Hot Topics – Page 11

Leadership: CCP’s Third Decision on Historical Issues

On October 18, Xi Jinping led the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Political Bureau to review the draft resolution of “The CCP Central Committee’s Decision on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s 100 Years of Efforts.” It decided to submit the draft resolution to the Sixth Plenary Session of the CCP’s Nineteenth National Congress.

China News published an article, commenting on the significance of this decision. This is the third of the CCP’s decisions on “historical issues” during its entire one hundred year history. The article mentioned that the media Duowei reported on it and mentioned that the previous two decisions went through brutal in-fighting within the CCP. Duowei is tied to former CCP head Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong (Jiang’s Right-hand man). Jiang and Zeng’s group had been fighting against Xi for many years. The China News article then commented that Duowei’s reporting on this decision and the history of the CCP in-fighting indicates that the current CCP in-fighting is intense.

The first decision, taking four years (1941 to 1945) from drafting to passage, established Mao Zedong’s superior leadership within the CCP. The second one, taking a year and half (November 1979 to June 1981) from drafting to passage, established Deng Xiaoping’s superior leadership. Duowei said Xi wants to use the third one to secure his superior leadership.

The new decision draft described Xi’s achievements vs. the previous CCP leaders’ achievements as the following: “In the course of the Party’s long-term struggle, the Chinese Communists, mainly represented by Comrades Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao, have united and led the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups to promote the revolution, construction, and reform. They realized significant achievements and accumulated valuable experience. Since the 18th Party National Congress, the Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, has united and led the whole Party and the people of all nationalities to accomplish new major achievements and accumulate new valuable experience …”

{Editor’s Notes: The CCP officially recognizes five leaders since it ruled the mainland China in 1949: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. The first two, Mao and Deng, are the paramount leaders; while the third and fourth, Jiang and Hu, didn’t have the “super leader” status. Jiang and Hu served their two full terms and retired. Xi has modified the CCP’s Constitution to allow a person to serve beyond two terms. If Xi seeks his third term, a justification that he has surpassed his two predecessors in achievements will come in handy. However, this important “decision” draft didn’t give him that. It bundles all the four previous leaders together to compare to Xi. As politically it is hard to say that Xi beats Mao and Deng, the leadership comparison ends up as Xi’s achievement being the same as that of his predecessors, including Jiang and Hu. This statement may be the result of a fierce in-fight between Xi and other fictions.}

Government: People’s Daily Reported Fantasia Holdings Missed Its U.S. Debt Payment

Fantasia Holdings announced that it was unable to make a U.S. debt payment of $206 million on its due date of October 4. The company was owned by Zeng Baobao, the niece of Zeng Qinghong, a former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) top official and the right-hand man of former CCP head Jiang Zemin. Many media have reported that Zeng heads the Jiang faction since Jiang has been in poor health and their group has taken many actions against Xi Jinping.

People’s Daily reported on Fantasia’s missing the $206 million debt payment. It also reported that Fantasia raised 3.3 billion yuan (US$ 512 million) by selling a core business Li Li Le (邻里乐) from Color Life, a property management company that Fantasia owns, to Country Garden Services Holdings, another real estate giant in China.

The fact that People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the CCP Central Committee, reported the negative news about Fantasia, may convey a strong political message.

Also, an article analyzing Fantasia has appeared in many Chinese media. The article said that Fantasia appeared to have plenty of money when it reported its bank balance and its cash of 27.1 billion yuan (US$ 4.21 billion) on June 30, 2021. Actually, however, for real estate companies, the cash they hold may be the cash deposits from different house buyers, so banks will freeze that. Also, Fantasia may not have mentioned other debts that it has hidden from its report.

The article commented that Fantasia might have been blocked from issuing bonds and it therefore had no choice but to borrow money on the capital market. By June 30, 2021, its capital debt was 67 percent of its total debt, with the U.S. dollar debt accounting for 53 percent of the total debt. Among the 12 U.S. dollar debts that it has, only one has an interest rate lower than 8 percent; the other 11 all have rates of around 10 percent or higher, way above the average 7.5 percent interest rate on Renminbi debt.

Government & Leadership: After Meng Wanzhou, China Wants U.S. to Fix All Its Wrongs on Two Lists

Hua Chunying, the spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, during a press conference on September 28, that Xi Jinping, himself, gave directions on Meng Wanzhou’s case and requested the United States to resolve it properly.

Hua stated that Xi Jinping has given his personal attention to Meng’s case since she had been detained in early December 2018. The Chinese government representatives at all levels have worked to their full strength in every situation to help Meng.

Hua pointed out, in the recent China-U.S. diplomat meeting at Tianjin, that China gave the U.S. two lists. One list included the wrong talks and actions that the U.S. must stop. The other one included the key cases to which China pays attention. Both lists clearly requested that the U.S. should cancel its wrong accusation against Meng and let her return to China quickly.

“When the two state heads talked (Editor’s Note: referring to the Biden-Xi talk on September 9), … Meng said, “President Xi Jinping clearly made an effort on Meng’s case. He stated China’s stand and requested the U.S. to resolve the situation properly.”

Hua said that she has noticed that some media commented on how the resolution of Meng Wanzhou’s case helped to pull out a thorn that was deeply embedded in Sino-U.S. relations. “Due to the fact that the U.S. side has carried out a wrong China policy in the past period, there are many other thorns, big and small, in the Sino-U.S. relations. China hopes the U.S. will pay high attention (to them) and take substantive actions, to clear all items on the two lists.”

Sources:
1. China Press, September 28, 2021
https://www.chinapress.com.my/20210928/华春莹答覆孟晚舟事件-习近平明确部署工作！/
2. China Youth Daily, September 29, 2021
http://news.cyol.com/gb/articles/2021-09/29/content_Xx507fpEJ.html

Hot Topics | | September 29, 2021 | Government/Politics US-China Relations

Military: Huanqiu Report: “PLA Warships Appeared Near the U.S. Coast”

Huanqiu reported that the U.S. Department of Defense revealed, on September 12, that China’s warships appeared near the U.S. coast. The U.S. posted a picture which showed that, on August 30, the U.S. Coast Guard patrol ship USCGC Bertholf was conducting “close surveillance” of Chinese naval vessels entering international waters in the U.S. exclusive economic zone near the Aleutian Islands. The Chinese vessels included a Type 055 destroyer, a Type 052D destroyer, and a replenishment ship.

Though Huanqiu quoted a Chinese military expert as stating that “this might be a routine ocean-going training exercise and that there is no offensive implication,” the hottest comments in this article by the Chinese netizens overwhelmingly suggested that they view it as an answer to the U.S. naval ships sailing in the South China Sea. While Beijing claims the waters there to be China’s waters, the international community does not.

Some of the comments were:

“China’s freedom of navigation has begun, and the U.S. needs to get used to it!”

“Right, we should knock on the U.S. door to see if the American Empire is home.”

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you! You Yankees can sail freely, why can’t China sail freely? This is the best answer to you Yankees.”

“It is to provoke (confrontation). So what!”

“It’s just free sailing. Chinese warships are brave adolescents who like to wander around to any location in their own territory. So what if you don’t like it?”

Source: Huanqiu, September 14, 2021
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/44l3rQZKpOG

Hot Topics | | September 16, 2021 | Defense/Military US-China Relations

Leadership: Fantasia Holdings, a Business of Zeng Qinghong’s Niece, Is in Trouble

Zeng Baobao, the niece of Zeng Qinghong, owns Fantasia Holdings. Zeng Qinghong is a retired Chinese Communist Party (CCP) top official. He is former CCP head Jiang Zemin’s right-hand man, the Vice President of China, and a CCP Politburo Standing Committee member. He is still believed to have considerable political influence in China. Many media have reported him as heading a CCP faction that is against Xi Jinping.

Zeng Baobao established Fantasia Holdings in 1996. The company went IPO in Hong Kong in 2009. Its main business is real estate development.

Recently, Citibank and Credit Suisse gave a zero loan value to Fantasia’s notes, meaning that their private wealth management customers can no longer use Fantasia’s notes as collateral for loans. On September 14, S&P Global Ratings announced a negative outlook on the company and affirmed a “B” rating, as the company’s large foreign debt maturity will weigh on its financials.

Many real estate companies in China are facing cash flow problems. However, the fact that Fantasia Holdings is facing trouble may also carry a political message. It may mean that Zeng Qinghong is likely to be in bad shape. He is not able to save his family’s company.

Sources:
1. Liberty Times, September 7, 2021
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3663843
2. Sina, September 15, 2021
https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2021-09-15/doc-iktzqtyt6156639.shtml

Hot Topics | | September 16, 2021 | Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Hot Topics - 11. page

Leadership: CCP’s Third Decision on Historical Issues

Government: People’s Daily Reported Fantasia Holdings Missed Its U.S. Debt Payment

Government & Leadership: After Meng Wanzhou, China Wants U.S. to Fix All Its Wrongs on Two Lists

Military: Huanqiu Report: “PLA Warships Appeared Near the U.S. Coast”

Leadership: Fantasia Holdings, a Business of Zeng Qinghong’s Niece, Is in Trouble

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