 billion yuan in a placement to help fund the deal. Focus Media was among the Chinese companies targeted by Block’s Muddy Waters LLC, which said the operator of billboards exaggerated its network and overpaid for acquisitions. The company rejected the allegations as “innuendo,” with investors led by Carlyle Group leading a $3.8 billion buyout in May 2013 // entertaining to hear some of the vocal shorts still insist Block was “right” even though some very smart money took it private
Xiaomi may launch its own drone as soon as this summer: Shanghaiist Competing against DJ-Innovations, the leading drone manufacturer in China, Xiaomi’s pricing for the drone will determine its success in the Chinese market. The drone, however, isn’t ready for an official launch just yet. Apparently, the firm’s original design was too similar to DJI’s phantom drone. “The result [of the flying test] was good and smooth. Now Xiaomi only needs to make some minor adjustments, especially with its layout design, so the Xiaomi drone won’t look too much like DJI’s,” an insider told the Post. Other sources say that Xiaomi is planning to launch the drones this summer, although the pricing has not been revealed.
Found In Translation: The Mysterious Case of Baidu Translate – China Real Time Report – WSJ Asked how Baidu Translate generates search results, Kaiser Kuo, Baidu’s director of international communications, said that the search tool was machine-powered. “The example sentences provided on Baidu Translate aren’t selected by hand, as it were; that would be an impossibly large editorial task. They’re drawn automatically from around the Web, often from translation-focused websites (and credited with links below the example sentences),” Mr. Kuo told China Real Time via e-mail.
Eric Pelletier to head Alibaba government affairs – Mike Allen – POLITICO Alibaba Group, one of the world’s largest Internet companies, on Friday will name Eric Pelletier, a GE Capital executive who worked in the White House of President George W. Bush, as head of international government affairs, based in Washington. Pelletier – whose title will be Vice President, Head of International Government Affairs — will lead the e-commerce giant’s government and regulatory relations outside China, where is it headquartered.
Banking on a Remote Future for Chinese Homes-Caixin Companies from Haier to Alibaba are scrambling for a piece of the emerging smart home automation market
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Dream of the Red Chamber-Caixin Eight decades later and half a world away, this unrealized dream of an operatic version of Cao Xueqin’s beloved tale of the rise and fall of the Jia family is finally coming to fruition in San Francisco. In September 2016, the globally renowned San Francisco Opera will present its world premier commission Dream of the Red Chamber for which it has assembled a literal “dream team” of Chinese artists: Bright Sheng, as composer and co-librettist; David Henry Hwang, as co-librettist; Stan Lai, as director; and Tim Yip, as set and costume designer. The opera will be sung in English, but a separate Chinese libretto will also be created and the score re-set for performances in Chinese. (The project was initiated by the Chinese Heritage Foundation Friends of Minnesota, with leadership support from Mrs. Ming Li Tchou.)
步鑫生去世 上《人民日报》次数曾仅少于雷锋_网易新闻中心 Bu Xinsheng dies at 81, famous in early 80s reform as pioneering entrepreneur, this article says only Lei Feng got more mentions in People’s Daily as an “advanced person” // 昨晚7点30分，改革先锋步鑫生，在家乡嘉兴海盐去世，享年81岁。 步鑫生，这个名字是1980年代知名度最高的企业家。当时有统计，《人民日报》自创刊到那时，报道量第一的先进人物是雷锋，第二就是步鑫生。 1980年，步鑫生出任浙江省海盐县衬衫总厂厂长。在他的带领下，小厂打破“大锅饭”，进行全面改革。步鑫生以敢为人先的精神，解放思想，大胆改革，在企业里推行了一套独特的经营管理办法，使这个小厂的产品畅销上海、北京、广州等大城市，成为全省一流的专业衬衫厂。
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
RPT-More than 60 pct of China’s underground water rated unfit for human contact | Reuters Nearly two-thirds of China’s underground water, and a third of its surface water, were rated as unsuitable for direct human contact in 2014, the environment ministry said on Thursday.
Nicaragua Canal Environmental Assessment Criticized As Scientifically Weak, Technically Inadequate | Circle of Blue WaterNews Expert panel finds “scientifically indefensible” conclusions in 14-volume study.
A Terrifying Odyssey through the Chinese Healthcare System – SPIEGEL ONLINE The party is trying to correct the problem. In early 2003, China began introducing health insurance for the rural population. It aims to increase the number of doctors from 1.5 to 2 per 1,000 residents by 2020 (the ratio in Germany is 3.8). Officially, almost all Chinese now have health insurance, an achievement recognized by the World Health Organization. But it’s a staggered system. Patients who visit a local infirmary receive 70 to 80 percent of their expenses reimbursed. The reimbursement drops to 60 percent in district hospitals, and in modern facilities like Hospital 301 in Beijing, the average reimbursement is only 30 percent. And no matter where a patient is treated, the costs must be paid in advance. Now that he had sawed off his leg, Zheng was suddenly no longer at death’s door.
Surgery’s Far Frontier: Head Transplants – WSJ Chinese doctor is doing head transplants in mice, in a sign of China’s focus on scientific research
EDUCATION
Cheating Concerns in Asia Cloud SAT Testing – WSJ All the students who took the SAT in May at two major international schools in China—including the Western Academy of Beijing—had their scores withheld by the College Board pending investigation. Scores were also held back at several other international schools in China, which are typically attended by foreign passport holders. A guidance counselor at Western Academy of Beijing said she and her colleagues believed all testing sites in China had been affected and that the delay didn’t seem specific to them.
9.42 mln sitting for China’s college entrance exam – Xinhua A total of 9.42 million Chinese high school students started taking “Gaokao,” or the annual national college admission exam, Sunday. The number marks a tiny increase from that in 2014, which stood at 9.39 million, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education.
BEIJING
京津间将再增一条城际高铁 途经河北香河_网易新闻中心 construction of new rail line between Beijing and Tangshan to start this year, will go through Xianghe just over the border in Hebei, expect a nice pop in housing prices there (friend has a development there, seeing him for dinner, expect him to buy…) // 京华时报讯 在昨天“北京影响力”启动仪式及京津冀协同发展主题论坛上，市发改委副主任、市协同办副主任刘伯正介绍，京唐城际铁路将在年内开工，京张城际铁路施工难度最大的八达岭越岭段可能会在今年上半年进场施工。而北京天津间的第二条城际铁路—京滨城际也力争年内开工。
JOBS AND EVENTS
Technical Writer, Beijing | CSOFT International Ltd CSOFT’s Globalization Department is looking for a Technical Writer with 1-2 years of experience in all stages of technical content development (including research, information design, content development, legacy content curation, editing, etc.).
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