Skip to content

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

Read More ...

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

Read More ...

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

Read More ...

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

Read More ...

Xinhua: Third Generation Beidou Global Positioning Will Offer Global Coverage

Xinhua recently reported that China’s state-owned AllyStar Technology just announced it had completed its development of the third-generation chip for Beidou, the Chinese global positioning system. The new chip has full Chinese ownership of its intellectual properties. It enables high precision on the below-meter level for global positioning. The Beidou network does not have global coverage. China plans to launch four new Beidou-3 satellites this year. The project aims to establish global coverage by the year 2020 to compete with other systems such as the U.S. GPS system. The newly delivered chip moves this plan one major step forward towards reality.

Source: Xinhua, September 16, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2017-09/16/c_1121674165.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Information/Technology

Central Military Commission Has Changed the Leadership in Two-Thirds of Its Organs

Two years ago, Xi Jinping restructured the Central Military Commission (CMC) by putting 15 organs under it . Since then, the top leaders of 10 organs have been changed. The two most recent appointments are Qin Shengxiang (秦生祥), former Director of the General Office of the CMC, who was appointed as the Political Commissar of the Navy and Song Puxuan (宋普选) the former Commander of the Northern Theater, who replaced Zhao Keshi (赵克石) as the head of the CMC Logistic Support Department. {Editor’s note: In the PLA system, there are two top officials per unit, one is the Commander (or Minister or Director) and one is the Political Commissar. Changes in either position means that Organ had a leadership change.}

The following are the heads of the 15 organs:

General Office: Director replacement to be announced
Joint Staff Department: Joint Chief of Staff Li Zuocheng (李作成) (New)
Political Work Department: Director Miao Hua (苗华) (New)
Logistic Support Department: Minister Song Puxuan (宋普选) (New); Political Commissar Zhang Shuguo (张书国)
Equipment Development Department: Minister Zhang Youxia (张又侠) (Unchanged); Political Commissar An Zhaoqing (安兆庆) (New)
Training and Administration Department: Minister Li Huohui (黎火辉) (New); Political Commissar replacement to be announced
National Defense Mobilization Department: Minister Sheng Bin (盛斌) (Unchanged); Political Commissar replacement to be announced
Discipline Inspection Commission: Zhang Shengmin (张升民) (New)
Politics and Law Commission: Li Xiaofeng (李晓峰) (Unchanged)
Science and Technology Commission: Liu Guozhi (刘国治) (Unchanged)
Office for Strategic Planning: Wang Huiqing (王辉青) (Unchanged)
Office for Reform and Organizational Structure: Replacement to be announced
Office for International Military Cooperation: Hu Changming (胡昌明) (New)
Audit Office: Guo Chunfu (郭春富) (Unchanged)
Agency for Offices Administration: Liu Zhiming (刘志明) (Unchanged)

Source: 163.com, September 13, 2017
http://news.163.com/17/0913/16/CU7R9DSE0001899N.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

CBN: China Closing Down All Bitcoin Exchange Platforms

China Business Network (CBN) recently reported that the Chinese Internet regulatory authorities have decided to close down all bitcoin exchange platforms operating in China and put them out of the market. According to a government-issued risk advisory, all these Internet-based virtual currencies (“coins”) and their exchange platforms were established without having a Chinese legal basis. They are rapidly growing into channels for money laundering, drug-dealing and smuggling. China has been investigating the virtual currencies since the beginning of the year, starting in Beijing and Shanghai. The government also met with the owners of all the Chinese virtual currency platforms. The investigation showed all these platforms failed to meet financial regulatory requirements and caused major market fluctuations. According to recent statistics, the vast majority of the global Bitcoin trading transactions occurred in China. As of the beginning of this year, the three major Chinese Bitcoin trading platforms carried 98 percent of the global volume. The trading volume saw a sharp decline after the Chinese authorities intervened. On September 4, the Chinese central bank announced that Initial Coin Offering (ICO) activities are illegal. Very recently, the Chinese government decided to ban all virtual currencies in China.

Source: China Business Network, September 14, 2017
http://www.yicai.com/news/5345241.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Global Times: Trump Called Off China’s Acquisition of Lattice

Global Times recently reported that U.S. President Trump called off a deal in which China Venture Capital Fund Corporation Limited (CVCF) was to acquire the U.S. semiconductor manufacturer Lattice. This is Trump’s first case of this kind and the forth in the past three decades to land on the U.S. President’s desk. According to U.S. media, the deal was blocked based on the role the Chinese government played (CVCF is state-owned) and the fact that the U.S. government uses Lattice products. The U.S. military was concerned about the potential loss of military-grade intellectual property, which could be a threat to U.S. national security. The U.S. government has been going against Chinese acquisitions like this for years now, even including cases involving companies being sold outside of the U.S. China has pointed out again and again that the U.S. should stop its guess work and its politicizing of normal market-based commercial acquisitions.

Source: Global Times, September 14, 2017
http://mil.huanqiu.com/world/2017-09/11246093.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Hong Kong Oriental Daily: Xi Jinping Gained Total Control of the Military Prior to the 19th National Congress

On September 14, Hong Kong Oriental Daily published a news article reporting that, prior to the upcoming 19th National Congress, Xi Jinping finished a major restructuring of the Central Military Commission and the entities that report underneath it. This is unlike how it had been handled in the past when military restructuring took place following the completion of the party’s delegate conference. The restructuring included the elimination of members of the Central Military Commission. They were replaced with four Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission which will, therefore, consist of one Chairman and four Vice Chairmen. The article stated that the restructuring occurred after 5 years of cleanup of the old structure from the 18th National Congress in 2012, which former PLA Generals Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou had controlled. The new structure is an indication that Xi has obtained total control of the military. The article explained, “It shows that Xi has built a foundation that is capable of resisting political interference as well as the existing differences inside or outside of the party.”

Source:
Hong Kong Oriental Daily, September 14, 2017
http://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/commentary/20170914/bkn-20170914002326198-0914_00832_001.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People’s Daily: China and the U.S. Roles in the North Korean Nuclear Crisis

People’s Daily recently published a commentary summarizing the roles that China and the United States have been playing in the North Korean nuclear crisis. The author started with a complaint about the completion of the deployment of THAAD in South Korea. China has made solemn protests to South Korea about THAAD. The commentary went on to reason that China will not protect North Korea because of China’s consistent peninsula denuclearization position. On the other hand, the United States is only using the crisis to expand its strategic reach. The commentator expressed the belief that sanctions are only half of the key to the problem. The other half is peace talks rather than any military deployment. While China has been trying its best to maintain the stability of the region, the U.S. is really taking advantage of the situation to serve the interest of U.S. arms vendors and dealers, as well as to strengthen its “leadership power” in the region.

Source: People’s Daily, September 8, 2017
http://world.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0908/c1002-29523070.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

The Economic Observer: Moody’s Downgraded China’s Bank of Communications

Well-known Chinese national weekly newspaper The Economic Observer recently reported that Moody’s has just downgraded the baseline credit assessments of China’s Bank of Communications (BOCOM) from Baa3 to Ba1, which is often known as the “garbage level.” BOCOM was founded in 1908 (Qing Dynasty) and is currently the fifth largest bank in China, with 3,285 domestic outlets and 20 international branches. BOCOM’s total asset value (2016) was around US$1,296.5 billion. Moody’s cited BOCOM’s poor financing capabilities and higher-than-average financing costs, as well as a declining number of savings accounts, as the reason for the downgrade. A few other performance indicators also showed that the bank is facing much higher market risks. BOCOM responded immediately by suggesting that Moody’s focused too much on very few indicators and the downgraded rating was biased. It is worth noting that BOCOM’s rating for its long-term outlook remains at A3.

Source: The Economic Observer, September 8, 2017
http://www.eeo.com.cn/2017/0908/312397.shtmli

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources US-China Relations

Xinhua: China Tightening Regulation of TV Series

Xinhua recently reported that SAPPRFT (the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television), NDRC (the National Development and Reform Commission), the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued new policies on regulating the industry of TV series to ensure the “healthy improvement” of the socialist entertainment market. The government is compiling a list of TV series to be produced to praise the Communist Party, the motherland, the people, and the nation’s heroes. The TV series are required to promote “socialist values” and the regulations focus on prime-time TV programming. The TV series investment structure will be regulated as well to eliminate celebrity-based pricing. Central Television and provincial TV stations as well as satellite stations must devote a certain percentage of broadcast time investments to titles covering the “revolution history,” rural villages and minorities, or military topics. TV ratings companies will be required to have special licenses and the ratings cannot carry too heavy a weight on title pricing or evaluation of personnel. Online video series are regulated in the same way as TV series and online video series cannot air without SAPPRFT permits. All levels of the government are required to firmly deploy and support the new policies. The work will be audited.

Source: Xinhua, September 4, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2017-09/04/c_1121597445.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics