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China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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

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Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

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Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

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Sale of Century Place in Shanghai: The Golden Age of China’s Real Estate Market is Gone

People’s Daily published an article on the fact that [Hong Kong Billionaire] Li Ka-shing, the owner of Cheung Kong Property Holdings Limited, recently sold Century Place in Shanghai. The article said that the sale is an indication that China’s real estate market is slowing down and facing slower or declining growth. The report indicated that the highest bid for Century Place was currently running at 20 trillion yuan (US$3.22 trillion). Cheung Kong Property acquired Century Place 11 years ago for 12,000 yuan (US$1,932) per square meter. It is expected to sell for over 70,000 yuan (US$11,272) per square meter. The report stated that if the sale goes through, it will be Li Ka-shing’s 6th property sale in the past two years. In the same period, Li he has not made any new acquisitions.

Source: People’s Daily, August 1, 2015
http://house.people.com.cn/n/2015/0801/c164220-27395200.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

State Council Audit Results Show Local Municipal Government’s Inappropriate Use of Funding

People’s Daily reported that, from the end of May through mid-June, the State Council conducted its second inspection of 35 departments in 18 provinces on how the local municipal governments carried out the assigned tasks that the State Council gave out and how the funding was applied. The audit results from the State Council showed that certain local municipal governments violated the policy on the application or use of the funding from the State Council. The audit results revealed a number of cases of misappropriation of funds. These cases included using fake documents for deceit in relation to special funding from the State Council; local municipal government collaborating with the local business to commit deception on the subsidized funding from the State Council; violations in allocating low income homes or faking the number of completed low income projects; and illegal bidding.

Source: People’s Daily, August 2, 2015
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2015/0802/c1001-27396844.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

RFA: Xi Jinping Anti-Corruption Effort Spreads in the Military

RFA reported that August 1 was the PLA’s anniversary. PLA Daily published an opinion article on August 1 titled, “A Corrupt Military Will not Win a War.” The article expressed a vow of determination to combat corruption in the PLA. In addition to the fall of the top ranking army officials, Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, the article reported that two more high ranking military officials have recently been taken down from their posts. RFA’s report then provided an analysis that Xia Ming, a political science professor at the City University of New York, gave on why Xi Jinping has spread his anti-corruption efforts in the military. According to Professor Xia, the first reason is that Xi is using anti-corruption as a means to regain control over the military by using his own people. The article said that, just like Hu Jintao, Xi does not have solid control of the military. This has enabled both Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou to build the military as their own kingdom. The second reason is the corruption in the military has been rampant. Xi intends to clean up the mess and improve the military’s fighting power.

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 2, 2015
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/hc-08022015125818.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

VOA: Does the Fall of Guo Boxiong Foretell a Rising Storm?

In his interview with Voice of America, Xin Ziling, a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) historian, said that taking down Guo Boxiong marked a victory for Xi Jinping, who handled the case both resolutely and steadily. The public announcement at this moment, right before the Beidaihe meetings this summer, is significant. It implies that the anti-corruption drive within the PLA has achieved an overwhelming victory. Xin observed that Guo was even more senior than Xu Caihou, the other vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, who died pending prosecution.
Xin cited Guo’s son, a PLA general, who boasted prior to his arrest earlier this year, "Confront our Guo family? My dad has promoted all military officials above the corps level."
Xin said that it was Jiang Zemin, the core of the third generation of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, who put Guo and Xu in charge of the military in order to restrain Hu Jintao.
Expecting Jiang Zemin himself to be held responsible, Xin commented, "Xi Jinping said, time and again, that there is no [upper] limit, no iron hat prince, who is free from investigation. It should be so. This naturally leads to Jiang Zemin, the top former leader. Jiang’s issue has to be dealt with, but it needs to be handled more steadily, more discreetly than [the case of] Guo Boxiong. One has to be resolute, yet take steady steps. It has to be done with absolute control so as to avoid any shockwaves across the country. Taking down Guo Boxiong has shown that within the military, things will not go wrong. Xi Jinping has had a firm grip on military power. This is a prerequisite for the continuation of the anti-corruption campaign."
Source: Voice of America, August 2, 2015
http://www.voachinese.com/content/former-pla-top-leader-procecuted-for-birbery-20150731/2887997.html
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua: Former Top Military General Guo Boxiong Expelled from the Chinese Communist Party

According to Xinhua News Agency on July 30, 2015, The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee’s Political Bureau expelled Guo Boxiong, former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) from 2002 to 2012, from the Chinese Communist Party over corruption accusations. “The political bureau also decided to transfer his case and relevant evidence to military prosecutors for handling in accordance with the law.”

The punishment of Guo Boxiong demonstrates "the firm determination of the CCP Central Committee, led by current CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, to govern the Party and armed forces strictly in line with the law." The CCP Central Committee’s Political Bureau stated in its statement of July 30, 2015, “No matter what power one holds or how high one’s position is, if a person violates Party rules and the law, he or she should be hunted down without compromise and without mercy.” 

[Note: In the military, Guo Boxiong was regarded as a proxy for former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.]

Source: Xinhua News Agency, July 30, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2015-07/30/c_1116096002.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Caixin.com Was First to Mention Jiang Zemin’s Name in Its Report on “Guo Boxiong’s Ups and Downs”

On July 30, 2015, the same day that Xinhua reported the expulsion of Guo Boxiong from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Caixin.com, a media group that is close to current top CCP leader Xi Jinping, published a biography of Guo titled, “Guo Boxiong’s Ups and Downs.” In this report, Caixin hinted at the close relationship between Guo Boxiong and Jiang Zemin, the CCP’s former top leader.

In 1990 when Guo was an army commander, he told a group of army officials that he would build an army that met Jiang Zemin’s five-sentence requirement for a qualified army. Of all of China’s official news reports, Caixin.com was the first media that directly mentioned Jiang Zemin’s name in such an anti-corruption report.

Source: Caixin.com, July 30, 2015
http://china.caixin.com/2015-07-30/100834676_all.html#page2

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Global Times: Russia and Japan Will Not Get Close Together

Recently, news about Russian-Japanese relations has repeatedly appeared in the media. Talking about whether a closer relationship between Russia and Japan will damage China’s interests, Wang Haiyun, senior adviser at the Chinese Institute of International Strategic Association, expressed the belief that Russia and Japan will not really come together. He listed the following reasons as the basis for his opinion: 

First, the strategic interests of Russia and Japan are in conflict. Russia is an emerging big non-Western country, while Japan is a developed country which has boasted that it is an important member of the Western powers. Russia’s biggest security threat comes from the U.S.-led military alliance system, while Japan plays a very active role in the alliance system. 
Second, there is a huge difference between Japan and Russia’s strategic ideals. Russia values a multipolar world, democratization of international relations, and a diversified world civilization. It strongly advocates the establishment of a just and rational international political and economic order and safeguards the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states and the principle of an independent development path. Japan, on the other hand, has closely followed the U.S. which has repeatedly and brutally been destroying these major principles. 
Third, there are many strategic contradictions between Japan and Russia. The territorial dispute between Russia and Japan is a dead knot. 

All in all, there are many structural contradictions between Russia and Japan. Although relations between the two countries may be easing, they definitely will not get very close. It is reasonable to be vigilant to the risk that closer Russia-Japan relations may harm China’s interests, but there is no need to worry too much. 

Source: Huanqiu (Global Times), July 29, 2015 
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_world/2015-07/7129964.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Anti-corruption Campaign Has Recovered 38.7 Billion Yuan

On July 29, 2015, the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced that from November 2012 to June 2015, it had recovered 38.7 billion yuan (US$16.1 billion) from corrupt officials. 

As part of its investigation of corruption, CCDI determines the amount of funds the corrupt official has obtained in violation of the Party’s discipline. CCDI then collects and returns such funds to the State coffers through confiscation, recovery, and restitution. CCDI has been confiscating gifts, rebates, and remunerations; it has recovered public property and gifts to the State that had been misappropriated; it has also ordered the restitution of spendthrift State-owned assets and unauthorized fines and fees. 
Of the 38.7 billion yuan collected from corrupt officials, CCDI returned 20.7 billion yuan (US$3.26 billion) to the State coffers and the remainder to the courts for judicial proceedings. 
Source: Xinhua, July 29, 2015 http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-07/29/c_1116075349.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics