Chinascope – Page 917

Xinhua: Golden Week did not Bring Good News to the Housing Market

Xinhua recently reported that the just finished “Golden Week” holiday season (the eight day Mid-Autumn holiday) did not give the housing market a boost. Golden Week used to be the time when a large number of real estate transactions closed. According to statistics based on numbers from fifty-four major cities across the country, the housing market suffered a seventy percent decline in real estate sales compared to the same period last year. A national survey showed that only 12.5 percent of the 9,000 people questioned were considering buying real estate during the holidays. At the same time, housing developers are not seriously planning on lowering prices either. The government is still insisting on maintaining the current tight policies regulating the housing market. It is expected that the housing market will remain flat. No major fluctuations are expected in the near future.

Source: Xinhua, October 13, 2012

http://news.xinhuanet.com/house/2012-10/13/c_123818299.htm

Briefings | | October 16, 2012 | Economy/Resources

CRN: How to Fight the Exchange Rate War

China Review News (CRN) recently published a commentary that discussed the action plan developed to fight the apparent global exchange rate war. After the United States announced its QE3 plan, Japan, Britain, European Union, India, and Australia all followed suit and announced more liberal currency policies. The commentary offered a five-point plan on how China should handle the situation: (1) Speed up the process of internationalizing the Chinese currency (RMB) in order to establish a better position in the world economy; (2) Improve the reliability of the supply of strategic energy and resource materials, which will help build up the national reserve and lower the pressure of currency appreciation; (3) Construct China’s own new financial marketplace to improve financial risk management; (4) Sell a certain amount of U.S. bonds, which will suffer devaluation after QE3; (5) Expand the scale of importing U.S. high-tech goods, including intellectual property.

Source: China Review News, October 10, 2012

http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1022/6/2/7/102262784.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102262784&mdate=1010070949

Briefings | | October 16, 2012 | Economy/Resources

VOA: Different Nobel Prize Winners Are Treated Differently

Chinese media gave extensive coverage to the praise given to Mo Yan, the Chinese writer who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature. Li Changchun, head of the Propaganda Department, sent a congratulatory letter to the Chinese Writers Association and stated that winning the prize demonstrated “the consistent improvement of China’s national power as well as its worldwide influence.”

However, Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Gao Xinjian, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature, were both treated in a completely different manner; Chinese media criticized them very harshly. Liu was labeled a "criminal" and is still imprisoned in China. The Chinese media launched scathing attacks against Liu and the Nobel Peace committee. Following Gao Xinjian’s receipt of the award, Beijing attacked him as well. The media stated that Gao had “ulterior motives” and “seriously hurt the Chinese’ people’s feelings.” The head of the Chinese Writers Association at the time told Xinhua that “the Nobel Prise for Literature carries political motives and has lost its authority.” Gao currently resides in France.

Source: Voice of America, October 12, 2012
http://www.voachinese.com/content/nobel-liuxiaobo-moyan-20121012/1525310.html

Briefings | | October 15, 2012 | Government/Politics

Qiushi Theory: Continue to Promote the Party’s Development

Qiushi Theory published an opinion article on what the Party needs to do in order to move forward in this historical era while, at the same time, facing domestic and foreign tests and maintaining its long term leadership. The article called for tighter and stricter management of the Party in developing its ideology, organization, and anti-corruption policies, while having the courage to face new challenges in order to maintain the Party’s leadership power over the long term. It also stressed the importance for the ruling Party to be consistent in renovating the Party’s theories to meet new requirements and maintain the Party’s advancement and purity.

Source: Qiushi Theory, October 13, 2012
http://www.qstheory.cn/zywz/201210/t20121013_186122.htm

Briefings | | October 15, 2012 | Government/Politics

Xinhua: See How the United States Muddies the Waters in the Asia-Pacific

Xinhua published a series of articles describing how the United States is creating trouble in the Asia-Pacific region. In the summary, the article listed some of the key points: “Since announcing it would shift its strategic center eastward to the Asia-Pacific, the United States has repeatedly conducted activities in northeast Asia and the South China Sea.

“Regarding the recent Diaoyu Islands issue, the United States keeps saying it will remain neutral and not choose sides, but it acknowledges that the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty applies to the Diaoyu Islands.

“In the issue of the Korean Peninsula, the United States ‘approved’ the increase in South Korea’s ballistic missile range up to 800 kilometers, which means that the launch of ballistic missiles from the central region of South Korea will be able to cover the whole territory of North Korea. North Korea reacted strongly … causing experts to worry that it will result in a large-scale arms race in northeast Asia.

“On the South China Sea issue, the United States continues backing the Philippines and Vietnam to ‘counterbalance’ China.”

The article concluded that “the purpose of the United States is to muddy the waters in the Asia-Pacific and leave the entire region without peace by stimulating an arms race in the Asia-Pacific countries. Then the United States will have an "excuse" to intervene directly in the Asia-Pacific situation.”

Source: Xinhua, October 11, 2012

http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-10/11/c_123803665.htm

Briefings | | October 12, 2012 | US-China Relations

Chengming: New Party Office Established to Stop Party Officials from Fleeing Overseas

Hong Kong’s Chengming magazine reported that a new office has been established to stop Communist officials from fleeing China. Li Keqiang, Vice Premier and Standing Member of the Communist Party Politburo, is the head of the new office. It is called the “Command Group to Fight against Communist Officials and Government Employees Fleeing the Country.” It was established on September 22, 2012, and started operations the next day.

According to Chengming, the "anti-fleeing" office focuses on three major regions, 20 airports, 9 ports, and 12 border crossings. Over 8,000 SWAT members were deployed at the targeted locations on or before September 28. Over 350 anti-counterfeiting instruments have been installed at these locations to detect fake documents. In the past two months, the Ministry of Public Security has validated and replaced ID cards, passports, and other travel documents for over 70,000 senior officials and over 448,000 mid-level officials.

It was reported that between 2000 and 2011, China captured 18,487 Communist officials suspected of attempting to flee the country. Funds recovered during a five year period reached 54.19 billion yuan.

Source: Chengming, October 1, 2012
http://www.chengmingmag.com/cm420/420toc/420toc.html

Briefings | | October 12, 2012 | Government/Politics

International Herald Leader: U.S. Concerns about Huawei Are Totally without Merit

China’s state’s media, the International Herald Leader (IHL), published an article that its Washington D.C. reporter wrote to rebut the comments U.S. Congressmen made during the recent Congressional hearing on Huawei and ZTE. The reporter stated, “U.S. politicians suppress Huawei and ZTE without any credible evidence in order to curb the rise of China’s strategic industries and to seek the U.S.’s own political interests.”

With respect to comments by the U.S. Congressmen on Huawei’s products proving to be a security risk, IHL, citing senior officials from Huawei and ZTE, stated, “These arguments are totally without merit.”

On the relationship with the Chinese Government, IHL quoted from Huawei that “[it] has no special relationship with the Chinese Government and has not received any help from the Chinese Government.” “ZTE declared that ‘ZTE is neither a State-owned enterprise nor under the control of the Chinese government.’”

Huawei asserted that the Communist Party Committee at Huawei was established in accordance with China’s Company Law, and that even Walmart and other foreign owned enterprises have Communist Party organizations.

Source: International Herald Leader, September 25, 2012
http://ihl.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2012/0925/97646.shtml

Briefings | | October 12, 2012 | US-China Relations

China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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