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China News: China Asked the U.S. to Stop Making Accusations

China News recently reported that Hong Lei, the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at a press conference that China is strongly against Internet hacking. When asked about China’s response to the comments that the U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper made when he pointed a finger at the Chinese state-sponsored hacking, Hong said “some people” in the U.S. government should stop making “groundless accusations” against China. Hong said China was “also a victim” of Internet hacking. He asked for respect and trust from the United States. Clapper’s earlier comments also mentioned that the Chinese hacking and spying activities penetrated widely into many areas of the U.S.’ interests, and thus he justified his position of strengthening U.S.’ Internet security.
Source: China News, September 11, 2015
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2015/09-11/7519460.shtml

China’s Automotive Industry to Experience Period of Slow to Medium Growth

Xinhua recently reported on the expected growth rate of the automotive industry as disclosed at the recent International Forum (TEDA) on Chinese Automotive Industry Development. According to information that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology provided during the recent forum, China’s automotive industry will experience low to medium growth for a long period of time. The statistics suggested that the growth rate in the auto industry slowed down from 24 percent between 2000 and 2010 to seven percent from 2010 to 2014. The industry is expected to see more intense competition with lower profit margins compared to previous years.

Source: Xinhua, Sept 13, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2015-09/13/c_1116544468.html

Beijing Youth Daily: Chinese Businessman Promotes Book about China’s Leader in U.S.

People’s Daily carried an article that had been published originally in Beijing Youth Daily. The article covered an interview with Chinese businessman George Daping Zhu who, in 2012, founded the publishing company called CN Times. Zhu recently negotiated a US$100,000 full page color ad in the New York Times. The ad contains a welcome slogan for Xi’s upcoming visit (to the U.S.) and also promotes the books that CN Times publishes. One featured publication is called, The Xi Jinping Era. Zhu plans to organize a series of media coverage and book review sessions to promote the book in the U.S. market. Currently the book is ranked 60,000 in Amazon with daily sales of 100-300 copies. According to Zhu, only three percent of market share is open to books offered by foreign publishers. Zhu plans to make a breakthrough in the U.S. market. He felt that the elite group in the U.S. does not know Chinese. They rely on limited information to understand the real picture of China. Zhu told Beijing Youth Times“In order to promote a nation, it is most important to promote its leader first. … For the Chinese culture to be known to the outside world, we must make a breakthrough in the U.S. market first.”  

Source: People’s Daily, September 13, 2015
http://media.people.com.cn/n/2015/0913/c40606-27576336.html

VOA: What Is the Fate of the Arts and Entertainment Industry in China?

Voice of America (VOA) published an article on the development of the socialist arts and entertainment industry in China. The article stated that the Political Bureau recently passed an opinion based on a talk that Xi Jinping gave during the culture industry conference held in Beijing last year. The opinion was intended to provide guidance for the development of the arts and entertainment industry and to enable it to provide “positive energy” to the China Dream. VOA reported on some interviews it conducted on this topic. Some had a concern that the opinion emphasized Party leadership as the fundamental guarantee of the “prosperous growth of cultural development.” The concern was that, because the industry would be under the influence of Party ideology and have to meet the Party’s requirement to “provide positive energy,” it would lack high quality and creative products. Some felt that in this diversified Internet era, China still uses the old fashioned approach which involves a clear lack of public trust and creativity. As to the fact that the opinion indicated that the Party will encourage the development of Internet arts and entertainment, a concern was that the real intent of the Party was to control the people who have the talent and prevent them from using their own ingenuity to produce the material. Currently the biggest challenges that Internet artists face include that they lack copyright protection, their online browsing is limited, and the Internet writers’ human rights could be violated.

Source: Voice of America, September 11, 2015
http://www.voachinese.com/content/china-socialist-art-20150911/2961033.html

The CCP Central Committee Is Working on a Code of Conduct for High Ranking Senior Party Leaders

On September 9, 2015, Sohu.com published an article titled, “Who Are the High Ranking Senior Party Leaders for Whom the CCP Central Committee Is Setting up a Code of Conduct?” The article was based on another article, “The Party Central Committee Is Working on a Senior Party Leaders’ Code of Conduct,” which Southcn.com and then Beijing Daily had originally published.

At “the Chinese Communist Party and the World Dialogue 2015” on September 8, 2015, Li Jun, the former vice president of the Party School of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, revealed, "As a result of the anti-corruption campaign that has been taking place since the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Zhou Yongkang, Xu Caihou, Ling Jihua, Su Rong and other senior leaders were arrested for corruption. The CCP Central Committee then started to study and ponder how to manage well those senior CCP cadres who are in high ranking positions in the Party and the nation." 

According to Li Jun, "The result of that thinking is: ‘If China goes wrong, the problem is within the Chinese Communist Party.’” “The current serious challenge is who will be able to investigate those Party members who have high ranking leadership positions in the Party and in the nation?”

The Party Central Committee is now working on the first code of conduct for the high ranking leaders to follow. The high ranking leaders include not only the provincial and ministerial level officials but also the Party and the state officials who are Politburo Standing Committee members and the Politburo members of the CCP Central Committee. 

Actually, after the CCP’s 18th National Congress in 2012, Xi Jinping sent out the message to “set up rules” for high ranking officials. Xi emphasized, “Never allow the abuse of power for personal gain; never allow the cadres to enjoy privileges.” “Pay particular and serious attention to Xu Caihou’s case. Learn the lessons and reflect deeply. Completely eliminate any impact.” 

Sources: Southcn.com, Beijing Daily and Sohu.com, September 9, 2015
http://www.bjd.com.cn/jryw/gnxw/201509/09/t20150909_10035863.html
http://news.southcn.com/china/content/2015-09/09/content_132440961.htm
http://news.sohu.com/20150909/n420764694.shtml

Citic Securities, China’s National Stock Market Rescue Team, Turned out to Be a Real Troublemaker

Chinese police have been investigating Citic Securities. According to a report from Stock Times CN on August 28, 2015, it was Citic’s illegal securities trading and its “malicious short-selling” that caused China’s stock market slump. Citic Securities is China’s largest investment bank and was also China’s “national stock market rescue team.” Ironically, the so called “national team” that was supposed to be the main force to rescue China’s stock market from its slump turned out to be a real troublemaker.  

Eight people from Citic Securities have been investigated for possible involvement in illegal securities trades. A staff member surnamed Wang from Caijing magazine is also being probed for spreading false information on securities and transactions. Among the eight investigated officials, three of them are members of the Executive Committee of Citic Securities. Xu Gang, the former chairman of brokerage development and head of the research department at Citic Securities, is among the detainees.

Source: Stock Times CN, 证券时报网, August 28, 2015
http://company.stcn.com/2015/0828/12429493.shtml

China’s Forex Reserves Posted Biggest Fall

On September 7, the Bank of China announced that, in August, its foreign-exchange (forex) reserve dropped by $93.9 billion to about $3.6 trillion. It is the fourth consecutive monthly drop and the biggest ever monthly decline. 

China’s forex reserves hit a record high of nearly $4 trillion in June 2014. It has since fallen from the peak by a total of $435.8 billion, indicating the trend of money leaving China has continued steadily. 
Guan Tao, former Director at the Balance of Payments Department in the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, expressed that it will be the new norm that the reserves’ fluctuation is more volatile in the short term than in the long term.  
Source: Beijing Youth Daily, September 8, 2015 
http://epaper.ynet.com/html/2015-09/08/content_152558.htm?div=0

China Trade Sinks as Economy Weakens

On September 8, China’s General Administration of Customs released trade data which showed that, in August, total import/export trade shrank by 9.7 percent in yuan with exports down 6.1 percent and imports down 14.3 percent. The trade surplus grew by 20 percent. 

The released statistics also showed that in terms of the yuan, the total trade for the first eight months so far sank by 7.7 percent compared to same period last year. Exports were down 1.6 percent and imports were down 14.6 percent. The trade surplus increased by 80.8 percent. Reports indicated that exports were more competitive thanks to the depreciation of the yuan. However, exports continued to slide for six consecutive months, indicating exports in the fourth quarter will be under significant pressure. 
Source: Xinhua, September 9, 2015 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2015-09/09/c_128209990.htm