Chinascope – Page 687

China Became Australia’s Largest Foreign Investor

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that, last year, China surpassed the United States to become Australia’s largest foreign investor. The investments, however, were concentrated mainly in real estate. As the Chinese anti-corruption movement deepened, Chinese investments in Australia also sped up. According to the latest report that the Australian Foreign Investment Review Bureau (FIRB) released, half of the approved Chinese investments last year (around US$22.1 billion) were for real estate. Chinese investments took a 17 percent share of all foreign investments in Australia. Australian real estate market experts expressed the belief that the demand of the investors from China and other Asian countries is still on the rise. If the Australian dollar depreciates more, Australian real estate will become even more attractive to Chinese buyers.

Source: Sina, April 30, 2015

http://finance.sina.com.cn/money/forex/whqqscgd/20150430/184922086629.shtml

Briefings | | April 30, 2015 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Qiushi: Control the Internet û Stop Criticism of the Government and Better Lead Public Opinion

Qiushi published an article stating that it has become a common phenomenon on the Internet to criticize the government and the Communist Party. "Negative viewpoints spread quickly over the Internet. People even make fun of those who love China and love the Party. Some have even become the pawns of the Western hostile forces to demonize China."

The article suggested the following measures to control Internet:

1. View the Internet as a national strategic resource. Move State-owned Enterprises into the Internet media industry and invest in new Internet technologies such as digital news and big data. This will enable better control of the Internet market and thus better lead public opinion.

2. Eradicate the worship of Western values and establish confidence in China. First, rationally expose how false Western democracy and freedom really are; second, show people how China has progressed; and third, guide the key people who have substantial influence over the Internet toward the right direction.

3. Use technology to establish a better Internet environment so that the positive opinions can become more widespread.

4. Hold the Internet media companies liable. Punish those who put page hits and economic gain above the nation’s political security. Severely punish those sites that openly violate the law, promote Western ideology, or spread political rumors.

5. Guide the youth netizens. First, teach students the Internet ideology struggle as part of their school’s political education; second, throughout society, develop the number of education programs that teach netizens to identify and avoid poisonous materials.

Source: Qiushi, April 23, 2015

http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/hqwg/2015-04/23/c_1115069690.htm

Briefings | | April 29, 2015 | Social Stability

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the “One Belt, One Road” Strategy

China Review News republished an article that Chinese economist Xian Langping wrote discussing China’s rise. Xian stated that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and China’s "One Belt, One Road" strategy are tightly integrated to support China’s continued economic growth and its international influence.

Xian explained that, on October 24, 2014, China and 20 other countries, including India and Singapore, signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish the AIIB. These 20 countries share some commonalities: first, they are China’s neighbors; second, they are in the "One Belt, One Road" zone; and third, they are cooperating or have the intention to cooperate with China to build high-speed railways.

China’s "One Belt, One Road" strategy is to build roads and railways to connect the countries in the zone. It will create economic growth opportunities (e.g. the export of high-speed railway system and construction materials) for China and will also expand international trade (so that China can export more goods to these countries).

Even though the contributions of the AIIB member countries are based on their GDPs and in theory, the U.S. can have the loudest voice if it joins, Xian believes that the U.S. will not join. To him, the bank was created to serve infrastructure development; more specifically, high-speed rail construction. China has a big advantage in this field. If the U.S. were to make any contribution, it would only benefit China.

Source: China Review News, April 26, 2015
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1037/2/6/7/103726773.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=103726773&mdate=0426080715

Briefings | | April 29, 2015 | Economy/Resources

People’s Daily: Apple Watch Faces Copycats

People’s Daily recently published a report based on news from RFI (Radio France International) and Agence France-Presse that Chinese mobile device manufacturers released a large number of Apple Watch look-alikes before Apple started selling its long-awaited Apple Watch. All of these Chinese watches appeared to look just like Apple Watch, even with identical user interface and icons. However they all ran the Android mobile operating system and they were priced at around one sixth the cost of the lowest priced Apple Watch model. One owner of these Chinese factories told a French reporter that his smart watches match the Apple Watch in both appearance and performance and have a much lower price – his products even offered slightly more functionalities than Apple. One of his factories can manufacture around 2,000 smart watches a day, with a monthly volume of 50,000. Even Apple Stores didn’t carry Apple Watches on the release date of April 24. They were only available via online reservations or in certain luxury stores in a few cities around the globe.

Source: People’s Daily, April 24, 2015

http://it.people.com.cn/n/2015/0424/c1009-26900110.html

Briefings | | April 28, 2015 | Information/Technology

China Daily: Australia Put a Hold on Significant Investor Visas

China Daily recently reported that the Australian government announced on April 24 that it had put the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program on hold. It will review the program and adjust it in the next two months. The SIV program is to grant permanent residency to significant investors who meet certain government established financial criteria. According to the numbers that the Australian Bureau of Immigration published, among the SIV immigrants who applied and have already been approved, 89.1 percent are from China. The SIV program started in 2012. So far, 1,600 applications have been filed and 751 visas have been granted. Australian media reported that the revised program will be shifting the investment focus to venture capital and start-up companies. Some reports also indicated that the government may be trying to cool down the real estate market, since the housing market is now considered a high risk field associated with money laundering. Based on the recent 100-person red international warrant that the Chinese authorities recently issued, North America and Australia have become the top destination countries for the Chinese who have amassed a large amount of money through corruption.

Source: China Daily, April 24, 2015

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/interface/toutiao/1138561/2015-4-24/cd_20532311.html

Briefings | | April 28, 2015 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Minister of Finance on Areas to Help China Overcome the Middle Income Trap

Phoenix Chinese News and Entertainment reported that, on April 24, when attending the Tsinghua China high-level economic forum held at Tsinghua University, Lou Jiwei, China’s Minister of Finance, said that there is a 50 percent chance that China will fall into the middle income trap [where a country attains a certain level of income and then gets stuck at that level] in the next 5 to 10 years due to its fast becoming an aging society. Lou listed five areas that will help China to overcome this problem.

1) Agricultural reform: to promote agriculture imports and reduce farm subsidy spending. Lou believes this will shift the labor force in the countryside to supplement the labor shortage in the manufacturing and service sectors while keeping salary increases below the growth of productivity.

2) Reform of household registration: to break the registration barriers. Lou said that since the reform initiation published in July 2014, only 14 provinces have introduced a plan to execute the reform and none of these are in the areas where most people wish to migrate. Therefore, in order to break the barrier, the government must provide education and medical resources that will help the migrant workers to have stable living conditions in the city.

3) Labor relations: to allow employers and the employees to manage labor relations themselves in order to promote flexibility in the labor market.

4) Land reform: Once the construction land is bought out, it can be freely traded, just like urban land. The government is not allowed to expropriate land and evict the tenants.

5) Social Security: the government needs to allocate more funds so as to reduce the social security rate. More changes are needed in social security payments and in collection and investment. Otherwise, China will not be able to deal with its aging population.

Source: Phoenix Chinese News and Entertainment, April 26, 2015
http://finance.ifeng.com/a/20150426/13664167_0.shtml

Briefings | | April 27, 2015 | Economy/Resources

Qiushi Theory on the Challenges to Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

Qiushi Theory published an article on the challenges to socialism with Chinese characteristics. The article summarized three challenges that the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics will inevitably face.

The first is external Pressure. The article said that Western countries take the growth in China as a threat to their value system. Therefore, they have strengthened their effort to prevent the infiltration of Chinese ideology. A number of conflicts also exist in China’s neighboring countries. China needs to have superior wisdom in order to face these challenges.

The second is growing Pains. The article stated that, as China grows, it faces new challenges and risks in its economic development and reform. Different social issues exist, which affect whether China advances or retreats. Therefore, China must have the courage to deal with these growing pains.

The third is major tests for the country’s leadership. The article said that how the Party manages the major tests and risks it is facing is a key to how the Party accomplishes its goals. Therefore the Party must be determined while increasing its effort to enforce strict discipline within the Party.

Source: Qiushi Theory, April 23, 2015
http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/hqwg/2015-04/23/c_1115069787.htm

Briefings | | April 27, 2015 | Government/Politics

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.”

The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.