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Briefings - 786. page

National Bureau of Statistics: November CPI up 2 Percent Compared to the Same Period Last Year

According to statistics reported by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the November CPI was up 2 percent when compared to the same period last year. The CPI grew 2.1 percent among urban residents and 1.9 percent in the countryside. The report said that the price of food went up 3 percent while the price of non-food items went up 1.6 percent. The price for consumables was up by 1.9 percent and the service sector was up 2.3 percent.

Compared to October, the November CPI was 0.1 percent higher. The CPI in urban areas went up by 0.1 percent, while the countryside went up by 0.2 percent; the price of food was up by 0.4 percent and non-food prices were flat. The price of consumables was up by 0.3 percent while the prices in the service sector were down by 0.3 percent.

Source: Xinhua, December 9, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2012-12/09/c_124068137.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: The Dalai Lama Orchestrated the Self Immolation Incidents in Sichuan

According to Xinhua, the Public Security Bureau of Sichuan Province arrested two suspects from Ngawa County. One suspect was a monk from Kirti Gompa temple who "admitted" that he received direct orders from the Dalai Lama Group, which persuaded eight civilians to commit self-immolation, resulting in three deaths. The police in Sichuan stated that they will “conduct further investigations and severely punish those criminal actions that incite, instigate, and coerce innocent civilians to conduct self-immolation.”

Source: Xinhua, December 9, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2012-12/09/c_113960646.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

RFA: Rights Lawyer Prohibited from Giving Media Interview

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that, in August of 2012, Wang Chen, a rights lawyer from Hang Zhou, Zhejiang Province, initiated a petition campaign calling for an end to the labor camp system. Recently, Wang mailed the petition, which had over 10,000 signatures, to the People’s Congress and the State Council. Wang told RFA on Monday, December 3 that, when he was about to leave for an interview with a Hong Kong media on November 30, the police blocked him from leaving his house. They later summoned him to the police station for “Inciting subversion of state power.” Wang told RFA that the signatures he collected came from people from all walks of life, including lawyers, business owners, farm workers, public servants, people who had been locked up in labor camps, and some famous public figures, including Ai Weiwei, Jiang Tianyong, Li Heping, Li Fangping, Xu Zhiyong and Ten Biao.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 3, 2012
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/ql1-12032012094501.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

CCP Central Committee’s Political Bureau Meeting on Economic Work for 2013

In Beijing on December 4, 2012, the CCP Central Committee’s Political Bureau held a meeting on the economic work to be done in 2013. The result of the meeting was that China will continue to strengthen its control over real estate pricing.

The meeting set the direction for the year 2013 as follows: maintain the continuity and stability of macro-economic policies and apply appropriate precautionary adjustments and micro adjustments to the economy; try to expand domestic demand and continue strict control over over-production; maintain the stability of the general price level and regulate market prices and fee structures; improve people’s living standards and strengthen control over real estate pricing.

Source:
Huanqiu, December 4, 2012.
http://china.huanqiu.com/politics/2012-12/3344280.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xi Jinping Calls for a Powerful Strategic Missile Force

On December 5, 2012, the new Communist Party General Secretary and Central Military Commission Chairman, Xi Jinping, met with representatives of the Second Artillery Force of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). During the meeting, Xi ordered the Chinese military to build a powerful and technological missile force. He told those present, “The Second Artillery Force of the PLA is the core of the strategic deterrence forces, the strategic support of China as a major power, and an important cornerstone for safeguarding China’s national security.” Xi stressed the need to uphold the Communist Party’s absolute control of the military and to ensure the absolute loyalty of the military to the Party.

According to China’s Ministry of Defense, the Second Artillery Force is a strategic force under the direct command and control of the Central Military Commission. It is mainly responsible for deterring other countries from using nuclear weapons against China, and for conducting nuclear counterattacks and precision strikes with conventional missiles.

Sources:
Xinhua, December 5, 2012.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2012-12/05/c_113922221.htm
China’s Ministry of Defense
http://eng.mod.gov.cn/ArmedForces/second.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Senior Party Official Investigated for Corruption

On December 6, Xinhua announced that the Communist Party Central Commission for Discipline Inspection confirmed that Li Chuncheng, the Deputy Communist Secretary of Sichuan Province, is being investigated for “suspicion of serious discipline violations." The one sentence announcement did not offer details. Later Xinhua published a follow-up commentary which stated that the anti-corruption campaign is unfolding from the central government to local governments. Huanqiu, which is under People’s Daily also published a commentary. It stated that official media tend to categorize reports on corruption as being “sensitive” and that in every case in which official media delay or maintain a low profile when handling the publication of such reports, it creates the appearance of a cover-up. Li is the first senior party official to be investigated for corruption since the new Party General Secretary, Xi Jinping, took over from Hu Jintao in November.

Sources:
Xinhua, December 6, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-12/06/c_113923447.htm
Xinhua reprinted by Guangming Daily, December 6, 2012
http://legal.gmw.cn/2012-12/06/content_5920335.htm Huanqiu, December 6, 2012
Huanqiu, December 6, 2012
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2012-12/3349303.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

The Diaoyu Islands Dispute Has Become a Three-Way Battle between China, the U.S. and Japan

Ma Guoshu, Dean of the Guangdong Win-Win Economic Institute, published an opinion article commenting on the defense bill the U.S. Senate passed, which stipulates that Article V of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty applies to the Diaoyu Islands. The amendment notes that, while the United States "takes no position" on the ultimate sovereignty of the territory, it "acknowledges the administration of Japan over the Senkaku Islands." The prevailing view in the media about the bill is that the United States backs Japan and is suppressing China. The author believes that the U.S. move (harbors another insidious motive). While it is helping Japan on the surface, in reality it is to balance both sides and masterfully lay out a plan in order to achieve U.S. control of the Asia-Pacific region.

The author commented that the real intentions of  the U.S.  in the Diaoyu Islands issue are different. First,  the U.S. intends to vigilantly protect the Japanese economy, which is close to the national bankruptcy cliff. Otherwise, the whole "strategic plan of returning to the Asia-Pacific” would vanish like a puff of smoke. Second, the U.S. intends to force Japan into submission – to be transformed into an "Asia-Pacific Israel.” Only in this way can the U.S. effectively prevent China, Japan, and South Korea from forming a "surplus countries alliance" as a hostile force (to the U.S.) and remove the potential problem that can truly threaten the dollar’s global monopoly position. Third, an important option, as a U.S. global strategy, may be to cause the outbreak of a regional war so as to effectively shift the deep domestic crisis of the United States.

Finally, the author concluded, "As the chess game of the Diaoyu Islands progresses, a new pattern in the Asia-Pacific has gradually formed. It is destined to rewrite the established pattern of interests in the China-U.S. game."

Source: People’s Daily, December 5, 2012
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2012/1205/c1002-19792301.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Shortage of Donated Organs Continues in China

Nanfang Daily reported that an organ donation and transplant cooperation project under China’s Ministry of Health recently held its 10th forum in Kunming. According to the report, in 2010, the Ministry of Health established a pilot project for organ donations. In 2011, it expanded to 19 locations. Since then, 480 operations were conducted on the donors, with 1,294 organs donated, thus saving the lives of over 1,200 people. Experts attending the meeting agreed that the shortage of organs for transplant continues to remain a major issue at present.

[Editor’s Note: On December 2, 2012, three American doctors created a petition at whitehouse.gov to petition the Obama Administration to “investigate and publicly condemn organ harvesting" as people in China are "killed on demand to fuel China’s lucrative organ transplant industry." http://wh.gov/5Jmn.]

Sources:
Nanfang Daily, December 4, 2012
http://epaper.nfdaily.cn/html/2012-12/04/content_7148347.htm
http://wh.gov/5Jmn

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics