On June 12, Xi Jinping, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, authorized the issuance of the “August 1 Medal” to the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) staff. August 1 is the PLA’s Army Day.
This is the third time that the PLA will be awarded medals. The previous two times were in 1955 and 1988, by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, respectively.
Source: Xinhua, June 12, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2017-06/12/c_1121128933.htm
{Editor’s note: China International Publishing Group (CIPG, Chinese name 中国外文出版发行事业局, or abbreviated as 中国外文局) is an organization under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee. Continue reading
The well-known new Chinese news site The Paper recently reported that more and more advanced technologies are being used during the Chinese National College Entry Exam to help those who have decided to cheat on the Exam. This year’s Exam just completed a few days ago. The police have been busy jamming wireless signals around the official exam locations and chasing up and down the supply chain as well as the distribution channels of a massive amount of the high-tech cheating tools that criminal organizations provide. The technologies in the “cheating industry” upgrade rapidly. They have found their way into nearly all things that are allowed into the exam locations. Examples are drinking bottles with micro video cameras; communication devices hidden in watches, pens, erasers and eye glasses; electronics have been found in vests and belts connecting to the exam building conferencing system. Criminal groups run high power transmitters near the exam locations in order to support all these mobile devices. The cheating activities have been discovered across all provinces and have been growing.
Source: The Paper, June 7, 2017
http://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1702434
China News recently reported that the “first tier” real estate cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen) have all been increasing home loan interest rates. Cities in the second and the third tiers are following suit. China has been tightening up the real estate market in an effort to control the ever-increasing housing prices. The banks are seeing a sharp decline in terms of business volume. Their response is to introduce an interest rate hike on those who will have to buy a home no matter where the market is heading. According to new market study statistics, out of 533 banks in the home loan market, around 170 banks have lowered interest rate discounts, 244 banks have switched to the standard (government set) interest rate, 20 banks have even stopped providing home loans. The Chinese government’s current policy of restricting home loans is taking effect. The housing market is expected to cool down and banks are expecting a much lower profit level.
Source: China News, June 10, 2017
http://www.chinanews.com/cj/2017/06-10/8247092.shtml
Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that, according to the official numbers that the Indian government just released, India’s 2016 fiscal year GDP growth rate was 7.1 percent. This has been the third year in a row for India to have a higher growth rate than China. The Indian government and the private sector investments suffered a very slow growth rate, at two percent. However personal spending grew very strongly, at nine percent. In the meantime, based on the newly released numbers, India’s disruptive abolition of large bills near the end of 2016 did cause some negative impact on consumer spending. The World Bank estimated that India will enjoy a 7.2 percent growth in 2017 and 7.5 percent in 2018. The International Monetary Fund expects India’s 2018 growth will even reach 7.7 percent. Experts expressed the belief that India’s tax reform will bring growth in the future. China’s official 2016 GDP growth rate was reported to be 6.7 percent.
Source: Sina, May 31, 2017
http://finance.sina.com/bg/usstock/sinacn/20170531/22381606606.html
Apple Daily published an article expressing concern about freedom of the press in Hong Kong. According to the article, companies from the mainland, such as TVB and the South China Morning Post have been buying out Hong Kong media, suggesting that Beijing has slowly been gaining control over Hong Kong media. At the same time, cases have been reported in which reporters (independent of the mainland) have been attacked; key proprietors of a bookstore in Hong Kong have been arrested; and unusual organizational changes within the media have taken place. The article quoted an interview of the president of the Hong Kong Reporter’s Association who pointed out that some publishers have withdrawn certain outspoken columns or shifted the editorial direction through organizational restructuring.
Based on the statistics that Reporters without Borders has published, the freedom of the press index for Hong Kong media dropped from 18th in 2002 to 73rd in 2017. Out of 26 mainstream media in Hong Kong, companies from the mainland own at least eight to 31 percent of them.
Source: Apple Daily, June 6, 2017
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20170606/20045536
According to iFeng.com, the Tsinghua PBCSF Global Finance Forum was held on June 3-4 in Beijing. The theme of the forum was Economic Globalization and Financial Stability. At the forum, Zhou Yanli, the former Vice Chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) gave a lunch presentation. During his delivery, Zhou disclosed that China faces a large shortage in its pension reserves amounting to eight to 10 trillion yuan (US$1.18 trillion to 1.47 trillion) over the next five to 10 years. At the same time, social security funding has a balance of over 2 trillion yuan (US$0.29 trillion) and also faces a large shortfall. Zhou proposed that, in addition to the funding that the Ministry of Finance provides and what business enterprises contribute, more effort is needed to expand investment in pension insurance as well as pushing growth in the social security fund in order to supplement the shortage in the pension fund. By the end of 2016, China had a population of 22.4 billion people who were over 60-years-old.
Source: ifeng.com, June 3, 2017
http://finance.ifeng.com/a/20170603/15426251_0.shtml
On June 8, 2017, at a regular press conference, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry asserted China’s firm stand opposing the U.S. deployment of “THAAD” in South Korea. The spokesperson, Hua Chunying, told reporters that China and Russia “share a high degree of consensus and common interests” in their opposition to the U.S. deployment of “THAAD” in South Korea and “will continue to have close communication and coordination” on the matter.
When answering a question on North Korea’s recent firing of surface-to-ship missiles off its east coast, Hua Chunying said, “Under the current circumstances, the relevant parties should exercise restraint, refrain from provocative actions that may escalate regional tensions, and play a positive role in de-escalating and stabilizing the situation.”
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Website http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/web/fyrbt_673021/t1468779.shtml