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Briefings - 832. page

CRN: Dropping U.S Bond Prices Causes Inflation Concerns

China Review News (CRN) recently reported that U.S. 10-year and 30-year bond prices are dropping. The price drop occurred just at the time when the Federal Reserve announced its QE3 policies, which caused a lot of concern about inflation. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its September meeting minutes. The difference between the yields of the inflation-indexed bonds and the regular 10-year bonds is commonly used to measure expected consumer prices. That difference is 2.48 percent, which is higher than the same number collected at the end of last year (1.95 percent). Some experts expressed the belief that the U.S. economy may slow a little bit but won’t fall. The Federal Reserve is to ensure growth and it should monitor inflation. However this may weaken the demand for long term bonds.
Source: China Review News, October 5, 2012
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1022/5/8/1/102258102.html?coluid=148&kindid=7551&docid=102258102&mdate=1005174237
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: Holiday Economy Can Be Strategic for Domestic Consumer Spending

Xinhua reported that the recent Mid-Autumn Holidays delivered an unexpected test result on the newly implemented no-fee freeway policy for vehicles with seven seats or less. Stimulated by this new policy, a large number of car owners took the opportunity to travel. As a result, surprisingly strong consumer spending took place at tourist attractions during China’s Golden Week. The holiday, which started on National Day on October 1, commemorates the anniversary of the founding of the PRC on October 1, 1949. National statistics showed that 119 famous tourist attractions reported an average sales increase of 19.47 percent as compared to the same period last year. Freeway traffic volume in Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing increased 30 percent to 70 percent. The number of domestic tourists was estimated to reach 345 million for the holiday week alone. However, the extremely high traffic volume in some areas caused major congestion, which also made news. Economists took notes and are studying the value of this phenomenon as a strategic base for stimulating domestic consumer spending so as to give a boost to the falling economy.
Source: Xinhua, October 7, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2012-10/07/c_113289037.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Global Times: Large Japanese Insurance Companies Stopped Offering Strike Policies in China

Global Times recently reported that all large Japanese insurance companies have temporarily stopped offering strike policies to Japanese investors in China. It is widely believed that Japanese investments in China will face much higher risks if the lack of strike insurance continues. Ongoing tension in recent Japan-China relations has resulted in a large number of strikes against Japanese owned companies in China. The Japanese insurers are carefully monitoring the situation and will make decisions about business offerings based on the future developments of the anti-Japan movement in China. Most of the Japanese owned companies in China have an SRCC (Strike, Riot or Civil Commotion) clause in their insurance policies in regards to strike coverage.
Source: Global Times, October 7, 2012
http://finance.huanqiu.com/view/2012-10/3167489.html
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

People’s Daily: Overseas Chinese Media Need to Report More about China

On September 15, 2012, Wang Chen, Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department, met with the overseas media partners of People’s Daily overseas edition. Wang urged the oversea’s China media partners to carry more news reports about China so that they could help promote understanding between China and the countries where the media are located. Wang commended the Chinese media, especially the overseas edition of People’s Daily, for gaining an increased power of discourse on the world stage through establishing working relationships with the overseas Chinese media in different countries. According to Wang, People’s Daily has reached complete coverage around the world and formed a unique advantage in broadcasting China’s voice overseas.

Source: People’s Daily, September 16, 2012
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2012/0916/c1026-19018967.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Blue Book Suggests the New Media Are the New Driving Force in China’s Social Development

The recently published Blue Book on China’s New Media suggested that, since 2011, the new media have been transforming in terms of their digital and online forms. They have also become the new driving force that impacts China’s social development in the following four areas: 1) Social capability. The number of instant messaging users has grown 17.7 percent since 2010, reaching 415 million, thus surpassing the number of users for search engines, online music, and Internet news. 2) Expression and Participation. The growth in microblog users suggested that more and more people use the new media to explore, express, and participate in social and political discussions. The data showed that the number of microblog users grew from 63 million at the end of 2010 to 274 million in June of 2012, which means that over 50 percent of the Internet users use microblogs. 3) Rapid growth in commercial applications. The rapid growth in using online stores, banking, and shopping suggested that the new media have matured in the development of social applications. 4) Solid growth in cultural and social capabilities. The new media have become the cultural and entertainment platform for users to have access to online news, video, music, and games.

Source: Xinhua, October 4, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2012-10/04/c_113276781.htm

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

BBC: Sea Of People Flooded Tourist Sites during China’s Golden Week

China’s Golden Week started on National Day on October 1, commemorating the anniversary of the founding of the PRC on October 1, 1949. Tourists overwhelmingly flooded most of the tourist sites in China. The convergence of visitors at many popular sites resulted in large numbers of tourists being trapped on the road without any access to hotels, food, or rest rooms.

The BBC Chinese website carried a list of comments from the Sina microblog site, which described the scenes involving the explosion of tourists at many tourist sites: A sea of people, slow traffic on highways, piles of trash left behind, and long lines waiting at entrance sites, bathrooms, and restaurants. People who took the trip complained that they felt tired, irritated, and regretful.

Source: BBC, October 4, 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2012/10/121004_china_weibo_crowded_holiday.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China to Carry-Out Anti-Cult Propaganda and Education in the Sixth Five-year Law Publicity Plan

In August and September 2012, a number of local government departments and institutions posted a notice on their websites regarding the implementation of the plan to carry out anti-cult propaganda and education during the “sixth five-year” (2011-2015) law publicity work. China’s anti-cult propaganda and education work under the communist government is a pretext for discussing the struggle against “Falun Gong.” 

The notice is based a classified document [2012 issued #5] by The State Council Office of Cult Prevention and Treatment, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Office of Law Publicity. Chinascope has a copy of the original document. The document was initially issued to the following government entities on April 21, 2012: the Offices of Cult Prevention and Treatment; the Justice Department (Bureau); the Governance Office of Law Publicity and Observance from all Provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; the Law Publicity Offices from all ministries, commissions, departments and bureaus of the Central and National Government; and the Propaganda Divisions of the Work Committee of the Central Government Departments, the State Organs Work Committee, and the PLA General Political Department. Each local government entity incorporated its own specific measures into the notice posted on its website. 
In discussing the importance of the education program, the notice admitted that “the tenacity and recurring nature of the cult, particularly the support and utilization by the overseas Western hostile forces, (have determined) that the struggle is still very serious, complex and labile. ‘Falun Gong’ has frequently been adjusting its strategies and changing the means it uses to confront us and compete for the masses with us in collaboration with domestic ‘Falun Gong’ members.” 

Sources: Websites of the Qinghai University Propaganda Department, the Political and Law Department of Fuzhou City (Fujian Province); the Health Department of Qinghai Province, Gengyu Township of (Jiangshu Province), and others, August-September, 2012 
http://210.27.177.217/index.php?a=show&m=Article&id=290 http://www.fzpf.gov.cn/fzpfw/2012/0929/248942.html http://www.qhwst.gov.cn/ywgl/fajc/2012/09/21/1348221345879.html http://www.shuyang.gov.cn/shuyanggwz/infodetail/?infoid=9d5fc5d2-99d5-4084-bd26-485aa0005222&categoryNum=007

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Abortions in China Reach 13 Million a Year

China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission recently released statistics showing that there are over 13 million abortions in China every year, the highest in the world. Over 50 percent of the abortions are performed on women under 25 years old. College students are now considered a high risk group. The statistics also showed that only about 12 percent of China’s young people believe that they have adequate information about contraception. The State’s China National Radio commented that such behavior mirrors both society and the parents and may very well be the result of seeds that adults have sown.

Source: China National Radio, October 4, 2012
http://china.cnr.cn/xwwgf/201210/t20121004_511053320.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability