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Briefings - 402. page

Hong Kong Billionaire Businessman Tortured to Death in China While in Custody

Hong Kong Central News Agency quoted Sing Tao Daily and reported that, on March 19, 2017, Hong Kong billionaire businessman Liu Xiyong allegedly died during an interrogation while he was in custody. Liu was arrested in March of 2017 for bribery. A copy of the court indictment paper circulating on the internet cited seven prosecutors who were involved in Liu’s case. They were accused of “extorting a confession by torture, negligence of duty, and intentional assault.” The case is currently being tried in the Tianjing Intermediate Court. The court paper stated that, during the four days while Liu was in custody, he was only allowed to rest for two hours. He spent the rest of the time tied up in the interrogation chair. The autopsy report indicated that a number of torture methods were used on Liu. He suffered a broken sternum and fractured ribs and he died of suffocation.

Liu Xiyong, 60 years old, was from Fuzhou, Fujian Province. He was among the first group of students in the mainland to have studied abroad where he attended Harvard University. He obtained a permanent resident status in Hong Kong and became the agent representing three major US chain stores on the mainland:  Walmart, JC Penney, and Sears. He was also the clothing supplier for JC Penny. Liu owned the Hong Kong Junyi hotel and the Hong Kong Xin Liji International Group and was a “financial crocodile” with billions of dollars in assets. In November 2016, Liu Xiyong was wanted for making fraudulent loans from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for more than 200 million Hong Kong dollars (US$25 million). He was detained in Beijing initially and was secretly transferred to the Yanbian Prefecture Detention Center in Jilin Province in March 2017. On March 19, Liu died during the investigation of the Jilin Yanbian State Procuratorate. Liu’s death is speculated to have had deep political connections. Liu’s wife, Li Fangfei, is a famous TV host for CCTV. An online posting also disclosed that the media has been instructed not to report, forward, or comment on the trial.

Source:
1. Central News Agency, September 8, 2018
http://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201809080059-1.aspx
2. Have8.TV, September 9, 2018
http://news.have8.tv/18/0909/2065175.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

BBC: Tencent Launched System to Limit Children’s Online Game Playing

BBC reported that Tencent, the Chinese technology giant, responded to the national trend of combating online game addiction and will implement a strict new regulation to identify young game players. Starting in mid-September, Tencent will require players of “King of Glory” to register in their system with their real names, which will tie them to the database that the Public Security Bureau maintains. The system has the ability to identify the young players and limit their play time. Tencent published a notice which stated that it will limit the play time for children less than 12 to one hour and children 13 to 18 will be limited to two hours. Their system will make it easier to identify younger players more accurately so they can “better guide younger players to play games sensibly.” This move sets a precedent in the world’s largest gaming market.

“King of Glory” is a popular competitive game based on Chinese historical figures. The game is tailored to the mobile platform, which greatly increases its popularity as many young players don’t have a game controller or a personal computer at home. The game program is free for players to download, but the player needs to pay to upgrade the characters or to upgrade the level of difficulty of the game. China’s official media People’s Daily criticized the game last year, saying the game is addictive like poison. Xi Jinping also mentioned that these type of games cause damage to children’s vision. Recently, after it was sold on the market, another online game that Tencent launched, “Monster Hunter World,” was banned for unknown reasons. Chinese officials have previously banned a number of online games for their violent, drug, or sexual contents.

Source: BBC, September 7, 2018
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-45443871

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Private Enterprises in China Face Difficult Business Environment

On September 4, China’s central bank the People’s Bank of China, and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, which is the chamber of commerce for the private sector, held a meeting to discuss how to improve the financing status for private enterprises and small and micro enterprises.

With the ongoing US-China trade war, more uncertainties have been added to the economic situation. Banks are reluctant to lend to private enterprises. Difficulties in financing will hit private investments and affect China’s economy in the second half of the year. China’s state banks have always preferred lending to state-owned enterprises, but small and micro businesses represent the vitality of the national economy. Yi Gang, president of the People’s Bank of China, once said that they contributed to 80 percent of China’s employment, about 70 percent of patent rights, more than 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and more than 50 percent of taxes.

Starting on January 1, 2019, tax authorities will replace the social security bureaus in collecting a number of items now under social security. Since the tax bureaus also collect the salary information, the move will add to the burden on the private sector, as most of the enterprises currently declare their social security obligations at the minimum wage standard.

Additionally, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently issued a directive that prohibits local governments from shutting down businesses across-the-board or from suspending operations using the excuse of protecting the ecological environment until they have conducted investigations. Local government authorities, when dealing with inspections from environmental protection units, usually place unreasonable restrictions on enterprises, especially private and small businesses.

Source: Central News Agency, September 6, 2018
http://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201809060130-1.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Report: China Tops the World in Nuclear Reactor Startups

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report is an annual report that explores the global challenges facing the nuclear power industry. Mycle Schneider, an independent energy expert, produces it; he provides a detailed overview of the global nuclear industry and a special analysis of key events and trends. The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2018 was released on September 4.

The report highlighted the following information with regard to China:
– Nuclear power generation in the world increased by 1 percent due to an 18 percent increase in China.
– Global nuclear power generation, excluding China, declined for the third year in a row.
– Out of four reactors that started up in 2017, three were in China and one was in Pakistan (built by a Chinese company).
– Five units started up in the first half of 2018, of which three were in China—including the world’s first EPR and AP1000—and two were in Russia.
– Of five construction startups in the world in 2017, one was a demonstration fast reactor project in China.
– There has been no startup of the construction of any commercial reactor in China since December 2016.
– The number of units under construction globally declined for the fifth year in a row, from 68 reactors at the end of 2013 to 50 by mid-2018, of which 16 were in China.
– China spent a record US$126 billion on renewables in 2017.

Source: World Nuclear Industry Status Report.
https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Members of Religious Organizations Attend National Religious Group Workshop

From August 27th to September 1st, the Central United Front Work Department held a workshop in Beijing for the heads of national religious groups. Nearly 100 members at the level of Secretary General, The General Officer, and above from the Chinese Buddhist Association, the Chinese Taoist Association, the Chinese Islamic Association, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the Chinese Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Chinese Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, the Chinese Christian Association, and others participated in the study. According to an article in The Paper, the participants “exchanged their understandings of the key messages from the 19th National Congress” and “concluded that they would fully utilize the network as religious organizations and unite their followers and other patriotic religious community members to follow the party’s direction.” In the speech that the Deputy Director of the Central United Front Work Department gave, the participants were told they should “constantly learn to understand, resolutely safeguard the core position of Xi Jinping, support the leadership of the Party, and strive to achieve the great rejuvenation of the China Dream.”

Source: The Paper, September 1, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2401674

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Taiwan Defense Ministry: PLA to Complete Operational Preparations for “Full Military Attack against Taiwan” by 2020

According to an article that Deutsche Welle published, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will complete its operational preparations for a “full military attack against Taiwan” by 2020.” This is the main conclusion from the “Report on the Military Power of the Chinese Communist Party” that the Taiwan Defense Ministry recently submitted. The report pointed out that “unifying Taiwan” remains a constant mission for Beijing. If any of the following possibilities becomes a reality, it will trigger China’s attack of Taiwan: Taiwan explicitly declares independence, Taiwan has internal turmoil, Taiwan’s acquires nuclear weapons, a delay occurs in the peaceful cross-strait dialogue, foreign forces’ get involved in Taiwan affairs, or foreign troops are stationed in Taiwan. However, the report also mentioned that, currently, the mainland is still limited by Taiwan’s geographic environment, landing vehicles, and insufficient logistical capabilities and does not have the full combat capability to carry out the military action.

According to the Deutsche Welle article, in April of this year, the Taiwan Democracy Foundation announced its annual poll. The data showed that, if the mainland military force attacked Taiwan because Taiwan issued a declaration of independence, 55 percent of the people would be willing or very willing to defend Taiwan and 35.9 percent of the population would not. If the mainland unified Taiwan by force, 67.7 percent of the people would be willing to fight to defend Taiwan, and 24.9 percent would not be willing.

Source: Deutsche Welle, September 1, 2018
https://p.dw.com/p/348cI

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China-Africa Financial Cooperation Bank Consortium

On September 5, the China-Africa Financial Cooperation Bank Consortium was launched in Beijing. China Development Bank (CDB), a government bank whose primary responsibility is to raise funds for large infrastructure projects, and a dozen member banks, signed an agreement, marking the debut of multilateral financial cooperation between China and Africa.

Since the launch of financial cooperation with Africa in 2006, CDB has provided more than $50 billion in investment and financing to nearly 500 projects in 43 African countries.

The Consortium is led by CDB. The founding members from the African side include 16 regional financial institutions, such as the Amalgamated Bank of South Africa, the Attijariwafa Bank in Morocco, the Commercial and Investment Bank of Mozambique, Banque Misr (The Bank of Egypt), the Development Bank of the Central African States, the Development Bank of Ethiopia, Ecobank (pan-African Bank), the Equity Bank of Kenya, the First Bank of Nigeria, Rawbank (Democratic Republic of the Congo), the State Bank of Mauritius, the Standard Bank of South Africa, the Eastern And Southern African Trade And Development Bank, Uganda Development Bank Limited, the United Bank for Africa, and the West African Development Bank.

The Beijing Summit of the 2018 Forum on China–Africa Cooperation was held in Beijing on September 3rd and 4th. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote address. Xi Jinping proposed that China should provide 60 billion U.S. dollars in support to Africa and exempt the interest-free loan debts that were outstanding, as of 2018, of the least developed countries that had diplomatic relations with China.

Source: Sputnik News, September 5, 2018
http://sputniknews.cn/economics/201809051026284688/

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Changjiang Times: Real Estate Development Companies Had Hiring Freezes or Laid Off Employees to Deal with Mounting Debit

Since 2018, many real estate development companies have been under tremendous pressure when trying to deal with the tightening of the financing channel, as well as serious cash flow and debt issues. According to an article that Changjiang Times published, a number of large publicly traded real estate companies have either initiated hiring freezes, closed down unprofitable projects and departments, or laid off employees. The list of companies includes Greenland Holdings, CK Asset Holdings Limited, Vanke, R&F Properties, and Agile Properties. The article also quoted statistics which revealed that, in the first six months of 2018, the total debt among 136 publicly traded real estate companies reached 10 trillion yuan (US$1.46 trillion) and their average debit ratio was at 79.1 percent, which was the highest since 2005 and up 33.33 percent from 2016. In the first seven months of 2018, forty real estate companies borrowed 410.5 billion yuan (US$60.08 billion), which is equivalent to the total amount borrowed in the second half of 2017. At the same time, many real estate companies were stopped from issuing bonds in order to raise cash and fewer and fewer financing options were available for them. The article stated that, since the average financing term of a real estate debit is three years, these real estate companies will have to deal with paying off heavy debts that are due in 2018 to 2019.

Source: Changjiang Times, September 3, 2018
http://www.changjiangtimes.com/2018/09/588297.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources