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CCP Central and Local Governments Both Talk About Living Under Tight Budgets

As the Chinese economy continues to show signs of fatigue, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central and local organs are both talking about the need to tighten budgets.

The public communique of China’s National Financial Work Conference in Beijing on December 22 mentioned the term of “living under a tight budget” six times:

  • “adhere to the party and government offices’ living under a tight budget,”
  • “enhancing the quality and efficiency of work is to implement the living under a tight budget,”
  • “form the concept of living under a tight budget, establish a system to live under a tight budget,”
  • “rigorously implement the living under a tight budget,” and
  • “strengthen the supervision of living under a tight budget.”

At the local level, Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, and Xiamen City of Fujian Province have all introduced regulations or issued directives requiring party and government offices to “live under a tight budget.”

Source: Epoch Times, December 23, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/12/23/n14142236.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Nikkei Asia: Putin Told Xi the Ukraine-Russia War Will Last for Five Years

Nikkei Asia’s Senior Correspondent, Katsuji Nakazawa, has suggested that there are reports indicating Russian President Putin said to Chinese President Xi Jinping that Russia “will be fighting in Ukraine for at least five years” during Xi’s visit to Moscow in March of 2023.

Nakazawa views the rumored exchange as Putin’s assurance to Xi that Russia would eventually prevail in the war despite unfavorable circumstances. Despite this assurance, China started hedging its position soon after Xi’s meeting with Putin in March. Facing domestic economic challenges and potential international sanctions, China dispatched a “peace delegation” to Europe within two months of the China-Russia summit.

Putin felt that Xi had started to abandon him. To keep China on Russian’s side, Russia shared information about then-Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang during the visit of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Rudenko to Beijing on June 25. This led to the sudden removal of Qin Gang from his position in the Chinese government.

Source: Epoch Times, December 27, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/12/27/n14144987.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

RFA Report: Korean Students Studying in China Down 80% Over Six Years

A recent report by the Korean Ministry of Education reported that the number of South Korean students going to China for higher education has decreased by nearly 80 percent over the past six years.

In 2017, there was a peak of 732,400 Korean students in China. As of April 1, 2023, there were only 158,570 Korean students in China, a 6.5 percent drop from 2022 and a 78.3 percent plunge compared to 2017. Each of the past six years has seen a declining number of Korean students in China compared with the year before.

The proportion of Korean international students who study in China has also shrunk substantially. In 2017, 30.5 percent of all Korean students abroad were in China. By 2021 the figure fell to 17.2 percent, and it has remained below 20 percent since then.

Analysts cite several reasons for the sharp decline in Korean students opting for Chinese universities. China’s slowing economic growth is likely a major factor discouraging foreign students, as were China’s strict epidemic control policies of recent years. A third potential factor could be Koreans’ declining opinions of China — polls have shown that the percentage of Koreans holding negative views about China has risen in recent years, especially among young Koreans.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 26, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/3-12262023110441.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Head of China’s Aircraft Carrier Programs Sentenced to 13 years for Massive Bribery

Hu Wenming has been sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 5 million RMB (US$ 700,500) for accepting bribes and abusing his power. Hu was the chairman of the board of directors of China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC) as well as the secretary of the company’s Chinese Communist Party committee.

From 2001-2020, Hu took advantage of his positions to unlawfully accept nearly 60 million RMB (US$ 8.4 million) in bribes related to projects, business deals, promotions, etc. He also caused major losses to state-owned assets during a corporate restructuring from 2013-2015.

In May 2020, Hu was put under disciplinary review for suspected violations. Investigators raised concerns about Hu potentially leaking state secrets, but this was not mentioned during trial. The Shanghai court found that Hu’s actions constituted “accepting bribes” and “abuse of power by a state-owned company officer.” His bribes were extremely large and his favoritism caused particularly significant asset losses, meriting punishment. Mitigating factors included: attempted bribes, recovering some losses, confessing crimes, actively returning stolen goods, and having other statutory/discretionary lenient circumstances.

After participating in earlier aircraft carrier construction in Liaoning Province, Hu was appointed in 2017 to be chief commander overseeing development of China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier in Shandong Province.

Source: Radio France International, December 26, 2023
https://rfi.my/AD0h

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xi Urges Politburo Members to Report Issues Objectively, Not Just the Positives

At a recent Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Politburo meeting, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need for top leaders to “maintain high political sensitivity and unity under the centralized leadership of the CCP’s Central Committee.” He warned about “transforming non-political risks into political ones” and called for “objective and timely reporting of issues.” The CCP Politburo is a top decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party, consisting of 24-members.

Xi said that members should uphold the authority of the CCP Central Committee, strengthen the “Four Awarenesses,” “Four Confidences,” and “Two Upholds.” Amid complex domestic and international environments, leaders must “grasp the strategic initiative” and “enhance foresight to see essence through phenomenon and understand situations politically.”

He stressed the importance of preventing and resolving political risks, promptly blocking various hidden dangers from turning into political ones. Leaders should “reflect real-life situations objectively, not just reporting good news.” Xi stated that members should adhere to “high-quality development over blind expansion, seek practical results rather than falsified data, and build long-term foundations instead of damaging finances.”

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), December 23, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202312230031.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Lianhe Zaobao: U.S. May Increase Tariffs on Some Chinese Goods

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that, according to sources familiar with the matter, the U.S. government recently resumed discussions on Trump-Era tariffs imposed on about US$300 billion of Chinese goods.

The Biden administration may raise tariffs on clean energy products. Tariffs on electric vehicles may increase. Chinese electric vehicles already face 25 percent tariffs, which limits the number of vehicles Chinese automakers can export to the United States. Other potential targets for higher tariffs include Chinese solar products and electric vehicle battery packs. The administration may also consider lowering tariffs on Chinese consumer products that officials consider not strategically important.

As China’s domestic economy declines, clean energy commodities are flooding into the global market at low prices. As a result, U.S. officials worry that U.S. companies will not be able to compete with Chinese products, even given the protection of existing tariffs and new subsidies. Some analysts have also pointed out that the United States government is preparing for next year’s presidential election, saying that the U.S. political parties may be motivated to take a tough stance against China in order to win votes.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented that “The U.S.’s unilateral increase in tariffs violates the principles of the market economy and fair competition, and it threatens the security of global industrial and supply chains”.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, December 21, 2023
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/world/story20231221-1457395?amp

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

LTN: Air Pollution Has Worsened in China

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) ran an article saying that China’s air pollution has worsened this year. The article cited a recent report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), an independent research organization based in Finland.

This is the first time since China began to combat air pollution in 2013 that China’s national average concentration of PM2.5 is higher than the previous year. Including Beijing, around 80 percent of China’s provincial capital cities have detected this year an increase in PM2.5 concentrations compared with last year. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “PM2.5 describes fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.”

Fossil fuel energy use in China has increased in the last year. Moreover, increased anthropogenic emissions have been a major factor pushing up pollution levels in China. In areas where PM2.5 levels do not meet World Health Organization safety standards, coal production and thermal power generation increased by 4.4 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.

In a separate study published earlier this month, an international coalition of climate scientists noted that China’s coal, oil and natural gas emissions increased as the Covid-19 pandemic slowed. Although China stepped up its pollution control efforts in 2015 after bidding to host the Winter Olympics, the country’s air quality is still below World Health Organization standards.

Source:

LTN, December 24, 2023
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/4529554

EPA, November 1, 2023
https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/particulate-matter-pm25-trends

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Oriental Daily: U.S. Bans Military Use of Seaports that Employ Chinese Logistics Platform LOGINK

Oriental Daily News, Hong Kong’s number one newspaper in circulation since 1976, recently reported that the U.S. 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, just signed into law by President Biden, contains provisions that prohibit the Pentagon from using any seaport that relies on China’s national logistics platform (LOGINK).

LOGINK is a key project sponsored by China’s State Council. Led by the Chinese Ministry of Transportation and the National Development Commission, LOGINK is a Chinese government transportation infrastructure project enabling the distribution and management of logistics information. The system is deployed to more than 20 ports around the world: 6 in Japan, 5 in South Korea, 1 in Malaysia, at least 9 in Europe, and 3 in the Middle East.

Under the new U.S. National Defense Authorization Act, Congress authorized a study of how foreign forces at the 15 largest container ports in the United States affect U.S. national and economic security, and the Secretary of State is to begin negotiations with U.S. allies and partners to have relevant countries to remove LOGINK software from their ports.

Senator Tom Cotton and Representative Michelle Steel, who sponsored the legislation, pointed out that China’s national logistics platform allows Beijing to monitor the U.S. military supply chain, which relies on commercial ports. LOGINK enables such monitoring by tracking the movement of cargo and ships .through a centralized system. Steele said LOGINK operates under the management of the Chinese government and that the threat posed by the software is very serious.

Beijing has invested in about 100 ports in more than 60 countries.

Source: Oriental Daily News, December 24, 2023
https://orientaldaily.on.cc/content/china_world/odn-20231224-1224_00178_003/

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology