Chinascope – Page 202

Leadership: CCP’s Third Decision on Historical Issues

On October 18, Xi Jinping led the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Political Bureau to review the draft resolution of “The CCP Central Committee’s Decision on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s 100 Years of Efforts.” It decided to submit the draft resolution to the Sixth Plenary Session of the CCP’s Nineteenth National Congress.

China News published an article, commenting on the significance of this decision. This is the third of the CCP’s decisions on “historical issues” during its entire one hundred year history. The article mentioned that the media Duowei reported on it and mentioned that the previous two decisions went through brutal in-fighting within the CCP. Duowei is tied to former CCP head Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong (Jiang’s Right-hand man). Jiang and Zeng’s group had been fighting against Xi for many years. The China News article then commented that Duowei’s reporting on this decision and the history of the CCP in-fighting indicates that the current CCP in-fighting is intense.

The first decision, taking four years (1941 to 1945) from drafting to passage, established Mao Zedong’s superior leadership within the CCP. The second one, taking a year and half (November 1979 to June 1981) from drafting to passage, established Deng Xiaoping’s superior leadership. Duowei said Xi wants to use the third one to secure his superior leadership.

The new decision draft described Xi’s achievements vs. the previous CCP leaders’ achievements as the following: “In the course of the Party’s long-term struggle, the Chinese Communists, mainly represented by Comrades Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao, have united and led the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups to promote the revolution, construction, and reform. They realized significant achievements and accumulated valuable experience. Since the 18th Party National Congress, the Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, has united and led the whole Party and the people of all nationalities to accomplish new major achievements and accumulate new valuable experience …”

{Editor’s Notes: The CCP officially recognizes five leaders since it ruled the mainland China in 1949: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. The first two, Mao and Deng, are the paramount leaders; while the third and fourth, Jiang and Hu, didn’t have the “super leader” status. Jiang and Hu served their two full terms and retired. Xi has modified the CCP’s Constitution to allow a person to serve beyond two terms. If Xi seeks his third term, a justification that he has surpassed his two predecessors in achievements will come in handy. However, this important “decision” draft didn’t give him that. It bundles all the four previous leaders together to compare to Xi. As politically it is hard to say that Xi beats Mao and Deng, the leadership comparison ends up as Xi’s achievement being the same as that of his predecessors, including Jiang and Hu. This statement may be the result of a fierce in-fight between Xi and other fictions.}

The World’s Incredible Dependence on Chinese Containers

On October 18, 2021, the French newspaper Les Echos published an article entitled, “The World’s Incredible Dependence on Chinese Containers.” The article pointed out that the global container industry is heavily dependent on China and almost all container boxes are made in China. China produces more than 96 percent of the world’s dry cargo containers, 100 percent of the world’s refrigerated containers and more than 90 percent of tank containers. The shortage of containers is one of the main bottlenecks affecting maritime cargo transportation and global supply chains.

In the Spring of this year, the purchase price of the popular 40-foot container on the market exceeded US$6,500, which is double the price from a year ago and reached the highest point since 1998. The prices of refrigerated containers and tank containers are also on the rise. According to Eurotainer, the world’s leading tank container leasing company, within one year, the purchase price of tank containers has risen from US$13,000 to US$21,000.

Drewry, a maritime research and consulting firm, said the first six months of this year saw China’s dry container production jump 235 percent year-on-year to 3 million 20-foot equivalent units. Manufacturers’ order books are full and delivery times are getting longer and longer. Driven by this strong demand, the container manufacturer China International Marine Containers Co. (CIMC) achieved a net profit of 4.39 billion yuan (600 million euros) in the first half of this year, an increase of 1,739 percent over the same period last year.

Source: Radio France International, October 18, 2021
https://rfi.my/7q89

Briefings | | October 20, 2021 | Economy/Resources

Hong Kong Official: Legislation for Article 23 of the Basic Law Should Include Espionage

Wen Wei Po, the Hong Kong based pro-Beijing newspaper, published an exclusive interview with Chris Tang, the Secretary for Security of Hong Kong. Tang said that the Hong Kong National Security Law’s provision relating to colluding with foreign countries or foreign forces who endanger national security mainly targets “agents,” but “does not cover” much about real foreign spies.

He said that there is a lot of evidence showing the existence of espionage activities in Hong Kong, and that the US Central Intelligence Agency recently announced the establishment of a “China Mission Center” to strengthen the collection of intelligence.

“Who are these people? What are they if not spies?” In the face of the “long arms” of foreign countries, Tang expressed the belief that Hong Kong needs legislation to strengthen the regulation of espionage activities.

Earlier this month, Tang said that Article 23 of the Basic Law stipulates that Hong Kong needs to legislate to prohibit seven crimes, five of which are not included in the National Security Law, and that even the current Crimes Ordinance is not sufficient to deal with them.

Article 23 of Hong Kong Basic Law states that Hong Kong “shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies in the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.”

Source: Wen Wei Po, October 18, 2021
https://www.wenweipo.com/a/202110/18/AP616cb961e4b08d3407e0a48c.html

Briefings | | October 20, 2021 | Government/Politics

Journalists in China Mandated to Receive 90 Hours of “Continuing Education” Every Year

On October 15, China’s top media regulator, the National Press and Publication Administration, issued a draft interim provision on “Continuing Education for Professional Journalists and Technical Workers.” The provision requires journalists, editors and other news personnel to receive no less than 90 hours of continuing education each year.

The provision states that the continuing education of journalists should “closely focus on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) mission for journalism and public opinion work, carry out in-depth education on Marxist journalism, … and guide professional journalists and technical workers in using the correct political direction, public opinion and value orientation.”

The contents of the study include policies, regulations, and professional knowledge, as well as new theories and technologies needed for keeping up with the industrial trend. It will become an important qualification for journalists to receive promotions and press credentials.

The provision also emphasizes that doing so is conducive to the building of a team of politically committed, professional, and ethical journalists with whom “the party and the people can have peace of mind.”

This year, the Chinese government has further escalated control over the media. Earlier this month, China’s Development and Reform Commission released a draft of the “Market Access Negative List (2021 Edition),” which requires that private capital shall not engage in the news gathering, editing or broadcasting business.

Source: National Press and Publication Administration, October 15, 2021
http://www.nppa.gov.cn/nppa/contents/279/99411.shtml

Briefings | | October 19, 2021 | Information/Technology

CNA: LinkedIn Closes Chinese Website

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that the Microsoft-owned social network platform LinkedIn announced that it will close its website in China, which means that the last major U.S. social network publicly accessible in China will close. According to LinkedIn’s official announcement, the reason for this decision was that the operating environment in China has become much more challenging and the Chinese authorities have imposed more compliance requirements. In March, the Chinese Internet Regulatory Authority told LinkedIn that it must strengthen the compliance level of its web content and it must comply within 30 days. In recent months, LinkedIn has notified human rights activists, scholars and journalists who are concerned about the situation in China that their personal records on the platform have been blocked in China because they allegedly contain prohibited content.

Source: CNA, October 14, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202110140401.aspx

Briefings | | October 18, 2021 | Information/Technology US-China Relations

Wal-Mart Moved Supplier Enablement from China to India

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that Walmart announced that its Supplier Enablement under Walmart Global Sourcing is moving from China to India. According to Wal-Mart’s commitment, the company will purchase more than US$10 billion of Indian-made products from India. This relocation work has already started. Walmart did clarify later that this is not a move of the Global Supplier Business Unit, which is independent from Walmart China. Walmart China did not respond directly to inquiries about the reason for the relocation. At least one Chinese Walmart supplier confirmed that it did receive the notification. Walmart entered the Chinese retail market in 1996 and opened its first Walmart store in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. However, in the four year period from 2016 to 2020, Walmart closed 80 stores in China. Starting from the first quarter of fiscal year 2020, Walmart’s gross profit margin in China has declined for 10 consecutive quarters. There are reports in 2021 that more of its business in China will be sold.

Source: NetEase, October 11, 2021
https://www.163.com/dy/article/GM05S4GT05445BQZ.html

Briefings | | October 18, 2021 | Economy/Resources US-China Relations

Financial Experts: Increase in Cost of Electricity Would Be Devastating to High Energy Consumption Industries

To deal with a power shortage, the National Development and Reform Commission announced on Tuesday that it will, in an orderly manner, lift the electricity price restrictions and will not cap the price increase for high energy consumption companies. Financial experts believe that if China continues to ban coal imports, the coal shortage will remain an issue. It will also have a devastating impact on the high energy-consuming industries such as steel and chip manufacturing.

As price restrictions are lifted, the government is hoping that it will give coal manufacturers and power companies more incentives to find coal. Beijing has imposed a restriction on coal imports from Australia. China imported 780,000 tons of coal from Australia in the first half of the year, down 98.6 percent compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile the price of coal has risen by more than 100 percent.

The electricity price increase will not only impact high energy consumption industries but also residential consumers. In China, industrial electricity consumption is close to 70 percent while residential electricity consumption is about 14 percent. Even though the head of the Commission gave his assurance that the increase in the price of electricity will not impact residential consumers, Huaxi Securities previously predicted that the rise in electricity prices will directly and indirectly affect the consumer price index.

Since late September, a number of cities in three northeastern provinces suddenly had power outages for as short as 5 hours or as long as more than 10 hours. Power outages have caused an inconvenience to people’s lives as many people complained that they couldn’t charge their phones and couldn’t make online payments or contact their relatives and friends. Some areas even had a water outage as well and the schools were forced to close. Later on, the power crisis was extended to 20 provinces throughout the country.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 12, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/ac-10122021051920.html

Briefings | | October 18, 2021 | Economy/Resources

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

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

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

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