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China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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

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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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China Reported Steady Increase in H7N9 Cases

On May1, 2013, the China National Health and Family Planning Commission released information indicating that between 1600 hours on April 24 and 1600 hours on May 1, 2013, another 19 new H7N9 cases were reported for a total of 127 cases. Twenty-six have died and 26 have recovered. Of the 19 newly reported cases, three are in Jiangsu Province, four in Zhejiang Province, three in Fujian Province, five in Jiangxi Province, one in Shandong Province, one in Henan Province, and two in Hunan Province. The official release maintained that there is no epidemic connection between the cases and no evidence indicating human to human transmission.

The cases of those infected have spread over ten provinces and provincial level municipalities.

Source: Xinhua, May 1, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2013-05/01/c_115604120.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

CNPC and Sinopec Received Large Government Subsidies in 2012

According to Xinhua, the top two State-owned petroleum companies, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), received a total of 12.2 billion yuan (US$1.98 billion) in government subsidies in 2012. Sinopec alone received 9.4 billion yuan (US$1.53 billion). The Chinese government subsidized CNPC and Sinopec 1 billion and 462 million respectively in 2009, 1.599 billion and 1.0 billion in 2010, and 6.734 billion and close to 1.5 billion in 2011.

In 2008, due to the high cost of crude oil and the low prices paid for finished oil products, both companies incurred astronomical losses. For that year, CNPC and Sinopec received 15.7 billion yuan (US$2.57 billion) and 50.3 billion yuan (US$8.7 billion) in government subsidies, respectively.

Source: Xinhua, May 2, 2013
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/www.cs.com.cn/xwzx/cj/201305/t20130502_3966487.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

610 Office Issues Directive on the Intensive Transformation Campaign against Falun Gong

[Editor’s Note: On April 6, 2013, Lens Magazine published an article detailing the torture implements used on prisoners at Masanjia Labor Camp. The Communist Party took down the website, but not before thousands of people saw it and became irate over the authorities’ actions. Since then, Chinascope has been researching and publishing information about the goings on at Masanjia since the time of the inception of the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. The following is a directive from the Central Leadership of the Party on how to “transform” those with strong beliefs in Falun Gong, that is the “diehards.” It specifically suggests that "the national labor camp system must follow the guidance of the Ministry of Justice to vehemently promote the experience of Masanjia Labor Camp in Liaoning Province.”]

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Reports | | |   Report

People’s Daily: 60+ Population to Exceed 200 Million in 2013

China’s Vice Minister of Civil Affairs in Beijing recently said that, for a long period of time, China will be facing the serious challenge of having an aging population. As of the end of 2012, the population of elderly who were 60 years and above had reached 194 million, accounting for 14.3 percent of the total population. That figure is expected to exceed 200 million in 2013, 400 million by 2034, and 472 million by 2054.

According to statistics, China currently has 36 million elderly who are disabled, 22 million who are of an advanced age, 99 million who live alone, and 23 million who are living in poverty.

Source: People’s Daily, May 2, 2013
http://cppcc.people.com.cn/n/2013/0502/c34948-21342382.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xi Jinping Met Representatives of the National Model Workers and Affirmed Role of the Working Class

On April 28, 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a reception forum and met the representatives of the national model workers. In his speech, Xi re-emphasized the role that the working class played as the main force [of society] and called for creating a prosperous future through hard work, an old Chinese Communist tradition that the first generation of Communist leaders in Mao Zedong’s era had started. It is worth noting that Hu Zhiqiang, the Captain of the Daqing Oilfield 1205 Drilling Team, and Guo Fenglian, former Party Branch Secretary of Dazhai Village in Xiyang County of Shanxi Province were among the model workers invited to the reception forum. In Mao’s era, the Daqing Oilfield 1205 Drilling Team and Dazhai Village were the two most famous models representing the working class and the peasant class, respectively. In Mao’s era, Guo Fenglian herself [the most famous "iron maiden" in post-revolutionary Chinese history], was the model promoted to the whole country. The old adage was “Learn from Daqing in industry; learn from Dazhi in agriculture.” 

Source: Xinhua, April 28, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-04/28/c_115589060.htm
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Dairy Industry Association Claims China’s Infant Milk Powder Is Superior to Imported Brands

The China Dairy Industry Association (CDIA) recently commissioned a third-party testing organization to conduct a test of random samples of 25 brands of infant formula milk powder in the capital city of Beijing and the surrounding area. Of those tested, 13 were domestic brands; three were foreign brands produced domestically and manufactured in China, and 9 were imported products. 

The test results showed that the 16 domestic brands were all in compliance with national standards; the actual test values were very good. However, of the nine imported products, three failed the test; one even failed two indicators. 
CDIA said that the quality survey demonstrated that domestic products are better than imported products in quality, while the price of the imported brands was nearly double the price of the domestic brands. 

Source: People’s Daily, April 29, 2013 
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0429/c70731-21323406.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua: U.S. Engages “Double Standard” on Anti-Terrorism; It Is Like a Dog in the Manger

Xinhua published a commentary to rebut the U.S. State Department spokesman’s statement on the recent incident in Bachu County in Xinjiang, which the Chinese government characterized as violence and terrorism. The article said, “The U.S. not only did not condemn the incident; on the contrary, it criticized China’s ethnic and religious policies for no reason. This type of behavior of engaging in a ‘double standard’ in the fight against terrorism will, in the end, end up being a dog in the manger.”

"In 2002, after the ‘9/11’ incident, the United States cooperated with the international community to support the United Nations Security Council’s decision to list the ‘East Turkistan Islamic Movement’ as a terrorist organization.  However, with the advance of the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq war, Washington began to change its stance; it vigorously implemented a ‘double standard’ in the fight against terrorism. The most prominent manifestation includes selectively ignoring the extremist groups in the Republic of Chechnya of the Russian and the "East Turkistan" terrorist organizations that threaten China’s national security.” 
The article advises the United States, in the fight against terrorism, not to do things like a dog in the manger. 

Source, Xinhua, April 26, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2013-04/26/c_124637279.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Eighty Percent of the Imported Milk Powder Products in China Involves Fraudulent Packaging

According to a CCTV report, most of the milk powder that is sold in China and labeled as “imported” is fake. Reporters found that, in the infant milk powder area of several large supermarkets in Beijing, the vast majority of the shelves were filled with imported milk powder; very few were domestic products. However, they had never heard of many of the brands and those brands could not be found in the country from which they allegedly came. They were only sold in China. The reporter found that the labels on many of these milk powders were falsified. They were packaged as foreign OEM-milk. [Editor’s note: Due to numerous scandals involving Chinese domestic milk products, people don’t trust local brands.] 

There are less than 100 well-known foreign brands of milk powders and only about 20 of them have entered the Chinese market. However, the number of milk powders in the Chinese market that had foreign brand names exceeded 100. The other 80 brands were [fraudulently] packaged as imported foreign products. Many of these milk powders are processed in China with the raw milk coming from abroad; some even use domestic raw milk to process the milk powder. 

Source: Xinhua, April 28, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2013-04/28/c_124644058.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability