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Economy: Jiangsu City Coerced Government Employees into Paying 2.5 Billion Yuan in Fines

As many local governments run out of money, one city in Jiangsu Province came up with a creative way to get more money: to impose a hefty fine on those government employees who have taken a part-time secondary job. The city sent special “working groups” to each government unit to check any government employee who “illegally” took on a secondary job. They targeted those people who have skills (so that they were able to get a secondary job), who do not have connections with higher-powers, and who want to have a smooth retirement. Those employees didn’t think it would be a big fine so they co-oporated with the investigation. Then the government fined them from 600,000 yuan (US$ 88,000) to 1 million yuan (US$ 147,000). Many of them depleted their own savings and some even had to borrow money to make the payment.

The city raised 2.5 billion yuan (US $367 million) by using this approach.

Source: Sound of Hope, February 8, 2023
https://www.soundofhope.org/post/694290

Hot Topics | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

People’s Lives: Organ Harvesting Happened in China 30 Years Ago

Mr. Guo Zhigen (郭志艮), a resident at Qingtao City, Shandong Province, told the Epoch Times that he has heard about an organ harvesting case that happened 30 years ago.

In April 1991, Mr. Guo stayed in the Hospital Affiliated with Qingdao University in Qingdao to treat his aplastic anemia. One summer afternoon, on his way to the bathroom, he heard someone crying when passing the nephrology department (hematology and nephrology departments were in the same area at that time). He asked the patient what happened and was told that the patient was going to receive a kidney transplant the next day and was worried about the result since he signed a document to relieve the hospital from accountability. The patient looked like an official under 40-years-old.

The patient’s family member also told Mr. Guo that the police had a “body confiscation team.” Police had already matched both the blood of the person to be executed and the recipient. On the day of execution, the police would ask the dead person’s family members for all sorts of documents to prove their relationship to the dead. As long as there was a document they didn’t bring with them, the police would then refuse to acknowledge their connection to the dead and they then declare the dead person’s body as unclaimed. The “body confiscation team” could then take it to sell to hospitals.”

According to Mr. Guo, the hospital performed two liver transplants on the next day. The operation for the patient he met went well, but the other patient died on the operating table. Qingdao’s newspaper reported that the kidney transplant was successful.

According to published information, the hospital affiliated with Qingdao University was among the first group of hospitals in China to do kidney transplants. It did the first kidney transplant in 1982.

Source: Epoch Times, January 31, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/1/31/n13919567.htm

Hot Topics | | |   @CS Government/Politics Social Stability

Government and Leadership: China Plans to Delay the Retirement Starting Age to 65

China’s current retirement rule is that a male’s retirement starts at age 60 and a female starts at age 50 (female cadres start at 55). However, an internet posting, quoted a report by the CITIC Group, formerly the China International Trust Investment Corporation, saying that Beijing is planning to delay the retirement starting age. The government might announce the new plan this year, start implementation in 2025, and by 2055, reach the goal of males and females both retiring at age of 65.

A lack of workers due to the aging population is a reason for the authorities to consider delaying the retirement starting age. However, the big reason is that the government does not have enough money to pay for the retirement pensions.

Source: jrj.com, February 3, 2023
https://m.jrj.com.cn/madapter/finance/2023/02/03190037316790.shtml

Hot Topics | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Economy: Local Governments Have No Money

The real estate industry in China is facing a severe problem. People are not buying and as a result, builders do not want to acquire new land from the government for development either. As a result, the local government’s income has dropped dramatically.

An Internet article listed many numbers to show that, in 2022, many local governments were severely short of money.

The article said that, according to data from the Ministry of Finance, from 2017 to 2021, the proceeds from the land use rights concessions was a significant portion (above 30 percent) of the total local government’s revenue. It had reached 8.4 trillion yuan in 2020 (43.59 percent of their total revenue), 8.7 trillion yuan in 2021 and the percent was 41.81. The local governments depend heavily on land sales.

The article then said that in 2022 the land use rights concessions brought in only 3.4 trillion yuan, a 31 percent drop from the previous years’ amount (Editor’s notes: The number does not match. China.com said the land use rights concessions in 2022 were 6.7 trillion yuan, a 23.3 percent drop from the previous year).

The article then discussed the percent completed of planned land use rights transferred in 2022. Among 22 cities, only four cities completed 100 percent or above. Beijing completed only 36 percent. Changchun City in Jilin Province and Chongqing City only completed 16 percent. They couldn’t complete the goal because builders did not want to take on land.

Changchun City sold only 3 pieces of land in 2022, bringing in 780 million yuan in total. In 2021, the city’s public spending budget was 44 billion yuan and revenue from land use rights concessions was 68 billion yuan. The lack of land sales in 2022 left the city facing a big hole in its public spending.

Sources:
1. 51.ca, January 19, 2023
https://info.51.ca/articles/1178169
2. China.com, January 30, 2023
http://house.china.com.cn/2129918.htm#:~:text=%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%8B%E9%99%8D23.3%25-,%E8%B4%A2%E6%94%BF%E9%83%A8%EF%BC%9A2022%E5%B9%B4%E5%9B%BD%E6%9C%89%E5%9C%9F%E5%9C%B0%E4%BD%BF%E7%94%A8%E6%9D%83%E5%87%BA%E8%AE%A9%E6%94%B6%E5%85%A5,%E6%AF%94%E4%B8%8A%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%8B%E9%99%8D23.3%25&text=%E8%B4%A2%E6%94%BF%E9%83%A8%E6%95%B0%E6%8D%AE%E6%98%BE%E7%A4%BA%EF%BC%8C2022,%E6%AF%94%E4%B8%8A%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%8B%E9%99%8D20.6%25%E3%80%82

Hot Topics | | |   Economy/Resources

Government and Leadership: Wang Yi vs. Qin Gang

Wang Yi and Qin Gang were both promoted after the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) 20th National Congress and both will manage China’s diplomacy work. The Epoch Times published an article commenting on their relationship.

Wang Yi, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, now sits on the 24-member CCP Central Committee and serves as the Office Manager (办公室主任) of the CCP’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission (中央外事工作委员会) where Xi Jinping is the Chair of the commission. Qin Gang is the new Minister of Foreign Affairs and is expected to become a State Council Member (国务委员, a Deputy-State level official with the same rank as Deputy Prime Minister) appointed by the People’s National Congress in March.

In China, the CCP organ sits above the corresponding state council organ. So Wang Yi in theory is above Qin Gang. However, both of them have direct access to Xi Jinping and therefore, Qin Gang may have autonomy to a certain extent. Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper said that Wang is in charge of Russia and Europe while Qin Gang leads the work with the U.S.

Source: Epoch Times, February 1, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/2/1/n13920172.htm

Hot Topics | | |   Government/Politics

CCP’s Crimes: How Could the Authorities Match Donor’s Organs to Several People So Quickly?

An article posted on the Internet questioned (using hints) whether the communist regime is conducting organ transplants based on the recipient’s need.

It first mentioned a news item: On January 17, a 20-year-old college student fell down from a bike and was announced brain dead after being taken to the hospital. His parents recalled that their son wanted to donate his organs. Then the student’s organs including heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, and corneas, were transplanted to save seven patients.

The author raised a question: Since the college student’s death was a sudden event, how was the hospital able to match his organs with seven people so quickly (organ transplants have to be performed quickly after the death). After all, organ matching between the donor and the recipient is not a quick and high-possibility event, not to mention matching with seven recipients.

The author found a few dozen reports in the past couple of years about death-related organ donations. Most of the cases were about young people who suffered brain death (so their organs could be taken out). For example, the following were cases that occurred since the 2023 New Year: a 23-year-old girl’s organ donation saved five people, an eight-year-old girl’s organ donation saved two people, an 18-year-old college student’s organ donation saved six people.

The author then referred to a recent revelation of Gao Zhanxiang, a former Deputy Communist Party Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, who had replaced many of his organs (Chinascope also briefed on that story: “COVID Death Revealed CCP Officials Transplant Organs so They Can Live Longer”).

The author wrote, “I typed a few sentences (about my suspicions), but deleted them. Let me just write this much.”

Source: Pop Yard, January 22, 2023
https://news.popyard.space/cgi-mod/newscroll.cgi?lan=cn&r=0&sid=15&rid=731187&v=0

Hot Topics | | |   @CS Government/Politics

Economy: Professors Suggested Taxing People’s Savings to Force Consumers to Spend

China is pushing to make consumer spending its next economic growth driver since its exports has slowed down and government infrastructure investment (mainly focused on housing and construction) has become ineffective.

Recently, an Economy professor from Sichuan Agricultural University published an article on how to get people to spend. He argued that it is difficult to get the high income groups and low income groups to spend more, so the focus should be on the middle income people. His suggestion was to impose a tax on the portion above 500,000 yuan (US$74,000) of people’s money in the bank.

In August 2021, another so-called “famous economist” Xu Hongbo from Wuhan University of Technology put forth a similar idea. A tax should be based on the total cash-equivalent of assets including bank savings, cash, gold (both gold reserve and gold jewelry), and money in the online payment accounts such as Alipay and Wechat. Assets below 1 million yuan would be exempt. Then 1 – 1.5 million and above would be taxed as follows: 1 percent for 1.5  to  2 million; 2 percent for 2 to 2.5 million; 3 percent would be for higher amounts, …, with 40 percent as the top tax rate.

Source: China Digital Times, January 27, 2023
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/692392.html

Hot Topics | | |   Economy/Resources

Procuratorate: “The Weak Will Be Trampled by the Strong”

The Procuratorate (China’s term for the Public Prosecutor) at Yichuan County, Shaanxi Province posted the following message on its official Weibo account (Weibo is a social media in China): “Stop talking about showing pity for the weak. In this world, the weak are to be trampled by the strong. You are either to be trampled or you have to become the strong.”

This message has triggered hot discussions among the Chinese people.

Source: China Digital Times, January 19, 2023
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/692178.html

Hot Topics | | |   Government/Politics