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China’s New Internet Regulation Requires Real-Name Registration

China’s legislature has approved new rules that will tighten government control of the Internet by requiring users to register with their real names and demanding that Internet companies censor online material. The measures were approved on December 28, 2012, at the closing meeting of a five-day session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

The government said that the latest regulation is aimed at protecting Web surfers’ personal information and cracking down on abuses such as junk email. The rules have the same legal effect as a law.

China’s government agencies and official media also expressed their support to strengthen regulations of websites and microblogs.

Analysts believe that the Internet has played a major role in exposing official corruption, causing some of those in power to experience “web-phobia.” This is an important reason behind the renewed campaign to control the Internet. Recently, Chinese Internet users, through web searches and web postings, have broken the news about a large number of corruption suspects among Chinese Communist Party officials, resulting in many officials being sacked.

Source: BBC Chinese, December 28, 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2012/12/121228_china_internet_control.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Survey Shows 40% of People Dare Not Go Out at Night

A recent government survey on 38 cities in China showed that 39.91 percent of people dare not go out at night and that 38.69 percent would worry about the safety of their personal property if they left home for a long period.

On December 20, 2012, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences issued the Public Service Blue Book 2012. The Blue Book examined the causes of people’s lack of a sense of security. “The intense changes in social structure will result in increased uncertainty and risks. Deep adjustments in income redistribution could lead to polarization, conflicts of interest, and social psychological imbalances. Some people in the low-income population, with hostility toward the unequal distribution, might wantonly release that hostility, thus leading to increases in public security related incidents.”

Source: Beijing New, December 21, 2012
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2012/12/21/240484.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China’s New Regulation Draft on Internet Control

On September 19, 2012, the State Council’s Legislative Affairs Office issued an “Approach to the Management of Internet Publishing Services” (draft version). The formal version is supposed to replace the existing “Provisional Regulations on Management of Internet Publishing” on January 10, 2013.

The “Approach” states that the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) is the agency that oversees Internet publishing services, which is also under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The “Approach” requires that all those providing services must obtain an Internet Publishing Services Permit. Such services include the digital publication of books, newspapers, periodicals, music and video products, and other “informative and thoughtful text, pictures, games, animation and original digital works.”

The draft version provides that the editor is responsible for the quality and legality of the contents. The “Approach” forbids contents that “oppose the fundamental principles of the Constitution,” “leak state secrets, endanger national security, or compromise national honor or interest,” “spread rumors, disrupt the social order, or sabotage social stability,” and “endanger social morality or good ethnic cultural traditions.”
 
The “Approach” forbids joint ventures or foreign operated identities from engaging in web publishing services. GAPP must approve the publication of online games authored by owners with foreign copyrights.

An annual check of web publishing identities is required. Violators of the regulation are subject to penalties including suspension of the permit, shutting down the website, or even criminal prosecution.

Source: Website of the State Council’s Legislative Affairs Office, December 19, 2012
http://www.chinalaw.gov.cn/article/cazjgg/201212/20121200379100.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Jinghua Times: Some Countries Don’t Welcome the New Chinese Passport

Jinghua Times recently reported that the new version of the Chinese smart passport (which has an implanted chip) has triggered complaints from neighboring countries. The new passport includes pages with pictures and a map of China that includes disputed regions in Tibet and the South China Sea. So far, Vietnam, The Philippines, and India have complained. These countries are instead issuing the visa on a separate piece of paper instead of the visa page of the passport. Normal entry into these countries is still granted, even if the new passport is used. The United States suggested that it still considers the new passport to be a valid document and U.S. officials will still use the new passport for visa and stamps. However that does not mean the United States agrees with the borders drawn on the map. A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented that neighboring countries should not overreact to the map part of the passport.

Source: Jinghua Times, November 30, 2012
http://epaper.jinghua.cn/html/2012-11/30/content_1908282.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

CRN: Reform of Wealth Redistribution System Requires Breakthrough

China Review News (CRN) recently published a commentary about the issue of reforming the system for the redistribution of wealth, which has been identified as a focal point of public opinion. The commentary suggested that a breakthrough will be required in five areas to solve the problem of the unfairness in the distribution of wealth: (1) First-time distribution needs to avoid the sharp differences that exist between the company’s growth versus wage growth and between management income versus the income of the average worker. (2) The process needs to include the growth of government income versus the growth of citizen’s income. (3) The reform must solve the root cause of “gray income” and corruption. (4) Enhanced tax system reform is required to improve the balancing function of taxation. (5) The average citizen’s income level should be raised when the job market expands. The commentary also called for protecting China’s middle-class population. The author concluded that reform is not a simple matter. Instead, it requires adjustments in the political, economic, legal system, and cultural areas.

Source:China Review News, November 29, 2012
http://www.zhgpl.com/crn-webapp/doc/docDetailCreate.jsp?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102320766&mdate=1129080126

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Yangtze Evening News: 27% of Wealthy Company Owners Have Completed Emigration

Yangtze Evening News recently reported that 27 percent of Chinese company owners having over RMB 100 million yuan (around US$16 million) worth of private property have completed the processes of emigrating  to foreign countries. The statistics are based on a research report jointly issued by the Merchants Bank and Bain Consulting. Forty-seven percent of the same sample are considering the emigration option. The main reasons given for the decision to emigrate are the children’s education, retirement planning, and risk management for their wealth. The report expressed the concern that this new wave of emigration is coupled with a massive outflow of capital from China to the outside world, which may damage the effort to expand China’s domestic consumer market.

Source: Yangtze Evening News, November 30, 2012
http://epaper.yzwb.net/html_t/2012-11/30/content_41296.htm?div=-1

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Scholar: Low Compensation for Land Acquisition a Cause for Social Conflict

An article in Beijing Times reported on a scholar who criticized the low and inadequate compensation for land acquisition. The scholar said it was a major problem with China’s current massive land seizures. The compensation that local governments give when they grab land from farmers is very low. Then they sell it to developers at a price ten or dozens of times higher, leading to acute social conflicts.

Zheng Fengtian, a professor at Renmin University of China said that the major problem with China’s rural land acquisition is that the standard for compensation is too low. A survey conducted by the Development Research Center of the State Council found that 40 to 50 percent of the value-added part of land acquisition goes to investors, 20 to 30 percent goes to the local government, 25 to 30 percent goes to the village organizations (grassroots government body), and the farmer who sold the land receives only 5 to 15 percent of the entire pie.

Zheng added that the huge amount of revenue that local governments receive gives them a fervent appetite for grabbing land and reselling it, resulting in massive and rapid use of arable land for non-agricultural occupation. Since 1990, China has been suffering an average loss of 10 million mu (1 mu equals to 667 square meters) of arable land per annum.

Source: Jinghua Times, November 29, 2012
http://news.jinghua.cn/351/c/201211/29/n3814339.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

What Did the CCP’s 18th National Congress Tell the World?

On November 14, 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chose seven Politburo Standing Committee members. They are Xi Jinping (习近平), Li Keqiang (李克强), Zhang Dejiang (张德江), Yu Zhengsheng (俞正声), Liu Yunshan (刘云山), Wang Qishan (王岐山), and Zhang Gaoli (张高丽). What does this selection tell people about the future direction of the Communist regime?

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Perspectives | | |   Opinion