Chinascope – Page 699

Supreme Court’s New Charge against Zhou and Bo

For the first time, the Supreme People’s Court has accused disgraced top cadres Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, and others of engaging in political activities "not approved" by the Communist Party. The claim was made in the court’s annual work report, published on Wednesday. The report said that court staff should "clearly recognize the serious damage" that Zhou, Bo, and others caused. They "trampled on the rule of law, undermined the Party’s solidarity, and engaged in political activities [not approved by the Party]."

According to Zhuang Deshui, a scholar at Beijing University, the new term of "political activities not approved by the party (非组织政治活动)" tells two things: first, these political activities are illegal; second, these activities do not conform to the formal procedural requirements of the Party. It’s like the Gang of Four, who established a small interest group to gain political power and influence over the public.

Zhang Xixian, a Central Party School professor, believes that political activities usually involve political principles and political directions. Political activities not approved by the Party should refer to political activities that are the opposite of the direction of the Party’s organizational principles, and even in violation of the Party’s policies. They exhibit anti-Party characteristics in that they betray the Party’s ideals.

Source: Beijing Youth Daily, March 19, 2015

http://epaper.ynet.com/html/2015-03/19/content_122619.htm?div=-1

Briefings | | March 18, 2015 | Government/Politics

Chinese Business Wisdom: The End of China’s Real Estate Developers

Chinese Business Wisdom published an article asserting that China’s real estate boom is ending. It started with the resignation of Mao Daqing, CEO of the Beijing Region of China Vanke Co., Ltd., who decided to jump ship and resign from Vanke on March 8. Vanke is the most successful privately owned real estate company in China.

The article quoted a financial analyst who stated that some real estate developers have taken their un-sold houses and sold them to their own employees. They encouraged their employees to buy as many houses as they could and also to apply for bank loans. "This might be the last money the developers will get. If the situation gets worse, these developers will run and leave the problems to their employees and the banks."

The analyst’s suggestion for Vanke’s strategy? "(They should) build as much as they can on the land they have already obtained, sell as much as they can of their overstocked houses, and close the company when they can’t sell anymore."

The government is still encouraging real estate purchases and keeps buying overstocked inventories from developers. However, "apart from the first-tier cities and cities with large inflows of population, the remaining large number of cities cannot stimulate the real estate market. The difficulty in raising money and being stuck with large inventories are still the real estate developers’ number one enemy."

Source: Chinese Business Wisdom, March 10, 2015
http://www.bwchinese.com/article/1068643.html

Briefings | | March 18, 2015 | Economy/Resources

Study Times: Developing Battlefields for Future Warfare in Different Spaces

Study Times published an article discussing how to develop the capability to build and enhance the battlefields for future warfare that may take place in different spaces.

Outer Space: Send more military satellites to occupy the diminishing number of space orbit tracks and spectrums, develop outer space battle and support exercises, and, in particular, develop a multi-approach space surveillance system for space threat warnings.

The Internet: In addition to developing infrastructure, there is a need to develop Internet surveillance capability, create a global Internet map, establish attack positions for global network warfare, and develop strategic preparations for large-scale network warfare.

The North and South Poles: Increase research activities in the polar areas and gradually build the polar bases’ infrastructure.

Deep-Sea Space: Build deep-sea exploration equipment and deep-sea research centers; create a deep-sea military and establish surveillance bases; deploy deep-sea weapons; improve the capability of deep-sea communication, supply, repair, and rescue.

Underground Space: Improve the protective camouflage system and also improve underground construction capabilities.

Source: Study Times, March 9, 2015
http://www.studytimes.cn/shtml/xxsb/20150309/9691.shtml

Briefings | | March 18, 2015 | Defense/Military

Huang Jiefu Testified on TV: Zhou Yongkang Is the Big Tiger behind Forced Organ Transplants in China

On March 16, Caijing published an interview article titled, “Huang Jiefu: The Fall of Zhou Yongkang Breaks the Chain of Interest on the Use of Executed Prisoners for the Organ Transplantation (Business in China).” The article was based on ifeng.com’s interview of Huang Jiefu, the former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Health. Several other websites either republished the same article or published articles about the same interview.

This was the first time that Huang Jiefu directly tied Zhou Yongkang, the detained former security czar and retired member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee, to the forced organ harvesting in China. Huang stated directly that Zhou was the key leader who was responsible for the secret organ sources for the transplants in China. Huang indicated in the TV interview that neither the former top leaders Hu Jintao & Wen Jiabao nor the current top leaders Xi Jinping & Li Keqiang have anything to do with this forced organ harvesting business in China. According to an analytical article in Epoch Times on March 17, Huang’s testimony indicates that Xi Jinping will accelerate his attack against the Jiang Zemin faction. Zhou Yongkang was considered an ally of Jiang Zemin, retired General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. The internal fight within the CCP’s top leadership will center more and more on the core issue of the forced harvesting of organs from healthy Falun Gong practitioners in China. “The last big showdown time draws near.”

Sources: Caijing, Ifeng, Southcn, Sina, Wenxuecity and Epoch Times, March 16 – 17, 2015
http://politics.caijing.com.cn/20150316/3840670.shtml
http://gz.ifeng.com/zaobanche/detail_2015_03/17/3668460_0.shtml
http://news.southcn.com/community/content/2015-03/17/content_120214365.htm
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2015-03-16/122231611694.shtml
http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2015/03/16/4110679.html
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/15/3/18/n4390028.htm

Briefings | | March 18, 2015 | Government/Politics

Samsung Plans to Settle Chinese Business in RMB

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that Samsung, the largest Korean corporation, announced its plan to settle its businesses with China in the Chinese currency, RMB. The plan is to settle transactions in RMB in the Seoul Offshore RMB Settlement Market. As of March 12, the average daily inter-bank exchange amount between the Korean and the Chinese currencies in the Seoul Market was around US$1.6 billion. The daily exchange market volume between the Korean currency and the U.S. Dollar is around US$10 billion. Seoul became an official offshore RMB trading center in July of last year. The Chinese Bank of Communications is its RMB clearing bank. Before that, Hong Kong, London, Frankfurt, and Singapore had already been the official RMB trading centers. Following Seoul, Toronto, Bangkok and Sydney also became official offshore centers.

Source: Sina, March 12, 2015

http://finance.sina.com/bg/wsj-ftchinese/ftchinese/20150312/02251224547.html

Briefings | | March 17, 2015 | Geo-Strategic Trend

BBC Chinese: U.S. Students No Longer Enthusiastic about China

BBC Chinese recently reported that fewer and fewer U.S. students are planning to advance their education in China. According to the University of California’s overseas education program, the number of the students planning to go to China for their studies is less than half of what it was four years ago. Several other similar organizations also see the same trend. Analysts said that one of the major concerns that the U.S. students have is the severe environmental pollution in China. Another key concern is that job opportunities in China are on the decline. More and more international companies are hiring the locals who received their education in the U.S. Many international education organizations have found that most of the students who still visit China have plans for only a short-term stay. Their purpose is largely for tourism instead of serious educational goals. Fewer and fewer U.S. students are interested in learning Chinese.

Source: BBC Chinese, March 12, 2015

http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/world/2015/03/150312_us_china_students

Briefings | | March 17, 2015 | US-China Relations

People’s Daily: China Is Building Its Second Aircraft Carrier

People’s Daily recently reported that multiple senior Army generals confirmed a fully China-made aircraft carrier is about to be completed soon. The new aircraft carrier will be much more advanced than the current aircraft carrier named Liaoning, which was only partially made in China. Navy General Ding Haizhong stated that the Chinese Navy will get into exercises with the new ship as soon as it is delivered. The catapult technology used onboard the new carrier is considered very competitive even with the U.S. aircraft carriers. Navy Admiral Liu Xiaojiang said the construction process is very sophisticated, so it may not be delivered in 2015. When asked how many aircraft carriers the Chinese Navy needs, Liu Xiaojiang, expressing his opinion, said, “The more, the better.” Some experts speculated that the total number planned was six carriers. Liu emphasized that staffing the aircraft carriers with enough qualified pilots is very challenging. China is currently far behind in achieving this goal. He expressed the belief that these ships will take at least two to three years before they can sail far into the oceans.

Source: People’s Daily, March 9, 2015

http://renwu.people.com.cn/n/2015/0309/c357069-26661470.html

Briefings | | March 17, 2015 | Defense/Military

Xinhua: Over 90.1 percent of the Cities Failed Air Quality Inspection

According to an article in Xinhua, one year ago at the beginning of 2014, air pollution and the measures to improve air quality were included in close to 90 percent of the government reports at the provincial level. At that time, 15 provinces signed an agreement to fix their air and smog issues. However, according to the article, a year later, in the “2014 National Economic and Social Development Report“ that the Ministry of Statistics published, out of 161 cities that were inspected for air quality, only 9.9 percent passed; 90.1 percent failed; and only a small fraction of the cities submitted explanations. It stated that the reason for the poor results was due to ownership at the local level and a lack of attention to this issue.

Source: Xinhua, March 15, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-03/15/c_1114644672.htm

Briefings | | March 16, 2015 | Economy/Resources

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.