Chinascope – Page 661

China Formed First Alliance to Refute Rumors about Food Safety

Xinhua reported that, on August 28, the Chinese Alliance to Refute Rumors about Food Safety was formed in Beijing. The goal of the Alliance is to improve the overall image of Chinese food, build domestic and international branding, and promote global recognition of Chinese food. The responsibilities of the alliance include focusing on food safety issues; spreading scientific knowledge; safeguarding the image of the food industry; cleaning up online food safety rumors and promoting the healthy development of the Chinese food industry. According to the article, food safety rumors rank at the top of the list among the entire list of Internet rumors.

Source: Xinhua, August 28, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/food/2015-08/28/c_128177544.html

Briefings | | August 31, 2015 | Government/Politics

Senior Officials at the State’s Media, People’s Daily Online, Detained

Southern Weekend reported that the People’s Procuratorate detained Liao Hong, President and editor-in-chief of the state’s media, People’s Daily Online, for investigation. An anonymous source indicated that the accusation against Liao was linked to the case of Xu Hui, a deputy editor at People.cn, who was placed under investigation last May for extortion and for accepting bribes from businesses. Xu allegedly took money from businesses so that no negative reports about their businesses would be published. Caijing.com reported separately that Chen Zhixia, Vice President of People’s Daily Online was also detained and placed under investigation. Webpages for both reports are no longer available.

Source: Southern Weekend and Caijing reprinted by BBC Chinese, August 27, 2015 http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/08/150827_china_media_arrest

Briefings | | August 28, 2015 | Government/Politics

RFA: China’s Major Official Media Do Not Report the Slump in China Stock Market

On August 26, 2015, Radio Free Asia (RFA) published an article commenting on how quiet China’s official media have been on the China stock market slump. The sharp fall of the stocks in China’s market affected at least 70 million Chinese active investors as wells as the whole global stock market. However, those media that are China’s official mouthpiece, such as People’s Daily, Xinhua, and China’s Central Television did not even mention such a big incident. Why not? According to one of the interviewees, China’s official media always like to report good news rather than bad news. When, from the government’s point of view, there is no hope for China’s stock market, it is normal for the official media to avoid the topic.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 26, 2015
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/cyl-08262015105903.html

Briefings | | August 27, 2015 | Economy/Resources

World Journal: Removal of Jiang Zemin’s Inscriptions Leaves Many Guessing

Within a period of 10 days in August 2015, former Chinese regime leader Jiang Zemin’s inscriptions were removed from two different locations: the Shanghai Air Force Political Academy on August 13 and the Chinese Communist Party Central Party School on August 21. The Chinese Communist Party has a tradition of removing sacked officials’ inscriptions. For example, inscriptions by Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, and Zhou Yongkang were all removed after they were arrested. Guo, Xu, and Zhou were all members of Jiang’s faction.

Many people viewed the removal of Jiang’s inscriptions as an indication of the elimination of Jiang’s influence and an omen of his impending political demise. Some others thought it was just a normal engineering operation, since Jiang was fond of leaving inscriptions and writing poems as he traveled with his entourage around the country. They thought it was normal to make some changes.

Source: World Journal, August 24, 2015
http://www.worldjournal.com/3397067/article-%E6%B1%9F%E6%BE%A4%E6%B0%91%E9%A1%8C%E5%AD%97%E8%A2%AB%E7%A7%BB-%E3%80%8C%E5%8E%BB%E6%B1%9F%E5%8C%96%E3%80%8D%E7%82%B8%E4%BA%86%E9%8D%8B/?ref=%E8%B6%85%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%A3

Briefings | | August 27, 2015 | Economy/Resources

Internet Censorship Heightens as September 3 Draws Near

China Digital Times reported that the State Council Information Office ordered heightened Internet censorship for the period from August 23 through September 5, 2015, for online news and comments on China’s commemoration parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The parade will take place on September 3, when Chinese leaders will review the troops.

Specifically, all online postings of news and comments regarding the commemoration parade must be reviewed by the Internet content inspection staff before being released to the public. Only positive comments may be released. No negative comments on the military and on the parade can be released. Comments “attacking” the Party, Communist China, the political system or Chinese leaders cannot be released. Further, there should be no comments posted that distort the history of the Party or of Communist China. Also prohibited are “comments that misguide” and “harmful information.” Comments that praise the Party and military are required to be displayed in a prominent position. Point of contact information for the content inspection staff on duty at Internet companies must be reported and placed on file with the authorities. Internet companies are asked to “attach great importance” to this matter and to cooperate actively with the authorities. Those who do not fully implement the censorship “will be dealt with severely.”

Source: China Digital Times, August 24, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/o2wymze

Briefings | | August 27, 2015 | Government/Politics

Global Times: U.S. Praise of the Dongfeng 21-D Missile Harbors Ill Intentions

China’s state-media Global Times recently published an article reminding China to keep a sober mind toward the U.S. media’s praise of China’s Dongfeng-21D missile being a killer weapon that can destroy U.S. aircraft and not to follow the Soviet Unions’ path of failure.

The article said, “As we all know, the United States has never stopped preparing for potential conflict against China. From the U.S. media or its military’s mouth, China’s arsenal Dongfeng-21D is the greatest ‘killer’ threat to the United States. It is as if, having the Dongfeng-21D, China will be able to control the U.S.’ life or death and then just sit back and relax. This kind of propaganda actually is exactly the same tactic as ‘the Soviet submarine threat’ that the U.S. used during the Cold War. At that time, the U.S. tried to do everything possible to hype that Soviet nuclear submarines are a ‘strong deterrent’ to the U.S. aircraft carrier. However, they had [secretly] balanced the development of aircraft carriers, submarines, and other ships, and built up a full range of sea power. Today, the United States hopes to use the same old trick to interfere with the balanced development of the Chinese navy so as to achieve the effect of defeating its opponent without a fight.

“In modern warfare, one or two ‘killer’ weapons are unable to reverse the overall situation. China should keep a sober mind about the U.S. media’s touting of the Dongfeng-21D or some other ‘secret weapon.’ Thankfully, in recent years, China has been promoting the pace of key weaponry and equipment, developing large surface combat ships, new submarines, aircraft, long-range missiles with strong penetration ability, large, deep and high-speed smart torpedoes, and other new generation weaponry. This shows that the Chinese navy’s development strategy has not bit into the U.S. interference. Some U.S. groups’ ill intention is also doomed to fail.”

Source: Global Times, August 25, 2015

http://military.people.com.cn/n/2015/0825/c1011-27513331.html

http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2015-08/7352214.html

Briefings | | August 26, 2015 | Defense/Military

China Three Gorges to Buy Brazil Power Assets

On Tuesday, August 25, the São Paulo-based firm and Brazilian group, Triunfo Participações e Investimentos (TPI) announced that it had agreed to sell a controlling stake in three energy subsidiaries to China Three Gorges for up to 1.9bn reais (US$538 million).

In a statement, Triunfo said the divestment included all of its shares in Rio Verde Energia, Rio Canoas Energia, and Triunfo Negócios de Energia. Triunfo added that the deal is for 970mn reais plus 770mn reais in debt, with an additional 148.5mn reais payable "upon the achievement of certain events."

Rio Verde Energia is operator of the 116MW hydropower plant of the same name in Goiás state while Rio Canoas is responsible for the 192MW Garibaldi plant in Santa Catarina. Triunfo Negócios de Energia is involved in power trading. According to Triunfo, the operation is subject to conditions and approval from local regulators.

Excluding the latest acquisition, China Three Gorges Brazil holds interests in three hydropower plants and 11 wind farms totaling 687MW of installed capacity.

Source: Xinhua, August 26, 2015

http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2015-08/26/c_1116381781.htm

Briefings | | August 26, 2015 | Geo-Strategic Trend

China Youth Daily: Reform Plans of State-Owned Companies are Shaping Up

China Youth Daily recently reported that, over the past two years, provinces in China have been working on designing new reform plans for state-owned companies. As of now, 22 provinces have released their plans and two provinces are about to release them. Only a few provinces (such as Tibet and Xinjiang) are still waiting for opinions from the central government. Some of the key features in those plans include introducing private capital into the mix of the ownership to replace full state ownership, making a public offering of the companies’ stock on the stock market, changing them from government asset management to capital management, improving regulatory systems, enhancing budget management, increasing securitization of the state ownership, looking at the human resources market for talent in company management, and adjusting company structures based on local needs.

Source: China Youth Daily, August 16, 2015

http://zqb.cyol.com/html/2015-08/16/nw.D110000zgqnb_20150816_1-03.htm

Briefings | | August 25, 2015 | Economy/Resources

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.”