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China Held Central Economic Work Conference

The Central Economic Work Conference took place in Beijing from December 5 to December 7. Xinhua reported that all nine members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, nearly all members of the Political Bureau and many other high rank officials attended the meeting.

Hu Jintao gave a speech on the current internal and global economic status and the importance and urgency of accelerating the transformation of China’s economic development. Wen Jiabao laid out the economic development plan for 2010.

Source: Xinhua, December 7, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-12/07/content_12605370.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CASS: 85% of Families in China Cannot Afford Housing

Housing prices in China have risen through the roof and are outside the range of any reasonable income, leaving 85% of families in China unable to buy a residence, disclosed the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in its 2010 Economic Blue Book. Government land supply policy and developers holding land for profit are blamed for the rise in housing prices in 2009.

The blue book indicated a reasonable ratio between house prices and resident’s income is between 3 and 6. However, in 2009, that ratio between city housing and city residents is 8.3, 22.08 for off farm workers, and 29.44 for farmers.

Source: Xinhua, December 7, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/house/2009-12/07/content_12604520.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Spanish Court Indicted Jiang Zemin and His Close Associates

On November 13, Spain’s court indicted five high-ranking CCP officials for crimes of torture and genocide against Falun Gong practitioners. According to AOL UK, the five officials are Jiang Zemin, former head of the Communist Party, who ordered the campaign to “eradicate” the Falun Gong meditation practice in 1999; Luo Gan, head of the notorious “610 Office,” a nationwide secret police task force; Bo Xilai, current Chongqing party secretary; Jia Qinglin and Wu Guanzheng, both members of the Politburo Standing Committee.

The defendants have 4 to 6 weeks to reply and could face extradition if traveling to a country that has extradition treaties with Spain, including China and the US. If convicted, each could face up to a 20-year prison term.

Source: AOL UK,
http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/jiang-zemin-indicted-in-spain-for-genocide-and-torture-of-falun-gong-practitioners/2110796267

Additional Source: The Epoch Times, November 19, 2009
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/9/11/19/n2727513.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Beijing Acknowledges Outbreak of H1N1 Flu

China finally admitted that the H1N1 flu has been spreading throughout China. According to the Beijing Evening, the Director of Beijing City Health Bureau said that in Beijing approximately 400,000 people were infected with the H1N1 flu. Earlier Beijing admitted only to numbers in the lower thousands.

The Guangzhou Daily published an interview with Zhong Nanshan, an Academic at the China Engineering Academy. In 2003, he broke China’s news blockade and told western media that SARS had spread widely in China. Zhong said, “as for the number of H1N1 infected cases reported in China, I don’t believe it at all!”


Experts predicted that the H1N1 flu will infect 130-260 million people in China at its peak and will have an effect on China’s GDP in the range of about 0.5 percent.

Sources:
[1] Beijing Evening, November 25, 2009
http://yljk.beijing.cn/yqtb/crbyf/n214091861.shtml
[2] Guangzhou Daily, November 19, 2009
http://gzdaily.dayoo.com/html/2009-11/19/content_769512.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Changes in Provincial Heads on the Horizon

Members of the “League Faction” (Ed: Hu Jintao’s supporters and allies) will serve as provincial heads in several provinces or autonomous regions (ARs), as current heads are close to retirement.

Takunpao republished Mingpao’s latest version concerning political realignment, which may be launched in early December:

– Liu Qi, Party Secretary of Beijing and Wang Lequan, Party Secretary of Xinjiang AR will remain in their posts
– Hu Chunhua, Governor of Hebei will assume the Inner Mongolia AR provincial head position
– Sun Zhengcai, Minister of Agriculture will be provincial head in Jilin
– Wang Min, current Jilin Party Secretary will take the Liaoning provincial head position
– Lu Zhangong, Party Secretary of Fujian will accept the Henan provincial head position.

Both Hu and Sun are 46. They are expected to be rise to the central leadership in Zhongnanhai at the 19th Central Committee in 2017.

Source: Takunpao, November 25, 2009
http://henan.takungpao.com/news/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=40539

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Nanfang Weekend Newspaper Blanks Page to Protest Censorship of Obama Interview

According to overseas Chinese media, Nanfang Weekend newspaper blanked out half a page to protest the CCP Propaganda Department’s censorng its articles. According to Epoch Times, during his meeting with Hu Jintao on November 17, Obama requested an interview by the Nanfang Weekend, a relatively liberal state-owned newspaper. Hu arranged it. However, Li Changchun, a Jiang Zemin loyalist, and member of the Standing Committee of the CCP’s Central Committee Political Bureau, in charge of propaganda, was annoyed that Hu bypassed him. He therefore ordered that the interview not be printed. Then after pressure from the US Embassy, the interview was allowed to be printed, but with certain sections cut out. The Propaganda Department also disallowed two other articles about Obama. In protest, Nanfang printed the newspaper with half a page blanked out (the newspaper page can be seen at http://www.mitbbs.com/article2/Military/32884503_1463.jpg).

This is a rare case of a state-owned media printing a blank newspaper page in protest.

Sources:
1. The Epoch Times, November 21, 2009
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/9/11/21/n2729468.htm
2. MIT BBS, November 20, 2009
http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/Military/32884503.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Study Times on Army War Doctrine Change

Study Times, a weekly newspaper published by the Party School of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), published an article on how to develop diversified mechanized infantries:

Develop new battle theories based on different battlefields: 1. Battle inside City. The army is shifting its focus from traditional mountain/hilly ground to the city as it believes that cities will be the main battle ground in the future wars. 2. Shore Landing. 3. Airborne. 4. Battle in hilly ground.

Diversify mechanized infantries: 1. Heavy mechanized infantry. 2. Light mechanized infantry. 3. Amphibious mechanized infantry. 4. Airborne mechanized infantry.

Advance equipment: 1. Wheel-based equipment (for battles inside cities). 2. Airborne equipment. 3. Digitalized (IT-based) equipment.

Improve Training: 1. Develop training base for mechanized infantry soldiers (the current training bases are designed for tank crews). 2. Develop multi-purpose training centers. 3. Adopt more simulations.

Source: Study Times, October 26, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=3008&nid=10921&bid=7&page=1

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China Showing Limited Dissatisfaction with Lee Kuan Yew’s Comments on China

Lee Kuan Yew, former paramount leader of Singapore, during his recent tour of the U.S., delivered a speech reminding the U.S. to play an important role in Asian affairs in order to balance China’s military and economic power. Chinese state-run media exhibited limited dissatisfaction, stating that the Chinese netizens were furious about Lee’s speech, but then quoting reports from oversees media and interviews with experts with mild criticism of Lee Kuan Yew or even an explanation for Lee from Singapore’s perspective.

Sources:
1. Global Times, November 4, 2009
http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/622707.html
2. China News Service, November 4, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/hb/news/2009/11-04/1946402.shtml

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend