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Military Expert Discusses the Successful Landings on China’s Aircraft Carrier

On November 27, 2012, in a guest session on People Daily‘s "Empower the Nation Forum," military expert Li Jie exchanged comments with Chinese netizens online. The topic was "China’s aircraft carrier’s first successful carrier landings.” Li Jie touted the significance of the successful delivery of the aircraft carrier and its carrier aircraft to the military, as well as the successful landings on the aircraft carrier. Li said that it had the same strategic significance as the success of "two bombs and one satellite" (the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and a man-made satellite). 

Li also said that “the success of landing on and taking off from the aircraft carrier … not only greatly improved the overall strength of the armed forces, but also enhanced the overall strength of our country. It has actually increased the maritime awareness of all of the Chinese people.” 

Source: People’s Daily, November 27, 2012 
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2012/1127/c1011-19715211.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Man from Shanghai Sues Ministry of Finance for Job Discrimination

Beijing Times reported that Tian Hua from Shanghai, who had the top score in the 2012 National Civil Service Exam, was denied a job with the Ministry of Finance. In April 2012, Tian filed an administrative legal action claiming discrimination. In November 2012, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court dismissed the legal action citing lack of jurisdiction. On November 27, Tian filed an appeal with the Beijing Higher People’s Court.

The Shanghai resident, who used the pseudonym Tian Hua, has a masters degree and is a certified accountant. He ranked No. 1 in both the written and the oral exams. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Finance rejected him on the grounds that he failed the physical exam. Tian had disclosed to the examining physician that he had hand muscle atrophy 11 years ago and has since been cured. “After a ‘communication’ between the Ministry of Finance and the hospital, the hospital produced a document stating that Tian is not physically fit for the job due to ‘other diseases that affect his ability to adequately perform official duties.’”

Source: Beijing Times, November 28, 2012
http://beijing.jinghua.cn/c/201211/28/n3813588.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China Review News: The Transformation of American Diplomacy Improves China-US relations

On November 28, 2012, China Review News published a commentary regarding U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech on the strategic transformation of U.S. foreign policy. Clinton said that the U.S. will change the priority of its foreign policy from counter-terrorism to the economy. The author believes that this transformation will benefit Sino-US relations.

The article stated, “It seems that the United States is jealous of the success of China’s economic diplomacy and is ready to emulate China.” The author proudly claimed that China’s diplomatic strategy has successfully influenced and changed the national strategy of the United States.

Source: China Review News, November 28, 2012 http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1023/1/1/3/102311383.html?coluid=1&kindid=0&docid=102311383&mdate=1128000643

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China Review News: The Fiscal Pitfall of Urbanization

On November 24, 2012, China Review News published an article titled, “The Fiscal Pitfall of Urbanization.” According to the article, the rapid urbanization in China, which relies on land sales and financing (borrowing money), may lead to a big debt crisis.

Source: China Review News, November 24, 2012
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1023/1/5/4/102315497.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102315497&mdate=1124082302

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s Third Mass Emigration: The Wealthy Are Leaving China

On November 27, 2012, BWChinese.com published an article providing detailed information about  China’s Third Wave of Mass Emigration. The first emigration wave, in the early 1980s, was the wave for studying overseas for higher degrees. The second wave, in the 1990s, was the emigration of professionals. In recent years, most emigrants have been the newly rich Chinese, who use investments to migrate to other countries. Some of them are entrepreneurs whose purpose is to protect their wealth. Others are CCP officials who escaped from China with huge amounts of public funds. In addition, the family members of many business owners and CCP officials live overseas. According to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, at the present time, “about 45 million Chinese live in different countries around the world.”

The article stated, “When those with money leave, they can only take their wealth with them. However, the damage when officials emigrate is much greater. They not only take away their wealth, but also rob and poison this country.”

Source: BWChinese.com, November 27, 2012
http://www.bwchinese.com/article/1035747.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xinhua: Unliquidated Bonds Reached RMB 23 Trillion

Xinhua recently reported on a warning regarding the scale of China’s unliquidated bonds. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) issued the warning in a report on its findings after monitoring all bonds. As of the end of September, China’s unliquidated bonds reached RMB 23 trillion yuan, which is the equivalent of fifty percent of China’s total GDP. The report suggested that the proportion of unliquidated bonds equals about half that of the bonds for the entire “Emerging East Asia Region.” Among the 23 trillion, 17 trillion are government bonds, while 7 trillion are corporate bonds, which is a rapidly growing section in China’s bond market. The ADB called for caution against the potential risks. The top ten corporate bond issuers are all China’s national level state-owned companies. Zhu Haibin, J.P. Morgan Chase’s Chief Economist for the Chinese Market, suggested that corporate bonds are becoming the primary new borrowing channel for local governments given the environment in which land sales for real estate developments have suffered a sharp decline.
Source: Xinhua, November 26, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2012-11/26/c_124000966.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: Someone Else Ate the Students’ Nutritious Lunches

Xinhua recently reported on a widely spreading story about the corruption scandal related to some village elementary school students’ "nutritious" lunches. The story first broke on China’s twitter-like microblogging sites, where college volunteers posted messages online exposing the fact that many elementary school students are receiving problematic government-funded “nutritious lunch” packages. There lunches are only worth about RMB 3 yuan (around $0.51). One package contained one small piece of bread and one small carton of cold milk. Its actual cost was widely estimated to be below RMB 1 yuan (around $0.17). Similar problems occurred in many provinces. Remembering such incidents as expired milk, Chinese public opinion quickly turned into an active discussion of widespread corruption. Even the government controlled media are questioning the bidding process for those who supply lunches and are calling for a full scale investigation.
Sources: 
Xinhua, November 26, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/comments/2012-11/26/c_113798179.htm
People’s Daily, November 26, 2012
http://edu.people.com.cn/n/2012/1126/c1053-19694237.html
Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xinhua: Over 1.1 Million Participated in the National Civil Services Exam

Xinhua reported that, on November 25, more than 1.12 million people all over China participated in the National Civil Service Exam to compete for 21 thousand government job positions. This is the largest government position exam ever organized. The number of people taking the Exam increased by 150 thousand over last year. Cheating is a big problem for the exam. The State Bureau of Civil Services required everyone who took the exam to sign a “Statement of Good Faith.” Also, a large national database was established to track wrong-doings on an individual basis. Experts expressed the belief that there are three main reasons that this exam has become such a heated competition: (1) Unemployment pressure is still high across the nation. This year alone there are seven million new college graduates joining the job market. (2) The Civil Service Exam system is relatively open and transparent. It demonstrates more fairness than other channels. (3) Government work is more reliable, relaxed, and reputable than other types of work.
Source: Xinhua, November 25, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/renshi/2012-11/25/c_123999588.htm
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics