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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 Has 149 “Aged” Cities

According to the internationally accepted standard, a region in which the percentage of the population aged 65 and over has reached 7 percent is called an aging society. When the population that is age 65 and over reaches 14 percent, It is called an “aged” society.  When those over 65 exceeds 20 percent, it is called a “hyper-aged” society.

According to China’s 7th National Census data, in 2020, 149 cities had a population in which those over 65 years of age exceeded 14 percent, thus becoming “aged” cities. In terms of regional distribution, 41 of them are from the eastern coastal region, 36 are from the northeast region, and 72 are from the central and western regions. Overall, the “aged” cities are concentrated in the northeast and the central region, the Yangtze River Delta, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and the Chengdu-Chongqing city clusters.

A major reason is the exodus of young adults and the low percentage of working age population. The eastern cities of Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have many “aged” cities. In these more economically developed regions, the fertility rates tend to stay low.

Source: www.yicai.com, September 5, 2021
https://www.yicai.com/news/101164016.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

The Taliban Asked the U.S. to Release Afghanistan’s Frozen $10 Billion

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) recently reported that the Afghan media quoted the Acting Minister of the Interior of the Taliban Provisional Government, Haqqani, as saying that the Taliban asked the United States to release Afghanistan’s frozen US$10 billion. Earlier, some news sources reported that the United States had frozen nearly $10 billion in reserve assets in the U.S. bank account of the Central Bank of Afghanistan. In addition, the Taliban also called on the United States to continue to supply Afghanistan with billions of dollars previously promised in aid. In the meantime, the Taliban asked the United States and the United Nations to remove the names of Taliban leaders from the sanctions list. The currently known assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan include foreign exchange cash reserves, which are largely in U.S. dollars. The amount is around US$362 million. Afghanistan’s gold reserves are valued at about US$1.3 billion. Most of the reserves are stored in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Afghanistan government has other investments worth US$6.1 billion, which are mostly in U.S. long-term Treasury bonds and short-term Treasury bonds.

Source: Sohu, September 9, 2021
https://www.sohu.com/a/488684475_162758

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: Chinese Warships Must Speed Up their Appearance at Guam and Hawaii

Global Times recently posted an article with the author’s name Hu Xijin, the newspaper’s Editor in Chief. Hu offered a response to the recent U.S. Navy’s freedom of navigation mission in the South China Sea. The Southern China Military Theater announced its navy and its air force responded with a warning and a “drive-away.” Hu said there are disputes between China and the United States. However, international law does not give any country the power to use warships to forcibly break into and challenge the sovereignty claimed by other countries. The reason the U.S. dares to do this is that only it has the power to do so. However, “China is getting stronger.” Just telling this truth to the U.S. is not enough. China needs to take active actions. In the not-too-distant future, the U.S. will definitely see the People’s Liberation Army appear at its doorstep, like Guam and Hawaii. Hu expressed the belief that, sooner or later, there will be an accident in the South China Sea and it will happen between China and the United States. The United States is the greatest threat to peace in the South China Sea, and it may eventually ruin the peace there.

Source: Global Times, September 8, 2021
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-g6chvkpY_kg2IKhV2BwUw

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military US-China Relations

Diplomacy: CCP’s Domestic Report on “Xi Jinping’s Talk with Biden”

China Central Television (CCTV) reported that Xi Jinping talked to Biden on September 10. It reported that Xi Jinping criticized the U.S. for bringing difficulties to the U.S.-China relationship  and that Biden expressed that the U.S. is willing to bring the relationship back so it is on the ‘right track.’

“Xi pointed out that for a period of time, the U.S. policy towards China has brought serious difficulties to the Sino-U.S. relationship and that this does not meet the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries nor the common interests of the world. China and the United States are the largest developing country and the largest developed country, respectively. Whether China and the United States can handle their relations is critical to the future of the world, (and thus it) is the question of the century that both sides must answer well. If China and the U.S. cooperate, the two countries and the whole world will benefit; if China and the U.S. confront each other, then the two countries and the whole world will suffer. The relationship between China and the U.S. is not a multiple-choice question of whether it should be good, but rather a must-answer question on how to make it good.

“Biden said there is no reason for the two countries to get into conflict due to competition. He added that the U.S. has no intention of changing its ‘one-China’ policy. The U.S. is willing to engage in more frank exchanges and constructive dialogue with China, identify key and priority areas where the two sides can cooperate, avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations and accidental conflicts, and push the U.S.-China relations back to the right track.”

Source: CCTV, September 10, 2021
http://m.news.cctv.com/2021/09/10/ARTITj2vcOtfhgl4kNyB7T7d210910.shtml?prefer_safari=1&prefer_reader_view=1

Hot Topics | | |   US-China Relations

Housing Market in 66 Cities Plunged in August

In August, 21 cities including Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Shenyang issued over 30 real estate policies to curb the overheated market. A report from the Shell Research Institute suggested that the new housing sales in August in 66 cities across the country continued to decline. According to the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Housing and Urban-rural Development, existing housing sales in July fell by more than 80 percent compared to July 2020. In August, it reached a 10-year low with only 2,043 existing home sales, a plunge of 77.28 percent year over year.

The National Daily Business News reported that land sales in 300 cities was 226.4 billion yuan (US$35 billion) in August, a decrease of 17 percent from July and a year over year decrease of 49 percent.

Real estate financing does not look rosy either. There were 62 foreign bonds issued in August, a decrease of 27 from the previous month. The total financing was 57.1 billion yuan (US$8.86 billion), a decrease of 39.8 percent from the previous month and a decrease of 54.2 percent from the same period last year.

Real estate developers are also facing mounting pressure on debt payment. According to the Shell Research Institute, debt maturity of domestic and foreign bonds in August was approximately 119.6 billion yuan (US$18.56 billion), an increase of 3.3 percent from the previous month and 21.2 percent year-on-year. There were 16 bond defaults in August. Seven of those were in real estate when companies failed to pay principal and interest on time.

Source: Epoch Times, September 11, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/9/11/n13226905.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

In 2020, China Signed $255.54 Billion in New Foreign Contracts

On September 9, the Ministry of Commerce published a report which stated that, in 2020, China signed US$255.54 billion in new foreign contracts with 184 countries and regions around the world. It made US$155.94 billion in contract revenue mainly in Asian and African markets.

The report also highlighted that 1) over 80 percent of the contracts were in Asia and Africa where new contracts accounted for 56 percent and 26.6 percent of the total revenue respectively. 2) Over half of the total contract revenue came from belt and road countries. In 2020, new contracts signed by Chinese companies in 61 countries along the “Belt and Road” amounted to US$141.46 billion which accounted for 55.4 percent of the total. The completed contract revenue was US$91.12 billion,  which was 58.4 percent of the total. 3) Over 75 percent of the foreign contracts are in infrastructure, architecture, electrical engineering and petrochemical. 4) The number of newly signed major foreign contracted projects increased. There were 904 major contracts worth over US$50 million, up by ten compared with 2019. Among those, 514 were contracts over US$100 million, an increase of eight compared with 2019.

Source: Central News Agency, September 9, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202109090393.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Cyberspace Administration Shut Down 1,793 Financial Commentators’ Social Media Accounts

On September 8, days after the Cyberspace Administration announced its plan to crack down on independent financial commentators for bad-mouthing China’s economy, it announced that it has identified 2,929 illegal accounts and suspended 1,793 of those accounts. Three of those suspended accounts had over one million followers including one account which had three million followers. The Cyberspace Administration also deleted over 40,000 “harmful postings.”

On August 27, the Cyberspace Administration had announced that it would clamp down on illegally collecting, editing and publishing financial information on commercial websites and self-media. China’s major social medial platforms WeChat, the Baidu Group, Douyin, and Kuaishou immediately announced that they would comply with the official policies and regularly publish their progress reports.

On September 9, the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau released a preliminary report which stated that, as part of the crackdown effort, they have banned 3,187 audio files, films, and programs and closed 53 live broadcast studios.

Source: Tencent QQ, September 9, 2021
https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20210909A03MIN00

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

EU Supports Lithuania Which Is under Beijing’s Sanction

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was angered when Lithuania let Taiwan set up the “Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania.” It was the first office in Europe to be called “Taiwanese.” In the past, all of them were called “Taipei.” Beijing recalled its Ambassador to Lithuania and requested Lithuania to do the same. On September 3, Lithuania’s Ambassador Diana Mickeviciene left Beijing after finishing her 21-day forced quarantine there. Diplomats from other European Union (EU) countries gathered to see her off and to express their support for Lithuania.

China Railway Container Corporation stopped railway shipping to Lithuania. Lithuanian exports of agricultural, forestry, and livestock products to China, as well as imports of raw materials and components from China, are all facing obstacles from Beijing.

On September 1, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee expressed its support for Lithuania in multiple ways: the Committee passed a bill to recommend that Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, should change the name of the “European Economic and Trade Office in Taipei” to the “EU Office in Taiwan.” The Committee also adopted the “EU-Taiwan Political Relations and Cooperation” report, calling for elevating EU-Taiwan “political relations.” It also passed a resolution to support and welcome Lithuania’s establishing the Taiwanese Representative Office and to condemn the CCP’s economic sanctions against Lithuania.

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, September 3, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/9/3/n13208170.htm
2. Epoch Times, September 7, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/9/7/n13217892.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend