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Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

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Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

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Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

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The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.

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China Expanding RMB Settlement to All Countries

China has expanded the trial regions that may use the RMB to settle cross-border trade from Hong Kong, Macao, and ASEAN countries to all countries. The Bank of China, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs, the State Taxation Administration, and the Banking Regulatory Commission jointly issued an order on June 22, 2010. The number of trial provinces increased to 20. For 8 bordering provinces, all enterprises with import or export permission are allowed to use the RMB for trade. For other provinces, only approved trial enterprises can use the RMB for settlement and the number of those trial enterprises are increasing.

Source: China News Service, June 22, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/cj-gncj/news/2010/06-22/2355716.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Syphilis Is the Number Three Wide-spread Infectious Disease in China

According to the “China’s Syphilis Prevention and Control Plan (2010-2020)” published by the Ministry of Health on June 21, 2010, syphilis has become the third most infectious disease in China. According to China’s statistics, the number of syphilis infection cases increased to 330,000 in 2009 from 80,000 in 1999. In 2009, among every 100,000 new born babies, there were 64 with congenital syphilis, versus 0.5 in 1997. Syphilis is transmitted via sexual activities.

Source: Xinhua, June 21, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-06/21/c_12244534.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China’s Widening Income Gap

[Editor’s Note: This report by a Xinhua research team provides a sobering view of China’s social economic disparity. Published on the government media Jing Ji Can Kao Bao (Economic Information Daily), the report reveals some sensitive data that are unflattering to China. Although, similar data has been widely reported outside of China, reading them on the Chinese media is somewhat unusual as it is generally against the party’s nature to reveal bad news. The publication of this report may be an indication of the government’s increasing inability to conceal facts from the public. It may also be a decoy to divert people’s attention from more serious issues.

The first part deals with the widening income gap in China. The second part presents various color-coded income types. Many of them are illegal; most are hidden. It paints a disturbing picture of today’s society in China.

The following is a translation of the excerpts of the report. Subtitles were added by the editor.]

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Reports | | |   Report

People’s Daily: National ID Card Required by Wuhan Internet Bars

The police department of Wuhan City, the largest city in central China, has recently required a second generation national ID for anyone who wants to use the Internet bars in the city to get onto the Internet. This is a new movement by the Internet Monitoring and Administration Division of the police department, after waves of complete pre-checks, heavy penalties and a netizen report reward programs. This new wave is to ban all anonymous Internet access at the Internet bars. The police spent four days to visit all Internet bars in the city to enforce the regulation. The penalty for bars that refuse to cooperate is an order to be shut down.

Source: People’s Daily, June 16, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/11887095.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Bank of China Issued First RMB Debit Card in Zambia

With the approval of the Central Bank of Zambia, on June 14, Bank of China issued the first RMB debit card in all of Africa. The debit card is branded under UnionPay, which is the dominant credit card issuer in China. The theory behind this move is that typical international traveler’s checks only support seven western currencies, which are not accepted by most Chinese businesses. UnionPay is widely accepted in China. Thus the new debit card benefits the African customers visiting China. Bank of China in Zambia was approved to offer full RMB based services in 2009. Its RMB services include RMB accounts and RMB cash. Since the services were made available to the public this past March, the Bank has received total deposits of RMB 50 Million.

Source: Xinhua, June 15, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2010-06/15/c_12224377.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: Internet War Has Threats beyond Virtual Reality

Xinhua recently published an article by a teacher of National Defense University on internet war. The article pointed out that, following the United States, France, Germany, Japan, India and South Korea all strengthened their research and established internet war theories as well as development plans. The author believed that internet war by itself created a new and independent warfare. The strategic war competition of Information Age is primarily internet war. The analysis of the form of internet war in the article is solely aiming the US, with all the data and discussions around US military infrastructure and activities. The author concluded that the development of internet war is determined by 3 factors: (1) militarization of the internet; (2) militarization of physical infrastructure network; (3) wireless interconnectivity. The military threats brought forward by internet war are beyond cyberspace.

Source: Xinhua, June 17, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2010-06/17/content_13684781.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China Review News: Foxconn’s Pay Raise and the End of the China Model

A Foxconn spokesman confirmed that all lower-level laborers’ wages have been raised 30% starting from June 1, according to China Review News on June 7, 2010. It is understood that Foxconn’s pay raise decision is related to the recent employee suicides. The pay raise means that the labor costs will increase 2.281 billion yuan (334.130 million U.S. dollars) each year. For an OEM business model company whose profits are very limited, this cost increase is substantial. Upon publication of the news, Foxconn’s share price immediately plunged on the Hong Kong stock market.

“Labor-intensive enterprises have smaller profit margins. In order to grab the largest profits, the employers purposely lower employees’ wages, which has seriously hindered the harmonious development of society. More and more incidents demonstrate that the “China Model,” which sacrifices the well-being of ordinary people for economic development, has come to an end.”

Source: China Review News, June 07, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1013/4/5/6/101345679.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=101345679&mdate=0607074411

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Beautiful GDP Figures — Useless Without a Decent Living Standard

On May 12, 2010, the website http://finance.sina.com/ published an article by Feng Haining that contrasted the low wages of Chinese laborers with China’s high GDP. In Feng’s opinion, no matter how high the GDP is, the real worth of the GDP is not high if it is not reflected in the the people’s living standard.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) pointed out that in 2007, China’s per capita output increased 63.4% between 2000 and 2005, but high labor productivity is not reflected in wage growth. Ordinary workers have no voice in the distribution of revenue. What makes the public especially unhappy is that public policy always favors those with capital. From 1978 to 2005, capital return increased by 20 percent of the total GDP, while labor remuneration declined substantially.

Source: finance.sina.com, May 12, 2010
http://finance.sina.com/bg/chinamkt/sinacn/20100512/122953787.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability