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Briefings - 1174. page

Amid Massive Close-downs, Government Restricts Layoffs

The sapping demand caused by the global financial crisis has hit hard on several coastal provinces in China. The Ministry of Human Resource and Social Security recently sent a notice, emphasizing a stable employment as the most important task. Shandong and Hubei provincial authorities require government review and approval before any company fires more than 40 people. The Qingdao city of Shandong even demands a nod from local officials before laying off 20 workers or more than 10% of the total employees.

In south China, media has reported thousands of close-downs amid the crisis, some senior managers even committing suicide or fleeing overseas. Although the government has announced the 4 trillion yuan (586 billion dollars) stimulus package, there are widespread doubts on whether the plan can effectively make up for the job losses. The government fears outburst of serious social problems, if not well tackling the shaky job market.

Source: BBC Chinese, November 18, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7730000/newsid_7735600/7735671.stm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Guangmin Daily: U.S. Applied Double Standard in Handling the Financial Crisis

An article from Guangmin Daily criticized the United States for applying a double standard in handling the financial melt down in Wall Street versus the financial crisis tjat took place in Asia in 1997 and praised China for being a responsible nation. “At that time, the U.S. actively promoted the neoliberal economic model to tighten fiscal policy with little government intervention” the article said, “but during the current financial crisis, the U.S. government is taking a complete different approach which has seriously damaged the U.S.’s image in the world and it has been criticized as being an irresponsible nation.”

The article then praised China as a “responsible nation that has firmly followed the socialistic market path with Chinese characteristics”. It listed a number of actions that China took to stabilize the domestic economy and said that it has demonstrated itself as a sensible and responsible nation. The article concluded that: “after going through the economic crisis twice, it has made us further believers in the superior quality of socialist market economic systems. Therefore we can’t blindly worship the capitalist market economy anymore.”

Source: Xinhua, November 19, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/theory/2008-11/19/content_10378986.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Survey Reveals 50 Percent Chinese Internet Users Believe Japan Will Become Militarist Country Again

Chinese Academy of Social Science and People.com’s international channel jointly initiated a survey of “Chinese people’s international views,” on the purpose of understanding how Chinese view some of the international issues and their opinions on Russia, U.S., E.U., and Japan. The survey started on October 1. Up to November 17, there are over 25,000 internet users participated the survey. The result of the survey shows that 50 percent Chinese believe Japan will become a militarist country again in the 21st century.

Source: People.com.cn, November 17, 2008
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/57507/8348885.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

County Party Secretaries Take Training Course in Party School with Emphasis on Social Stability

In the newly issued “Chinese Communist Party School Working Directions,” county Party secretary is included in the plan to take training course in central Party school. The first course started on November 10, 500 county level Party secretaries took the training. The training course lasted seven days, with an emphasis on how to implement policies of central government with heart, with brain, and with strength. In the fifth day, it was about handling the social stability and sudden events (riots) in the county. How to maintain social stability is one of main topic in the training course.

Source: People.com.cn, November 15, 2008
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/8345885.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Where Will Obama Lead the American Military to?

Xinhua published an analytical article speculating the policy changes when Obama swears to the office. The article includes three sections: 1) U.S. defense budget will continue to increase; 2) Withdraw from Iraq and increase military in Afghanistan; 3) Military strategy of moving toward East will not Change. In the third section, the article says, “During Bush administration, U.S. emphasizes to move the military Eastwards, adjust military presence in Korea and Japan, enhance military force in the Territory of Guam, actively working on the military base in Central Asian countries. American’s such strategy has the deep meaning of “working on” China. The article continues: “From Obama’s public statements during election, he does not have strong words on China. But he also said that China is neither enemy nor friend, but a competing opponent. This reflected his view on China.” The article concludes, “In reality, the ‘China Threat’ in U.S. has deep political background, the situation will not change as the national leaders change. It can be predicted that once Obama takes the office, he will possibly make no changes in the aspect of militarily encircling China. U.S. military will continue to have actions in Asian pacific area.”

Source: Xinhua, November 12, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-11/12/content_10344578.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice under House Arrest

According to an official of China’s Justice Ministry, Xiao Yang, the former Chinese Supreme Court Chief Justice, was house-arrested in November 2008 for corruption.

Per unconfirmed internet sources, Xiao and his deputy, Associate Chief Justice Huang Songyou were involved in a corruption network that stole up to RMB 150 billion yuan (USD $22 billion).

Xiao, as the chief justice, is said to be a vice-premier rank official. He was a member of the 15th and 16th Communist Party Central Committee, Minister of Justice from 1993 to 1995, and served as Chief Justice for two consecutive terms from 1998 to 2007.

Source: http://backchina.com/news/2008/11/12/17860.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

On Factories Closing Down in Guangdong Province

Officials from Guangdong Province openly denied the rumor of “50,000 factories are closing down” and disclosed that the total number of factories closed between January and September were 7148 with most of them being the small to medium size factories.

On November 14 and 15, Premier Wen Jiabao visited Guangzhou, Shenzheng, Dongguan, and Foshan in Guangdong and called for financial infusion to support the small to medium size companies in the region.

Source:
Xinhua, November 17, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2008-11/17/content_10368571.htm
Xinhua, November 15, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-11/15/content_10362860.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

A Beijing Journal Facing Scrutiny for Carrying Article About Former Premier Zhao Ziyang

In September, a Beijing journal called Yan (2) Huang (2) Chun (1) Qiu (1) (炎黄春秋) carried an article about the former Premier Zhao Ziyang. Written by a former editor in Chief of Xinhua branch office in Sichuan Province, the article was said to be the first positive article about Zhao since 1989. In mid-October, the Ministry of Cultural started to get involved because “a formal leader in the central government was uneasy about the article”. The latest development was that Ministry of Cultural requested the magazine to replace its leadership team because “they have exceeded the age limit”.

Yan (2) Huang (2) Chun (1) Qiu (1) is a monthly magazine started by a group of senior CCP officials in 1991. It is a self-funded business with readers among seniors in the party or intellectuals. The circulation is in the 80,000.

Source: Asia Weekly, Hong Kong, November 2008,
http://www.yzzk.com/cfm/Content_Archive.cfm?Channel=kk&Path=2203531622/46kk1a.cfm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics