Occupy Central Participants Denied Entry into Mainland China
According to VOA, on Sunday, November 9, a member of Scholarism, a Hong Kong student association, was denied entry into Shen Zhen, a border city next to Hong Kong. Since the member carried winter clothes and a yellow umbrella in his luggage, he was accused of conspiracy to go to Beijing for the umbrella movement. Just a couple of days earlier, on November 7, another low key Scholarism member, who used to travel between the mainland and Hong Kong, was denied entry when he tried to meet a friend in Shen Zhen. The article expressed the belief that the tightened security was related to the upcoming week long APEC meeting to be held in Beijing starting on Monday. The article also expressed concern that the mainland has put forth much effort to collect information on those who were involved in the occupy central movement and has since compiled an extensive blacklist.
Source: VOA, November 9, 2014
http://www.voachinese.com/content/hk-activist-china-20141109/2513569.html
Guangming Daily: 30 Percent of Online Products Failed the State Inspection
Guangming Daily reported that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has been conducting random inspections of online products this year. The AQSIQ recently published a report on its findings that close to 30 percent of the online products failed the inspection. Of the products inspected, shoes had the highest failure rate followed by toys made with flannel material. The report also named a certain brand of cashmere products that contain only Angora hair. Other materials include down jackets that contains fake down. The Administration claimed it will conduct an inspection again in November and will take necessary actions to deal with the manufacturers who make defective products.
Source: Guangming Daily, November 6, 2014
http://tech.gmw.cn/2014-11/06/content_13773599.htm
Xinhua Article on China’s Current Manufacturing Model
Xinhua published an article on the current manufacturing model in China. The article said that manufacturers do not invest sufficiently in research and development and do not have the urge to transition from a traditional manufacturing company into one that conducts its own technological innovations. Because Chinese manufacturers don’t own the core technology and can only make a small profit, they have lost their competitive advantage in the international market. The article also pointed out that the contribution from China’s scientific research remains low. The rate at which a research concept is actually converted into the final product is at less than 5 percent. At the same time, China is losing most of its elite talent to foreign countries. According to the article, the statistics available during a recent international optoelectronics expo held in Wuhan City suggested that 77 percent of the world’s cell phones are made in China each year. However, China only owns less than 3 percent of the chip technology. Therefore it has to spend over US$200 billion a year on cell phone chip imports.
Source: Xinhua, November 10, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/info/2014-11/10/c_133778091.htm
People’s Daily: What Does China Expect to Get from Xi-Obama Meeting during APEC?
Ahead of the meeting between the Sino-U.S. heads, Chairman Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama, during the APEC meeting in Beijing, People’s Daily (overseas edition) published an opinion article commenting on what China would like to see from the meeting. The article was titled, “What Does the World Expect from Xi Jinping and Obama’s Meeting [during APEC]?”
Disasters in October Caused Direct Economic Losses of 8.1 Billion Yuan
On November 6, the Ministry of Civil Affairs released information explaining that, in the month of October, the occurrence of a number of calamities resulted in direct economic losses of more than 8.1 billion yuan (US$1.33 billion). The disasters in October consisted primarily of earthquakes, flooding in the south, and snow in the northeast. The disasters impacted over 3.25 million people in 21 provinces and resulted in direct economic losses of 8.1 billion yuan. During the disasters, over 8,000 houses and buildings collapsed and an additional 179,000 houses and buildings suffered different degrees of damage. A total of 3,527,000 hectares of crops were damaged, while 421,000 hectares of crops were totally destroyed.
http://www.mca.gov.cn/article/zwgk/mzyw/201411/20141100723376.shtml
China’s CPI Growth Continues to Slow Down
Economic Information Daily reported that the anticipated growth of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in October will reach a new low of 1.4 percent. It is likely that the 1.6 percent growth earlier, which was the new low for the last 56 months, had not bottomed out. Estimates for the CPI growth for October came in at 1.4 percent. Analysts believe that the consecutive decline in the CPI monthly growth is indicative of the deepening pressure from the deflation in the world economy. The sharp slowdown in the CPI and PPI growth requires further relaxation of China’s monetary policy.