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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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Ministry of Commerce: Foreign Direct Investments Fell by Fourteen Percent

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the Ministry of Commerce briefed the media in a press conference on the state of the economy as of August. According to the Ministry, the August number for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) was US$7.2 billion, which represents a year-over-year decline of 14 percent. Another focal point was, for the first eight months of 2014, total actual foreign investments in the manufacturing industry declined by 15.7 percent year-over-year, down to US$27.5 billion. The top ten foreign investment sources were Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Japan, the U.S., Germany, the UK, France and the Netherlands. Noticeably, investments from Japan, the U.S. and the EU suffered declines of 43.3 percent, 16.9 percent and 17.9 percent, respectively. 
Source: Sina, September 16, 2014
http://finance.sina.com.cn/china/hgjj/20140916/100520304349.shtml
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

BBC Chinese: HK Poll Showed Half of the People Do not Support Political Reform Proposal

BBC Chinese recently reported that the South China Morning Post conducted a scientific poll on the recent government-proposed reform of the political system that determines how the Chief Executive of Hong Kong will be elected. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress approved the proposed reform. However the Hong Kong Legislative Council has to pass the proposal before it can become law. According to the results of the poll, 48 percent of the sample thought that the Legislative Council should veto the proposal. Thirty-nine percent said it should pass. Thirteen percent of the people surveyed were unsure. Among all of the people who responded to the poll, 70 percent of those between 18 and 29 years old favored a veto; 50 percent of those between 30 and 49 years old supported a veto; 37 percent of those who are 50 or older supported a veto. The proposed reform includes a “filtering mechanism” to limit the candidacy.

[Editor’s note: Beijing has rejected open nominations in favor of having a nominating committee select who can run.]

Source: BBC Chinese, September 15, 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/china/2014/09/140915_hongkong_democracy.shtml
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Chinese Economists on Compensation Reform in State Owned Enterprises

China Economic Online published an article on the general concern that reform is needed in setting the annual compensation scale for the top managers in State Owned Enterprises (SOE). According to the article, those managers are paid, on average, five times more than their peers in private sectors. In addition, their compensation does not line up with their job performance. The SOE’s are also under the management of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). The article said that the commission’s effort to reshape the board of directors in SOE’s has been unsatisfactory so far. It quoted one Chinese economist who stated that the compensation adjustment effort will involve changes in other areas first: who should set the pay scale and who can make the final call – the board of directors or SASAC? According to the economist, it requires that the government function should be separated from the enterprise management. "The enterprise should be under the management of diversified equity and mixed ownership." He recommended that, "The board members in the SOE’s should be independent, professional, and have accountability."

According to the article, based on the list of compensation in 2013 for the board of directors of the SOE’s, as published by China Economic Research Institute, 259 SOE’s are publicly traded companies. The average annual compensation in 2013 for 83 of the chairmen of the board who received compensation was 840,630 yuan (US$136,894) while 19 of them had annual compensation of over one million yuan (US$162,853). The top management in the financial and banking industry had the highest pay with annual income averaging 940,000 yuan (US$153,077), while the chairmen of the board and bank CEOs were paid at 1.71 million (US$ 278,470) and 2.35 million (US$382,692) respectively.

Source: China Economic Online, September 21, 2014
http://www.ce.cn/cysc/newmain/yc/jsxw/201409/21/t20140921_3570080.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China National Coal Association Will Continue to Limit Production and Reduce Imports in Q4

China Financial and Economic News reported that, according to China National Coal Association, the coal industry in China continues to suffer hardship. Currently close to 70 percent of the coal enterprises have to make pay cuts and 30 percent of the coal companies are in arrears on paying wage. With 300 million tons of coal in their inventory on hand, the Association said it will continue to limit production in Q4 in order to bring the coal price back up, hopefully by 20 percent. The association also proposed to reduce coal imports by 20 million tons in the 4th quarter of 2014. According to the statistics, coal production in the first 8 months of 2014 was 2.5 billion tons, down 1.44 percent from the same period in 2013; sales were 2.4 billion tons, down 1.62 percent from the same period in 2013.

Source: China Financial and Economic News, September 22, 2014
http://economy.caijing.com.cn/20140922/3705114.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

State Language Affairs Commission: 30 Percent of Population Not Able to Speak Mandarin

Xinhua published an article on September 21 in which it reported on the status of the promotion of the Mandarin language. According to the article the Ministry of Education, the State Language Affairs Commission, and the Hebei provincial government jointly hosted Speak Mandarin Week in Luanping County of Hebei Province. According to the State Language Affairs Commission, Mandarin language promotion began 17 years ago, but there are still 400 million people, amounting to 30 percent of the population, who are not able to communicate in Mandarin. The language experts who participated in the event said that promoting Mandarin was not meant to eliminate local dialects but rather to promote more social exchange by breaking through dialect barriers.

Source: Xinhua, September 21, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2014-09/21/c_1112564719.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Further Tightening Control of Internet TV Industry

On September 18, 2014, China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) asked all Internet video companies to remove video applications from their offerings so that they will no longer be available for mobile phone users to download them. 

This is not the first time that the State regulatory body ordered the shelving of video applications. Industry analysts in China observed that SAPPRFT has been attempting to stop many online video companies from walking a fine line and continuing to offer the applications. This action is an attempt to have blockage occur at the source in order to prevent Internet contents from being seen on the TV screen altogether. 
 IQIYI, one of China’s leading online video portals, stated that on September 1, it notified its third party online application stores to remove video applications from their offerings. On the same day, LETV, another leading online video company, also took action to follow the SAPPRFT order. On September 18, Youku’s XL application for Android users was no longer available for download. The application cannot be found at Baidu and Tencent stores either. According to one of Youku’s third party application stores, Wandoujian, the application had been downloaded 720,000 times. 
Reports indicate that the authorities are preparing tighter implementation guidelines to target the Internet TV industry, potentially with a focus on the hardware. 
 Source: Caixin.com, September 18, 2014 
 http://companies.caixin.com/2014-09-18/100730563.html
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua Commentary: [U.S.] Should Not Use a Double Standard to Combat Terrorism

Xinhua published a commentary article on the United States’ effort to combat the cross-border extremist terrorist organization "Islamic State" through establishing an anti-terror coalition with 40 countries participating. 

The article said, “There are inherent vulnerabilities in the anti-terrorist coalition that the United States advocates. The purpose and motivation behind it is also suspicious. This is bound to have a serious effect on the future joint efforts of the international community in the fight against terrorism. 
The article indicated that the U.S. is applying a double standard in combating terrorist extremist organizations. It said, “The United States claims to be seeking to set up a broad international coalition to fight against the ‘Islamic State.’ However, when choosing allies, the United States is partial to the ones it likes, allowing the ones that are in line with U.S. interests to join the coalition. If they are not, they will be excluded.” The article expressed its opinion by quoting the statement that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made at the international conference on Iraq on September 15, "[We] cannot accept using double standards on the issue of combating terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria." 

The article further commented, “Counter-terrorism should not be used as a political tool to serve one’s national interests and ideology. It cannot be allowed to become a cheap excuse to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries.” 

Source: Xinhua, September 16, 2014 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2014-09/16/c_1112506622.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Huanqiu: ISIS May Have Some Rational Elements

On September 17, Huanqiu published a commentary stating that it is not clear whether ISIS is a terrorist group and that therefore China does not need to participate in the effort to fight ISIS. 

The commentary stated, “ISIS is more focused on challenging the bottom line of U.S. interests. Therefore, China has no need or capability to mind others’ business.” 
The commentary questioned, “If ISIS did not have any rational elements, there would be no way to explain why ISIS has been able to gain ground in Iraq and Syria so quickly. Currently, the Western media blindly exaggerate the extremist side of ISIS killing captives and beheading Western hostages, but they rarely mention other sides of ISIS.” 
“According to the sporadic information that has been obtained, ISIS provides utilities, pays wages, controls traffic, and manages bakeries, banks, schools, courts, and mosques in the occupied territories. Therefore, it is difficult to determine whether ISIS is a heinous terrorist organization or the inevitable product of the current political developments in the Middle East. Since this key issue is not resolved, it is premature to rush to participate in military strikes against ISIS. China’s cautious attitude demonstrates the exact reason that China is a ‘responsible power.’” 
Tian Wenlin, author of the commentary, is an associate research fellow at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing. It is affiliated with China’s Ministry of State Security, while the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China oversees it. 
Source: Huanqiu, September 17, 2014 
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_world/2014-09/5140290.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations