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Briefings - 1155. page

Milk Scandal: Beijing’s Olympic Food Supplier on List

Beijing Sanyuan Foods Company, Ltd. (北京三元食品股份有限公司), a listed dairy producer in China, was chosen by Beijing Olympic Committee as the sole supplier of food and beverage for both the Summer Olympic and the Paralympic. For weeks, Sanyuan was the only listed diary producer that has avoided being associated with China’s milk contamination scandal.

On October 7, melamine was reportedly found in Sanyuan’s product by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said the Guangdong based newspaper Yangcheng Evening News. The content of the toxic chemical was found to be as high as 10.58 mg/kg in the milk powders manufactured on August 7 by Sanyuan’s subsidiary in Qianan, Hebei Province.

Source: Yangcheng Evening News, October 7, 2008
http://www.ycwb.com/misc/2008-10/07/content_1985419.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xinhua Accuses U.S. to Infiltrate Other Countries under the Cover of Non-Government Organizations

Xinhua published a long article accusing U.S. government to conduct subversive activities in other countries under the cover of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The article specifically named U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) as a U.S. political role player funded by the U.S. government. The article listed Venezuela, Ukraine, Iran, and Burma as examples in the respective areas that was influenced by its subversive activities or promoted “color revolutions.” It also accuses NED to directly interfere with China’s internal affairs by frequently funding “anti-China force” groups such as “Democracy Movement,” “Tibetan Independence,” and “Eastern Turkistan.”

Source: Xinhua, October 6, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-10/06/content_10156377.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China’s Investment Created over 10,000 Job Opportunities for Zambia

Xinhua quoted a report by Zambia Time on October 6 claiming that Chinese companies has invested in more than 140 programs in Zambia and created 11,000 jobs for the local residents. China has become the biggest source of foreign investment for the country. China’s investment in Zambia covers a broad area, mostly on agriculture, machinery, mining, and tourism.

Source: Xinhua, October 6, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-10/06/content_10156158.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Internet Users Question the Authenticity of the Chinese Astronauts’ Spacewalk Videos by

A number of articles have circulated widely on overseas Chinese websites questioning the authenticity of the space walk the Chinese astronauts on the Shen Qi spaceship conducted. The articles listed a number of doubts based on official state medias published videos and concluded that the spacewalk was not the live footage of the spacewalk, but rather recordings from the rehearsal at the Astronaut Research and Training Center.

Source: The Epoch Times, October 3, 2008
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/8/10/3/n2284091.htm

Briefings | | |   Grapevine

Chinese Communist Party Launched New Campaign to Cope with Challenges

In the later part of September, Chinese Communist Party formerly launched a campaign called “Thoroughly Applying the Scientific Outlook on Development”, a theoretical development by the party in view of “China’s present preliminary stage of socialism to cope with many immediate challenges and woes for sustainable progress”. Top provincial leaders gathered at the Central Party School in Beijng for days to sit in seminars in order to bring the key messages back to their region and cascade it down its members. Hu Jintao spoke at the session citing the recent tainted food incidents and concluded that “the tasks to reform and manage the party have been complex more than ever”. Xinhua also setup a special webpage to echo this campaign.

The campaign was initiated in last October. Government agencies including financial institution and schools were selected as the trial sites in February of 2008. The campaign was said to last for a year and half.

Source:
Xinhua, September 22, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-09/22/content_10091583.htm
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/08kxfzg/

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Mainland Rights Website Shutdown Again

A prominent Chinese Human Rights website “Wei Quan China”, www.315wqchina.com, was shut down again on October 3 since it was last resumed service on September 12. In its open letter published through Boxun, WeiChuan China said that their website has been shutdown minimum eight times in the past six months due to “sensitive information” including three times during the Beijing Olympic. The letter said that the website is civil based. Its contents mostly contain the facts about the dark side of the society. The letter questioned the Chinese authority: “Does the Chinese government allow websites managed by civilians? If our website has ‘sensitive information’, why don’t you inform us first so we can take necessary measures? Please do not violently shutdown our website. Our website will continue to operate as long as the government does not label us as illegal website’.

Source: Boxun, October 3, 2008
http://peacehall.com/news/gb/yuanqing/2008/10/200810032120.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

First Lawsuit Filed Against Sanlu Toxic Milk Power Producer

Parents of Xiao Tao, a one-year old victim of melamine-contaminated milk powder, have filed a lawsuit against Sanlu for 150, 000 RMB in damages.  Xiao Tao was taking Sanlu milk power ever since he was born in July 2007.  He has been hospitalized in Beijing in serious condition with his kidney, bladder and ureters filled with stones.  His attorney, Mr. Ji Chen from Beijing’s Heng De Law Group, has collected over 90 emptied packages of Sanlu milk powder from Xiao Tao’s home.  Mr. Ji indicated that the final amount of damages sought will be much higher.  On September 22 the family received notice from Henan Zhenping People’s Court acknowledging the filing of the complaint.

Source: Beijing Youth, September 26, 2008
http://bjyouth.ynet.com/article.jsp?oid=43587808

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Bank of China to Purchase AIG’s International Leasing Business

The State’s central bank, Bank of China, is said to have expressed interest in acquiring international leasing business of American International Group for $100 Million, Caihua (Hong Kong) reported.  Earlier Vice President of Bank of China Zhu Min indicated that the bank will proactively seek opportunities to acquire U.S. financial institutions.  In 2006 Bank of China acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE) for US$965 million, and has now become the largest aircraft leasing company in Asia.

Source: Caihua, October 2, 2008
http://www.caihuanet.com/finetnews/20081002_317396.shtml

Briefings | | |   Grapevine