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China’s Population Sees Negative Growth; First Time in 70 Years

China, as the world’s most populous country, has nearly 1.4 billion people. For decades, in order to control population growth, it implemented a one-child policy. However, in response to concerns about an aging society and a shrinking labor force, in 2016, the Chinese government allowed couples to have a second child.

Yi Fuxian, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, pointed out that despite the second child policy, the number of safely born infants in China in 2018 was 2.5 million less than the previous year, compared with the forecast of an increase of 790,000.

Based on the publicly available birth information of villages and towns across China, Yi believes that last year was a “historical turning point for the Chinese population” and its negative growth may have become an irreversible trend. The causes include the decline of women of reproductive age, as well as the high expenses of education, health care, and housing, making newly married couples reluctant to raise children.

Year 2018 was the first year of negative population growth since the establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949. Yi’s observation is that the aging of the population has accelerated while China’s economic vitality has declined.

Source: Central News Agency, January 3, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201901030410.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Officials Held Accountable for African Swine Fever Outbreak

Although African swine fever continues to spread in China, the authorities emphasized that the epidemic is “overall controllable.” However, according to a local government website, 223 people in Liaoning and other places have been held accountable for deliberately hiding the epidemic information and have been slack in performing their duties of monitoring and investigation.

On December 30, 2018, Inner Mongolia’s Chinese Communist Party’s website published a release from the Information Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, titled, “The General Office of the State Council seeks accountability for the prevention and control of African swine fever in Liaoning, Anhui, and Hunan.”

The above news was not widely picked up by mainland Chinese media. According to the release, the General Office of the State Council issued letters to Liaoning, Anhui, and Hunan, demanding serious investigation for responsibilities. These three provinces have seen intensive outbreaks of cases and even a small-scale epidemic.

According to the report, some county and township government officials in Liaoning Province passed the buck around, some deliberately hid the outbreak information and failed to implement the monitoring and investigation. In some cities and counties in Anhui and Hunan Provinces, the prevention and control work was not in place and there was a lack of efficacy in performing their duties. A total of 223 officials in the three provinces were punished.

The report also reminded the government officials that they must understand the difficulty and complexity of the prevention and control of the epidemic.

Source: Central News Agency, January 2, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201901020056.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

CNA: White-Collar Party Members to Fill in Lunch Time Duty for “Xicheng Aunts”

All parts of China are filled with so-called community mass organizations. They usually clean the streets, perform public welfare work, and at the same time they take responsibility for ensuring public security. In Beijing, the group is called “Chaoyang Residents” or “Xicheng Aunts.” In Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, they are called “Wulin Aunts.” According to a report from the Beijing Evening Newspaper, in Beijing’s Xicheng district, there are currently 81,885 registered “Xicheng Aunts” and the number of people involved in promoting “Peace in the Xicheng” project is over 100,000 with 1,452 special force teams.

The Central News Agency reported that these mass organizations in Beijing’s neighborhoods have repeatedly made contributions in reporting drug abuse in the community. Now Xicheng District intends to expand the group to involve the white-collar party members to be part of the group. The reason is that the existing members of Xicheng Aunts have to take a nap during the day. They wish to involve the white-collar party members so there will be no gap in the security patrol during the day.

According to Beijing Evening News, the idea of letting urban white-collar workers use their lunch break and put on uniforms to patrol the community is still under planning. It could be finalized next year. Once it comes true, the urban white-collar workers in Xicheng District will wear red vests and red armbands, and they will be active in the streets and lanes, becoming the “young age” Xicheng aunts.

In addition, since 2015, “Xicheng Aunts” has given tips on more than 30,000 pieces of illegal and criminal information, and assisted the public security organs in arresting more than 6,000 criminal suspects. In the near future, Xicheng District plans to use an open space to build a “Xicheng Aunts” exhibition hall to showcase the work that these “Xicheng aunts” have done.

Source: Central News Agency, December 16, 2018
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201812160054.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

CCTV Commentary: Comprehensively Strengthen the Party’s Leadership over Political and Legal Work

On December 27, Xi Jinping hosted a Political Bureau of the Central Committee meeting and reviewed the “Regulations on the Political and Legal Work of the Party.” The Paper published a commentary article that CCTV had originally reported. The article stated that Xi’s speech during the meeting, “further reinforced the party’s absolute leadership over political and legal work.” It called for all levels of the political and legal department to “study, understand, and implement the practice of political and legal work.” The article also commented that “promoting the rule by law is meant to further consolidate the party’s ruling status, improve the party’s ruling style, improve the party’s ability to govern, and ensure the long-term stability of the party and the country.” The article stated that, “the Political and Legal system must ensure that it is consistent with the Party Central Committee led by Xi in terms of its political stance, political direction, political principles, and political path, and that it is determined to be the guardian and the developer of the socialist country ruled by law.”

Source: The Paper, December 28, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2788729

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China’s Supreme Court Denied Then Admitted Loss of Multibillion Dollar Case Document

Cui Yongyuan is a former Chinese television host and producer. He is known for leaking information regarding the Chinese film industry’s yin-yang contracts leading to movie star Fan Bingbing’s removal from the spotlight in 2018.

A number of Chinese media reports that Cui broke involved another story that there is a mole inside China’s Supreme Court that stole the appeal documents of a multibillion case in Shaanxi Province. The bizarre thing is that the Supreme Court first denied the loss of the document. As soon as Cui released the evidence, the Court withdrew its previous statement and, on December 29, announced it would “launch an investigation.”

The lost documents involve a lawsuit that Kechley Energy Investment initiated in 2006. In 2003, Kechley signed a contract with state-owned Xi’an Institute of Geological and Mineral Exploration (XIGME) to form a join coal-mining project in Yulin city of Shaanxi Province. In 2006, XIGME signed another contract with a third party – a company in Hong Kong – regarding the same coal-mining project without Kechley’s consent and without legally dismissing the previous contract.

In September 2010, Shaanxi’s high court ruled in favor of XIGME and suspended the license of Kechley. The plaintiff took the case to the Supreme Court. In August 2011, Zhao Faqi, general manager and corporate representative of Kechley, was illegally arrested by police in Yulin city and detained for 133 days.

In November 2016, when Supreme Court judge Wang Linqing prepared to hand down a verdict in favour of Kechley, all of the documents disappeared from his office. According to Wang, when he immediately told the presiding judge Cheng Xinwen, Cheng appeared unconcerned about the loss. Wang requested the video footage from closed circuit TV camera installed in his office. To Wang’s surprise, Cheng checked the video footage himself and told Wang that both closed circuit TV cameras had been broken on the day that the documents disappeared. Wang later reported to Supreme Court Chief Justice Zhou Qiang, who also appeared unconcerned and didn’t pursue an investigation.

Coincidentally, just 20 days before the loss, Kechley’s Zhao Faqi, reported with his real name over the Internet that Zhao Zhengyong, the former secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, and others intervened in the case.

In 2017, a year later, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Kechley’s favour, awarding it 13.7 million yuan for breach of contract. “According to the South China Morning Post, the court has been unable to implement the verdict because of the missing documents and has not explained how the ruling could be made without those documents.”

Hong Kong based Apple Daily quoted media from China that the case files were “lost” because they contained the instructions from the Chief Justice and the President of the Supreme People’s Court Zhou Qiang, and the then Vice President Xi Xiaoming. Now, Xi has been removed from office, but Zhou is still there. Clearly someone wanted to have these particular instructions disappeared from the court records.

On December 26, on his Weibo account, Cui Yongyuan pointed out that the Supreme Court has a mole, stealing the files of the multi-billion-dollar case.

The next day, the Supreme Court issued a statement that what Cui said, “has no factual evidence, and is a rumor.” Cui immediately rebutted that the Supreme Court was lying and hinted that he had more evidence. Cui also quoted the insider’s description of the story and revealed that the judge’s name was Wang Linqing.

On December 29, after Cui Yongyuan posted two screenshots of the above-mentioned files on Weibo, the Supreme Court admitted that the file was missing, and said that it has initiated the investigation procedure. That night, another Chinese media Huaxia Times broadcast a selfie video of Supreme Court judge Wang Linqing. Wang said in the video that “the video is for myself, to protect myself from unpredictable events and leave some evidence.”

As the story began to spread across the Internet, all mainland based Chinese media reports were deleted.

Source: Radio France International, December 31, 2018
http://disq.us/t/3a1dcdl
South China Morning Post, December 30, 2018
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2180042/chinas-supreme-court-forced-admit-it-lost-documents-long-running

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

National Financial Work Conference: Be Prepared to Live on Tight Budget Next Year

Radio Free Asia reported that on December 27, the National Financial Work Conference was held in Beijing. The conference called for the “mentality to live on a tight budget next year” and strictly control general expenditures and spending. In addition, it proposed that there will be a substantial increase in local government special bonds, strict control of local government’s implicit debt, prevention and resolution of financial risks; promotion of economic transformation; further release of domestic demand potential; promotion of regional coordinated development; the strengthening of safeguards; and the improvement of people’s livelihood. At the same time, the meeting proposed that a larger scale of tax reduction and fee reduction will be implemented next year.

The conference also promoted the key work in 2019, which includes a pilot project on agriculture-related funds in poverty-stricken counties, accelerating the construction of poverty alleviation funds, poverty alleviation, and rural construction. At the same time, it emphasized the requirement to strengthen the international financial cooperation led by the “One Belt, One Road” project, actively participating in and leading the formulation of rules in international finance and economics, and firmly safeguarding and enhancing China’s national interests.

In the article, RFA quoted a statement an economist made. He stated that the key reason for China’s economic deterioration is the defects in the existing system. Therefore, no matter how the government strengthens macroeconomic regulations and control, it cannot solve the fundamental problem. The existing political system has resulted in a serious imbalance in the Chinese economy. The policy that allows the state to advance and the private sector to retreat has caused an abnormal development of the economy. As a result, the general public has to bear the pain from reform, including the unemployment of hundreds of millions of workers. Many small and medium-sized enterprises began to fall in the winter of 2017 with a sharp decline in revenue and no guarantee for financing.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 28, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/ql2-12282018100637.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

First Flight of Wing Loong I-D Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The Chengdu Pterodactyl I, also known as Wing Loong, is a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in the People’s Republic of China.

Wing Loong I-D is an upgraded variant of the Wing Loong I, built with all-composite materials, with improved aerodynamics and an engine enabling greater takeoff weight, service ceiling, and endurance. Other upgrades include both internal and external stores, as well as communications equipment. On December 23, Wing Loong I-D made its first flight at an airport in the west of China.

According to Xinhua, the Pterosaur drone series has undergone various rigorous environmental tests to achieve high-intensity normal use. The “Pterosaur” brand name has 100 percent ownership of intellectual property rights. The successful first flight of the Wing Loong I-D drone further enhanced the competitiveness of the Pterosaur series of drones.

Source: Xinhua, December 23, 2018
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2018-12/23/c_1210022500.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Smart Uniforms and Technologies in Schools

The smart school uniform that Guizhou Guanyu Technology (贵州冠宇科技) developed was first launched in July 2017. According to its official website (http://www.guanyukj.com), ten elementary and middle schools have been using the smart school uniforms from the company. The schools are located in Guizhou, Fujian, Guangxi, and other provinces in China.

According to a Chinese media report, when the smart school uniform is put on, the school’s large screen monitor will automatically identify the student, display the student’s avatar, and record the accurate time of entering and exiting the school. The parents and teachers receive detailed information about the student’s activities. As soon as the student leaves the school, there is a voice broadcast to identify the student.

The smart school uniform, in combination with human facial recognition and fingerprint recognition technologies, will automatically calculate and settle a student’s different expenditures at school. The parents will know every item of their child’s expenditures in school.

This product is said to integrate big data, digitization of the Internet of Things (IoT), satellite technology, such as RFID, NFC, Beidou (the Chinese counterpart of GPS system), GPS, RS, and clothing.

The smart school uniform also comes with an app. In the app, the teacher can approve the student’s leave request and upload school notices and the time-stamped video of the students entering and leaving the school. Parent teachers can receive such information through the mobile app. Teachers can use the app to hand out course materials through voice, text, and pictures. The chip-embedded school uniform, with facial and fingerprint recognition, has established a closed-loop AI environment for the school. The students’ every move is in the hands of teachers and parents.

Qinjia (钦家), a Shanghai based company, also developed a smart school uniform, with the main function of preventing children from getting lost or being trafficked. Another company Seeworld launched another school uniform, mainly used when a student encounters an accident. The student can tap a specific part of the uniform to send out an S.O.S. signal.

In December 2015, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission set up a “Beijing Elementary and Middle School Uniform R&D Center” at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. According to the official press release, the smart school uniforms will combine the motion sensor with the school uniform to track and analyze the student’s physical activity, analyze and compare the student’s physical functions and exercise volume, and ensure that the underage students receive proper physical exercises.

The People’s Daily also reported that a middle school in Hangzhou introduced an intelligent classroom behavior management system, which can monitor the students’ classroom behavior at a glance. The system can also analyze the students’ classroom behavior and the expressions during class and can also check attendance through facial recognition.

The smart school uniforms and similar technologies have received a lot of attention on cyberspace.

One netizen said, “Children have no human rights; they are just the possessions of their parents.”

Another put it this way, “A child is not a parent’s possession and the parents cannot completely control him. There is no longer any privacy.”

Source: Sina.com, December 24, 2018
https://t.cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/6502104867/1838e3f2300100ywix

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology