Skip to content

All posts by LLD - 90. page

Revised Code of Conduct for Chinese Journalists

On December 15, Xinhua News Agency, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, published the newly revised Code of Professional Ethics for Chinese Journalists. Among others items, the Code proposes that journalists arm their minds with Xi Jinping’s “Ideology of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era,” and always keep in mind the mission of journalism of the Chinese Communist Party.

The Code also proposed strengthening the concept of the rule of law; abiding by the Constitution, laws, and regulations; and effectively safeguarding national political security, cultural security, and social stability; as well as adhering to the Party’s discipline in journalism.

The Code proposed the cultivation a global and international vision so as to “vividly tell China stories, stories of the Chinese Communist Party, stories of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and stories of the Chinese people,” so that “the world would understand China better.”

Source: People’s Daily, December 16, 2019
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2019-12/16/nw.D110000renmrb_20191216_4-04.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China to Ban Live Webcasts; Three Minutes Minimum Delay Required

The Chinese authorities issued a directive in August last year requiring real name registration for live webcasts. Recently, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced a series of regulations including a ban on live web broadcasts and other restrictions upon online video programs. The Notice said, “live Internet broadcasts should take the form of delayed broadcasts, with a minimum delay of three minutes. Performance organizers and online broadcast companies should formulate live broadcast management procedures and emergency contingency plans, and arrange special personnel to conduct real time review of the contents and of Internet users’ comments. Any problem should be dealt with in a timely manner and the video materials should to be kept for at least 60 days for inspection.”

Chinese authorities’ surveillance of online video programs has become increasingly harsh. It is believed that the new media has mostly exposed the major and small incidents that the authorities have attempted to cover up.

The consultation period for the aforementioned Notice will end on December 22. In August last year, six national level agencies in China, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the State Administration of Radio and Television, issued a “Notice on Strengthening the Management of Webcasting Services.” The notice requires the implementation of the real-name registration system, stringent management of online program anchors, the establishment of a blacklist for anchors, and improvement of the monitoring, review, and disposal of illegal and harmful contents. The notice also requires the online live broadcasters to cooperate with the authorities and provide the necessary documents, materials, and data.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 11, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/ql1-12112019043530.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Official Observes How Over-exploitation Led to Serious Pollution of the Yellow River

Lian Yu, deputy chief of a bureau at the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and the Environment, which oversees the Yellow River’s ecology, stated, in an recent interview with a Beijing based local newspaper, that the Yellow River has ecological problems such as excessive exploitation of water resources and the pollution of rivers and lakes. Among the problems are that the utilization ratio of water resources of the Yellow River reaches more than 80 percent and that the low-water period can last more than 85 percent of the days, far exceeding the alert levels for most rivers.

Lian Yu believes that, in addition to excessive water use, other factors that contribute to the Yellow River pollution include coal and petroleum extraction and coal chemical and metal smelting plants scattered alongside the watershed. High water consumption, heavy pollution, and a high dependence on energy resources are factors that characterize these industries. The rudimentary industrial technology, the small scale of business operations, and the poor pollution control capabilities have contributed to the deterioration.

In the past 30 years, the fish population in the Yellow River watershed has decreased by about half. Among them, indigenous and endangered fish species have decreased by about 60 percent. Lian Yu believes that reservoirs and hydropower stations in the upstream and its tributaries pose a great threat to the habitats of these species. In addition, compared with the 1980s, the wetland area in the Yellow River watershed decreased by 16 percent and other lake wetlands, swamp wetlands, and estuary wetlands decreased by 25 percent, 21 percent, and 40 percent, respectively.

Source: Central News Agency, December 11, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201912110145.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Cleans up School Library Books — by Burning Them

In late October, the library in Zhenyuan County in China’s northwestern Gansu Province burned some 60 books. The photo of the book burning scene spread widely online and received public attention. The book burning incident resulted from a directive that the Chinese Ministry of Education issued in October. The “Notice on Launching a Special Campaign to Examine and Cleanse Books in Nationwide Elementary and Middle School Libraries” requires schools to conduct a self-examination of books in accordance with the “cleanup standards.” The “clean-up standards,” were attached to the notice. They stated that the books to be cleansed should include “illegal books,” “inappropriate books,” and “books with a poor appearance so they are not worthy of preservation.”

Hu Ping, an overseas independent scholar overseas, believes the burning of the books reflects the CCP’s control over the people’s ideology, which also includes actions such as cleaning online postings and college informants. Hu told the BBC that book censorship is not new to mainland China. The books stored in libraries have already been screened. However, under the existing mechanism of censorship, the book burning reflects the current regime’s dramatic leaning toward the left.

Source: BBC Chinese, December 11, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-50727670

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People’s Daily Builds A Media Lab to Strengthen Propaganda for the Party

At an event on December 8, Xu Zhengzhong, deputy editor-in-chief of the People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced  that the “National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Content for Communication” had been established. The lab has a mission to “spread the voice of the CCP wider and farther.”

The lab is under People’s Daily’s supervision and uses People’s Daily’s online platform. The lab will focus on artificial intelligence research and focus on three main directions: scientific theory and the computation of the accurate dissemination of mainstream values, intelligent content review and risk management, and national cyberspace governance in terms of content dissemination.

Xu said that the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CCP proposed “to build a mainstream public opinion landscape that integrates online and offline contents and coordinates domestic and foreign propaganda; and also to establish an all-media communication system based on content production, supported by advanced technology and innovation management.”

According to Xu, the lab is also to implement the spirit of the “1.25” speech of Xi Jinping. In the future, the technology of media fusion will be used to “expand the coverage of mainstream values and to spread the Party’s voice wider and farther.”

Xi Jinping delivered the “1.25” speech on January 25 this year at the 12th study session of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee. Xi said, “We must use the achievements of the information revolution to promote the in-depth integration of media, scale up and strengthen mainstream public opinion, and consolidate the common ideological basis of the people, of the Party, and of the nation, so as to provide spiritual strength and public opinion support for achieving the goal of ‘two hundred years’ and achieving the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

Source: Central News Agency, December 8, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201912080073.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Facial Recognition: Anxiety among Chinese People

Starting in December, whenever the Chinese people had to register their new mobile phone numbers, they also had to undergo facial scanning. However, a survey showed that Chinese respondents were very concerned about the security of facial recognition. During October and November of this year, a research center affiliated with the Guangzhou based Southern Metropolis Daily conducted a survey on facial recognition. The center released an online questionnaire to investigate the problems and concerns of the public when using facial recognition. Among the respondents, 57 percent were worried that their personal whereabouts were recorded while nearly 50 percent were worried that criminals may use fake information to perform fraud or theft. Nearly 84 percent of the respondents want operators of the facial recognition system to provide them with a channel to view or delete facial data. 74 percent of respondents want to choose whether to use facial recognition or traditional methods. However, the survey also showed that about 60 percent to 70 percent of respondents believe that facial recognition makes public places safer.

An IT website, Comparitech, once conducted a study on the scope and depth of the use of biometrics and surveillance systems. China, the worst among the 50 surveyed countries, lacks public attention to the privacy of people’s biometric data. The study showed that China has no laws to protect the biometrics of citizens and emphasized “the lack of protection for employees in the workplace.”

According to Chinese media, the metro system in Zhengzhou city of Henan province started “riding with face” (using facial recognition in the metro system) in early December. China Daily reported that riders can use facial recognition to authorize payment automatically instead of scanning the QR code on their mobile phones. Currently, passengers can voluntarily choose whether to use facial recognition.

Source: BBC Chinese, December 6, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-50685535

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

China’s Security Czar: Defend National Political Security; Crack Down on Infiltration of Hostile Forces

On November 28, Guo Shengkun, who is the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC), published an article in People’s Daily. The article called for the firm defense of “national political security,” which is “the lifeline of the Party’s and the nation’s security, and an unshakable bottom line.” Guo vowed “resolutely and severely to prevent and crack down on” the infiltration of hostile forces. The PLAC is a CCP agency that oversees all legal enforcement authorities, including the police force.

In the article Guo also said that the construction of the “people’s defense line for national security” should be strengthened. The whole country and the entire population should enhance their awareness of the sense of national security and enhance the nation’s ability to prevent and defend against national security risks. He said that everyone ought to be “on high vigilance, take resolute precautions, and severely punish” the hostile forces’ infiltration and their destructive and subversive, activities to promote secession, thus “building a solid copper and iron wall for national security.” Guo also advocated for concerted efforts to advance national security work and walk the “path of national security with Chinese characteristics.”

Regarding issues causing potential social unrest, Guo demanded that the problem be prevented at an early stage and at the grassroots level. “Small matters stay in the village, big issues go no further than the township, and conflicts are not passed on to higher level authorities.”

Source: Central News Agency, November 28, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201911280317.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chinese Household Debt Exceeds 60 Percent of GDP

Last week, the People’s Bank of China released data showing that, by the end of last year, China’s household debt accounted for more than 60 percent of GDP. Real estate mortgages accounted for 47 percent of household income, a year-on-year increase of 3.7 percent. Fitch Ratings estimates that the outstanding balance of credit card receivables reached 7.23 trillion yuan (US $1.03 trillion) in the first half of this year.

A Hong Kong based commentator Johnny Y.S. Lau told Radio Free Asia that, in recent years, the government has been encouraging people to invest in real estate. With the soaring housing prices, there has been an oversupply of real estate in many cities. As the US-China trade war continues to slow the economy, the property market and economy may face a crash at any time. Lau said, “In the past, 40 percent (of people’s income) was in bank savings. Now, a lot of money is invested in real estate. With the US-China trade war causing exports to stagnate, cash flow may become a problem, which makes the risk of a crash increasingly apparent. As the second and third tier cities have absorbed a large number of those in the rural populations, the housing prices have been pushed even higher. Now it depends on whether the people’s savings can keep up and on how the authorities regulate property prices.”

At the same time, China’s domestic consumption has weakened compared to previous years. In October of this year, retail sales increased by 7.2 percent year-on-year, the lowest growth in nearly 16 years. Weak consumer confidence has also led to a 10-month consecutive decline in car sales, down to a negative 4 percent growth in October.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 5, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/gf2-12052019085502.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources