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Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

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Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

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Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

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

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Foreigners Filed Half of the Cases Involving Disputes over Trademark Licenses

According to the Beijing Higher People’s Court, trademark licensing cases have spiked in the past two years. Foreigners have filed half of them. 

The Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court and the Beijing Higher People’s Court have jurisdiction over administrative cases and appeals on patents, trademarks, and copyrights. From January 2014 to September 2014, Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court accepted 7,749 new administrative cases involving disputes over trademark licenses and closed 3,632. Beijing Higher People’s Court accepted 1421 appeals and closed 905 new administrative cases. The cases accepted and closed were significantly higher than the same period last year. According to Beijing Higher People’s Court, foreigners filed about half of the new cases. Many involved major international companies. 
Source: Xinhua, October 30, 2014 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2014-10/30/c_1113051347.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China to Construct Beidou Satellite Navigation System Reference Stations in Antarctica

On October 28, the China Polar Research Center issued a press briefing discussing China’s upcoming 31st Antarctic scientific expedition. The briefing stated that, during the expedition, for the first time, China will construct Beidou satellite navigation system reference stations in the Antarctic region. 

This will be China’s first acquisition of related data in the Antarctic using the Beidou satellite navigation system. It will focus on solving key issues such as Antarctic region Beidou satellite data processing, seamless coordination of multi-source satellite navigation frames, as well as the consistency of different reference frames in order to achieve China’s application of the autonomous satellite navigation system to build an Antarctic Beidou mapping reference system. 
Source: Xinhua, October 28, 2014 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2014-10/28/c_1113015467.htm
Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

New Rules to Battle Local Government Debts

On October 28, China’s Ministry of Finance issued the first of a series of directives on handing outstanding local government debt. 

According to the directive issued, local government debt outstanding as of December 31 must be categorized so that appropriate authorities will be assigned to take responsibility. The effort is meant to identify local debts with the ultimate goal being to include all government debts into budgets. Some debts may be converted into corporate debts through public-private partnerships (PPP). 
Analysts observed that the issuance of the directive indicated that China has entered the peak of debt repayments and many local governments face pressure to repay large debts that are due. The PPP model that the directive promotes, in fact, will allow the use of private funds to lessen the enormous pressure on local governments. 

Source: Economic Information Daily reprinted by People’s Daily, October 29, 2014
http://gd.people.com.cn/n/2014/1029/c123932-22752301.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua Summarizes the CCP’s Decision on the Rule of Law

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) passed the "CCP Central Committee Decision Concerning Some Major Issues on Comprehensively Advancing the Rule of Law (中共中央关于全面推进依法治国若干重大问题的决定)." Xinhua published an article listing 25 items to highlight the major points in the "Decision." A few points worth noting are:

12. Establish a mechanism to hold the decision maker accountable throughout his whole life [Editor’s Note: Implying even after retirement] for the major decisions he has made. Hold the administrative executive, other responsible leaders, and the related people who are legally responsible strictly accountable for decisions which involved a major mistake or which should have been adjusted promptly but were not and thus caused major damage or had a negative impact.

24. [China should] adhere to [the leadership of] the CCP’s Political and Legal Affairs Committee over the long-term. [Editor’s Note: It was Xi Jinping who took down Zhou Yongkang, the previous head of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee.]

25. The Party’s regulations and the Party’s discipline should be stricter than the country’s law. Party organizations and members at all levels should not only obey the law of the nation, but also follow the Party’s regulations and the Party’s discipline.

Source: Xinhua, October 28, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2014-10/28/c_127151833.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

BBC Chinese: The UN Expressed Dissatisfaction with China’s Small Donation to Ebola Control

The United Nations criticized the Chinese government and Chinese billionaires for not giving enough financial support to control the spread of Ebola. China is a major investor in Africa. So far, China has only donated US$8.3 million while the UK has donated US$18.8 million and the U.S. government has donated US$200 million.

Source: BBC Chinese, October 22, 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/press_review/2014/10/141022_press_un_china

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua: Former Top General Xu Caihou’s Alleged Bribery Case Transferred over for Prosecution

On October 28, 2014, Xinhua published a short news release titled, “Xu Caihou’s Case of Alleged Bribery Transferred for Prosecution.” According to Xinhua, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Military Procuratorate has officially completed its investigation into Xu’s bribery case and will transfer his case over to process for regular prosecution (lawsuit). Xu confessed that he had taken “particularly huge bribes,” directly or through family members in exchange fot helping others gain job promotions and other personal interests. Xu Caihou is a former member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and General of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. His military position was just below the former top CCP chairman, Jiang Zemin, who was the CMC chairman.

Source: Xinhua, October 28, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-10/28/c_1113015334.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

The U.S. Again not Satisfied with China’s RMB Exchange Rate

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the United States government once again expressed to China that it was dissatisfied with the Chinese currency exchange rate, saying the RMB to U.S. Dollar exchange rate was lowered artificially. In a recent meeting in Beijing, the U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin asked the Chinese Finance Minister Lo Jiwei and the Chinese Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan to have the market determine the RMB exchange rate. The Chinese government tightly controls the RMB exchange rate. Every morning the Chinese central bank sets the central parity of the RMB against the U.S. dollar. However some analysts suggested that China’s purpose in artificially pushing down the Chinese currency is to raise the bar for speculators, not to use it as a weapon in trade.
Source: Sina, October 22, 2014
http://finance.sina.cn/?sa=t74d13992368v39&pos=108&vt=4
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

BBC Chinese: UN Human Rights Committee Called for Universal Suffrage in HK

BBC Chinese recently reported that the United Nations Human Rights Committee officially called for the protection of universal suffrage in Hong Kong’s political system. The committee has a working group that includes 18 independent experts who monitor the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Hong Kong signed. All 18 members agreed to the Committee’s position. The UN Committee expressed the belief that it is crucial to protect universal suffrage, especially for the right to vote and the right to establish candidacy. Over the past month, tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents took to the streets to protest Beijing allowing only yes-men to become candidates for the head of the Hong Kong government. A member of the working group, French judge Christine Chanet, said that the Committee does not want to see a filtering mechanism for candidacy. China signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1998 as well. 
Source: BBC Chinese, October 23, 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/10/141023_un_human_rights_hk
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics