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Chinese Researcher: 70 Percent of Housing Price Goes to Local Government

Fu Guangjun, a Researcher at the State Administration of Taxation, reported that the local government takes away the majority of the proceeds from housing sales.

In Beijing, the land cost is 60 percent of the housing price. The business taxes on the real estate developers along with the house transaction fees account for another 10 percent. The Beijing government claims 70 percent of the housing price. Thus the developer’s is left with a profit of only 10 percent. Therefore, the key to reducing the housing price is to reduce the cost of the land.

Fu also pointed out a problem with the deed. In China, the deed has two parts: the certificate of ownership of the property and the certificate of the right to use the land. The land belongs to the state and the property owner only has a right to use the land for 70 years. This has created a conflict: the property ownership is a permanent ownership, but in reality the property can’t be used in perpetuity as the land right is fixed at 70 years, even though, in reality the land lasts forever.

Source: China.com, May 10, 2017
http://house.china.com.cn/newscenter/view/918289.htm

Tianjin Forces Non-Public Companies and Social Organizations to Create Political Commissar Position

Tianjin’s Working Committee on Non-Public Economic Organizations and Social Organizations recently held a meeting to launch an effort to set up the (Communist Party’s) Political Commissar position in all non-public organizations and social organizations.

“The meeting emphasized that creating the Political Commissar position is a political task designed to enhance the Communist Party’s presence in social organizations. It requested that organizations that are real business entities complete this task by the end of June and all other organizations complete it by the end of this year.”

Tianjin Attorney offices plan to complete it by May 20. In 2016, there were 5,918 attorneys and 678 attorney offices in Tianjin. 2,038 attorneys were Communist Party members.

Many people expressed disapproval of this news. Beijing human rights attorney Cheng Hai said, “It cannot last. What will the Political Commissar manage? People’s minds? Attorneys are supposed to follow the law and be responsible to the law (but not to the Political Commissar).”

A citizen in Guizhou Province commented, “The law obeys the Party. (This move) clarifies the relationship between the law and the Party.”

Sources:
1. Peoples’ Daily, May 13, 2017
http://tj.people.com.cn/n2/2017/0513/c375366-30177346.html
2. China.com, May 19, 2017
http://news.china.com/domestic/945/20170519/30545130_all.html#page_2
3. Epoch Times, May 19, 2017
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/17/5/19/n9162824.htm

U.S. Scholars: Xi Jinping Is Likely to Take on Zeng Qinghong

Two U.S. China experts, Bill Bishop {author of the Sinocism Newsletter (http://sinocism.com/)} and Joseph Fewsmith {author or editor of eight books on China}, have predicted that Xi Jinping is likely to target Zeng Qinghong in his anti-corruption campaign.

They were also asked about their views on Guo Weigui, a Chinese tycoon who moved to the U.S. and has kept releasing information about the corruption of top officials. Guo has repeatedly mentioned that he has a good connection with “old cadres.”

Bill Bishop said that he thought Beijing felt there was someone behind Guo Wengui. “Very likely they believe (in my view) that it is Zeng Qinghong.”

Joseph Fewsmith stated that if there will be another top-ranking tiger to fall in China, Zeng Qinghong is the most likely candidate.

Zeng Qinghong was the right-hand of former Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin. He served as Vice President of China and, previously, as a Politburo Standing Committee member.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 18, 2017
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/Guo-05182017100120.html

Chinese Economist: China’s Economy Loses Steam

In a speech he gave on May 5, Chinese economist Xu Xiaonian stated that the growth of China’s economy had reached its peak.

Xu pointed out that there are two ways to generate economic growth. One is by increasing the amount of input and the other is by a more efficient use of inputs. China’s model is based on the former one and has reached its limit. However much stimulation the government puts into the market, there will not be much result.

Statistics show that, a decade ago, an investment of one dollar in China could generate forty to fifty cents of return. Now it only generates seven cents. The marginal return is approaching zero.

Since 2012 and through 2016, China’s Producer Price Index (PPI) has been decreasing. The price of a product out of the factory continues to drop. This shows that China has an over-capacity problem. Companies keep lowering their prices to keep their sales and market share. It means that any new investment will only generate a negative return.

Xu suggested switching to an innovation based economy. He gave four ways to encourage innovation: protect private property rights, reduce (the size of) the state-owned economy, loosen and remove controls, and reduce taxes.

Source: Sohu, May 8, 2017
http://www.sohu.com/a/139138493_313480

U.S. Government Helped a Chinese Dissident’s Family Escape Communist Control

China human rights attorney Xie Yang (谢阳) was taken into custody during the infamous arrest of human rights lawyers on July 9, 2015. At that time, the Communist regime in China detained hundreds of attorneys who defended people’s human rights. In March of 2017, his wife and daughter were able to escape China to come to the U.S. .

Xie’s wife Chen Guiqiu (陈桂秋) revealed to the public in January 2017, that Xie Yang was brutally tortured during interrogation while he was in detention. From that time on, the police retaliated against her and repeatedly harassed her.

On February 19, Chen Guiqiu and her daughter started their journey to escape from China. With the help of many people, they managed to come to Thailand. Thai officials arrested them in Bangkok on March 2. The next day the Thai judge decided to deport them. Thai officials showed them a video that over 10 Chinese officials were waiting outside of the prison to take them back to China.

At that critical moment, U.S. officials came to the prison. After discussing the situation with the Thai officials, they took Chen and her daughter to the international airport. The Chinese officials followed them to the airport. The U.S. officials, Chinese officials, and Thai officials had a stand-off at the airport for several hours. Eventually the U.S. Officials were able to take the mother and daughter to the U.S.

Bob Fu, a Chinese American pastor who founded “China Aid” to help Christians and other dissidents in China, was a coordinator who helped Chen Guiqui and her daughter to escape. Fu praised the Trump Administration for being very responsive and effective in helping them out.

Source: Voice of America, May 10, 2017
https://www.voachinese.com/a/media-watch-xieyang-20170510/3846618.html

Wealthy Female Chinese Canadian Citizen Arrested in Beijing

Sun Qian (孙茜), a wealthy Canadian citizen was arrested in Beijing because she practices Falun Gong. In 2016, Sun and her husband ranked number 846 on the Hurun China Rich List. In 1997, they founded Leadman Biochemistry and the company went IPO in 2012.

Sun Qian started practicing Falun Gong in 2014 to cure the diseases that had bothered her for a long time, including depression, a frozen shoulder, liver necrosis, and cardiac arrest. Her diseases soon disappeared, so she continued practicing, despite the fact that, since 1999, the Communist Party had maintained a ban on the practice of Falun Gong in China.

Sun Qian was arrested in her Beijing home on February 19, 2017. Police ransacked her home for over eight hours and confiscated her Falun Gong books, cell phone, USB drives, printer, and computer. On March 28, 2017, the Beijing Number One Procuratorate authorized the arrest. The charge was, “Utilizing an evil religious organization to undermine the implementation of the law.”

Some legal experts pointed out that Sun didn’t commit any crime. Her arrest was likely due to the fact that someone who was against her reported her to police.

Sun obtained her Canadian citizenship in 2007. The Canadian government is working on rescuing her and getting her out of China.

Sources:

Epoch Times, May 7, 2017
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/17/5/7/n9114024.htm
Hurun, “China Rich List 2016”
http://www.hurun.net/en/HuList.aspx?nid=1037

The Chinese Government’s Influence on the U.S. Media Landscape

On May 4, 2017, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) held a hearing, “China’s Information Controls, Global Media Influence, and Cyber Warfare Stategy.” Sarah Cook from Freedom House provided testimony outlining the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) strategies in spreading its propaganda overseas. Although her report was in English and not Chinese, her findings are important, so Chinascope has included them in a briefing.

The CCP’s Propaganda efforts have taken three primary forms:

1) Aggressive attempts to expand state-run media outlets’ reach and influence inside the United States. These efforts have included high-profile initiatives like Xinhua news agency’s advertisements in Time Square, the appearance of China Daily newspaper boxes on streets in major U.S. cities, and the launch of China Central Television (CCTV) America—recently rebranded as China Global Television Network (CGTN) America. In the Chinese-language media sphere, this effort has been going on for over 20 years, resulting in CCTV being accessible to over 90 million households in the United States and a series of free pro-Beijing newspapers displacing the earlier dominance of Taiwan and Hong Kong-affiliated papers.

2) Insinuating state-media content into mainstream media or other existing dissemination channels. Chinese officials and state-media reports have referred to this strategy as “borrowing the boat to reach the sea” (借船出海). This phrase refers to disseminating Chinese state-media content via the pages, frequencies, or screen-time of privately owned media outlets that have developed their own local audiences. This strategy has a long history of use in the Chinese-language environment, such as via the provision of Xinhua newswire content for free. In recent years, its robust expansion to English-language media has garnered much attention and public debate. One of the most prominent examples has been the emergence of China Watch—a paid insert sponsored by the state-run China Daily—that has appeared both in print and online in prominent U.S. papers like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. In November 2015, a Reuters investigation revealed that programming from the state funded China Radio International (CRI) was appearing on stations in 15 U.S. cities, including Washington DC, via intermediaries of a privately owned media group.

3) Co-opting or partnering with privately owned media to produce and publish content that serves Beijing’s aims: Not all pro-CCP propaganda appearing in U.S. media necessarily originates from writers and editors at Chinese-state run media outlets. Rather, Chinese diplomats and other officials have gone to great lengths to develop “friendly” relations with private media owners and reporters, encouraging them to produce their own content that promotes key narratives favored by Beijing. Outlets and diaspora media owners whose reporting portrays Beijing positively are frequently rewarded with advertising, lucrative contracts for non-media enterprises, joint ventures, and even political appointments. In several instances, Chinese state-media have also purchased small financial stakes in overseas media to solidify such a relationship. Examples of these dynamics are evident in two media entities whose content is disseminated in many parts of the United States. First, the above-mentioned Reuters investigation revealed that only part of the content aired on radio stations owned or leased by CRI’s U.S.-based partner G&E Studio originates from CRI. Other segments are produced by G&E Studio itself in California. Nevertheless, their messaging matches that of Chinese state propaganda. A second example is that of Phoenix TV, the second most widely available Chinese-language television station on cable in the United States. Owned by a former military officer with close ties to Beijing officials, Phoenix TV’s coverage is typically favorable to the CCP.

Censorship and other attempts to suppress the spread of information deemed undesirable by the regime have taken a variety of other, often more subtle forms.

– Direct action by Chinese diplomats, local officials, security forces, and regulators both inside and outside China. These measures obstruct news gathering, prevent the publication of undesirable content, and punish overseas media outlets that fail to heed restrictions.

– Economic “carrots” and “sticks” to induce self-censorship among media owners and their outlets headquartered outside mainland China.

– Indirect pressure applied via proxies—including advertisers, satellite firms, and foreign governments—who take action to prevent or punish the publication of content critical of Beijing.

Source: USCC, May 4, 2017
https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Sarah%20Cook%20May%204th%202017%20USCC%20testimony.pdf