Chinascope – Page 643

VOA: Lawyer Insists That Journalist Is Not Guilty

Gao Yu, an independent journalist who faced charges of leaking state secrets, has had her sentence shortened from seven years to five years, and will be allowed to serve it outside of prison.

Voice of America interviewed Gao’s lawyer Shang Baojun over the phone to get details about her second trial, which ended on Thursday.

Shang insisted that the defense lawyers maintained that clear facts were not presented [in this case], that the case lacked evidence, and that the verdict should be changed to "not guilty."

Shang added that, because Gao is in her 70’s and she has health problems, as her defense lawyer, he took comfort in her reduced term, which is to be served outside of prison.

Xinhua News Agency reported that the court decided to change Gao’s sentence after "she confessed her crimes, pleaded guilty, and repented her wrongdoing during the second trial."

Sources: Voice of America, November 26, 2015; Xinhua News Agency, November 26, 2015 2015 http://www.voachinese.com/media/video/voaweishi-20151126-voaconnects-gao-yu/3074715.html http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2015-11/26/c_1117274878.htm

Briefings | | December 1, 2015 | Government/Politics

Xinhua: Armed Forces Declared Across-the-Board Support for Military Reform

Xinhua recently reported that all major branches of the Chinese military expressed firm support of the military system reform addressed in President Xi Jinping’s recent speech. The key units that officially declared their positions are: The General Staff, General Political Department, General Logistics Department, General Armament Department, as well as the Shenyang, Beijing, Lanzhou, Jinan, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu Military Regions, plus the Navy, the Air Force, the Second Artillery, the Military Science & Defense University, the National Defense University, and the Armed Police Force. In a statement that the General Departments released, it was mentioned that the reform goal was to ensure President Xi’s “firm control of the top military leadership and commanding power.” This is the first time such language has been used to describe the military reform.

Source: Xinhua, November 27, 2015

http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-11/27/c_1117285384.htm

Briefings | | December 1, 2015 | Defense/Military

China News: Large Scale Industrial Enterprises Suffered Profit Decline in October

China News recently reported that, according to the numbers that the National Bureau of Statistics just released, the total profit of all large scale industrial enterprises suffered a year-over-year decline of 4.6 percent. The same decline that was reported for September was only 0.1 percent. Also for October (year-over-year), these enterprises reported a debt increase of 5.6 percent and an inventory level increase of 4.5 percent. For the period of January to October, key industrial sectors that suffered declines were coal mining (62.1 percent), oil and natural gas (68.6 percent), non-metallic mineral products (8.2 percent), ferrous metal smelting (68.3 percent), non-ferrous metal smelting (4.8 percent), special equipment manufacturing (3.4 percent), and automobile manufacturing (3.1 percent). During the period of January to October, among all large scale industrial enterprises, the state-owned category saw the largest decline in profits (25 percent), and only the foreign-investment-owned category and the domestic privately-owned category saw profit growth (0.3 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively).

Source: China News, November 27, 2015

http://www.chinanews.com/cj/2015/11-27/7644264.shtml

Briefings | | December 1, 2015 | Economy/Resources

BBC Chinese: South China Morning Post Acknowledged Acquisition Talks under Way

BBC Chinese recently reported that the board of the South China Morning Post released a statement which acknowledged the fact the newspaper may be acquired by a third party. Not long ago Bloomberg and China Daily both reported that Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma was attempting to acquire the Hong Kong based newspaper. South China Morning Post is the top English language newspaper in Hong Kong with a circulation of 104,000. It was founded by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham in 1903 (during the Qing Dynasty). The first edition of the Post was published on November 6, 1903. The largest shareholder of the South China Morning Post is Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok Hock Nien, who is often labeled as pro-Beijing. He clarified in a media interview that, if his shares were to be sold to a third party, it would be a pure business decision – nothing political.

Source: BBC Chinese, November 26, 2015

http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/business/2015/11/151126_scmp_statement

Briefings | | December 1, 2015 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Three Major Players in Market Bailout Now under Investigation

On Thursday, November 26, and Friday, November 27, three brokerage firms that were major players in this summer’s market bailout announced that the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) had placed them under investigation.

Beijing Youth Daily noted, in a report widely cited by other state media and web portals, that China’s A-share market booked the steepest single day drop in three months on Friday, with shares of many financial firms triggering their daily limit.

The three leading brokerages, Citic, Guosen, and Haitong, all rank among China’s top 10 securities firms. It was the national regulator CSRC that initiated this most recent round of investigations.

Earlier in August, local regulators initiated investigations into Haitong and three other major brokerage firms, GF, Huatai, and Founder, for allegedly failing to identify clients properly. Regulatory authorities are now officially probing a total of six top players of the so-called National Team, which consists of 21 brokerage firms the government relied on exclusively to bail out the financial market this summer.

Cheng Boming, Citic general manager, and Chen Hongqiao, president of Guosen, are reported to have had close ties with Zhang Yujun, the former CSCR assistant chairman.

Zhang coordinated the massive intervention during this summer’s market rout. On September 16, he became a target of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for "severe violations of discipline." Cheng, along with a dozen or so of Citic’s top managers, was arrested a day earlier. On October 23, Chen, who served as Zhang’s deputy before joining state-owned Guosen Securities, hanged himself in his Shenzhen home.

Citic was also implicated in a case involving a star private equity fund manager, Xu Xiang, who was detained in early November on suspicion of insider trading.

Source: Beijing Youth Daily, November 29, 2015

http://news.ynet.com/3.1/1511/29/10572516.html

Briefings | | November 30, 2015 | Economy/Resources

China’s GDP Growth for 2015 May Be 4.5 Percent

In a recent interview with China Times, Liu Wei, a member of Xi Jinping’s advisory group, President of the People’s University, and prominent economist, stated that the growth of China’s GDP may be 4.5 percent.

China Times asked for Liu’s thoughts on the doubts that analysts expressed about the accuracy of the 6.9 percent rate of GDP growth allegedly achieved in the third quarter as China had officially announced. Analysts believed the aggregated 6.9 percent growth rate was not consistent with the statistics regarding repots on individual items and that China faces more problems in achieving a seven percent GDP growth rate for the year.

Liu responded that there may be some inconsistencies. With a six percent growth in manufacturing, eight for the service industry, and three for agriculture, it seems to be hard to explain or substantiate the 6.9 percent GDP growth rate. “I understand the questioning. It may require us to scrutinize more carefully and to explore further the changes in the statistical methodologies and transparency."

In response to the comments made by China Times in the interview that some analysts believe that the actual growth rate of China’s economy is only about 4.5 percent, Liu said, “That may be the real number. To be honest, even if it is 4.5 percent or 5 percent, do not be afraid. The key is whether the economy can actually endure it.”

Source: China Times, November 25, 2015

http://www.chinatimes.cc/article/51936.html

Briefings | | November 30, 2015 | Economy/Resources

Eleven Chinese Military Aircraft Approached Ryukyu

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the Japanese Defense Ministry revealed on November 27, that eleven Chinese military aircraft flew across the East China Sea over the high seas towards the island of Ryukyu. The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force responded with sending emergency flights. According to the details reported by Japanese news agencies such as Yomiuri Shimbun, the Chinese aircraft included an H6 Bomber and a TU154 reconnaissance aircraft. The Chinese airplanes later returned back to China. It is very rare for as many as eleven Chinese military aircraft to approach Japan. The Japanese Defense Ministry is still analyzing the intent of the Chinese Air Force. The last time any Chinese military aircraft approached Ryukyu was in July of this year.

Source: Sina, November 27, 2015

http://dailynews.sina.com/gb/news/int/cna/20151127/10097050266.html

Briefings | | November 30, 2015 | Defense/Military

Xi Jinping’s Push to Rule the Nation by Law Is Facing a Big Battle

[Editor’s Note: On October 28, 2014, [the CCP Central Committee] authorized Xinhua to publish the Communique of the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee. The meeting was held on October 20 -23, 2014, in Beijing. The plenum discussed and passed Xi Jinping’s report — “the CPC Central Committee Resolution on a Number of Major Issues Regarding Comprehensively Promoting the Rule of Law. (《中共中央关于全面推进依法治国若干重大问题的决定》)” [1]

In the report, Xi explained the draft process for the resolution and called for the reform of China’s legal and judicial systems. Xi said that in January [2014], the Politburo decided that the 18th Plenary Session of the Party would focus on issues relating to the comprehensive promotion of the rule of law. As the chief, Xi Jinping directly led a working group to draft a resolution for the 18th Plenary Session.] [2]

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Reports | | November 29, 2015 | 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.”