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U.S. Cyber Crime Charges Enrage Beijing

In an angry response to the U.S. cyber-spying charges against members of a secretive Chinese military unit, China’s official media hurled back extensive counter-charges.
Cui Tiankai, China’s Ambassador to the United States, responded, "China is the victim of cyber-attacks. There have been massive U.S. originated cyber invasions and surveillance into Chinese government agencies, businesses, universities, and even individuals." "China has decided to suspend its activities with the China-U.S. Internet working group. The U.S. should immediately correct its mistake and withdraw from this so-called prosecution." [1]
One opinion article said, "In fact the U.S. is the most ‘qualified’ defendant. This also reminds the world’s countries that the Internet can no longer be dominated by American hegemony." "The U.S. is one of the few that control the main root server and secondary root servers of the Internet. It also exerts actual control over the allocation of domain names. Holding the global Internet infrastructure resources and core technologies, the U.S. was the first to build a cyber-warfare unit and to include ‘network-centric warfare’ as part of the nation’s ‘core capabilities.’ The U.S. set off an arms race in cyberspace and has its ears and eyes on cyber surveillance reaching almost every insignificant corner around the world. It has always been the hegemon in cyberspace. They are the thieves moving everywhere; they are the most brazen robbers." [2]
Another commentary criticized the U.S. government, "The U.S. government uses two excuses: the so-called separation of powers and that ‘the government cannot interfere with legislative and journalistic independence,’ in order to connive with Congress, the media, and business’s so it can constantly hype up the ‘Chinese hacker threat.’" [3]
One University scholar wrote an article on People’s Daily. "This outrageous act of the U.S. only proves its imperialist logic of ‘might is right’." "Today, the U.S. is not the only country that has advanced monitoring technologies. Countries that are able to detect attacks against their own network are everywhere. With the U.S. pressing charges against other country’s military officers without credible evidence, other countries will have a more reasonable basis to prosecute the chief of the U.S. National Security Agency and its superiors. As long as the U.S. does not stop breaching other countries’ cyber boundaries, it is not qualified to require other countries not to implement network defense or even counterattacks." [4]
Source: [1] Guangming Daily, May 22, 2014
http://news.gmw.cn/2014-05/22/content_11385205.htm
[2] People’s Daily, May 22, 2014
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2014/0522/c1003-25048271.html
[3] China.com, May 21, 2014
http://opinion.china.com.cn/opinion_96_99396.html
[4] People’s Daily, May 22, 2014
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2014/0522/c1003-25050385.html

China News Agency: What Logic Gives the Americans the Courage of a Thief Crying Stop Thief”?

Zuo Xiaodong, Deputy Director of the China Information Security Institute, wrote a special article on Chinanews.com (China News Agency), in response to the U.S. Justice Department’s indictment of five Chinese military officers for economic espionage by hacking into the computers of U.S. companies involved in nuclear energy, steel manufacturing, and solar energy. People’s Daily also posted the article on its website. 

The article said, “On May 19, the U.S. Justice Department once again staged a thief crying ‘Stop thief’ farce. It indicted five Chinese military officers for cyber-espionage against U.S. companies. As the U.S. controls the global Internet-based resources and the core technology, it has a strong network advantage. The U.S. announced, in high-profile, the formation of cyber warfare forces; it set off a global race of the Internet military; it created the "shock web" virus; fired the first shot of attacks on civilian critical [network] infrastructure; spread network monitoring tentacles throughout the world; and, for a long time, has been hacking Huawei and other Chinese companies. Now [the U.S.] instead [of being the aggressor] has disguised itself as a victim of cyber-attacks and even used national laws to prosecute the armed forces of another sovereign state staff from thousands of miles away. It is really laughable. Since the United States has always been upholding its hegemony, however, this is really nothing new."
The article also said that, from the beginning, the U.S. refused to cooperate with the international community to set up Internet security rules. However, once the Americans were ready, they initiated the implementation of international rules to restrict others in the name of peace. “The fundamental purpose of the Americans is, through hyping the target country as a network threat, to develop an adverse international environment of public opinion for the target country so as to suppress the other country’s IT capacity for independent innovation.” 

Source: Chinanews.com, May 20, 2014 

http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2014/05-20/6192767.shtml http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2014/0520/c1003-25042705.html

Housing Inventory Hits Record High

Daily Economic News reported that, as of end of April, 35 major cities saw an overall housing inventory increase of 2.6 percent compared to March and 19.5 percent compared to one year ago, hitting a five year record high. 

From 2009 through 2012, the inventory in Tangshan, for example, reached 17,410,000 square meters. Last year, only 1,460,000 square meters were sold. It would take another 10 years to deplete the existing inventory. Staring last year, banks stopped making loans to developers of residential housing. Shenyang has an inventory of 17,200,000 square meters, an increase of 21.5 percent compared to a year ago. It would take close to 20 months to deplete this inventory. 
Source: Daily Economic News, May 21, 2014 
http://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2014-05-21/835560.html

China Review News: Internal Security in China Is More Crucial Than External Security

On May 20, 2014, China Review News published an article further explains “the Overall National Security View“ proposed by the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping at the first meeting of the National Security Commission on Tuesday, April 15, 2014. According to Xi’s speech, China must “implement and put into practice an overall national security view, paying attention to external as well as internal security.” While internal security aims at stable development, external security aims at win-win cooperation. China Review News article points out that

  1. Xi has corrected the one-sidedness of China’s security policies in the past, which only emphasized on external security;
  2. Xi implies that internal security in China is more crucial than external security as he put the aims of “internal security” before “external security”.

Source: China Review News, May 20, 2014
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1031/9/3/4/103193475.html?coluid=151&kindid=11513&docid=103193475&mdate=0520001410

China Securities Journal: Three Major Challenges for China’s Economic Reform

A China Securities Journal article listed three major challenges that severely hinder China’s economic reform:

1. The lack of protection for legitimate property rights. Local governments expropriate farmer’s land, even when the farmers have the proper contracts for using the land. When there is a need to boost the economy, local governments invite companies to invest. Later, when they try to cool down some overheated sectors, the local governments force them to exit the market.

2. The lack of a formal government budget spending process. The top official can, individually, make a decision on spending. At end of the budget year, government agencies rush to spend funds.

3. The lack of measurements for correct performance and of a reward system for government officials and the heads of state-owned enterprises. Their evaluation is linked to short-term economic achievements instead of long-term performance. This induces officials to pursue temporary results while leaving the major burdens for the public to handle in the long run.

Source: China Securities Journal Online, May 13, 2014
http://www.cs.com.cn/sylm/zjyl_1/201405/t20140513_4388241.html

China Review News: New Countermeasures to Guard Against and Defuse China’s Financial Risks

On May 18, 2014, China Review News published an article discussing China’s rising financial risks. The article suggested “new countermeasures to guard against and defuse these financial risks.” Below are the new countermeasures recommended in the article:

  1. Carry out thorough investigations into China’s financial risks to enable easier management. However, the results of these investigations should not be released to the public so as to prevent any substantial volatility in financial markets.
  2. Develop contingency plans for financial emergencies.
  3. Set up a bank deposit insurance system as soon as possible to stop people from withdrawing all of their money from banks.
  4. Further strengthen supervision over financial businesses.

Source: China Review News, May 18, 2014
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1031/9/2/4/103192492.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=103192492&mdate=0518071527

Non-Performing Loans Hit New High

Sina Finance, a popular Chinese financial news site under Sina.com recently reported that the amount of non-performing loans reached RMB 646 billion yuan (US$104 billion) in the first quarter of 2014. That figure represents a record high for the past six years. The scale of defaults has continued to rise for ten quarters in a row. The report expressed the worry that, with the slow-down in the Chinese economy, more and more credit defaults are surfacing. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) also stated that the nationwide overall bank credit risk level has been increasing. Bloomberg analyst Rainy Yuan pointed to the quality of assets as the biggest issue that Chinese banks face and to the government’s unwillingness to provide a monetary stimulus policy as a contributor to the worsening situatiion. CBRC is calling on banks to have tighter risk management while preparing for new pressure tests for the sector.
Source: Sina Finance, May 16, 2014
http://finance.sina.com.cn/money/forex/20140516/121419132270.shtml

People’s Daily: President Xi and President Putin to Meet for Seventh Time in a Year

People’s Daily recently announced that, per the invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China on May 20. This will be the seventh time these two presidents have met since last March. During the visit, the Chinese Navy and the Russian Navy will conduct a joint exercise. Due to the situation in Ukraine, China and Russia will speed up the negotiations on energy deals, while “trade cooperation” will be a primary highlight of the event. It is widely expected that a Russian natural gas supply contract will be signed during Putin’s visit as well as more investment and military deals, although some of them are still being negotiated out of the public’s view. The report expressed the belief that China-Russia cooperation is “deepening.” 
Source: People’s Daily, May 16, 2014
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2014/0516/c1002-25025902.html