Chinascope – Page 946

Beijing News: SAC Issues Guide on Investing Private Capital in State-Owned Companies

Beijing News recently reported that the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SAC) issued a document on an executive regulation detailing the guidelines for implementing the State Council’s orders that had first been released in 2010, encouraging private sector investment. One important guideline is to allow the private sector to invest in state-owned companies not only through a cash investment, but also a transfer of intellectual property, land, or other physical assets. The new guidelines also allow buying stock shares, company bonds or debts, and renting as means of participating in the re-organization process of state-owned companies. One of the primary goals of the new guidelines is to eliminate “discrimination against private investors.”

Source: Beijing News, May 26, 2012
http://epaper.bjnews.com.cn/html/2012-05/26/content_341239.htm?div=-1

Briefings | | May 29, 2012 | Economy/Resources

Xinhua: Chinese State Council Released 2011 U.S. Human Rights Records

On May 25, Xinhua reported that the State Council Information Office had just released a report called "The 2011 U.S. Human Rights Records." This report was in response to the U.S. State Department’s 2011 World Human Rights Report released one day earlier. The Chinese “Records” report accused the U.S. report of distorting the actual human rights situation in China. It suggested that the handling of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement proved that the authorities in the U.S. heavily violate (its citizens’) freedom to demonstrate and their freedom of speech. It further claimed that the United States government applies strong control and filtering of news media as well as the Internet. The “Records” also stated that U.S. citizens suffer from a high crime rate due to poor gun control and they also suffer a high unemployment rate coupled with poor unemployment benefits. The “Records” suggested that the U.S has violated the sovereignty of many other countries and the human rights in those countries. It concluded that the U.S. does not “qualify” to be the “world judge” and should stop using a double standard.

Source: Xinhua, May 25
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-05/25/c_112038431.htm

Briefings | | May 29, 2012 | US-China Relations

BBC: Chinese Yuan Will Soon Be Exchangeable with Japanese Yen

On May 26, BBC Chinese reported on news received from major Japanese media on the same day that the Chinese government and the Japanese government plan to reach an agreement in June, which will be implemented soon thereafter, to make the two countries’ currencies directly exchangeable. This will be the first time the Chinese yuan (RMB) will be directly exchangeable with another foreign currency without a “middleman” currency such as the U.S. Dollar. The agreement originated at the leadership summit the two countries had last December. Actual negotiations started this February. The Tokyo and the Shanghai foreign exchange markets are preparing for the operational mechanism, which has a delivery target of this June. This move is widely considered as a symbolic action for the Chinese yuan to “de-link” from the U.S Dollar. Currently Great Britain and Singapore are both in talks with the Chinese government to cut similar deals.

Source: BBC Chinese, May 26, 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/business/2012/05/120526_japanese_chinese_yuan.shtml

Briefings | | May 29, 2012 | Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s State-Run Media Criticizes U.S. for Giving a Hard Time to Confucius Institute Teachers

People’s Daily and Xinhua published a news report following the U.S. Department of State’s memorandum to rein in the use of J-1 visas for Chinese teachers at the Confucius Institutes. The report criticizes the U.S. memorandum for disrupting the educational activities at the Confucius Institutes across the U.S. The report used such subtitles as “unilateral halt baffling,” “political forces continuously vilifying (the Confucius Institute),” “U.S. public highly regards the exchanges.” 　

The report quoted insiders (informed sources) as saying that “the Confucius Institute class does not have the issue of accreditation because it does not count for subject credits or give degrees;” and “the memorandum is apparently a move to attack the institute. … There are indeed some political forces in American society that have, without justification, been attacking and defaming the educational activities of the institute.”

[Editor’s note: According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, a Department of State "memorandum, dated May 17, states that any academics at university-based institutes who are teaching at the elementary and secondary school levels are violating the terms of their visas and must leave at the end of this academic year, in June. And it says that, after a ‘preliminary review,’ the State Department has determined that the institutes must obtain American accreditation in order to continue to accept foreign scholars and professors as teachers."]

Sources: People’s Daily and Xinhua, May 24, 2012
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/17969508.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-05/24/c_123181802.htm
Chronicle of Higher Education http://chronicle.com/article/State-Department-Directive/131934

Briefings | | May 25, 2012 | US-China Relations

In the First Quarter Total of Local GDP Exceeded National GDP by 480 Billion RMB

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter of 2012, the total national GDP in China was 10,800 billion RMB, while the total of all local GDP amounts was 11,280 billion RMB for the same period. The difference is 480 Billion RMB (US $75.65 billion). China Economy reporters calculated the total through a summation of the local numbers. Every year since 1985, when local and national governments started to calculate GDP separately, the two numbers have been inconsistent. While different methodologies may have contributed to the inconsistency, the authorities believe that data fraud has been a cause. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, despite government efforts to curb fraud, local governments frequently use their administrative power to arbitrarily adjust the GDP number upward to demonstrate their achievements and competence.

Source: China Economy reprinted by Xinhua, May 24, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2012-05/24/c_123184185.htm

Briefings | | May 25, 2012 | Economy/Resources

Hu Jintao: the Military Must Maintain Absolute Loyalty to the Party

People’s Daily reported that on May 23, 2012, Hu Jintao, together with Xi Jianping, the Vice Chair of the Party’s Central Military Commission, met with the Communist Party representatives from the Beijing Military District. Hu Jintao made some comments in which he emphasized that the build-up of the military must be focused on the "fundamentals of resolutely following the command of the Party and constantly maintaining absolute loyalty to the Party."

Source: People’s Daily, May 24, 2012
http://mil.huanqiu.com/china/2012-05/2751271.html

Briefings | | May 25, 2012 | Government/Politics

China’s State Bank Took Over U.S. Branch of Bank of East Asia

On May 9, 2012, days after high-level US-China economic talks took place in Beijing, the Federal Reserve approved an application from the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to buy a majority stake in the U.S. subsidiary of the Bank of East Asia. The transaction will make ICBC the first Chinese state-controlled bank to acquire retail bank branches in the United States.

ICBC has total assets of roughly $2.5 trillion. It will buy up to 80 percent of the U.S. branch of the Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia, which operates 13 branches in New York and California.

In other Fed board decisions, the Bank of China, the country’s third-largest bank, won approval for a branch in Chicago. The Agricultural Bank of China, the fourth-largest bank, is set to establish a branch in New York City, where it already operates a representative office.

Source: International Herald Leader under Xinhua, May 21, 2012
http://ihl.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2012/0521/40050.shtml

Briefings | | May 24, 2012 | 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.