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China’s Actions on Internet Security in 2013

A recent People’s Daily Online article listed a number of official events and actions in 2013 that dealt with Internet security in China. 
In November 2013, the third Plenary Session of 18th Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee approved "The Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms." The State Security Committee was established to formulate and implement national security strategies. In December 2012, the eleventh National People’s Congress Standing Committee adopted the "Decision on Strengthening Network Information Protection." The regulations were implemented in 2013. In August 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the "Notice on the Issuance of the Action Plan on the Prevention and Control of Hackers’ Underground Industry Chain." Starting in May 2013, the National Internet Information Office (NIIO) launched a nationwide campaign to strike against the behavior of "using the Internet to manufacture rumors and deliberately spread rumors." In June 2013, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) held a teleconference meeting, deploying the nationwide public security authorities to carry out six-months of intensive combat against and punishment of Internet criminal activities. In July 2013, MIIT issued "Provisions for the Protection of the Personal Information of Telecommunications and Internet Users." In September 2013, the Supreme People’s Court announced the interpretation of the laws applicable to hearing criminal cases about fabricating and deliberately spreading false terrorist information. The spokesperson for the Court said that the "interpretation" clearly stipulated that a person committing any of six situations of seriously disrupting the social order would be held criminally responsible.
Source: People’s Daily Online, August 7, 2014
http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2014/0807/c387081-25421419.html
Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Zeng Qinghong’s Niece Said to Be Involved in Zhou’s Case

Zeng Qinghong is a retired member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, China’s highest leadership council. Between 2002 and 2007, he was a top-ranking member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee. From 2003 to 2008, he also served as the Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China. He is a close ally of then-general secretary Jiang Zemin. Since the fall of security tsar Zhou Yongkang, rumors about Zeng have been surfacing.

On Aug. 1, 2013, a wealthy Sichuan businessman Wu Bing (吴兵), who had close business ties with Zhou Yongkang’s son Zhou Bin, was put in official custody. Wu Bing owned Zhongxu Holding Co., Ltd. (中旭投资公司), which holds shares of stock in Fantasia Chengdu (花样年成都), a corporate subsidiary of Fantasia Holding Group Co., Ltd. (花样年控股), which was founded by Zeng Baobao, Zeng Qinghong’s niece. According to its website, "Founded in 1998, Fantasia was successfully listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2009 under the stock code ‘1777.’ Its assets amounted to over RMB30 billion (US$4.86 billion)." In the early years, Fantasia Chengdu also worked with Zhongxu to create a Sichuan based joint venture. Sources in mainland China told Apple Daily that the authorities took Zeng Baobao away months ago to assist in the investigation of Zhou.

Because of the close relationship between Zeng and Zhou’s family, as early as May this year, there was speculation that Zeng Qinghong will be the next tiger that Xi Jinping will take down. Zeng Qinghong’s latest public appearance was on May 14 of this year. He visited an art museum in Shanghai, accompanied by Shanghai’s head of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, Han Zheng.

Source: Apple Daily, July 31, 2014
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/first/20140731/18817574

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Red Flag Manuscript: Chaos” in Western Democracy

On July 23, Red Flag Manuscript (红旗文稿) published an article, which Qiushi then republished, titled "’Chaos’ in Western Democracy." The following is a translation of some excerpts from the article.
The West, in particular the U.S., emerged as the triumphant side in the post-Cold War world and then promoted the so-called Third Wave of “Democratization” in the world. Twenty some years later, the records of the democracies that the U.S. exported are totally lackluster. In 2012, former U.S. national security adviser and renowned international expert, Zbigniew Brzezinski, when answering reporters’ questions, asked, "Will democracy still be prosperous? It really is a question." Recently, the British magazine the Economist published an article asking, "What’s gone wrong with democracy?" The article pointed out that "democracy’s global advance has come to a halt, and may even have gone into reverse." This statement was spoken loudly in the Western media, causing hot debates and discussions.
First, (in west democracy) it has become a norm to canvass for votes through the use of illegal bribes. Today, the Western democratic rule has developed to such an extreme that votes decide the seats and party politics has become purely electioneering politics. Therefore, a democracy based on parliamentary form has become a democracy of ballots. The ultimate goal of political parties is to court votes. Thus they have become the hostages of votes and votes have become the stepping stones for politician to be elected to “(the emperor’s) palace.” To win more votes, they would do their best to cater to voters in elections, which lead to illegal bribes for votes as a norm. 
Second, the system of representation has incurred a structural imbalance. As the U.S. Democratic and Republican Parties are tit-for-tat in the budget battle, resulting in delays in passing the budget act, and the federal government has to close down its non-core departments and repeat its mistakes of 17 years ago. Since 1977, this is the 18th time the federal government has closed down. From this, we can see there are problems in the three structural features in US politics. First, the US stresses the importance of checks-and-balances of the executive branch and the judicial and legislative branches, including the two major political parties. This results in the fact that the legislative branch ends up solving the executive branch issues. Consequently there is inconsistency and inefficiency in government functioning. Second the impact of interest groups and lobbying groups are increasing, which not only distorts the democratic process, but also erodes the government’s ability to operate effectively. Third, the legislative body is divided into two evenly matched bodies – the House and Senate, and different political parties control each body. Therefore, on the national level, more obstacles (for the government) keep in from acting in accordance with the wishes of the majority.
Third, money is the mother’s milk for "the game of democracy." The West has always preached that Western capitalist democracy is sacred and equal, and that the process is fair. In fact, money, business, media and vested interests groups often manipulate Western-style democracy. It has evolved into a kind of "rich man’s game" and a "democracy of money pockets." Democracy has been reduced to elections, elections to political marketing, and political marketing to the fight for political donations, to electoral strategy and to the fight for PR or shows. 
Fourth, the dissemination of democracy triggers social unrest. The externally existence of Western-style democracy is in the form of expansion and dissemination. In the process of dissemination of Western-style democracy, the Western powers have played a leading role. In March 1990, President George W. Bush proposed in the report of the "National Security Strategy," that one of the main goals of the U.S. in the 1990s was "to foster political freedom, human rights, and democracy" globally. He wanted to extend this democratic trend to the entire African continent. On this basis, the U.S. government announced that its aid to African countries would be pre-conditioned on these countries’ implementation of "multi-party democracy." That is, the US would invariably link its aid to African countries with democracy, in order to blackmail African countries.
We can look at today’s Africa, particularly at the countries that have implemented Western-style democracy like Tunisia and Egypt. These countries all have unbearable political instability, continued war, and conflicts. The ordinary people cannot even have the most basic social stability and a guarantee of a material life, let alone freedom and democracy. We can say that, to some extent, "democratization" has become synonymous with social disorder in these countries. 
In recent years, the global trend of democratic recession has been more obvious in non-Western regions. The introduction of Western values and political systems in these developing countries not only failed to promote the country’s economic development, political stability and social progress, but also caused a mushrooming of political parties, political instability, and social disintegration. A lot of pressing issues related to people’s lives are often put aside because of political strife. Many countries have been pushed into the "quagmire of democracy."
Source: Qiushi, July 23, 2014
http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/hqwg/2014-07/23/c_1111750512.htm
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

State Internet Information Office Crack Down on Cyber Rumors

The State Internet Information Office (SIIO), the government agency overseeing China’s Internet activities, is investigating a number of websites for spreading rumors. Thirty-one websites have been shut down.
According to SIIO, "Recently some unruly individuals have used the Internet to maliciously fabricate and spread rumors of an evil nature. The stories were serious misrepresentations of the facts. Such behavior constitutes a serious breach of public morality and a disruption of cyberspace and the social order. Some mismanaged websites allowed such rumors to spread, resulting in adverse effects."
It is reported that SIIO is launching a nationwide crackdown on Internet rumors and rumormongering behavior. It will rely on reports from Internet users and its own leads to investigate websites and Internet user accounts, in conjunction with the pursuit by the public security authorities.
Source: Xinhua, July 17, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-07/17/c_1111673632.htm
Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

China’s Growing Dependence on Foreign Energy

A Chinese Academy of Social Science report, "World Energy and the Outlook for China, 2013 – 2014" made an assessment that China’s dependence on foreign energy will go up from the current 9 percent to 11 percent in 2015 and 26 percent in 2020. 
Oil. At present, the three largest countries from which China imports oil are Saudi Arabia, Angola, and Iran. Several years ago, in 2010, imports from these three countries accounted for 40 percent of the total oil imports. Geographically, the Middle East accounted for 50.1 percent of total Chinese oil imports, Africa 30.2 percent, followed by Latin America, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Southeast Asia. Dependence on foreign oil is expected to grow from 55 percent in 2011 to 60 percent in 2015.
Iron ore. China is the world’s largest importer of iron ore. Its total imports of up to 440 million tons in 2008 accounted for 52 percent of the world’s seaborne iron ore. The sources are concentrated in a few countries: Australia, Brazil, and India.
Natural gas. More than 80 percent of China’s natural gas imports are from Australia. The dependence on foreign natural gas will increase from 19 percent today to 35 percent by 2015, and 40 percent by 2020.
Copper ore. China currently accounts for 17 percent of global copper consumption. It is the world’s largest consumer of copper and importer of copper concentrate.
Bauxite. Chinese bauxite resources are not scarce, but in recent years the country launched a large number of electrolytic aluminum projects, resulting in a surge in consumption. China is becoming a net exporter of bauxite.
Coal. Since 2002, Chinese coal imports have increased rapidly. In 2011, China surpassed Japan to become the world’s largest coal importer. The major coal exporters to China include South Africa, the USA, Canada, Colombia, Australia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Russia.
Source: Guangming Daily, July 3, 2014
http://theory.gmw.cn/2014-07/03/content_11821154.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Chinese Media Reports on Deng Xiaoping’s Grandson as a Grass Roots Official

Deng Zhuodi (邓卓棣), the American-born grandson of the late Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping, remained under the radar in Chinese media until May 2013, when he was made the deputy chief of Pingguo County in Baise City in Guangxi (广西百色市平果县). Recently, Baise’s local newspaper reported that Deng took up the post of Party secretary of a lower-level township, Xin’an, which is administrated by Pingguo. The media then reported that he shared his experiences as the top Communist official in the village. Most major official media in China carried the story. 
 
29-year-old Deng Zhuodi is the only son of Deng Xiaoping’s youngest son Deng Zhifang (邓质方). He was born in the United States, received his law degree from Duke University in 2008, and worked as a lawyer in New York. In May last year, the media revealed that he had taken the position of the deputy chief of Pingguo County in Guangxi. Since then, the media has only reported on the few public appearances he has made. It is believed that Deng’s assignment as a local official is part of the Communist regime’s plan to groom the successors to the current leadership.
Many of the descendants of the first generation Communist revolutionists are now assuming positions in the Party, government, and military. For example, Mao Xinyu (毛新宇), the grandson of Mao Zedong, is now a major-general in the PLA Academy of Military Sciences; Zhu Heping (朱和平), the grandson of Zhu De, the founder of the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party, is an air major-general. Ye Zhonghao (叶仲豪) the great-grandson of Ye Jianying, one of the ten founding Marshals of China in 1949, is the Party secretary of the Communist Youth League in Yunfu City in Guangdong (广东省云浮市). It’s an unwritten rule that these "Red Descendants" will start their careers at the level of a deputy county chief, then, after a few promotions, rise to a minister or governor level post, and finally be selected as a member of the top leadership.
Source: Radio France International, June 25, 2014
http://www.chinese.rfi.fr/node/150187
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Study Finds China’s Homeownership Rates and Housing Vacancy Rates Are High

On June 10, China’s Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (西南财经大学) released a report showing the results of a study on the country’s housing market. The report showed that, in 2013, the rate for home ownership in China was as high as 90.8 percent. The rate was 95.8 percent for rural homes and 87.0 percent for urban homes. The rate measures the percentage of homes that were owner occupied. The statistics showed the rate was 65 percent in the U.S., 60 percent in Japan, and 63 percent for the entire world. The urban ownership rate for multiple homes, which gauges the percentage of urban families that own multiple homes, was 18.6 percent in 2013, an increase of 2.7 percent over the figure for 2011. In March of 2014, the urban multi-home ownership rate jumped to 21.0 percent.
In 2013, China’s urban housing vacancy rate, the proportion of the homeowner inventory that was vacant for sale, was 18.6 percent, 1.8 percent higher than the rate in 2011. The report estimated that there were 48.98 million vacant homes in urban China. Outside of China, the housing vacancy rate was between 1 percent and 3 percent in the U.S., below 5 percent in Hong Kong, around 9.5 percent in the EU countries, 13.1 percent in Japan, and 17.6 percent in Taiwan.
Interestingly, the vacancy rate for low-end housing, that is, government subsidized low price housing sold to low-income earners, was as high as 23.3 percent. The study also showed that the proportion of ownership of low-end housing is the highest among the top 25 percent of households in terms of income level, while 27.5 percent of the low-end housing owned by the top 25 percent of households is empty. The report concluded that "a serious waste of resources exists and there is a ‘mismatch’ in the allocation of low-end housing."
Source: Beijing Youth Daily, June 11, 2014
http://epaper.ynet.com/html/2014-06/11/content_64516.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s 2013 Gold Production Topped the World for the Seventh Year

People’s Daily reported that China has been the world’s largest gold producer for seven years in a row. In 2013, its gold output reached 428.16 tons. According to the president of China’s Gold Association, "China’s 2013 gold production increased by 6.23% over last year, a new historic record."

As of the end of 2012, China’s gold reserves of 8,196.24 tons ranked second in the world. In addition, for the first time, China’s gold consumption, which was 1176.40 tons in 2013, jumped to world’s top spot. According to an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, "For the first time, China’s gold consumption has surpassed India. With an increase of 41.3 percent over last year, China has become the world’s largest gold consumer." In 2013, China’s gold consumption was about 27 percent of the global consumption of physical gold.

Source: People’s Daily Online, June 5, 2014
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2014/0605/c1004-25105841.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources