Chinascope – Page 759

Over 300 Cities Suffered Sharp Declines in Land Sales

National Business Daily, a Shanghai based business newspaper, recently reported that local government land sales suffered a major decline in the month of May. According to a report that the China Index Research Institute released, for over 300 cities across China, the number of government land transactions in May declined 45 percent compared to the same period last year. The total sales amount for these transactions fell 38 percent. The total land area accounted for in these transactions fell 49 percent. Experts said that they expect a further decline in the housing market in the coming months. Many government land auctions closed with no deals made or the sales made were at the opening prices. The sales decline occurred across all tiers of Chinese cities regardless of city sizes. In addition to losses in land sales, local governments’ housing related tax income is also seeing a sharp decline. Many local governments in China rely heavily on the housing market for funds for public spending and for providing guarantees to loans to the government. Many economists expressed their worries about government’ debts and called for adjustments to the local industrial structure to create more sources of income.

Source: National Business Daily, June 9, 2014

http://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2014-06-09/839878.html

Briefings | | June 17, 2014 | Economy/Resources

People’s Daily: China Construction Bank to be the First RMB Settlement Bank in Britain

People’s Daily recently reported that China’s second largest bank, the China Construction Bank (CCB), has been authorized to be the official settlement bank for the Chinese currency (RMB) in London. This move improved the competitiveness of Great Britain as one of the main offshore exchange centers for the RMB and fixed a financial infrastructure issue in Britain. It is unusual that CCB’s strongest competitor, the Bank of China, did not obtain this authorization. London has been working hard to defend its role as the primary RMB exchange center outside Asia. London is facing tough competition from Frankfurt and Luxembourg. This new settlement arrangement could reduce the risks for those who tend to use RMB as a payment method outside China. It may also ease the process for Chinese companies planning to invest in Europe.

Source: People’s Daily, June 13, 2014

http://ccnews.people.com.cn/n/2014/0613/c141677-25144462.html

Briefings | | June 17, 2014 | Economy/Resources

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Countries Should Not Interfere in Hong Kong Affairs

BBC Chinese recently reported that Hua Chunying, the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, warned that Hong Kong affairs are internal to China and other countries better stop their interference. Since Beijing published the White Paper on Hong Kong on June 10 (Editor’s note: See Chinascope‘s briefing from June 11 at: http://chinascope.org/main/content/view/6404/81/), both the U.S. and the British consulates have criticized the policies explained or laid out in the White Paper. When the press asked Hua to comment on the US/UK reactions, she advised, “They should read the White Paper more carefully and contribute more to Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability.” The U.S. State Department commented that the United States expected China to keep the promises it made in the Hong Kong Basic Law. The well-respected Hong Kong Bar Association later issued an announcement clarifying that the White Paper is “incorrect” in stating that Hong Kong judges and judicial officers are part of the executive branch that “rules” Hong Kong.

Source: BBC Chinese, June 12, 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/06/140612_china_hk_us_uk.shtml

Briefings | | June 17, 2014 | Government/Politics

Farming Industry under Pressure with Climbing Labor Rates of Peasant Workers

Xinhua recently published an article on the pressure the farming industry in China faces. According to the article, the cost of labor for peasant workers on the outskirts of Beijing grew 89.7 percent over the last five years. The farming industry in the area is under pressure to save labor costs and to improve the efficiency of its farm equipment. The article said that even though more and more farmers are using agriculture machinery, there are still tasks that require a large number of peasant workers, especially skilled laborers. Farming experts also suggested that the government should provide the farmers and the peasant workers with more farm subsidies to help ease the pressure.

Source: Xinhua, June 15, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2014-06/15/c_1111149829.htm

Briefings | | June 16, 2014 | Economy/Resources

Chinese Scholar: Current Education System Does Not Nurture Student Creativity

China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League of China, published an article about Chinese students’ lack of aptitude for innovation. The paper interviewed the Chinese scholar, Zhang Xueji, director of the research center at the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing. Zhang stated that more and more Chinese students are losing interest in innovation. When compared to college and graduate students in the U.S., they lag far behind in creativity skills.

Zhang told China Youth Daily that the talent for innovation is the scarcest resource for a country. Zhang listed a number of reasons that caused the lack of innovation consciousness and ability in the academic field of research in China. First, the transmissive style of teaching does not nurture an interest in creativity. Second, the existing assessment of the scientific and technological achievement process also needs to be changed. Zhang said that the system shouldn’t emphasize whether a research paper that a graduate student publishes during his graduate education meets a quota, but rather, whether the quality of the paper meets the requirement. This emphasis has resulted in a lack of original research projects. A third factor that Zhang brought up is the lack of trust between research fellows working for a company and those research fellows working for the college. The fact that both sides are afraid of potential risks presents a barrier to their ability to collaborate.

Source: China Youth Daily, June 15, 2014
http://qclz.youth.cn/lzrs/201406/t20140615_5366719.htm

Briefings | | June 16, 2014 | Government/Politics

Guangming Daily Commentary: CCP to Emphasize the Quality of Party Members over the Quantity

Guangming Daily carried a commentary about the new guidelines the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party recently published. The guidelines are to be used in growing Communist Party membership. The commentary stated that, for the first time, the guidelines clearly raised the requirement to “control the quantity; optimize Party structure; improve quality and the ability to carry out tasks…” According to the commentary, the guidelines call for control of the quality of the Party members to the point where, if necessary, any unqualified members will be dismissed, if necessary. The commentary stated that the Party’s organization department and its research institute often question why the Soviet Union established itself with 200,000 party members; sustained its growth with 2 million party members, but collapsed when it had 20 million members.

According to the statistics from the Organization Department, by the end of 2012, the total number of members of the Chinese Communist Party had reached 85 million, making it the Party with the largest number of members in the world. However, according to the commentary, “how to maintain the advanced spirit of the Party members and guarantee that each member truly believes in the Communist ideology” has become a new challenge for the Party.”

Source: Guangming Daily, June 13, 2014
http://dangjian.gmw.cn/2014-06/13/content_11601891.htm

Briefings | | June 16, 2014 | Government/Politics

Qiushi on Universal Values

[Editor’s Note: Qiushi, a Communist China periodical on political theory, published an article criticizing "universal values" at the theoretical level. The article argued that "universal values" is just a fantasy term that the capitalists use to cover up the reality of the capitalist political and economic system, where money controls everything. It denounced the elite group in China that promotes "universal values" and declared that it is the most dangerous enemy of the Chinese people. The following is an excerpt from the article.] [1]

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Reports | | June 14, 2014 | Report

It Will Take Five Years to Deplete China’s Housing Inventory

On June 13, 2014, China Business News (also called First Financial Daily or Yicai) reported that, as of the end of 2013, 4.863 billion square meters of residential housing were under construction. Based on the annual average sales between 2009 and 2012, it will take five years to deplete the 4.863 billion square meters, assuming there are no other new developments after 2014. Thirty five major cities have hit a record high in their housing inventories. Twenty nine of them have shown an increase over last month. Three of those hit the hardest are Nanchang with an increase of 77.4 percent; Ningbo with 60.9 percent, and Jiujiang with 56.9 percent. According to analysts, using five to ten months as the normal time to deplete the inventory, starting from March 2014 it will take 100 months in Tangshan, 57 in Wuxi, 39 in Tianjin, 36 in Ningbo, 33 in Shanghai, 33 in Hangzhou and 30 in Xian.

Source: China Business News, June 13, 2014

http://www.yicai.com/news/2014/06/3924379.html

Briefings | | June 13, 2014 | Economy/Resources

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.