The China Meteorological Administration recently issued its "China Climate Bulletin 2014." According to its report, the smog situation has worsened in China. Last year, there were 61 Smog days in the area of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province, a 70 percent increase over the 36 days in the previous year. On average, the whole nation has 17.9 smog days.
Source: Caixin Online, January 12, 2015
http://datanews.caixin.com/2015-01-12/100773475.html
China’s General Administration of Customs reported China’s trade data for 2014. The total import and export volume was 26.43 trillion yuan (US$4.26 trillion), a 2.3 percent increase over the previous year. The trade surplus was 2.35 trillion yuan (US$379 billion), an all-time high.
Exports were 14.39 trillion yuan (US$2.32 trillion), an increase of 6.1 percent over the previous year and also an all-time high. However, the increase rate of 6.1 percent was the lowest in the past five years.
China had a 5.4 percent increase in its trade with the U.S., to 3.41 trillion yuan (US$550 billion) and an 8.9 percent increase in trade with the European Union, to 3.78 trillion yuan (US$610 billion).
Source: Caixin Online, January 13, 2015
http://datanews.caixin.com/2015-01-13/100773846.html
On January 13, Xi Jinping gave a speech at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Communist Party Central Committee’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Xinhua interviewed a number of scholars and published an article delineating six major signals in Xi’s speech.
Xi had stated that China should "adhere to [conduct the anti-corruption campaign] with no-exclusion areas, full coverage, and zero-tolerance; seriously punish the corrupt elements; and strive to create a political atmosphere in which [people] dare not, cannot, and do not want to be corrupt."
The scholars that Xinhua interviewed read six signals from Xi’s speech:
1. A basic read of the situation: The situation in the anti-corruption fight remains severe and complicated. Not only did Xi make this exact statement, but he also stated that the campaign "has yet to achieve an overwhelming victory." Xi is still far from making substantive progress on seeing that officials "dare not, cannot, and do not want to be corrupt."
2. A firm determination to keep high pressure on the campaign.
3. A straightforward attitude to correct official’s improper working styles.
4. A clear requirement emphasizing [that officials] follow the Party’s discipline and its rules.
5. A regulatory focus: to strengthen supervision of the leadership of the state-owned enterprises.
6. A permanent cure: to revise a number of important Party regulations.
Source: Xinhua, January 13, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-01/13/c_1113982665.htm
On January 12, 2015, Xinhua reported that the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) has sent teams to co-locate with key Party and government offices.
So far CCDI teams have co-located with 59 departments under the Party’s Central Committee, State level organizations, ministries under the State Council, the People’s Supreme Court, the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, the People’s Daily, and the State Grid Corporation of China.
According to Xinhua, “CCDI teams co-locating with government organizations is an important part of CCDI work. This work will only be strengthened and not weakened. The General Office of the CPC Central Committee, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Central United Front Work Department, the National People’s Congress organs, the General Office of the State Council, and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference are the central nerve of the Party and State governance system, with centralized power and status. This makes it even more important to strengthen overall supervision. In December 2014, the central government decided that CCDI will send working teams to these seven units. This means that, before the Party discipline and the law of the land, no special organs or individuals will lack oversight.”
CCDI teams will be sent to co-locate with over 80 additional Party and government offices.
Source: Xinhua, January 12, 2015 http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-01/12/c_1113953913.htm
Jinghua Times reported that the Ministry of Land and Resources has issued new guidelines on land reform, indicating that the reform of China’s rural land system is about to enter a pilot phase.