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China’s Largest Corn Trader Quietly Filed for Bankruptcy

According to Beijing News, the Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun City of Jilin Province recently issued a civil ruling that Xinghua Grain Depot, a subsidiary of Jilin Grain Group Co., Ltd., is insolvent and unable to pay off its debts. The court ruling showed that Xinghua’s current debt ratio exceeded 100 percent. It has 27 employees under labor contracts. The company has so far defaulted on wages, social security, and medical insurance payments.

As a matter of fact, before the Xinghua Grain Depot’s bankruptcy filing, its parent company Jilin Grain Group Co., Ltd. already quietly went bankrupt. The civil ruling that the Beijing News reporter obtained showed that the applicant, Wang Jing, applied to the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court for bankruptcy liquidation of the Jilin Grain Group on the grounds that it was insolvent and was not able to pay off its debts. On May 15, 2018, Jilin Grain Group submitted a written opinion to the court, expressing its consent to bankruptcy liquidation. The court ruled to accept Wang’s bankruptcy application for Jilin Grain Group.

Since August, a number of Jilin Grain Group’s subsidiaries including the above-mentioned Xinghua Grain Depot have filed for bankruptcy reorganization. For example, the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court issued another civil ruling on August 2, indicating that Jiashi Rice Industry Co., Ltd. has been unable to pay off its debts. It ruled to accept Jiashi Rice’s bankruptcy application.

Founded in 1996, Jilin Grain Group Co., Ltd. grows, processes, and distributes grains. With registered capital of 664 million yuan (US$97 million), it has 20 subsidiaries, a total of 3,000 employees and an annual sales income of more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion). A nationally recognized state-owned enterprise, Jilin Grain Group was China’s largest corn trader.

In recent years, Jilin Grain Group has been involved in corruption investigations. In February 2018, former party secretary and chairman of Jilin Grain Group, Meng Xiangjiuwas, was under investigation for “serious violations of discipline” and dismissed from the party. Xinhua News Agency reported a long list of charges against Meng, including illegal possession of property, misappropriation of public funds for illegal activities, accepting bribery when appointing officials, contracting projects and conducting business operations.

Source: Beijing News, August 3, 2018
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/finance/2018/08/03/498070.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Overseas Study Tours for Preschoolers

In order to prepare for the tough competition in the future, Chinese families continue to invest in their children’s education. Online travel agency Ctrip recently released the “2018 Summer Study Camp Report,” pointing out that more and more Chinese families prefer that their children go abroad for study and camp tourism. In 2018, the scale is expected to reach 1 million people, with expenditures of more than 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion).

The report sampled families with children between the ages of 8 and 12 and found that the proportion of families who are willing to participate in study tourism this summer is as high as 80 percent. The per capita expenditure for an overseas trip is more than 23,000 yuan (US$3,400). The average expense of a trip to the United Kingdom, the United States, or Australia is between 32,000 yuan (US$4,700) and 38,000 yuan (US$5,600); the shorter trips to Asian countries cost between 8,000 yuan (US$1,200) and 15,000 yuan (US$2,200). The most popular destinations for overseas study tours are the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Thailand.

The age of those going on overseas study tours is concentrated between 10 and 15 years old, accounting for 66 percent of the total. However, children under 6 years old also account for 5 percent.

The demand for quality in the study tours has gradually increased. Compared with the previous trips which were usually to open the eyes of the children, in recent years, parents have been giving thought to more professional considerations. Their inquiries include the information on the target school, the quality of teachers, the proportion of international students, the teaching philosophy of the school, and even the teaching materials.

Source: The Paper, August 3, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2317979

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Jinan Uses Drones to Capture Drivers Using Cell Phones

On July 31, the “Airborne Traffic Police,” the multi-rotor drones, were formally put into use in Jinan City of Shandong Province. Their main purpose was to photograph drivers who were using phones illegally or making phone calls while driving. This is the first time that Jinan has used police drones to capture traffic violators. The traffic police team has invested in four drones to cooperate with law enforcement.  Beijing Youth Daily reported that, half an hour into their debut, five illegal activities were captured on the spot.

“At 7 o’clock in the morning, at one traffic light crossroad, a multi-rotor drone carrying a high-definition camera was hovering around and ‘observing’ the car drivers to see whether there were illegal activities such as using mobile phones and making phone calls. Not long after, a white car appeared in the surveillance video connected to the drone. While waiting at the red light, the driver’s right hand was on the steering wheel and his left hand picked up the phone to play. The drone repeatedly adjusted the angle and focal length, while recording the whole process of the man playing with the mobile phone while driving. Soon, the traffic police at the traffic light intersection found the man and fined him for the violation.

“The Jinan Municipal Public Security Bureau formed the police aviation team, which started trial operations in April of this year. The members of the police team have superb drone flight skills and practical experience in traffic management. The team has carried out trial operations for nearly three months and the team members have accumulated more than 200 hours of safe flight time. The drone and its videotaping device are specially designed for collecting evidence of both dynamic and static traffic violations.”

Source: Beijing Youth Daily, August 1, 2018
http://epaper.ynet.com/html/2018-08/01/content_298239.htm?div=-1

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

China’s Youth Sinologist Training Program

The Paper.cn, a China based news portal, reported on the three-week long 2018 young sinologist training program that ended on the afternoon of July 27, with a closing ceremony held at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Thirty-two young sinologists from 27 countries participated in the training.

Scholars from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Fudan University, East China Normal University, Tongji University, and Shanghai International Studies University gave lectures at the training session. The trainees also visited historical, business, and political sites in Shanghai and Beijing.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism hosts the Youth Sinologist Training Program. Launched in 2014, the program has finished 12 sessions, graduating 360 young sinologists from 95 countries. The project “aims to build a global platform to support overseas young Sinologists in conducting China research and to create opportunities for young talent in the field to exchange and cooperate with outstanding Chinese academic, cultural, and educational institutions and scholars and to provide them with convenient and substantive assistance in their research.” It also “takes the opportunity of personnel training to promote long-term and stable relations between the academic institutions of different countries, Chinese institutions, and think tanks, in order to achieve mutual exchanges and mutual learning, and the joint promotion of the development of China studies.” In 2018, the program started its Spring, Summer, and Autumn classes in 6 cities including Chongqing, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Xi’an. The number of trainees this year will exceed 200.

Source: The Paper, July 29, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2302374

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China Brings Digital TV to 10,000 African Villages

At the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2015, China’s President Xi Jinping proposed that China implement the “10 Cooperation Plan” with African countries over the next three years. One of the 10, the Humanities Cooperation Plan, included a proposal “to implement satellite TV projects for 10,000 villages in Africa.”

A recent People’s Daily report gave an update, with quotes from villagers in Kenya, Senegal, and Zambia. They expressed gratitude toward the Chinese government and President Xi for being able to watch TV programs for free using set-top boxes that the Chinese company installed.

According to the report, on July 20, 2018, the local digital TV project was launched in a village in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. According to the plan, the project will select 500 villages in the country and provide digital TV equipment for 1,500 public institutions and 10,000 households without charge, so that villagers can watch TV programs for free. The project is expected to be completed in mid-September, covering 60 percent of the entire Republic of Uganda.

StarTimes Ltd. is the Chinese digital TV service provider that Beijing picked to implement the program. The company is currently connecting digital TV signals for 10,112 villages in 25 African countries. For each village, it will provide two sets of solar projection TV systems and one digital TV system free of charge and will install digital TV set-top boxes for 20 families, also free of charge.

StarTimes has been involved in the African digital TV market for over ten years. As early as 2011, it launched a TV program translation center. The company has developed into a sizable program translation base with nine languages, including Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Luganda, and Tweed and a capacity for 10,000 hours of programming. It also established a comprehensive content system, with more than 480 channels including internationally renowned channels, Chinese mainstream channels, African local channels and 42 self-operated channels.

The report quoted praise from Zambian president, Edgar Lungu, and Uganda’s First Lady and Cabinet Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni. It also mentioned the upcoming Beijing Summit of FOCAC in September, which will “make new plans for the China-Africa comprehensive strategic partnership.”

Source: People’s Daily, July 27
http://world.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0727/c1002-30173141.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Scholar: It Is Imperative to Stop Birth Control Completely

In the June 2018 issue of China’s Human Resources and Social Security magazine, Zhou Tianyong, a government scholar at The Institute for International Strategic Studies of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Party School, published an article titled, “It is Imperative to remove birth control requirements completely.” The magazine is a publication of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

“As data that the National Bureau of Statistics released demonstrates, China’s population is facing an increasingly serious situation. The trend can be summarized by three declines, one rise, and one contraction.” As it continued, the article stated, “The first decline is the drop in the birth rate. In 2017 the national birth rate was 12.43 (births per year per 1,000 of population). The number was 12.95 in 2016. The second decline is the decline in the population of newly born babies. The number in 2017 was 630,000 less than in 2016. This is the equivalent of 4 percent fewer newborn babies. The third decline is the decline in fertility. In 2016, China’s fertility rate was only 1.24; the fertility rate in 2017 may be around 1.2.”

According to the article, “One rise refers to an increase in the aging population. In 2017, the population of the country’s population aged 60 and above was 240.9 million, accounting for 17.3 percent of the total population. Of those, 158.31 million were 65 and older, or 11.4 of the population. The population of both 60-plus and 65-plus years-of-age increased by 0.6 percentage points over the previous year.”

“One contraction means that the economically active population continues to shrink. China’s working-age population has continued to decline in proportion of the total population. The working-age population of people in 2017 who were aged between 16 and 59 was 901.99 million, accounting for 64.9 percent of the total population. In 2016, the number was 907.47 million, accounting for 65.6 percent of the total population.”

“Because of the combined effects of the above factors, the current population of China has formed a pattern of an accelerated decline of the birthrate, an increase in the population of the aging, and a shrinkage in the economically active population. The prospects are not optimistic.” “The reasons for this include difficulty in getting a job, the high cost of education, medical care, and housing, as well as the low supply of nurseries and kindergartens. They are important reasons for couples of childbearing age not to consider a second child.”

“In the next five years, with the youth population being reduced by about 30 million, China is likely to show a fast trend of an aging population, even faster than countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The aging of the economy will further put pressure on economic growth, and add to the burden that pensions create on the fiscal and financial systems.”

“It is Imperative to stop birth control completely.”

Source: The Paper, July 21, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2282278

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Sputnik News: China to Find a Solution in Vietnam to Win the Trade War

The ongoing U.S. – China trade war could have dealt a heavy blow to China’s export-oriented enterprises. According to the Russian government-owned news agency Sputnik News, Xu Ningning, the executive director of the government backed China-ASEAN Business Council, advised that China and ASEAN should cooperate in manufacturing.

In fact, the joint production plan was implemented a long time ago. Against the current backdrop, the cooperation between China and Southeast Asian countries will gain new momentum. China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has a Science and Technology Park under construction in its neighboring country of Vietnam. The goods produced there, which can be labeled “Made in Vietnam” according to the Rules of Origin, are not subject to the U.S. tariffs. The question is then whether the U.S. will exert its influence against such cooperation.

Chen Fengying, a researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told Sputnik News that, “Every country focuses on its own national interests. Because of the pressure from the U.S., they are also looking for a new development model, such as the cooperation between Vietnam and China. As to whether the U.S. will obstruct the deal, I think that even if the U.S. has such an idea, it may not be realized. Not every country completely obeys the U.S.”

Chen added, “The changes in the external environment will prompt Asia to strengthen cooperation. On the one hand, we must unite the Asian countries; on the other hand, we cannot ignore cooperation with the outside world. Asia has a good regional cooperation mechanism. Examples are the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and ‘One Belt, One Road.’”

Trade statistics show that the mutual interests between China and ASEAN are growing. In the first five months of this year, the trade volume between China and ASEAN increased by 20 percent, while the overall growth rate of China’s foreign trade during the same period was 16.8 percent. Trade between China and the EU increased by 15.1 percent. At the same time, the trade between China and the U.S. was slightly behind with a growth of 13.1 percent.

Source: Sputnik News, July 13, 2018
http://sputniknews.cn/opinion/201807131025879187/

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Legal Daily: The Market for Ghostwriting Graduation Theses

A recent Legal Daily article gave some details about the business of ghostwriting graduation theses in China.

“Due to the large demand, producing graduation theses has become an industry and many services are provided. They include ghostwriting, plagiarism checking, and plagiarism prevention.”

In March 2018, Zhang Feng (a pseudonym), a state-owned enterprise employee, became involved in the ghostwriting business to earn some extra money.

Zhang told the reporter, “Somehow I was connected to a social media account, which is like an intermediary or agent. The account would receive an order for writing a thesis, and then broadcast it to look for people who would like to fill the order. Then the order taker directly contacted the buyer to negotiate a price.”

“The buyer’s needs are varied. For example, someone placed an order for everything to be done, from designing all the way to programming. Some buyers already have a draft design and only need to have the thesis written. Some have already finished writing the thesis, but need to check for plagiarism and make any adjustments needed to avoid plagiarism. There are also some people who want to modify the paper’s format and come up a power point presentation.”

“Most of the students who have such a need are junior college students and undergraduate students. As far as graduate students, according to Zhang, most of those hiring ghostwriters are part-time MS/MA students who also have a job.”

Source: Legal Daily, July 12, 2018
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index/content/2018-07/12/content_7591993.htm?node=20908

Briefings | | |   Social Stability