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Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

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Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

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Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

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The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.

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Energy Audit Found Mishandling of Project Funding Totalling 270 Million Yuan

On May 17, the State Audit Office published the results of an audit conducted from May to September 2012 on 1,139 energy projects. The projects, launched in 2010 and 2011, had the purpose of reducing energy consumption. The audit results showed that, out of the 1,139 projects, 44 projects, involving expenditures of 1.587 billion yuan (US$258 million), did not reach their goal of reducing energy consumption. The study also found that 270 million yuan (US$44 million) of project funding had been mishandled.

Source: Xinhua, May 17, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-05/17/c_115811024.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Supreme Court Sets New Daily Compensation Rate

According to the Supreme Court, Chinese citizens will now be entitled to 182.35 yuan (US$29.69) per day, the new daily compensation rate, if an entity infringes on their lawful rights and interests. The new standard was set to be effective on May 17, 2013. The rate was based the Bureau of Statistics annual report on the average annual income, which was reported for 2012 as being 47,593 yuan (US$7,749.81) with the daily rate at 182.35. It is up 19.7 yuan (US$3.21) from the rate in 2011.

According to the State Compensation Law, "If a state organ or a member of its personnel, when exercising functions and powers in violation of the law, infringes upon the lawful rights and interests of a citizen, legal person, or other organization and causes damage, the aggrieved person shall have the right to recover damages from the state in accordance with this Law."

Source: Xinhua, May 17, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2013-05/17/c_115813372.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Central Administration to Launch Clean Government Inspection Tour

On May 17, Wang Qishan, Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, spoke at the training held at the “Clean Government Inspection Tour” meeting. Wang provided guidance on the upcoming clean government inspection tour and summarized the following four purposes: 1) identify illegal embezzlement and corruption cases; 2) identify violations in carrying out the eight-point regulation which is focused on rejecting extravagance and reducing bureaucratic visits, meetings, and empty talk; 3) identify issues that are in violation of the Party’s regulations; 4) identify improper and corrupt measures used when handling personnel issues.

It was reported that for the first half of year 2013, the central inspection team will start the tour with inspections in Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi Province, Hubei Province, Chongqing City, and Guizhou Province, and will also inspect the Ministry of Water Resources, China Grain Reserve Corporation, the Export and Import Bank of China, China Publishing Group, Inc., and Renmin University.

Source: Xinhua, May 17, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-05/17/c_115813442.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China to Build its Largest Hydroelectric Dam

China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has given the go-ahead for the construction of what will become the country’s tallest hydroelectric dam despite acknowledging that it will have an impact on plants and rare fish. The move met with criticism from experts due to the potential damage to the environment.

The Shuangjiangkou hydro-power dam will be on the Dadu River in southwestern Sichuan Province. It will be 314 meters (1,030 feet) high. A subsidiary of the State power firm, China Guodian Corporation, will build it over a 10 year period. The cost has been estimated to be 24.68 billion yuan ($4.02 billion) in investment.

The MEP said an environmental impact assessment had acknowledged that the project would have a negative impact on rare fish and flora and affect protected local nature reserves. The project still requires the formal approval of the State Council.

Experts argued that the dam would alter the patterns of discharge and the degradation of pollutants and be followed by changes in water quality. The construction may generate geological instability, there may be a major safety threat during the construction, and it may bring disastrous consequences in the operation phase. Considering the ethnic composition of the local minority population, their cultural practices, and their living habits, their cultural heritage would be lost and resettlement would be very difficult. Further, due to the changes in the aquatic ecological environment, local rare fish would not survive.

Source: Polaris Hydroelectric, May 13, 2013
http://news.bjx.com.cn/html/20130513/433976.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Large State-owned Enterprises Continue to receive Government Subsidies

According to Shanghai Securities News, from 2008 to 2012, State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) that are directly under the central authorities paid the central government dividends totaling 358.9 billion yuan. Of the dividends paid, 330.9 billion yuan were remitted back to these SOEs. During the same period, those large SOEs that are publicly listed and under the control of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council received government subsidies in the amount of 173.6 billion yuan. That amount was equal to more than double the total profits of those small to medium high tech companies listed in the second market.

For the past several years, the ratio of debt to total assets showed that creditors financed 80 percent of the assets of the top five power companies. In 2012, part of the dividends that the five companies paid was returned to the companies’ capital accounts.

Source: Shanghai Securities News reprinted by Xinhua, May 13, 2013
http://www.js.xinhuanet.com/2013-05/13/c_115739881.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Wen Wei Po: Party’s Central Committee Issued Document on the Ideology Struggle

According to Hong Kong based Wen Wei Po, on May 8, 2013, the Chinese Communist Party Committee of Chongqing City’s Urban and Rural Construction Committee held a meeting to study the Notice on the Current Situation in the Field of Ideology, which the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee had issued.

It was mentioned at the study session that "the Party’s Central Committee has a profound analysis and firm attitude toward seven prominent issues in the field of ideology. The Party has more clarity and understanding of the acuteness and complexity of the struggles in the field of ideology."

The report believes that it is the first time that the Party has issued official documents of this kind since the 18th National Congress. It was found by searching online that the "notice" has been issued at the grassroots level of the hierarchy across the nation. At present, government authorities and Party committees at all levels have been organized to study the “notice.”

Source: Wen Wei Po, May 14, 2013
http://trans.wenweipo.com/gb/news.wenweipo.com/2013/05/14/IN1305140064.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Massive Chinese Capital Flows Out of China through Underground Banks

Chinese media reported that large amounts of Chinese capital are being transferred overseas through many means, the majority of which are underground banks. 

According to a rule of the People’s Bank of China, the maximum for any individual’s annual foreign exchange is limited to US$50,000. Such a limitation is simply too small to meet the quota of foreign investment and immigration needs, so how do they get the money out of China? 
According the a media report, underground banks are a major channel for transferring the money. In the southern city of Shenzhen, there are many hidden underground banks. An agent nicknamed Addie told the reporter that, although the Foreign Currency Administration Bureau can control large sums of money that flow in or out, they are apparently powerless if the amount is in the millions or even tens of millions of RMB. Addie explained, "As long as the customer tells us half an hour in advance the amount and type of currency to transfer, I will be able to help the customer to send the money out in accordance with the real-time exchange rates. We charge a fee of approximately 0.8-1.5 percent." 

Source: China Economic Weekly (republished by Xinhua), May 14, 2013                                    http://news.xinhuanet.com/overseas/2013-05/14/c_124705454_2.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

IHL: The Basis for the U.S. China Threat Theory

The International Herald Leader (IHL), which is under Xinhua, recently published a commentary stating that the United States has exaggerated its “China Threat” theory by identifying several "weapons" ranging from military threats to security threats and the economic threats. The article alleges that China’s normal development and Chinese products, technology, or companies have all become targets of the U.S. “China Threat” theory.

IHL lists a few such "weapons": “The Report on China’s Military Power,” China’s anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) as represented by Dongfeng-21D, the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test, China stealing U.S. nuclear technology, “Chinese State owned communications companies that threaten U.S. national security by acquiring U.S. companies,” cyber attacks by Chinese hackers, and the Chinese RMB exchange rate.

Source: International Herald Leader, May 9, 2013
http://ihl.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2013/0509/205800.shtml

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations