Chinascope – Page 621

China Times: Mainland Media Commented on New Relationship after Taiwan’s Presidential Election

The major Taiwanese newspaper China Times recently reported on a number of comments that Mainland media made after the recent election. The just completed Taiwanese presidential election put the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) back in power with control of both the Executive branch and the Congress. Mainland media suggested that, before the official interactions between the authorities on the two sides occur, the governments may, once again, need to test each other’s bottom lines. During this process, non-governmental exchanges could play an important role. There have been a lot of misunderstandings among the people on both sides of the Strait. Some Mainland media leaders expressed the belief that young people who have either study or work experiences in the Mainland typically have a better understanding of the Mainland; they should tell the truth to the Taiwanese people to prevent the expansion of their misunderstanding gap.

Source: China Times, March 22, 2016

http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20160322006318-260409

Briefings | | March 29, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Central Military Commission: PLA and Armed Forces to Cease All Paid Service Contract Work

According to Xinhua, the Central Military Commission recently published a notice that requires all PLA and Armed Forces to cease all paid service contract work. The notice called it a “major political task” related to the ongoing development of the army. The notice stated that, effective immediately, no new projects will be launched, no existing projects will be renewed, and any projects that can be stopped through negotiation must end. The notice also included rules and guidelines to implement the direction and calling all military units to execute the plan with “strong political consciences and a sense of responsibility.” The article said that the Commission plans to spend the next three years on implementing the plan.

Source: Xinhua, March 27, 2016
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-03/27/c_1118454667.htm

Briefings | | March 28, 2016 | Defense/Military

People’s Daily: Challenges to Reduce Coal Mine Capacity and Re-settle 1.3 Million Workers

People’s Daily published an article on the problem that China is facing with excess capacity in the coal mine industry as well as the re-settlement of 1.3 million coal mine workers. According to the article, demand for coal has slowed down since 2012. The rate of decline was 2.9 percent in 2014 and 3.7 percent in 2015. The China National Coal Association published statistics that showed that, by the end of 2015, China had been sitting on 300 tons of coal inventory for 48 consecutive months. Excess capacity and the importation of foreign coal have resulted in a sharp price drop – as much as 28.6 percent in 2015. The article reported that, in 2015, income for the major coal mine industry dropped 14.8 percent and profit dropped 65 percent compared to the same period in 2014. Over 90 percent of the industry suffered financial losses. Currently, according to the article, the supply of coal exceeds demand by 2 trillion tons. The National Energy Association stated that the plan is to close 1,000 low efficiency coal mines which is equivalent to 60 million tons of capacity in 2016. The long term plan is to reduce 500 million tons of coal production over the next three to five years through mergers and acquisitions with as few bankruptcies as possible. Meanwhile, the article said, there are 1.3 million coal miners in the work force who must be redirected and the re-settlement of these people is expected to be a challenging task.

Source: People’s Daily, March 28, 2016
http://energy.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0328/c71661-28230173.html

Briefings | | March 28, 2016 | Economy/Resources

Blue Book Reports 4.04 Million Chinese Students Study Abroad; 410,000 Returned Home in 2015

Guangming Daily published an article which quoted the statistics from the 2015 Blue Book on the number of Chinese students who returned home after studying abroad. According to the Blue Book, by the end of 2015, there were 4.04 million Chinese students studying abroad, an annual growth of 19.06 percent. Meanwhile the number of students who returned back home reached a cumulative total of 2.2 million, a growth rate of 22.46 percent. The statistics also reported that 59 percent of the returned students are female with an average age of 27. Eighty percent of the students hold a Master’s degree and 9.49 percent have a doctor’s degree. Business Management and Economics are the two most popular majors for these students. The Blue Book also showed that the U.K, U.S, Australia, Korea, and Japan are the top five countries that the Chinese students chose. Seventy-five percent of the people who were interviewed expressed interest in finding a job along the east coast and two thirds of them wished to work for a business enterprise.

Source: Guangming Daily, March 27, 2016
http://edu.gmw.cn/2016-03/27/content_19459323.htm

Briefings | | March 28, 2016 | Economy/Resources

Mingjing: The People behind the Open Letter Attack on Xi Jinping

On March 4, 2016, The media Watching in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region published an open letter, “A Request for Comrade Xi Jinping to Resign from Leadership Positions in the Party and the State.” The article blamed Xi Jinping for many negative events in China in the past few years and called for him to step down. The article was later removed.

It is rare to see a media in China challenge its leader.

Watching claimed that article was posted by a hacker, but there were questions whether that was the case. Alibaba, the hosting service for Watching, is considered the “safest” hosting service in China. The state Cyberspace Administration didn’t find any sign of a hacker intrusion either.

Some media suspected that Watching published the article on its own to attack Xi. Watching’s website was shut down for several days. The authorities took a few employees to investigate the case.

Watching was a joint venture of the SEEC Media Group Limited (the parent company of Caijing magazine), the Xinjiang Government, and the Alibaba Group.

Mingjing You Bao (Mingjing Post) published an article revealing the officials behind the Watching media article:

Jiang Jianguo (蒋建国), the Deputy Director of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Propaganda Department: Watching‘s CEO Ouyang Hongliang is a confidant of Jiang Jianguo. Jiang approved the establishment of Watching. Jiang and Ling Jihua may be connected since both of them got their part-time Master’s degree from Hunan University.

Zhang Chunxian (张春贤), is the Xinjiang Party Secretary. Zhou Yongkang promoted Zhang to that position: Zhang also had a good relationship with Zhou Benshun as both of them were from Hunan. Zhou Benshun was Zhou Yongkang’s loyalist. He once served as the Secretary-General of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee where Zhou Yongkang was the head.

Wang Boming (王波明), the Chairman of the SEEC Media Group Limited: Wang has a brother, Wang Dongming, who is the former Chairman of CITIC Securities. Wang Dongming was forced to resign after many high ranking officers at CITIC Securities were taken down for their involvement in the stock disaster in 2015.

Liu Lefei (刘乐飞), Vice Chairman of CITIC Securities: Liu is the son of Liu Yunshan who is a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and in charge of the propaganda work for the CCP.

Sources:
1. Mingjing, March 20, 2016
http://www.mingjingnews.com/MIB/Blog/blog_contents.aspx?ID=0000803700000603
2. Wengewang.org, March 4, 2016
http://www.wengewang.org/read.php?tid=51309
3. Epoch Times, March 10, 2016
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/16/3/10/n4658686.htm

Briefings | | March 25, 2016 | Government/Politics

People’s Daily: Japan’s New Radar in Yonaguni Poses a Threat to China

According to a report from U.S. Defense News, Japan is expanding its network to monitor the waters around the Diaoyu Islands. On March 28, it is expected to start using a new radar station on Yonaguni island.

Military expert Yin Zhuo, in an interview with CCTV, said that Yonaguni island would then become Japan’s intelligence center in the East China Sea. Once this batch of equipment and radar is set up on the island, it will target Taiwan and the Diaoyu Islands. It will be able to provide information to the U.S. military stationed in Okinawa and to the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Moreover, the scope of the radar surveillance will cover China’s southeast coast of Zhejiang, Fujianand Jiangsu. It will also be able to detect our aircraft and ships going in and coming out of the first island chain. The radar can be networked with the SDF radar to guide aircraft to the Diaoyu Islands to fight in wartime. It can also provide intelligence support for the U.S. intervention on the Taiwan Strait issue. As such, it would provide some kind of threat to our country.

Yin Zhuo said that Japan’s strengthening of its defense of the southwestern islands is an important measure taken to implement the new security and defense law, which is favorable to Japan-U.S. joint operations. Once Japan strengthens its monitoring capabilities in the southwestern islands, then when confict arises in Diaoyu islands, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces will act alone even if the U.S. military does not participate. The three-stage operation against the Diaoyu Islands is what Japan planned a long time ago. It has formed a battle plan.

Source: People’s Daily, March 22, 2016

http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0322/c1011-28215801.html

Briefings | | March 24, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

The Government’s Budget Includes the Budget of Communist Party Departments

The Chinese central government budget, which the Chinese national legislature is reviewing, includes, within its scope, the budgets of Communist Party departments.

On March 11, 2016, the Fourth Session of China’s 12th National People’s Congress (NPC) held a press conference. The reporters present asked whether the government budget, which the NPC is reviewing, includes the budget of Communist Party departments and when the Party departments’ budgets may be made public.

In response, Liu Xiuwen, Vice Chairman of the Budgetary Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, stated that the government’s budget that the NPC is reviewing does include the budgets of the Party’s departments such as the Organization Department, the Propaganda Department, the Office of the Committee on Organizational Structure, the Party School of the Central Committee (the Party School), and the Work Committee of Central Government Departments.

Liu said that, last year, the Party School, the Office of the Committee on Organizational Structure, and the Work Committee of Central Government Departments released their budgets to the public and also released the budgets of some local Party departments.

Source: People’s Daily, March 11, 2016

http://lianghui.people.com.cn/2016npc/n1/2016/0311/c403040-28192881.html

Briefings | | March 23, 2016 | Government/Politics

China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

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