Chinascope – Page 623

Global Times: David Shambaugh Praised Xi Jinping

A year ago, the Wall Street Journal published an article by the renowned American Chinese expert, David Shambaugh, "The Coming Chinese Crackup," in which he stated that the regime under Xi Jinping was going south.

On March 1, Global Times published an exclusive report on the dialogue between Shambaugh and Wang Wen, Executive Director of the Chongyang Finance Institute of Renmin University of China. Shambaugh was much more positive about Xi Jinping.

According to Shambaugh, "In the past year, because of that article, many Chinese friends no longer treated me as an ‘old friend.’ Many Chinese media criticized me. No one invited me to visit China. All of these things upset me. … The title of that article was problematic. It was not from me, but the editor of the Wall Street Journal. They wanted to attract more readers’ eyeballs and create more profit for the newspaper. When I heard the title, I asked them to change it. They replied, ‘Sorry, David. It is too late, we’ve already gone to print.’"

"Another issue was the anti-corruption campaign. I have stated clearly that anti-corruption is good. I am all for it. It is the right thing to do and the public has received it very well. I give a thumbs up to Xi Jinping and Wang Qishan’s anti-corruption fight. Corruption is the cancer that erodes the Party, the government, the economy, and society. It must be taken care of; otherwise it will lead to the downfall of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)."

"The future reform in China should be reform of the structure, not like what China did 30 years ago. It is no longer an adjustment; rather, it is a systemic reform. For example, the financial area needs a thorough reform. However, there are quite a few people who feel that their interests have been impacted [and therefore, they resist it]. So, I agree, China’s reform needs the present strong leader."

Sources:
1. Global Times Online, March 1, 2016
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2016-03/8628170.html
2. Wall Street Journal Online, March 6, 2015
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-coming-chinese-crack-up-1425659198

Briefings | | March 9, 2016 | US-China Relations

Kyodo Chinese: Many Chinese Warships Gathered Around U.S. Aircraft Carrier

Major Japanese news agency Kyodo recently reported in its Chinese edition that the U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier USS John Stennis and its battle group fleet started its mission in the South China Sea. A large number of Chinese warships gathered to monitor them. Chinese media referenced this report rather widely. The report said, according to the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet, that the aircraft carrier battle group started its “routine exercises in the Western Pacific region.” Aircraft from the carrier had been sent out for certain tasks. This aircraft carrier mission was widely considered to be a response to China’s missile and radar deployments in the same region. USS Stennis Captain Hoffman told the reporter that he “had never seen that many Chinese warships gathered together.”

Source: Kyodo Chinese, March 5, 2016

https://china.kyodonews.jp/news/2016/03/115983.html

Briefings | | March 8, 2016 | Defense/Military

BBC Chinese: Moody’s Changed China’s Debt Outlook to Negative

BBC Chinese recently reported that Moody’s Investors Services, the well-known international credit ratings organization, changed the outlook from stable to negative on China’s government credit ratings. Moody’s explained that the decision was based on the ongoing and rising government debt, a continuing fall in reserve buffers due to capital outflows, and also on the uncertainty about the authorities’ capacity to implement reforms to address imbalances in the economy. In the past one and one-half years, China’s foreign exchange reserve declined by US$762 billion. Moody’s report also pointed out that the Chinese economy is still facing the risk of a continued significant slowdown due to high debt level having a suppressing effect on business investments. Moody’s expects the government debt level will continue to grow rapidly. [Editor’s note: One day later, Moody’s also changed the rating outlooks for 38 of China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to negative.]

Source: BBC Chinese, March 2, 2016

http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/business/2016/03/160302_moody_downgrade_china

Briefings | | March 8, 2016 | Economy/Resources

Caixin: China’s February Manufacturing PMI Continued to Decline

Well-known Chinese financial site Caixin recently released its official Chinese Manufacturing PMI index number for February 2016, at 48.0, which is lower than January. Caixin PMI was formerly known as HSBC PMI, which was a well-respected economic indicator that financial institutions monitored globally. The February manufacturing PMI is now at the lowest point in five months. The index showed a decline in both manufacturing output and new orders. New export orders have been declining for three months. Most manufacturers expressed the belief that the domestic market is very weak. The February unemployment sub-index in manufacturing reached the lowest point since January 2009. In the meantime, the Chinese manufacturing PMI number that the National Bureau of Statistics reported reflected the same situation, at 49.0, which was the lowest since December 2011. PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) is an indicator of financial activity reflecting the purchasing managers’ acquisition of goods and services. A PMI number below 50 typically reflects a decline.

Source: Caixin, March 1, 2016

http://pmi.caixin.com/2016-03-01/100914282.html

Briefings | | March 8, 2016 | Economy/Resources

During the Current Lianghui, Deputy of Chinese Society of Education Raised Two Education Issues

Guangming Daily reported that during the current Lianghui [the "Lianghui" consists of two parts: the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference (CPPCC)], Zhu Yongxing, deputy director of Chinese Society of Education raised two areas that demand education reform: the increase in Chinese youth studying abroad and the lack of education for migrant workers. Zhu commented that the current education system in China is ineffective and can’t meet the demand of its people.

According to Zhu, in 2014, Chinese oversea students spent close to 200 billion yuan (USD$31 billion) on higher education overseas. From July 2014 to February 2015, the number of Chinese high school students studying in the U.S. grew 50 percent. Zhu called for renovation in the Chinese education system to improve its quality in order to make it more diverse and advanced so as to keep the Chinese youth from studying abroad.

Zhu also said that, based on the statistics from the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Security, there are 150 million technical workers in China, accounting for 19 percent of total employed population. Among them 37 million are workers with advanced skills. Zhu claimed that vocational education can solve the issue of the technical labor shortage and lack of quality workers. However the current vocational schools lack flexibility; they are unable to provide evening and weekend classes and a curriculum that will attract migrant workers. Their admission rate continues to drop while their resources remain underutilized. Zhu suggested that the funding from the central administration and local government can help the vocational schools to provide professional training classes and redesign the courses so that they provide flexibility to enable the migrant workers to gain technical skills.

Source: Guangming Daily, March 3, 2016
http://edu.gmw.cn/2016-03/04/content_19160882.htm

Briefings | | March 7, 2016 | Government/Politics

VOA-: China to Increase 2016 Financial Deficit

VOA published an article which stated that, based on the financial data that China disclosed, the growth rate of its 2016 GDP will remain between 6.5 and 7 percent and its finance deficit will grow from 1.62 trillion (US$0.25 trillion) in 2015 to 2.18 trillion (US$0.33 trillion) in 2016; its local treasury bonds are expected to be 400 billion yuan (US$61 billion). The article said that the Chinese government admits that its economy will face a bottleneck which it must break through to succeed. It also said that, according to the statistics, the Chinese government plans to allocate 16 billion yuan (US$2.45 billion) to urban medical assistance funds, an increase of 10 percent from 2015. It also claimed that it will increase the low income supplement fund by 5 percent for urban and 8 percent for the rural region.

Source: VOA, March 6, 2016
http://www.voachinese.com/content/china-economy-20160306/3221705.html

Briefings | | March 7, 2016 | Economy/Resources

The CCTV 2016 Chinese New Year’s Gala Propaganda Disaster

[Editor’s Note: China Central Television (CCTV) started broadcasting a special Chinese New Year celebration program in 1983. This Chinese New Year’s Gala, also called the Spring Festival Gala and commonly abbreviated in Chinese as chunwan (春晚), consists of songs, dances, talk show segments, acrobatics, martial arts performances, and other forms of entertainment.

While there is always some of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) propaganda embedded in the performances, the public generally finds the show entertaining. Many Chinese watch it on Chinese New Year’s eve, from 7:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., to welcome in the New Year.

This year, the Chinese people felt that the CCTV 2016 Chinese New Year’s Gala on February 7, 2016, carried an unbearable amount of propaganda. Netizens flooded the Internet with so much criticism that the CCP’s Internet guards remained frantically busy deleting them. Of course, the Chinese media praised the show as a great success.

Many overseas Chinese media reported this propaganda disaster. Reports from a number of different sources follow.]

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Reports | | March 4, 2016 | Report

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

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