Chinascope – Page 847

China Net: China Plans to Enhance National Accreditation Systems

China Net recently reported that the State Council has just announced a plan to enhance a number of different national accreditation systems. Of all of the systems planned, the accreditation standard for information security products was given a top priority. The plan also required a “breakthrough” in the technologies used to establish and enhance the accreditation systems in other key fields, including food safety, carbon emissions, new energy, environmental protection, transportation vehicles, agriculture, biology, medicine, and contemporary services. The plan also called for establishing complete and strengthened national or industry standards, as well as improving China’s capability of participating in the processes of building international standards. The plan also included requirements to expand the technology for measuring and tracing capacities, which should be fully compliant with international metrological standards.

Source: China Net, May 29, 2013

http://www.china.com.cn/news/txt/2013-05/29/content_28970217.htm

Briefings | | June 4, 2013 | Information/Technology

Party Membership Development Program Recruits Members from National Defense Students

The China Military website carried an article that described how the PLA in the Nanjing district has been recruiting party members from among students currently enrolled in the national college defense students program. The article said that the PLA in the Nanjing district had hired experts in Party ideology, veterans of the red army, and those well-known in the Party to teach classes in Party theory, arrange field trips to the Party’s historic sites, and set up Party branches in every class in every university to ensure that a branch manages every member. The director in charge of training at Tongji University and the East China University of Science and Technology reported statistics that stated that, in the past three years, 86 training classes have been organized at 11 universities that held national defense training programs. Through these programs, they identified 2,200 candidates who then became active Party members.

Source: China Military, June 2, 2013
http://chn.chinamil.com.cn/zgjq/2013-06/02/content_5362094.htm

Briefings | | June 3, 2013 | Defense/Military

Why Has China Emboldened Diplomatic Statements on Foreign Affairs?

People’s Daily (overseas edition) published an article commenting on China’s new look in its diplomatic stance on foreign affairs. The article said, “China has always been low-key and subtle, but observers have found that China’s voice on foreign affair is becoming increasingly clear and strong. Especially in the matter of its core interests, China’s diplomatic stance is strong and bold.”

The article listed several reasons for China’s emboldened diplomacy. “The first reason comes from its ever-increasing national power. …The United States can dictate and boss people around in the world. It relies on its unparalleled military hegemony… For the current Chinese diplomacy to be strong and speak with more and more weight, the premise is that comprehensive national power, including military strength, is becoming stronger day by day.”

The article continued, “More importantly, China’s boldness in diplomacy comes from the tremendous spiritual energy to defend its legitimate rights and national interests.” “Currently, the Japanese continue to provoke in China’s Diaoyu Islands issue; they try to subvert the Far Yalta system by confusing the definition of ‘aggression’; U.S. politicians, intentionally favor and defend Japan out of their own self interest; they constantly incite and intensify the conflict. … In recent years, maritime security has become the focus of China’s national security. Therefore, facing the challenge of those acting against China’s core interests, our natural reaction in diplomacy is particularly ruthless.”

Finally, “On a deeper level, that China’s new diplomacy is so comfortably under control is also a manifestation of the increased level of China’s diplomatic strategy. Simply put, we have a more clear consciousness of ‘enemies and friends’ in diplomatic strategy.”

Source: People’s Daily (overseas edition), May 14, 2013

http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2013/0514/c136457-21472437.html

Briefings | | May 31, 2013 | Government/Politics

Additional Efforts to Tighten Political Ideology

On May 28, People’s Daily published the full text of a new “Opinion.” The Organization Department, the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party Central Committee, and the Communist Party leadership of the Ministry of Education issued the Opinion jointly.

The Opinion contains 16 requirements that focus on the enhancement of the “ideological and political” training of the nation’s younger educators. It mandates that Party organizations at all levels must “strengthen the development of young university teachers so that they will improve their ideological and political qualities in order to better implement the spirit of the Party’s 18th National Congress.”

“A few young teachers are lost in their political beliefs. They have fuzzy ideals and beliefs, their occupational and professional ethics are fading. … They cannot serve as role models for others." In addition to strengthening the Party’s leadership and control at all levels, the Opinion requires that all must “strengthen their study of political theory, deepen their education in the theoretical systems of Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and socialism with Chinese characteristics, and engage in in-depth study and practice of the concept of scientific development.

[Editor’s note: Analysts observed that the Opinion is one more example of the Xi government’s recent proactive efforts to exert tighter control over ideology. This Opinion came on the heels of the list of the seven taboo topics that the General Office of the Party’s Central Committee established. The list was reportedly distributed to universities across China. The seven topics that teachers cannot mention in class are: universal values, press freedom, civil society, citizens’ rights, the historical mistakes of the Party, the financial and political elite, and judicial independence.]

Source: People’s Daily, May 28, 2013
http://edu.people.com.cn/n/2013/0528/c1053-21643996.html

Briefings | | May 31, 2013 | Government/Politics

How Residents Become Creditors of Local Governments

Time Weekly published an article on how residents can become creditors of local governments when city commercial banks act as the middleman.

In China, only the central government can issue bonds. Local governments do not have the authority to issue bonds. However, there is a proven and popular mechanism that local governments use the enable residents to become the creditors of local governments.

First, the local government establishes an investment company; this is the “Local Government Financing Platform.” Then the local government announces new infrastructure programs such as highways, airports, or office buildings. The financing platforms proceed to contact local city commercial banks for loans to fund these programs. Because the financing platforms are government backed and the loans fund government programs, the loans are issued smoothly. However, fully aware of the risks, the city commercial banks turn around and sell the debts to trust companies which re-package the loans into “financial products.” The trust companies ask the city commercial banks to promote these “financial products” to customers of the banks. The salespersons at the banks review resident’s bank accounts and then start making sales calls. Soon residents find that they themselves have become creditors of the local government.

[Editor’s note: The city commercial banks are a significant group in the Chinese banking market. Most of them used to be urban credit cooperatives. In 1998, the People’s Bank of China ordered that all urban cooperative banks change their name to city commercial banks. These banks have strong ties to their local government, are majority or wholly state owned, and are known for financing local infrastructure and other government projects.]

Source: Time Weekly, May 30, 2013
http://time-weekly.com/story/2013-05-30/129859.html

Briefings | | May 31, 2013 | Economy/Resources

Expert Blames SOE’s Privileged Status for New College Graduates’ Low Employment

The year 2013 has seen the largest number of college graduates since 1949. With 6.99 million new graduates, there were 190,000 more that last year. However, the rate of employment for these graduates is less than 30 percent. In fact, a large number of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) need college students, but many students do not want to work at SMEs.

Zhang Weiying, a prominent Chinese economist and head of the Guanghua School of Management at Beijing University, attributed the mismatch in the Chinese job market to the ingrained notion that only a job at a state-owned enterprise (SOE) is secure; it is called the "iron rice bowl," whereas a job with a private enterprise is only good for a temporary situation. Zhang believed that the government has set up a large number of SOEs; they receive more resources and better treatment than private enterprises. If SOEs did not have such an identity, employment opportunities would be relatively fair and students would not have to pick and choose.

A media survey found that many students use personal connections to hunt for jobs at SOEs. Many employers’ hiring decisions are based upon the applicant’s connections rather than their capabilities. The students who get into SOEs through personal connections create a new form of nepotism. Beijing News conducted a recent survey which showed that about 21.5 percent of those surveyed admitted this regarding the question, "Have you used personal connections when looking for a job?"

Source: Beijing News, carried by Caijing magazine, May 30, 2013
http://economy.caijing.com.cn/2013-05-30/112843978.html

Briefings | | May 30, 2013 | 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.