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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

Civil Service Employee – the Most Competitive Position in China

On October 22, China’s 2022 National Civil Service Examination registration was closed. Preliminary statistics suggest that the number of applicants this year has increased by more than 200,000 compared to last year. Many jobs are highly competitive. For example, a position at the Tibet Post Office Administration attracted applications from 15,000 people.

It is expected that the unemployment number in China will continue to rise this year due to COVID 19, government policies to curb after-school tutoring programs and the over-heated housing market. Even though there are more open positions this year, the number of applicants has also surged.

Registration for the national exam for Civil Service applicants began on October 15. By 4:00 pm on October 16, the central agencies and the subsidiaries had received 778,000 applications, 200,000 more than last year. The job pool includes 312,000 positions from 75 departments and 23 direct agencies.

Source: Central News Agency, October 24, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202110240029.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Court Rules Hungarian Government Must Make China-Hungarian Railway Contract Public

In 2020, Hungary received a US$1.9 billion 20-year-term loan from China for a railway construction project. Hungary’s foreign ministry said that the contract agreement with China must be kept confidential. If it were not, it would be detrimental to the national interest. On October 7, 2021, a Hungarian court ruled that the government must make the contract public by October 22.

In 2014, Hungary, China and Serbia signed the original memorandum of understanding to rebuild and expand the railway line between Budapest, the Hungarian capital, and Belgrade, the Serbian capital. The long-stalled project, which has been on hold since 2017, is planned to rebuild and expand the 150-kilometre (93 miles) line between Budapest and Kelebia (a village in Southern Hungary). Construction in Serbia will begin in 2018. China is to provide 85 percent of the financing in the form of loans and Hungary will provide 15 percent.

In 2020, Hungary received the 20-year loan of $1.9 billion of the from China. In April of the same year, the Hungarian parliament voted to keep all details of the railway project confidential, including a feasibility study of its profitability, stressing that it was necessary in order to obtain the loan from the Bank of China.

Bernadette Szel, a member of Hungary’s independent opposition party, filed a lawsuit to make the Chinese loan agreement public. On October 7, Szel won the second appeal. The court ruled that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not attached any credible evidence that the issuance of the contract would harm Hungary’s national interests. and that the documents must be published within 15 days.

According to Reuters, the railway project, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, will be China’s first major infrastructure project in the European Union. The aim is to help transport Chinese goods from Greece to Western Europe. It is viewed as Beijing’s efforts to open new foreign trade links within the EU. The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has been a strong supporter of the project.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 20, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/cl-10202021131904.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

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

The World’s Incredible Dependence on Chinese Containers

On October 18, 2021, the French newspaper Les Echos published an article entitled, “The World’s Incredible Dependence on Chinese Containers.” The article pointed out that the global container industry is heavily dependent on China and almost all container boxes are made in China. China produces more than 96 percent of the world’s dry cargo containers, 100 percent of the world’s refrigerated containers and more than 90 percent of tank containers. The shortage of containers is one of the main bottlenecks affecting maritime cargo transportation and global supply chains.

In the Spring of this year, the purchase price of the popular 40-foot container on the market exceeded US$6,500,  which is double the price from a year ago and reached the highest point since 1998. The prices of refrigerated containers and tank containers are also on the rise. According to Eurotainer, the world’s leading tank container leasing company, within one year, the purchase price of tank containers has risen from US$13,000 to US$21,000.

Drewry, a maritime research and consulting firm, said the first six months of this year saw China’s dry container production jump 235 percent year-on-year to 3 million 20-foot equivalent units. Manufacturers’ order books are full and delivery times are getting longer and longer. Driven by this strong demand, the container manufacturer China International Marine Containers Co. (CIMC) achieved a net profit of 4.39 billion yuan (600 million euros) in the first half of this year, an increase of 1,739 percent over the same period last year.

Source: Radio France International, October 18, 2021
https://rfi.my/7q89

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Hong Kong Official: Legislation for Article 23 of the Basic Law Should Include Espionage

Wen Wei Po, the Hong Kong based pro-Beijing newspaper, published an exclusive interview with Chris Tang, the Secretary for Security of Hong Kong. Tang said that the Hong Kong National Security Law’s provision relating to colluding with foreign countries or foreign forces who endanger national security mainly targets “agents,” but “does not cover” much about real foreign spies.

He said that there is a lot of evidence showing the existence of espionage activities in Hong Kong, and that the US Central Intelligence Agency recently announced the establishment of a “China Mission Center” to strengthen the collection of intelligence.

“Who are these people? What are they if not spies?” In the face of the “long arms” of foreign countries, Tang expressed the belief that Hong Kong needs legislation to strengthen the regulation of espionage activities.

Earlier this month, Tang said that Article 23 of the Basic Law stipulates that Hong Kong needs to legislate to prohibit seven crimes, five of which are not included in the National Security Law, and that even the current Crimes Ordinance is not sufficient to deal with them.

Article 23 of Hong Kong Basic Law states that Hong Kong “shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies in the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.”

Source: Wen Wei Po, October 18, 2021
https://www.wenweipo.com/a/202110/18/AP616cb961e4b08d3407e0a48c.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Journalists in China Mandated to Receive 90 Hours of “Continuing Education” Every Year

On October 15, China’s top media regulator, the National Press and Publication Administration, issued a draft interim provision on “Continuing Education for Professional Journalists and Technical Workers.” The provision requires journalists, editors and other news personnel to receive no less than 90 hours of continuing education each year.

The provision states that the continuing education of journalists should “closely focus on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) mission for journalism and public opinion work, carry out in-depth education on Marxist journalism,  …  and guide professional journalists and technical workers in using the correct political direction, public opinion and value orientation.”

The contents of the study include policies, regulations, and professional knowledge, as well as new theories and technologies needed for keeping up with the industrial trend. It will become an important qualification for journalists to receive promotions and press credentials.

The provision also emphasizes that doing so is conducive to the building of a team of politically committed, professional, and ethical journalists with whom “the party and the people can have peace of mind.”

This year, the Chinese government has further escalated control over the media. Earlier this month, China’s Development and Reform Commission released a draft of the “Market Access Negative List (2021 Edition),” which requires that private capital shall not engage in the news gathering, editing or broadcasting business.

Source: National Press and Publication Administration, October 15, 2021
http://www.nppa.gov.cn/nppa/contents/279/99411.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology