Chinascope – Page 742

He Qinglian: Economic Slowdown Not Because of Anti-Corruption Campaigns

On Voice of America, He Qinglian, a Chinese economist based in the U.S., refuted the recent opinions, voiced by many oversees, that the strong anti-corruption campaign has led to 0.6 to 1.5 percentage points in slower economic growth in China.

According to He, "The talk that anti-corruption campaigns lead to an economic slowdown is a superficial opinion. Such opinions disguise the fact that two major structural deficiencies in the Chinese economy are related to government behavior."

"China’s anti-corruption campaign has led to two consequences: first, a decline in local government’s investments; second, a reduction in final domestic consumption. Such a correlation is less likely to occur in other countries, but has, unfortunately, become a reality in China. The reason is also simple enough. In the past five years, the main source of investments has been the government, including the famous 4 trillion yuan stimulus package from the central government and 20 trillion yuan in local debt. Additionally, in the national final consumption, government consumption accounted for an extremely high proportion. This structural deficiency is China’s largest economic risk. The anti-corruption campaign just let the pustule rupture in advance. Without anti-corruption campaigns, that risk does not disappear. Rather, with the support of local investment and government consumption, the pustule continues to grow."

"The real reason for China’s economic slowdown is as follows:

"About the slowdown in economic growth in China this year, it resulted from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) notice as early as at the beginning of the year. There were two reasons. The first was the huge excess of capacity, while the economic structure needed adjustment and the growth of investment demand was inhibited. The second was the increase in the pressure of local government debt, which also restricted the expansion of government investment."

Source: Voice of America, August 28, 2014

http://http://www.voachinese.com/content/he-qinglian-20140828/2431754.html

Briefings | | August 29, 2014 | Economy/Resources

2,190 “Naked Officials” in Guangdong Province

The term, "naked official" (裸官) refers to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who remain on mainland China while their wives and children reside abroad. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has reported that, from the beginning of the reform and opening in 1978 until 2003, about 4,000 corrupt officials left China, taking at least $50 billion out of the country; often the spouses and children went first. The government is setting up a stricter monitoring system to decrease this practice. In early 2014, a revision of the rules for the promotion and appointment of senior officials introduced rules that officials would not be considered for promotion if their spouses lived abroad (or if they had no spouse, their children).

Recently, Newsgd.com, a news portal based in Guangdong Province, reported that there were 2,190 "naked officials" in the southern province. More than 280 naked officials in Guangdong Province have brought their family members who lived overseas back to China. On Wednesday, Guangdong authorities announced that nearly 40 percent of the 2,190 naked officials have been reassigned.

Li Yumei, head of the Organization Department of the CCP Guangdong Provincial Committee, said in an online interview on the official website of the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection of the CCP Central Committee, "After three months of effort, Guangdong reassigned 866 naked officials, including nine department-level and 134 county-level officials."

Guangdong authorities talked to the naked officials about the new regulation that had been issued on the subject of official promotion and selection, explaining that it stipulates that naked officials will not be considered for promotion. Naked officials were then offered choices based on the government’s limitations.

Source: Newsgd.com, August 29, 2014

http://www.newsgd.com/gdnews/content/2014-08/29/content_107544673.htm

Briefings | | August 29, 2014 | Government/Politics

Shen Dingli: China Should Distinguish between Friends and Foes On the Basis of National Interests

In an opinion article published on Global Times, (the English name for Huanqiu, a division of People’s Daily), Shen Dingli, Deputy Director of the International Affairs Institute of Fudan University, recommended that, in its relations with other countries, China should define its enemies, allies, and friends on the basis of China’s national interests.

Shen thought that this would be a more practical way to distinguish between enemies and friends in international relations. Using the United States as an example, where should it be classified among friends, allies, and foes? Based on China’s most important core interests of "national sovereignty, national security, territorial integrity, and national unity, because the United States insists on arms sales to Taiwan and uses the threat of force to interfere in China’s internal affairs, it is very clear that America is in the enemy position." However, based on China’s core interests of "sustainable social economic development," due to the economic cooperation of the United States with China in the past 30 years, it should be in the "friend" category. Even though its performance cannot be classified in the "ally" category, at least it is not in the "enemy" category. Japan’s relationship with China is mostly in a similar situation to that of the U.S.

Source: People’s Daily, August 27, 2014

http://military.people.com.cn/n/2014/0827/c1011-25546966.html

Briefings | | August 29, 2014 | US-China Relations

Security Times: Breakthroughs in China’s Diplomacy on Finance

On August 28, a scholar from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences published an article on the Shenzhen based Security Times titled, "Breakthroughs in China’s Diplomacy on Finance." Some translated excerpts follow.

"In recent years, the bright spot in China’s diplomacy in the financial area is its performance at the G20 summit as a major developing country. China thus entered the inner circle of global economic governance, with its influence continuing to expand."

"In the field of international finance, China has been pushing two initiatives. The first is to continue to expand the scope and scale of bilateral currency swaps. As of the end of May 2014, China had signed currency swap agreements with 23 countries and regions, amounting to 2.567 trillion yuan ($0.41 trillion). The second is to build an Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the BRICS Development Bank to provide financial support to the economic development of the region and to other developing countries. Initiatives advocated by China also include a regional foreign exchange reserve, with China as the largest contributor, and the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Development Bank."

"The 2008 financial crisis highlighted the serious flaws in the international monetary system with the dollar as the main reserve currency and also discredited the Washington-led model of the global economic governance system. The majority of developing countries are eager to reform the global economic governance system, especially the global monetary system. The G20 summit mechanisms in recent years have made useful attempts, but the G20 decision to reform the IMF and the World Bank’s quota and voting shares stalled because the U.S. Congress disapproved."

"China’s plan to build the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has seen substantial progress. It is understood that the AIIB may raise capital from the initial proposal of $50 billion to $100 billion, which is not far from the Asian Development Bank’s $165 billion fund size. However, the parties have yet to reach an agreement. The AIIB’s funds will be used for infrastructure in Asia on projects that may include the new Silk Road connecting Asia and Europe. Twenty-two Asian countries, including a few Middle Eastern countries, have expressed a strong interest in this project. China has had in-depth discussions with Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, and European countries and Australia, and is in contact with the United States, Japan and India."

"In mid-July, the BRICS summit was held in Brazil. The parties have a solid anticipation that the BRICS Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai, will become a reality."

"As we all know, the Federal Reserve, Wall Street, the IMF and other organizations are part of the dollar hegemony. For the developing countries to change the global financial landscape, they need to break through the institutional barriers in order to counterbalance the dollar hegemony. The BRICS countries’ establishment of foreign exchange contingency arrangements and a development bank will have a profound practical and historical significance for actively participating in global financial governance and reforming the international financial system."

Source: Security Times, August 28, 2014

http://epaper.stcn.com/paper/zqsb/html/2014-08/28/content_607308.htm

Briefings | | August 28, 2014 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Military Expert: China Should Take Major Counter Measures to Deal with U.S. Military Reconnaissance

People’s Daily published an article reporting the comments that two Chinese military experts made about the incident in which a Chinese fighter plane J-11 intercepted the United States Navy P-8A patrol aircraft about 217 km east of Hainan Island while it was conducting "routine surveillance."

Chinese Navy military expert Cao Weidong said, during an interview with CCTV, that the purpose of the United States’ frequent surveillance of China is to gather Chinese military intelligence. The U.S. is deliberately hyping the Sino-U.S. military confrontation in order to increase its bargaining chip in the forthcoming Sino-U.S. Military Maritime Consultation.

Military expert Wang Ming proposed that China should take both offensive and defensive measures to cope with the U.S. military aircraft reconnaissance. First, from the "defensive" perspective, the U.S. reconnaissance is of a strategic reconnaissance nature. It is intended to study China’s air defense system deployment, electronic spectral information, and so on. China must strengthen electronic protection and operational secrecy; it must be strict in separating its wartime military equipment from the peacetime equipment used in training; it must hide its wartime equipment and its enhanced defensive controls. Second from the "offensive" perspective, when the Americans carry out reconnaissance, we should try to extend our defensive area forward, expand the scope of control, and be more active. We should prevent foreign military aircraft from getting close to their intended target area. "This time, the J-11’s active verification of the United States patrol plane was a form of offensive counter-surveillance."

Source: People’s Daily, August 25, 2014

http://military.people.com.cn/n/2014/0825/c1011-25533986.html

Briefings | | August 28, 2014 | US-China Relations

Experts: 2015 Will See Further Decline in China’s Real Estate Industry

According to the Beijing-based media, Caixin, Wang Tao, the chief China economist at the UBS global management firm, predicted that 2015 would see a further decline in China’s real estate market. As a result of fundamental changes in supply and demand patterns that have occurred, even if Chinese decision-makers were to relax government policies, it would hardly change the downward trend.

Although the "Golden September and Silver October," representing the traditional sales season for real estate, are approaching, analysts are not optimistic and believe that sales and new starts will continue to drop sharply towards the end of this year and into 2015. For 2015, Wang Tao expects that real estate sales will likely decline by another five to 10 percent. New housing starts may fall another 10 percent. It is not a matter of another cyclical downturn but the result of fundamental changes in the patterns of supply and demand. Therefore, it is unlikely that any government measures to boost the market would be effective.

Source: caixin.com, August 26, 2014

http://economy.caixin.com/2014-08-26/100721225.html

Briefings | | August 28, 2014 | Economy/Resources

China’s National Security Act to Be Renamed the Counterespionage Law; Overseas Spies to Be Punished

On August 25, 2014, the 12th National People’s Congress Standing Committee in Beijing held its 10th meeting. A bill was submitted for a first reading at the bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress proposing to change the name of the National Security Law to the Counterespionage Law. The main purpose of the current law is to regulate the work of the country’s national security agencies, whose major duty is counterespionage work.

“According to the proposed changes, foreign organizations and individuals conducting espionage activities, or who instigate and sponsor others to do so, will be punished, as will domestic organizations and individuals who spy on the country for foreign organizations and individuals.” “The bill will give national security agencies the authority to ask an organization or individual to stop or change those activities that are considered harmful to national security. If they refuse or fail to do so, the agencies will be authorized to seal and seize related property” or to arrest them so they will be subject to legal punishment.

Source: People’s Daily and people.com.cn/, August 26, 2014
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2014/0826/c1002-25538612.html

Briefings | | August 27, 2014 | Government/Politics

Develop the Capability to Enforce China’s Ocean and Sea Sovereignty

China Review News reported that Chen Qing, Deputy President of the Union for Media Communication in Macao, gave the keynote speech at a conference on ocean and sea sovereignty and on the Chinese nation’s resurrection. In his speech, Chen discussed the development of the advanced ocean and sea sovereignty concept.

Chen proposed that the oceanic and sea defense strategy should change from active offshore defense to deep water military control. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) should expand its reach to the West Pacific, Australia, and Africa. The PLA should also re-organize its space combat force, network combat force, missile combat force, and remote air and sea attack force so they are placed along the transportation routes that are critical to China. China must have the ability to control and to break other’s control of the ocean channels used for its food and energy supplies.

For the near-sea strategy, China must first subdue Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. It should calm the U.S. and maintain a good relationship with the European Union to cut off its support for its near-sea rivals. It should also occupy key water paths to break the island chain blockade.

Source: China Review News, August 24, 2014
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1033/5/1/7/103351707.html?coluid=136&kindid=4711&docid=103351707&mdate=0824002538

Briefings | | August 27, 2014 | Defense/Military

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.