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State Media Urges Communist Party Members to Have Three Children

The state media, China Report, published an editorial on November 23, 2021, urging Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members to have three children. The original article was removed the next day, and major Chinese media followed suit. Screenshots, however, have gone viral on social media. 

According to the China Report editorial, CCP members have a personal obligation to help tackle the country’s plunging fertility rate by having three children.

Each CCP member is required to “align his thoughts and actions and those of his family with the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, and proactively and consciously take action to implement the three-child policy.”

“No Party member should use any excuse, objective or personal, not to marry or have children, nor can they use any excuse to have only one or two children,” said China Report. “Every Party member must bear the responsibility to implement the three-child policy for China’s population growth. Every Party member must also fulfill his obligation to grow China’s population.”

To the extent that some Party members can no longer have children due to age, health, and other reasons, the editorial urges them to “actively educate, guide, and encourage their family members or those around them to implement, actively and consciously, the three-child policy.” “You must never ignore or allow your family or people around you not to marry or have children, and you must never ignore or allow your family or people around you to give birth to only one or two children using this or that excuse.”

China Report is a state-owned media under the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration, also known as the China International Publishing Group (CIPG).   

Source: China Report, November 23, 2021
Screenshot at https://news.creaders.net/china/2021/12/10/2428749.html
Full text at http://huaitu.cn/news/68886.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Central Bank Adviser: Common Prosperity Requires Lowering Gini Coefficient

A People’s Bank of China adviser believes that, to achieve Xi Jinping’s common prosperity, China must lower the Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, to below 0.4. Cai Fang, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the central bank, made this remark at a forum that Caijing magazine  hosted on November 27 and 28, 2021.

Cai stated that China’s Gini coefficient should drop from the current 0.47 to close to 0.4 and, by 2035, it should drop close to 0.35. He added, “If it is higher than 0.4, we cannot say that this is common prosperity.”

Cai, who is also an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China needs to reduce inequality through a redistribution of its national income. It should also increase the supply of social welfare and a reduction of the Gini coefficient.  There is “a lot of work to do.” China must use different means and ways of the first, second, and third distribution of national income to build an olive-shaped social structure with middle-income groups as the main body. It is more important to create a public service system covering the entire life cycle of the people.

According to China’s National Development and Reform Commission,  the first distribution of wealth comes through market competition. The second is achieved through taxes, subsidies, and social welfare programs. The third distribution taps enterprises and individuals to redistribute their wealth through voluntary donations.

The Gini coefficient measures the degree of equality in the income distribution of residents in a country or region. A value of 0 means complete equality. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, China’s income Gini coefficient reached the highest point of 0.49 in 2008 and then fell to 0.47 in 2020. According to OECD estimates this year, the average Gini coefficient in developed countries is 0.314.

Sources:

Sina.com, November 28, 2021

https://finance.sina.com.cn/hy/hyjz/2021-11-28/doc-ikyakumx0712227.shtml

Zaobao, November 29, 2021

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20211129-1218123

China National Development and Reform Commission, September 24, 2021 https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/fggz/jyysr/jysrsbxf/202109/t20210924_1297384.html?code=&state=123

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s Birth Rate Hits a Record: the Lowest in 43 Years

According to the recently released “China Statistical Yearbook 2021,” China’s birth rate in 2020 was 8.52 per 1,000 people. It thus fell below 10 per 1,000 for the first time. This is the lowest rate in the past 43 years. There were 12 million births in 2020, about one-third fewer than the 17.86 million in 2016.

According to the Yearbook, China’s natural population growth rate (birth rate minus death rate) for 2020 was 1.45 per 1,000. This is a record low since 1978. Experts predict that, at the earliest, a negative growth rate is likely to occur during the 14th Five-Year Plan period  i.e., the 2021-2025 period.

In 1987, the birth rate was as high as 23.3 per 1,000, and the natural growth rate that year was as high as 16.61 per 1,000, both of which were historical highs for the period of more than 40 years.

The Chinese Communist Party adopted a law in August 2021 to lessen its control of planned parenthood by allowing three children per couple.

As young people are not responsive to the policy change, at least 12 provinces and cities in China, including Shanghai, Hebei, Henan, Tianjin, Guizhou, Anhui, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, have issued the “Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Application Plan (2021-2025)” The purpose of the plan was to increase assisted reproductive service agencies in order to help infertile couples with artificial insemination.

Among them, Sichuan Province plans to increase the number of institutions in the next five years by 20, Shaanxi Province 10, Anhui Province by 10, Shanxi five, Tianjin two more, and Hebei Province up to five.

At the end of June last year, China had 523 assisted reproductive medical institutions. Among them, there were 56 in Guangdong and 33 in Jiangsu Province. There are 27 medical institutions approved to set up human sperm banks, including two in Beijing, Shanghai, and Henan Province, respectively.

Sources:

1.) China Business Network, November 15, 2021
https://www.yicai.com/news/101229959.html

2.) The Paper, November 21, 2021
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_15479163

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s Marriage Rate Hit a Record Low

Young people in mainland China continue to lie down (tang ping or take a rather passive attitude toward life  — See the article at http://chinascope.org/archives/27040 for a description of this phenomenon) and not have a family. According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China, the number of marriages in the third quarter of this year hit a record low.

The latest official statistics released in October show that, in the third quarter of this year, only 1.72 million couples registered to be married. On a quarterly basis, this was the fist time the number has fallen below 2 million couples.

In the first three consecutive quarters of this year, marriage registrations have been falling. In these three quarters combined, 5.886 million couples registered to be married. That figure is 8,000 fewer than in the same period last year.

Analysts observed that the figure for national marriage registrations has fallen year after year since 2013.  The number fell below the 10 million mark in 2019 and it fell below the 9 million mark in 2020, when, in the whole country, only 8.131 million couples registered for marriage.

The recent figures cited above reflect the younger generations’ continuing distrust of the Chinese Communist Party (the CCP) and the widespread public grievances against the regime. Not getting married has become a form of protest against the CCP’s calls for bigger families. People would rather “lie down” to avoid bearing the rising costs of having a family.

Source： Ministry of Civil Affairs, October 29, 2021
http://www.mca.gov.cn/article/sj/tjjb/qgsj/

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Escalates its Control over Lawyers

The All-China Lawyers Association (ACLA) issued new regulations for lawyers and law firms banning them from discussing cases in public in the latest move to tighten control over lawyers.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established the ACLA in July 1986 and placed it under China’s Ministry of Justice.  under the ACLA Charter Article 3. The ACLA follows Xi Jinping and the CCP’s leadership and practices law according to China’s socialist rule of law. All lawyers in China are members of the ACLA.

On October 20, 2021, the ACLA issued the “Rules on Prohibiting Violations and Speculation on Cases.” The Rules require that lawyers and law firms shall not “spread violations of the [CCP’s] party line, principles, and policies,” “oppose the leadership of the Communist Party of China,” or “incite complaints against the Party and the government.”

The new ACLA regulations also require that lawyers and law firms not hype up cases through joint signatures, open letters, and online gatherings to show solidarity. They also ban posting comments on cases on social media.

In addition, the ACLA stipulates that, for publicly heard cases, the undertaking lawyers shall not disclose or disseminate important information and evidence materials obtained through client interviews, file reviews, investigations, and evidence collection “that may affect the handling of the case.” For cases that are not heard publicly, lawyers cannot disclose or disseminate case information and materials.

However, some of these bans are causing grave concerns among rights lawyers in China.

Since July 9, 2015 (7-09), the police in over 20 provinces and cities throughout China have conducted a crackdown. They have arrested, summoned, criminally detained, taken away, disappeared, or interrogated hundreds of Chinese human rights lawyers, civil rights activists, petitioners, and their relatives. The charges against them have included: “inciting subversion,” “disturbing a court order,” “picking quarrels, provoking troubles,” and many other examples. At least 280 people were detained during the crackdown.  The authorities banned them from the practice of law and continued to monitor and harass them after their release.

The CCP touted the 7-09 crackdown on lawyers as its significant achievement in 2015. During the following year’s 3rd Plenary Session of the 5th Session of the 12th National People’s Congress on March 12, 2016. Zhou Qiang, President of the Supreme Court, and Cao Jianming, President of the Supreme Procuratorate, made special mention of the crackdown.

Sources:

1. The All China Lawyer Association, October 20, 2021
http://www.acla.org.cn/article/page/detailById/32079

2. U.S. Department of State, July 8, 2021
https://www.state.gov/on-the-6th-anniversary-of-the-709-crackdown-in-china/

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Beijing Updates Approved Media List, Tightening Control

On October 20, 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) published an updated list of approved news sources. The list contains Internet news providers from which other sites can reprint contents.

Compared to the 2016 list, the updated list of 1,358 news sources includes more public and social media accounts based on how they followed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) directions in the past. According to the CAC, the update also eliminated media from the previous 2016 list because those media “no longer meet the requirements, have a poor daily performance, and lack influence.”

Caixin, one of China’s best-known outspoken business publications, was eliminated from the 2021 list.

Despite increasingly tight control under China’s Xi Jinping, the privately funded Caixin has published many articles that the CCP does not like and has become influential as a result. That influence is a challenge for the CCP.

People currently subscribe to Caixin reports because Caixin has a strong team of investigative reporters known for their exclusive reports. The extent to which the removal from the 2021 news source list may impact Caixin’s business remains to be seen.

CCP controlled media must publish in accordance with CCP’s agenda. Everyone is a reporter or photographer in the Internet age, a reality that the CCP cannot change. It is questionable whether the CCP’s updated approval of the media list will effectively shut down different voices.

Source: Cyberspace Administration of China, October 20, 2021
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2021-10/20/c_1636326280912456.htm?showOutlinkMenu=1&hgWebShareTitle=

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Second Baby Boomer Generation Enters Sixties in an Aging China

On October 14, 2021, China Business News ran a feature on the second baby-boomer population. The article was based on an interview with Yuan Xin, professor at the School of Economics of Nankai University, Tianjin, China.

 

Since 1949, China has experienced three “baby boomer periods.” They were from 1950 to1958, 1962 to 1975, and 1981 to1997. Those born during the three “baby boomer periods” will enter their 60s in 2010 to 2018, 2022 to 2035, and 2041 to 2057. These periods will bring three “shock waves” to China’s economy. 

 

Next year, China’s second baby-boomer population will officially become 60 years old.

 

Yuan said that at the end of the 21st century, the population of 60 and above will remain at 400 million and account for over 37 percent of the entire population in China.

 

Yuan said that, compared with other countries in the world, China’s elderly population has four unique characteristics.

 

One, China has a large number of older people who are 60 and above. According to the United Nations (UN) “World Population Prospects 2019,” forecast data shows that in 2052, China’s population of people at age 60 and above will reach the peak of 490 million people. One out of every four older people in the world will live in China.

 

Two, China is aging at an unprecedented rapid speed. Yuan said that the average annual growth rate of China’s elderly population far exceeds the average annual growth rate of the total population. The rate of population aging in China is faster than in countries with more than 100 million people.

 

Three, China has a larger share of the population aged 60 and above in its total population. In 2000, ten percent of its total population were 60 and above (aging country). The 2020 national census shows that the figure has reached 18.7 percent. It will exceed 20 percent in 2025 (making China a deeply aging country) and 30 percent in 2041 (making it a severely aging country), according to the United Nations. This means that it will take China 25 years from 2000 to transition from an aging country to a deeply aging country in 2025. That is 45 to 50 years faster than the average of developed countries. 

Further, it will take merely 16 years for China to transition from a deeply aging country in 2025 to a severely aging country in 2041, 14 years faster than the average of developed countries. In 2041, China will have  one of the oldest populations in the world.

 

Four, China is a super-stable aging country. When the rapid aging process is over, China will be a super-stable aging country in the second half of the 21st century due to its large senior population. By then, the size of China’s elderly population will remain between 400 million and 480 million, which is between 35 percent and 38 percent of its total population. 

 

Source: China Business Network, October 14, 2021

https://www.yicai.com/news/101197277.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Communist Party Political Inspectors Arrive at Top Financial Institutions

Political inspectors from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have kicked off the eighth round of inspections since Xi Jinping took office as the CCP General Secretary of the 18th National Congress. A month ago, the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced political inspections of 25 financial institutions.

Recently, the Second Inspection Team arrived at the Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The Fourth Inspection Team came to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC); and the Fifth Inspection Team was at the China Everbright Group Co., Ltd. Each inspection will take about two months.

The Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. is among the top 5 leading commercial banks in China. It is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. In addition to over 2,800 branches in China, it has 23 overseas subsidiaries, branches, and representative offices in Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Frankfurt, London, Paris, and Johannesburg, as well as other cities.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange is the world’s 3rd largest stock market by market capitalization at US$7.62 trillion as of July 2021. It is also Asia’s largest stock exchange. According to its website, “Under the strong leadership of the CPC [the Communist Party of China] the Central Committee and the State Council and under the direct guidance of the CSRC [the China Securities Regulatory Commission], along with fervent support from all sectors of society, the Exchange makes it its mission to serve the nation’s reform and development initiatives.” CBIRC is a state agency under China’s State Council. It is the main regulator of the banking and insurance institutions.

China Everbright Group Corporation is a state-owned financial conglomerate listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with alternative asset management as its core business. During the kick-off at these institutions, the Inspection Teams emphasized that the inspection is “an important measure to uphold and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over financial work, promote the Party building, especially political development; and an important measure to safeguard national economic security and promote the financial industry.” It is also “an important measure to strengthen the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in the financial sector and promote the deepening of the anti-corruption struggle.”

The Inspection Teams urged the Party committees at these financial institutions to “improve their political positions and re-enforce their political responsibilities.”

The Inspection Teams have set up inspection hotlines and mailboxes for complaints and will receive letters and visits until December 15, 2021.

Source: Beijing News, October 13, 2021
https://www.bjnews.com.cn/detail/163408805114960.html

 

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics