Chinascope – Page 791

People’s Daily: Unusual PM2.5 Levels in South Korea and Japan

People’s Daily recently published a report summarizing the media coverage in Japan and South Korea on the topic of PM2.5 pollution “possibly caused by the nearby Chinese haze.” On February 25, many regions in Japan started seeing a PM2.5 level that was over 85. The Japanese standard has a base safety level of 70. Residents in the polluted regions were warned to control outdoor activities. South Korea media reported that, since February 21, PM2.5 levels have been between 81 and 120. These readings were two to three times higher than normal readings. Some areas actually reached 200. In the past week, around 15 percent of China, including Beijing and over ten other major cities suffered haze pollution with a PM2.5 level that remained continuously over 400 and sometimes even reached 600. PM2.5 particles are air pollutants with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less, making them small enough to invade even the smallest airways. These particles generally come from activities that burn fossil fuels, such as traffic, smelting, and metal processing.

Source: People’s Daily, February 26, 2014

http://world.people.com.cn/n/2014/0226/c157278-24474527.html

Briefings | | March 4, 2014 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Beijing News: Xinzhou 60 Airplanes Grounded Due to Continuous Failures

Beijing News recently published a series of reports on the latest failures related to the Xinzhou 60 airplane, which is a regional jet model that a Chinese company completely designed and manufactured. On February 25, a sensor malfunction caused a landing gear false alarm in a Xinzhou 60 airplane operated by Aokai Airlines. Only three weeks ago, the landing gear failed when another Xinzhou 60 was landing near the city of Zhengzhou. The manufacturer of this airplane model, Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation, told the reporter that it will request the government authorities to ground all domestic Xinzhou 60 planes for now. This model has a long record of accidents. On a previous occasion, it had been grounded for 74 months. Most of the Xinzhou 60 planes were sold internationally. They have suffered eight accidents outside of China, causing a total of 27 deaths. By the end of last year, 88 Xinzhou 60 had been sold to 27 buyers in 16 countries. The CEO of the manufacturer admitted that the model’s reliability is “not high.”

Source: Beijing News, February 26 & 27, 2014

http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2014/02/26/306455.html

http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2014/02/27/306596.html

Briefings | | March 4, 2014 | Information/Technology

Epoch Times: Unusual Protocol: Notice of Action against Zhou Yongkang Appeared on Non-Xinhua Website

According to an article published on March 2 in Epoch Times, news about disciplinary action against Zhou Yongkang appeared in the news twice. The first time was at 3 p.m. Beijing time during a press conference that the 2nd session of the 12th CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee) held. A reporter from the Hong Kong South China Morning Post raised a question about recent reports on Zhou Yongkang and asked if the CPPCC had any answers. The response from Lu Xinhua, the speaker, was that anyone who violated the law would be subject to punishment no matter what official rank that person had. Lu said, “I can only give you this answer. You should understand.”

Following Lu’s response, at 8:35 p.m. Beijing time, China’s Lianzheng (clean government) website published a notice saying, “Zhou Yongkang is suspected of serious disciplinary violations.” The notice stated that Zhou had been expelled from the party and will be subject to further notification until the fourth plenary of the 18th Congress. Epoch Times said that it was a rare occurrence for a news website other than Xinhua to publish such an important announcement.

Sources:
Epochtimes, March 3, 2014,
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/14/3/3/n4096103.htm%E8%AF%A1%E5%BC%82%EF%BC%81%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%BB%89%E6%94%BF%E5%BB%BA%E8%AE%BE%E7%BD%91%E6%8A%A2%E4%B8%AD%E5%8D%97%E6%B5%B7%E8%AF%9D%E8%AF%AD%E2%80%9C%E9%80%9A%E6%8A%A5%E5%91%A8%E6%B0%B8%E5%BA%B7%E2%80%9D.html?photo=2
Lianzheng, March 2, 2014
http://www.lianzheng.org/plus/view.php?aid=11362

Briefings | | March 3, 2014 | Government/Politics

Guangming Daily: China’s Movies Face Challenges in Global Market

On February 27, the Academy for the International Communication of Chinese Culture of Beijing Normal University published a research paper that drew a conclusion about Chinese movies. According to Guangming Daily, which then published the findings, Chinese movies face significant challenges in the overseas market. The statistics showed that overseas Chinese movie audiences continue to decline, down from 37 percent in 2012 to 18 percent in 2013. The people who took the survey gave the movies ratings; the average was 5.7 out of 9.0. Kung Fu and action movies ranked the highest at 6.8. The statistics also suggested that those surveyed knew little about Chinese movie festivals. Over 57 percent had little or no knowledge of the existence of any of any Chinese movie festivals. The statistics also suggested that those surveyed are generally not interested in movies that reflect modern realism in China; however those people showed interest in knowing more about this subject, an indication that those modern realism movies had not been able to meet the requirement.

China’s movie box office revenue totaled 217 trillion yuan (US$35 trillion) in 2013. Of the movies shown, domestic movies accounted for 127 trillion yuan (US$20 trillion) or 58.65 percent. However ticket revenue for 45 domestic movies in the overseas market was only 14 trillion yuan (US$2 trillion). This amount was the equivalent of the box office sales in China from two U.S. made movies: “Iron Man 3” and “Pacific Rim.”

Source: Guangming Daily, February 28, 2014
http://news.gmw.cn/2014-02/28/content_10534643.htm

Briefings | | March 3, 2014 | Government/Politics

Information Office of the State Council Published Human Rights Record of the United States in 2013

In a reaction to the 2013 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices that the United States issued on February 28, the Information Office of the State Council published the “Human Rights Record of the United States in 2013.” The record stated that the US slandered the human rights practices of close to 200 countries and regions but chose to cover up its own human rights situation. According to the record, human rights issues remained serious in the U.S. in 2013 and even deteriorated in certain areas. The record listed U.S. human rights violations in areas including, but not limited to: an increase in criminal cases; the PRISM (surveillance program); solitary confinement; a high unemployment rate; racial and age discrimination; a large number of child labor cases; and invasions into other countries such as Pakistan and Yemen.

Source: Xinhua, February 28, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2014-02/28/c_119546385.htm

Briefings | | March 3, 2014 | US-China Relations

China Establishes Central Internet Security and Information Leading Group

On February 27, 2014, China declared the establishment of the Central Internet Security and Information Leading Group and held its first meeting in Beijing. The CPC Central Committee General Secretary and Central Military Commission Chairman Xi Jinping himself assumed the head position of the group. Li Keqiang and Liu Yunshan were assigned as the deputy heads. Xi gave a speech at the meeting.

According to China’s state-run media report, the event signals that China is taking an important step forward in the national strategy of Internet security and information technology. Xi called on turning China from a big Internet country into a "global Internet power" [with the most Internet users in the world]. Xi pointed out that, if [the nation] is without Internet security, there is no national security. Xi also stressed the importance of Internet control. Xi said, “Online media [control] work is a long-term task. [We] must innovate and improve our online propaganda, spread our main message, stimulate positive energy, cultivate and practice the socialist core values, effectively guide online media, and have a clear cyberspace.”

Source: Xinhua, February 27, 2014

http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-02/27/c_119538719.htm

Briefings | | February 28, 2014 | Government/Politics

Report on Indices of Government Transparency

On February 25, the Institute of Law under China’s Academy of Social Science (CASS) and the Social Sciences Academic Press jointly released the Annual Report on China’s Rule of Law (the Blue Book on the Rule of Law).

The Blue Book contains a report on the indices of the transparency of the Chinese government based on the evaluation of 55 government departments under the State Council. The Ministry of Education ranked first with the highest score, while the National Railway Bureau ranked last with zero points.

With 100 points as the perfect score, the top five were as follows: The Ministry of Education (65.082); The State Administration of Work Safety (64.033); The National Development and Reform Commission (63.454); The Ministry of Commerce (61.635); and The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (60.7351).

The bottom five were The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (33.252); The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (25.3353); The Ministry of Justice (25.2854); The State Bureau for Letters and Calls (19.9555); and The National Railway Bureau (0).

Source: Xinhua reprinted by Guangming Daily, February 25, 2014

http://politics.gmw.cn/2014-02/25/content_10497663_2.htm

Briefings | | February 28, 2014 | Government/Politics

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

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.”