Chinascope – Page 697

CCTV: China Worked with a Yemen Governor on Its Evacuation Operation

After China’s Linyi Warship evacuated 225 peoples from the Aden port in Yemen on April 2, 2015, CCTV did an interview with Jiang Guoping, the commander of the operation.

All the people who were rescued were foreigners. They were from 10 different countries, including Germany, Pakistan, and Singapore. In his interview, Jiang mentioned how they obtained local support, “To make this operation work, China’s Consul General in Aden City used his personal connections to get to the Governor of the Aden Governorate. That governor asked a favor of him, namely, that the Linyi ship take one of his relatives out. Thus, [China’s Consul General] did a favor for that governor and the governor did a favor for him. Then they gathered all of the people [to take out].” Jiang didn’t mention how those people were selected.

Source: People’s Daily Online, April 6, 2015
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2015/0406/c1011-26801887.html

Briefings | | April 8, 2015 | Geo-Strategic Trend

RMB Saw a Decline in Global Usage

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) February numbers indicated that the Chinese currency, the RMB, saw a 2.2 percent decline in the total volume of global settlements. This data may indicate that investors and companies are slowing down on using RMB. Based on Dealogic’s data, the number of offshore RMB bonds issued since the beginning of this year is showing a significant decline as well. In the meantime, an HSBC report also showed, in a year-over-year comparison, that fewer global companies are using RMB for cross border settlements. Even Chinese companies are switching to other currencies, such as the Euro, to issue their bonds overseas. In the past year, the Chinese government made a great effort to expand the use of RMB in the international market. However it seems the expectation that the RMB will depreciate is becoming stronger.

Source: Sina, March 30, 2015

http://finance.sina.com/bg/wsj-ftchinese/ftchinese/20150330/15251235619.html

Briefings | | April 7, 2015 | Economy/Resources

BBC Chinese: Google Rejected CNNIC Issued Web Certificates

BBC Chinese recently reported that Google announced on April 1 that it will no longer trust the certificates that the CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) issues. The decision means that Google’s popular web browser Chrome will no longer recognize the web sites that carry CNNIC certificates, which are meant to provide proof that the site can be trusted. Chrome will instead issue a security warning to the users and recommend that they not open the web page. CNNIC then issued a statement calling Google’s move, “difficult to understand and accept.” Google officially explained that the decision was based on the fact that CNNIC allowed the Egyptian company, MCS Holdings, to issue unauthorized certificates for a number of Google domains (in short, a domain is an identifier for a computer on the network). This left users and websites vulnerable for hackers to conduct “man-in-the-middle” attacks (the attacker secretly relays and possibly alters the communication between two parties who believe they are directly communicating with each other). After learning of Google’s announcement, both Microsoft and Mozilla also revoked CNNIC certificates. Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla are the top three browsers in the world.

Source: BBC Chinese, April 2, 2015

http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/04/150402_china_google_internet

Briefings | | April 7, 2015 | Information/Technology

People’s Daily: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Commented on U.S. Planes Landing in Taiwan

People’s Daily recently reported that, on April 1, two U.S. military airplanes landed at Tainan Airport in South Taiwan due to a technical emergency. The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hua Chunying, later commented at a press conference that China had made a solemn representation to the U.S. government, asking the United States to be prudent and properly handle the relevant issues in order to avoid similar incidents in the future. According to Taiwanese media, two of the U.S. Navy’s F-18 fighter jets made a request of the Taiwanese air traffic authorities that they make an emergency landing. Later, after obtaining permission, they landed at a local air force base. Taiwanese military officials said that the U.S. Navy will send out repairmen in the future. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not explain the reasoning behind their statement.

Source: People’s Daily, April 2, 2015

http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2015/0402/c70731-26792112.html

Briefings | | April 7, 2015 | Defense/Military

Ministry of Education Named Seven Most Corrupt Areas in Colleges and Universities

China Review News published an article on the recently held 2015 Ministry of Education video conference on the “development of the Party’s conduct and of an honest and clean government.” The anti-corruption effort in colleges and universities will be its key focus in 2015. Among the seven areas that have the most serious corruption, the article named building construction and purchasing as the top two. In addition, corruption has also been reported in such areas as admission, accounting, research funding, school-managed enterprises, and academic dishonesty.

The article named a few college officials who had recently been taken down from their posts. They include the party secretary of Jining Medical University, the Principal of Nanchang University, the Party secretary from Ling Jing University and several others. It also mentioned that Renmin University was reported as having committed 49 counts of violations including in the area of student admissions. The result was that 47 people will be going through legal proceedings, 114 have received the Party’s disciplinary fine, and 14 received verbal warnings.

Source: China Review News, April 5, 2015
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1036/9/7/1/103697173.html?coluid=241&kindid=13578&docid=103697173&mdate=0405094523

Briefings | | April 6, 2015 | Government/Politics

Xinhua: Minimum Wage Increased in 11 Provinces and Cities

According to an article published on Xinhua, 11 provinces and cities announced a minimum wage increase starting in April. The provinces and cities are Guangdong, Hunan, Hainan, Tibet, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Shandong, Shanxi, Beijing, Shanghai, and Gansu. Among the cities, the monthly minimum wage (in yuan) in Beijing went from 1,560 (US$254) to 1,720 (US$280); 1,820 (US$296) to 2,020 (US$329) in Shanghai; 1,680 (US$273) to 1,850 (US$301) in Tianjin; and in Gansu Province it went from 1,350 (US$220) to 1,470 (US$239). The article said that Shenzhen has the highest monthly minimum wage at 2,030 (US$330) yuan while Beijing has the highest hourly minimum wage at 18.7 yuan (US$3.04). In addition the statistics that the National Trade Union released showed that the rate of increase decreased in the period from 2011 to 2014. The increases were 22 percent, 20 percent, 17 percent, and 14 percent respectively in those years. The rate of increase is expected to be around 10 percent in 2015.

Source: Xinhua, April 3, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2015-04/03/c_127653903.htm

Briefings | | April 6, 2015 | Economy/Resources

China: Rule of Law or Rule by the Party?

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Since becoming the new leader of China in late 2012, Xi Jinping has publically advocated “依法治国,” which Chinese and Western media have often translated as the “rule of law.” However, many legal scholars and professionals, as well as observers familiar with Chinese political history, are skeptical that the country will be successful in reforming its legal system. The reason is simple: for a country controlled by the Communist Party, it is the Party, not the law, that rules the country.

Then, why does Xi Jinping, such a savvy and ambitious politician, keep talking about the rule of law?

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Analyses | | April 5, 2015 | Opinion

China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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