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RFI: Wealthy Chinese Still Buy Luxury Homes in Australia Despite Cold Relationship between the Two Countries

Radio France Internationale reported that, in recent years, many Chinese people have moved overseas.  Australia is one of the more popular choices. According to the data, the number of “significant investment immigrants” (SIV) visas who invested 5 million Australian dollars (US$ 3.54 million) in Australia has been growing at an alarming rate. Since its opening in 2014, it has grown from 879 in 2015 to 2,022 in 2018; they were mainly Chinese.

According to Ken Jacobs, a real estate agent based in Sydney, in 2015, there were a total of 70 million Australian dollars (US$50 million) in real estate transactions and 61 million Australian dollars (US$43 million) in 2016. He said, “Chinese buyers are very decisive when they look for houses.”

Among the buyers of overseas real estate, about 22 percent of the overseas buyers in the Australian real estate market are from China. Although sales in 2018 have declined, Chinese buyers are still investing in Australia, which is one of their top choices in real estate.

In addition, many Chinese are willing to spend money to travel abroad, especially to the Andermatt region of Switzerland. According to statistics, among the tourists who have spent the night in the region, the number of Chinese tourists ranked the second next to the local domestic tourists. The CEO of the tourism development company in the area said, “We clearly feel that the interests of Chinese tourists are increasing.”

Source: Radio Free Internationale, March 20, 2019
http://rfi.my/3pfG.T

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China Seeks to Become Cyber Superpower

On March 21, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily published an article titled, “Make Steady Progress on the Path to Being a Cyber Superpower.”

A year ago, in March 2018, the Central Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization was changed to the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission. It is in charge of the top-level design and overall layout of China’s cyber industry and coordination and the supervision of major projects in the field.

At the National Cybersecurity and Informatization Work Conference held in April 2018, Xi Jinping gave a speech. “(Xi) emphasized that informatization has brought a rare opportunity for the Chinese nation. We must sharply grasp the historical opportunities of informatization, strengthen the positive propaganda over the Internet, safeguard cybersecurity, promote the breakthroughs in core cyber technologies, play the leading role of information technology in economic and social development, strengthen the military-civilian integration in the field, actively participate in international governance of cyberspace, and independently advance the development of a cyber superpower.”

The article named a list of technologies that China has been pushing forward, including facial recognition, the unmanned supermarket, VR online education, the unmanned cockpit, an artificial intelligence TV anchor, e-government, rural e-commerce, online education, a shared economy, smart travel, mobile payments, remote diagnosis, big data, and cloud computing.

As of November 2018, the number of AI related patent applications in China exceeded 144,000, accounting for 43.4 percent of the total global applications, ranking China as first in the world. From 1997 to 2018, the population of Internet users in China increased from 620,000 to 829 million, with the Internet penetration rate growing from 0.03 percent to 59.6 percent. The scale of online retail transactions now ranks No. 1 in the world. In the next 5 to 10 years, China plans to build the world’s largest IPv6 commercial application network, enabling the next generation of the Internet to be deeply integrated with the various fields of the economy and society.

Source: People’s Daily, March 21, 2019
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2019-03/21/nw.D110000renmrb_20190321_2-01.htm

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

CCP Party Official: Religious Teachings Must Be Interpreted According to China’s Laws and Regulations

During his inspection tour from March 19th to 20th,  Yu Quan, Secretary of the Central Committee of the CCP Central Committee and Minister of the United Front Work Department, said, “The CCP must maintain its leadership when working with the religious people in China.”

According to Yu, it is necessary to guide religious people to interpret religious teachings in accordance with the requirements of the laws and regulations.  [Local governments] must lead the religions in China with socialist values and make sure religions are in line with the socialist society.

Yu further stated that grassroots CCP organizations must effectively improve their ability to do a good job in religious work, increase their manpower working with religious people, and unite religious people around the CCP.

Source: People’s Daily, March 20, 2019
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2019-03/21/nw.D110000renmrb_20190321_6-04.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China’s Local Governments, Including Capital City of Beijing, Face Fiscal Challenges

For years, debt-ridden Chinese local governments have been facing lots of fiscal challenges. During the recent “Two Sessions,” Wu Sufang, the Beijing city government’s Finance Bureau Chief asked for the central government to step up its support. On March 7, Wu publicly stated that Beijing is facing a “slowdown in the growth of its fiscal revenue,” and 2019 is the “tightest year for a balanced budget.”

Wu added that the centrally-administered state-owned enterprises and their branches, the financial industry, and high-tech enterprises are relocating (outside of Beijing). This is having a major impact on Beijing’s industrial growth and fiscal revenue.

An article in the official media pointed out that the primary reason for the difficulty with Beijing’s finances is the “cleaning up of Beijing’s migrant population.” Starting in late 2017, Beijing launched campaigns to evict the migrant population. The decline in Beijing’s population has led to the relocation of industries such as manufacturing, retail, wholesale, transportation, and warehousing. The consequence was that the GDP and the tax revenue decreased.

The second reason is the housing market. The central government’s crackdown on real estate speculation affected Beijing’s official land sales revenue and real estate investments have declined. The third reason is China’s effort to cut taxes to keep the economy from further going south.

Source: Central News Agency, March 19, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201903190069.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xi Jinping Emphasizes Creating “Communist Souls” by Running Ideological and Political Theory Classes from Elementary School to College

In Beijing on March 18, Chinese General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Xi Jinping, presided over a symposium of teachers of school ideological and political theory and delivered a speech.

Xi emphasized that “young people are the future of the motherland and the hope of the nation. Our party is determined to be a great cause for the Chinese nation. It must cultivate generations of useful talents who will support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system of our country and are determined to fight for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. On this fundamental issue, it must be clear and unambiguous. This requires us to educate and train the next generation starting in school, from the time they are children. It is necessary to open ideological and political theory courses in a step-by-step, spiraling-up manner in primary schools, middle schools, and colleges. It is an important guarantee for cultivating generations of socialist builders and successors.

Xi stressed that “when we run socialist education with Chinese characteristics, we must confidently develop ideological and political lessons, and use the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics to create souls. … The role of the ideological and political courses is irreplaceable. Teachers of the ideological and political classes shoulder very big responsibilities.

Source: People.com.cn, March 19, 2019
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2019-03/19/nw.D110000renmrb_20190319_2-01.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Nearly One-third of China’s Cities See Shrinking Population

The population of nearly one-third of China’s cities is shrinking. This is based on a study that the research team at Tsinghua University in Beijing conducted between 2013 and 2016. The South China Morning Post said in a report that, through satellite, researchers had monitored the light density of more than 3,300 Chinese cities and counties.

Long Ying, a city planning scholar at Tsinghua University, led this study. Long said that the population of 938 cities in China has shrunk. This was more than any other country in the world. One interpretation of the results could be that the economic engine of nearly one-third of China’s cities is slowing down. Official statistics show that China is facing huge economic and demographic challenges.

Source: Central News Agency, March 19, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201903190162.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

LTN: China’s February Mobile Phone Sales Dropped to Three-Year Low

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that, according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in February, China’s domestic mobile phone market suffered a year-over-year decline of 19.9 percent. This is the lowest point in three years. China’s February handset shipment volume was 14.51 million; 96.4 percent were 4G phones. The 4G market declined by 20.2 percent, year-over-year. When combining January and February total sales, the year-over-year decline was 15.1 percent. Market analysts generally agreed that this is a clear sign that the Chinese mobile phone market has become significantly saturated. Before new technologies like 5G and foldable cellphones are widely available, growth seems to be very limited. In the first two months of this year, the Chinese market had 73 new mobile phone models. This was a year-over-year reduction of 42.1 percent. This means the mobile phone vendors are also taking a conservative approach and hoping new technology may bring new opportunities.

Source: LTN, March 12, 2019
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/2724711

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Information/Technology

China Economy: Suspension of Importation of Canadian Canola Is Normal Procedure

China Economy recently reported that Lu Kang, the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commented in a press conference on the decision to suspend the importation of Canadian canola. This was in response to the article that the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, published saying that the suspension had nothing to do with canola; rather, it had everything to do with pressing Canada on the Huawei CFO case. Lu said China recently discovered harmful pests multiple times in canola imported from Canada during the standard customs quarantine inspections. Chinese customs did communicate the decision to the Canadian authorities in a timely fashion. It is the Chinese government’s responsibility to safeguard the products sold to the Chinese consumers. China’s quarantine process is perfectly legal and normal, and it is scientific to weed out the potential risks.

Source: China Economy, March 12, 2019
http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/201903/12/t20190312_31658284.shtml

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics