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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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People’s Daily: Government Taxes and Fees Take Seventy Percent of the Cost of Housing

People’s Daily recently published a report on the result of research on the cost of housing. International Finance News, which is owned by People’s Daily, conducted the research, which delved into the full cost chain of the housing market from establishing the construction project to the final delivery to the ultimate buyer. The research showed that the entire process involves seven categories of government taxes and fees. These break down into thirty seven accounting cost items. The total cost of these government taxes and fees amounts to seventy percent of the price of the property. Different provinces may have some differences in those fees. In Beijing, the housing development process involves over twenty government agencies. In Guangzhou, this number is over thirty. Experts suggested that the real number would be higher than seventy percent if one considered upstream and downstream costs outside the scope of the construction project. 
Source: People’s Daily, December 8, 2012
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2012/1208/c1004-19832473.html
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

WCIT2012: China and Russia Called for New Internet Rules

The Shanghai based newspaper Dongfang Daily recently published a report on the World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT2012), which started on December 4 in Dubai and will last 12 days. Government representatives from over 193 countries attended the event. During the event, the Internet governance issue once again became a big topic. China and Russia called for a new UN-based governance structure for the Internet instead of the current system managed by the US-based non-profit organization ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). China and Russia expressed the belief that all Internet member countries should have equal rights to Internet management. The United States and some other countries in the West took a strong position against any measure that would allow governments to monitor what people read and say online. Large Internet companies such as Google also stood against the new proposal. The WCIT2012 host, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU – a UN branch), suggested that everybody should focus on the fact that there are still 4.5 billion people who couldn’t even connect to the Internet.
[Editor’s Note: Media later reported that, on the afternoon of December 10, China, Russia, and other countries with poor records on freedom of expression withdrew their proposals.]
Source: Dongfang Daily, December 4, 2012
http://www.dfdaily.com/html/51/2012/12/4/904561.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

National Bureau of Statistics: November CPI up 2 Percent Compared to the Same Period Last Year

According to statistics reported by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the November CPI was up 2 percent when compared to the same period last year. The CPI grew 2.1 percent among urban residents and 1.9 percent in the countryside. The report said that the price of food went up 3 percent while the price of non-food items went up 1.6 percent. The price for consumables was up by 1.9 percent and the service sector was up 2.3 percent.

Compared to October, the November CPI was 0.1 percent higher. The CPI in urban areas went up by 0.1 percent, while the countryside went up by 0.2 percent; the price of food was up by 0.4 percent and non-food prices were flat. The price of consumables was up by 0.3 percent while the prices in the service sector were down by 0.3 percent.

Source: Xinhua, December 9, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2012-12/09/c_124068137.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: The Dalai Lama Orchestrated the Self Immolation Incidents in Sichuan

According to Xinhua, the Public Security Bureau of Sichuan Province arrested two suspects from Ngawa County. One suspect was a monk from Kirti Gompa temple who "admitted" that he received direct orders from the Dalai Lama Group, which persuaded eight civilians to commit self-immolation, resulting in three deaths. The police in Sichuan stated that they will “conduct further investigations and severely punish those criminal actions that incite, instigate, and coerce innocent civilians to conduct self-immolation.”

Source: Xinhua, December 9, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2012-12/09/c_113960646.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

RFA: Rights Lawyer Prohibited from Giving Media Interview

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that, in August of 2012, Wang Chen, a rights lawyer from Hang Zhou, Zhejiang Province, initiated a petition campaign calling for an end to the labor camp system. Recently, Wang mailed the petition, which had over 10,000 signatures, to the People’s Congress and the State Council. Wang told RFA on Monday, December 3 that, when he was about to leave for an interview with a Hong Kong media on November 30, the police blocked him from leaving his house. They later summoned him to the police station for “Inciting subversion of state power.” Wang told RFA that the signatures he collected came from people from all walks of life, including lawyers, business owners, farm workers, public servants, people who had been locked up in labor camps, and some famous public figures, including Ai Weiwei, Jiang Tianyong, Li Heping, Li Fangping, Xu Zhiyong and Ten Biao.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 3, 2012
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/ql1-12032012094501.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

CCP Central Committee’s Political Bureau Meeting on Economic Work for 2013

In Beijing on December 4, 2012, the CCP Central Committee’s Political Bureau held a meeting on the economic work to be done in 2013. The result of the meeting was that China will continue to strengthen its control over real estate pricing.

The meeting set the direction for the year 2013 as follows: maintain the continuity and stability of macro-economic policies and apply appropriate precautionary adjustments and micro adjustments to the economy; try to expand domestic demand and continue strict control over over-production; maintain the stability of the general price level and regulate market prices and fee structures; improve people’s living standards and strengthen control over real estate pricing.

Source:
Huanqiu, December 4, 2012.
http://china.huanqiu.com/politics/2012-12/3344280.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Senior Party Official Investigated for Corruption

On December 6, Xinhua announced that the Communist Party Central Commission for Discipline Inspection confirmed that Li Chuncheng, the Deputy Communist Secretary of Sichuan Province, is being investigated for “suspicion of serious discipline violations." The one sentence announcement did not offer details. Later Xinhua published a follow-up commentary which stated that the anti-corruption campaign is unfolding from the central government to local governments. Huanqiu, which is under People’s Daily also published a commentary. It stated that official media tend to categorize reports on corruption as being “sensitive” and that in every case in which official media delay or maintain a low profile when handling the publication of such reports, it creates the appearance of a cover-up. Li is the first senior party official to be investigated for corruption since the new Party General Secretary, Xi Jinping, took over from Hu Jintao in November.

Sources:
Xinhua, December 6, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-12/06/c_113923447.htm
Xinhua reprinted by Guangming Daily, December 6, 2012
http://legal.gmw.cn/2012-12/06/content_5920335.htm Huanqiu, December 6, 2012
Huanqiu, December 6, 2012
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2012-12/3349303.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xi Jinping Calls for a Powerful Strategic Missile Force

On December 5, 2012, the new Communist Party General Secretary and Central Military Commission Chairman, Xi Jinping, met with representatives of the Second Artillery Force of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). During the meeting, Xi ordered the Chinese military to build a powerful and technological missile force. He told those present, “The Second Artillery Force of the PLA is the core of the strategic deterrence forces, the strategic support of China as a major power, and an important cornerstone for safeguarding China’s national security.” Xi stressed the need to uphold the Communist Party’s absolute control of the military and to ensure the absolute loyalty of the military to the Party.

According to China’s Ministry of Defense, the Second Artillery Force is a strategic force under the direct command and control of the Central Military Commission. It is mainly responsible for deterring other countries from using nuclear weapons against China, and for conducting nuclear counterattacks and precision strikes with conventional missiles.

Sources:
Xinhua, December 5, 2012.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2012-12/05/c_113922221.htm
China’s Ministry of Defense
http://eng.mod.gov.cn/ArmedForces/second.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics