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BBC Chinese: China’s Taishan Nuclear Power Plant Shut Down for Inspection

The BBC Chinese Edition recently reported that the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) announced on July 30 that “a small amount of fuel damage” occurred in Unit One of the Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Plant. The company decided to shut down the unit for inspection to identify the cause of the fuel damage and to replace the damaged parts. The Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Plant has the largest single-unit nuclear capacity in the world. In mid-June, the outside world questioned the safety of the plant. US media revealed that Framatome, the French supplier of the Taishan Plant,  asked the US Department of Energy for help, describing the Taishan Plant as facing “an imminent radiological threat.” At that time, CGN called the reports “rumor” and “hype” of the Western media. CGN’s latest announcement now says some small fuel damage does exist, but it was within the allowable range of the specifications. Framatome was once a subsidiary of Areva and was resold to EDF (Électricité de France) in 2009. In 2015, the French regulatory authorities found quality problems in Areva components. That brought the construction of three nuclear power plants in China, France, and Finland to a halt. The China Taishan Plant resumed construction later, but the plants in France and Finland remain delayed.

Source: BBC Chinese, July 31, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-58037951

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology Social Stability

Beijing Cracks Down on Private Tutoring Sector

In order to encourage families to have more children, Beijing has launched a series of policies to reduce the cost of raising a child. It has banned private tutoring activities and cracked down on home purchases in good school districts. Prestigious private schools have also become targets.

On July 24, the State Council issued an opinion to scrutinize and regulate off-campus institutions including a suspension on approving new private tutoring institution applications and a requirement that existing agencies be converted into non-profit entities. It directed that all training institutions be prevented from being listed on the stock market for financing purposes and they were also banned from using foreign teaching materials.

On July 30, after the Central Committee held a meeting on carrying out the “three-child” policy, the Ministry of Education issued a notice stating that it will ban teachers from hosting paid supplementary lessons for middle school and elementary school students outside of school hours or from engaging in monetary or gift exchanges with parents.

The crackdown order that the provincial government is carrying out has turned private tutoring activities into an underground business. For example, Hebei Province has set up a dedicated tipping portal so that the public can report private tutoring activities. Guangdong Province has incorporated a crackdown effort as part of its “anti-gang crime” measures. Hubei Province placed the Office of Combating Pornography and Illegal Activities in charge of the crackdown on private tutoring agencies.

Meanwhile, shares of Chinese tutoring firms plummeted in both the Hong Kong and the U.S. stock markets. Between the top three off-campus education and training institutions, New Oriental, the Beijing Science and Technology Education Corporation and K12, they lost a total of approximately 128.7 billion yuan (approximately US$19.85 billion) in market value during the two trading days of July 23rd and 26th.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, July 30, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/ac-07302021070407.html

2. Epoch Times, July 30, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/7/30/n13128035.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Wuhan to Issue Housing Vouchers to Qualified Buyers

In a notice issued on July 28, the Wuhan Housing Management Bureau proposed to issue housing vouchers to curb the overheated housing market. The proposal suggested that people must present their housing voucher before they can buy a house and each voucher is valid for 60 days. People who got the housing voucher illegally will be ineligible to buy a house for one year. Their name will also be added to the dishonest housing buyer blacklist. According to real estate insiders, in the past, buyers could register to buy regardless of whether they were qualified. This has resulted in an overstated market demand and disturbed the market order.

Since 2021, there have been over 320 policies introduced to curb the overheated housing market. There were 46 new polices from the central administration, compared to 30 in the same period in 2020.

On July 23, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and another eight departments issued the “Notice on Continued Rectification and Standardization of the Real Estate Market Order.” This further increased the industry’s expectations for strict and tight regulation of the housing market in the second half of the year. Subsequently, many places including Shanghai, Shaoxing, Zhejiang and Hangzhou issued new measures on regulating the real estate market.

Source: Central News Agency, July 30, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202107300062.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Controversies around Chinese Gymnast’s Pick of “Anti-Japanese Music” at Tokyo Olympics

On Sunday July 25, in a qualifying match, Chinese women’s gymnastics player Tang Xijing, chose Jiu Er, the end credits song of the Chinese TV series Red Sorghum as the background music for the competition.

The TV series Red Sorghum, starring the Chinese actress Zhou Xun, is adapted from the novel by Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan. Set in Shandong Province during China’s war against Japan between 1937 and 1945, it tells the story of a man and a woman who ended up being killed by the Japanese for participating in the resistance movement.

For many Chinese people, Jiu Er is a familiar melody that reminds them of the TV series and stories of flighting against the Japanese invasion. In addition, Tang also chose a Chinese patriotic song Me and My Motherland for the competition.

Chinese netizens overwhelmingly expressed support for Tang’s pick of this anti-Japanese song for the Tokyo Olympics.

Some posted, “I want to cry when I hear this song; we are strong.”

“The main business is to win. The side business is to take revenge.”

“Not only will the national anthem be played on Japanese soil, but also anti-Japanese songs will be on the game field.”

“(The pick of Jiu Er) is to protest Japan’s provocations in its history of invasion and on its meddling in the Taiwan Strait.”

“When the motherland is strong, you can go to the home of the people who bullied you and hit them in the face.”

“Win win win, we’ve won in spirit.”

However, a few netizens pointed out that it is unethical and against the spirit of the Olympics to play an anti-host song on the host’s home turf. On Twitter, some Japanese netizens expressed their “discomfort” and said that Tang’s action was “deliberately insulting to Japan” and “disrespectful to Japan”.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, July 27, 2021
http://www.czaobao.com/shiju/20210727/97286.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

People’s Daily: Chinese Central Bank Supports Shanghai to Lead the Free Use of RMB

People’s Daily reported that, at a recent State Council Information Office press conference, China’s central bank, The People’s Bank of China, stated that the Bank supports Shanghai in taking the lead on exploring a way to the free use of the Chinese Currency RMB, under the condition that the use should comply with regulations on anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing, and anti-tax evasion. This is to facilitate the flow of funds supporting trade investments. It is also to explore the free currency exchange mechanism for capital moving in and out of the Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone. The new policy also helps Shanghai become an important hub and bridge the connection between the international and domestic markets under Shanghai’s new development framework. Not long ago, China’s State Council released a Guidance on supporting “Shanghai Pudong’s high-level reform and opening-up to create a leading area for socialist modernization.” The Guidance allows the expansion of financial openness, aimed at establishing an offshore financial system that matches Shanghai’s international financial center status, and at improving offshore RMB transaction volume with risk management.

Source: People’s Daily, July 20, 2021
http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2021/0720/c1004-32163882.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Potential Loopholes in Health Code Management in Nanjing

The city of Nanjing in eastern China has virtually been sealed off and residents advised to stay indoors after 31 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Tuesday, pushing the total number of coronavirus infections up to a claimed total of 112 in the ongoing outbreak. The Local government has used a color-based health code systems to control people’s movements and curb the spread of the coronavirus.

People with yellow health code are required to be isolated for 14 days and do three Covid-19 tests within a week. If the test results are negative, the health code will be switched to a green color and restrictive measures will be lifted.

On July 24, a pregnant woman accidentally discovered that her health code had turned yellow for no apparent reason. As a result, she was unable to have a maternity checkup or visit a doctor. The topic was then widely discussed on social media platforms.

Many people in Nanjing expressed on social media that they had never approached the vicinity of Nanjing Lukou International Airport, where the outbreak occurred, but their health codes changed from green to yellow overnight. The codes of students at Southeast University in downtown Nanjing also turned yellow, although many of them had not stepped outside the campus for quite some time. At the same time, some people reported that within a few days, their health code changed from green to yellow and then from yellow to green.

In addition to the unexplained color changes, the personnel management of those with the yellow code also has problems. Many yellow-coded personnel said they were not notified of isolation or Covid-19 testing.

Source: Central News Agency, July 28, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202107280247.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Announced Sanctions against U.S. Entities for HK

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that, on July 23, the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented in a press conference, due to the “new legal landscape,” on the U.S. Biden Administration’s latest official risk advisory for businesses, investors, individuals and academic institutions operating in Hong Kong. The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury has included seven deputy directors of the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong on the “Specially Designated Nationals List” and imposed financial sanctions. China firmly opposes this and strongly condemns it. Based on China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Act, China decided to adopt a reciprocal countermeasure and sanction the following: former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) Chairman Caroline Bartholomew, former office director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) Jonathan Stilworth, DoYun Kim from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Adam King, Authorized representative of the American International Republican Institute (IRI) in Hong Kong, Director of the China Department of Human Rights Watch Sophie Richardson, and the Hong Kong Democracy Committee (HKDC).

Radio France International (RFI) Chinese Edition later reported that the White House responded on the same day that the U.S. will not be afraid of this and will still strive to use all relevant sanction tools going forward.

Sources:
Sina, July 23, 2021
https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2021-07-23/doc-ikqcfnca8659876.shtml
RFI Chinese, July 23, 2021
https://bit.ly/3eQrlSy

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

A Quarter of Japanese Companies Consider Reducing or Withdrawing Investments from Hong Kong

Between July 2 and 9, the Consulate General of Japan in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the Hong Kong Japanese Chamber of Commerce conducted a survey on the business environment in Hong Kong among more than 600 Japanese-owned companies and local catering companies operated by Japanese. The results showed that 56.5 percent of the respondents were “very worried” or “worried” about the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law. This represented an increase of 5.7 percentage points up from the previous survey in April.

When asked about the reasons for worrying about the national security law, most companies, (as high as 79.4 percent of them), expressed their worries about the “restricted information flow,” a surge of 13.8 percentage points from the last survey. 60 percent worried about “Hong Kong losing its ‘rule of law’ and ‘judicial independence,'” and 58.1 percent worried about “brain drain.” The rest of the reasons include “increased intervention from the Chinese government and a weakening of Hong Kong’s autonomy,” the “instability of Hong Kong society,” and the “ambiguous enforcement of the National Security Law.”

Although more than 60 percent of Japanese companies in Hong Kong believe “no change” in the current business environment compared to a year ago, many companies said that one year after the implementation of the national security law, some employees left Hong Kong with their children, some local distributors moved overseas, and 25.5 percent of the companies are considering reducing or withdrawing their investments from Hong Kong.

The survey also asked about the views of the those from the headquarters of Japanese companies in Hong Kong. 31.8 percent of the respondents gave a “pessimistic” answer. Many of them blamed the Japanese news reporting on Hong Kong. 46 percent of the companies said that the headquarters “urged them to reduce the size of their Hong Kong operations.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, July 267, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/ac-07272021044949.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend