Government/Politics - 133. page

Radio Free Asia recently published an article about an ad that Beijing University Hospital posted about the high requirements that a top quality sperm donor must meet.  A donor is to “have fine political quality; love the socialist motherland, support the leadership of the Communist Party, and be loyal to the Party.” This “Political Correctness” statement turned out to be a topic for laughter on the Internet. The article stated that, in the current social environment, many companies in China have to display political slogans to prove that, “they are in agreement with the central administration” in order to survive. Many displays, however, turned out to be foolish jokes.

Source: Radio Free Asia, April 6, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/ql3-04062018102633.html

The Epoch Times published an article reporting that the Bank of China will have two leaders: Guo Shuqing who will be the party secretary and Vice Governor and Yi Gang who will be the Governor and deputy party secretary. Guo Shuqing is also the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Guo will be in charge of human resources, party affairs and reform while Yi will be in charge of operations. Both Guo and Yi report to Liu He, Vice Premier and economic counsel to Xi Jinping. The Epoch Times reported that, since the China Securities Regulatory Commission was separated from the Bank of China in 2003, the relationship between the two has not gone well. The recent new appointment which involves having two leaders managing the Bank of China is unprecedented and is meant to minimize the conflicts that have existed between two agencies. It will also ensure that there is no overall financial risk as it is currently placed as one of the main obstacles that Xi Jinping has to face in the next three years.

Source: The Epoch Times, March 26 & 27
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/18/3/26/n10250775.htm
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/18/3/27/n10252798.htm

According to an article The Epoch Times published on March 23, Belgium’s Elia System Operator issued an official announcement that it has decided to buy a 20 percent stake in 50Hertz, a German Electricity Network from IFM, an Australia investment group. Elia System Operator currently has 60 percent of the ownership and will thus end up owning 80 percent of the stock while IFM will keep the other 20 percent. The article stated that the decision has officially ended China’s bid to be a potential shareholder of 50Hertz, which is one of the four transmission system operators in Germany. It plays a key role in the renewable energy field. The article reported that China’s intent to buy a 20 percent stake in 50Hertz raised serious concerns among politicians in Germany as they feared that China would gain control of Germany’s sensitive infrastructure technology. An article that Radio France Internationale published quoted a source from the German Handelsblatt Newspaper that the German Ministry of Economics even approached Elia to buy a stake in 50Hertz. This is not the first time that China State Grid failed in a foreign investment. Two years ago, the Belgium intelligence agency blocked China State Grid when it intended to buy into another Belgium Energy company, Eandis. It cited China State Grid’s close ties with the Chinese government and the Communist Party as well as concerns over maintaining customer information confidentiality. Currently China State Grid has stock ownership in electric grid companies in Portugal, Italy, and Greece.

Source: The Epoch Times & Radio France Internationale, March 24, 2018
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/18/3/24/n10246580.htm
http://cn.rfi.fr/20180324-%E4%B8%AD%E8%B5%84%E5%85%A5%E8%82%A1%E5%BE%B7%E5%9B%BD%E7%94%B5%E7%BD%91%E5%8F%97%E6%8C%AB

New Tang Dynasty Television reported that, on March 30, China aired the video trial of Wu Xiaohui, formerly of the Board of Directors of the AnBang Group, for allegedly being involved in a series of financial fraud schemes. The video showed that, in the beginning. Wu refused to plead guilty. In the end, however, he was seen sobbing and asked for forgiveness and a lighter judgment from the court. As the grandson-in-law of Deng Xiaoping, Wu started the AnBang Group in 2004 as a private insurance company in Ningbo City. It attracted a number of investors, including Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation. AnBang was reported to have close ties with Jiang Mianheng (the son of Jiang Zemin) and Zeng Qinhong. Within ten years, the AnBang Group grew from a small insurance company to a financial empire with capital of 800 billion yuan (US$123 billion). Duowei News published a blog article which stated that, for the AnBang Group, for such fast growth, it must have had deep political ties backing it. It is an indication of the urgency for proper supervision in China’s financial industry and the reason why Xi Jinping listed financial risk prevention as one of the three battles to fight in the next three years. The article stated that Wu’s trial only marks the beginning of the war and that the shakeup of the financial industry will get deeper and tougher. China watchers in the U.S. said it is part of a new policy to prevent money from flowing out of the country via foreign real estate investments.

AnBang is best known in the U.S. for buying the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York.

Sources:
1. New Tang Dynasty, March 30, 2018
http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/gb/2018/03/30/a1369588.html
2. Duowei News, March 20, 2018
http://blog.dwnews.com/post-1013187.html                                                                                                                                                                  3. Forbes, February 28, 2018                                                                                                            https://www.forbes.com/sites/lcarrel/2018/02/28/china-starts-chinese-new-year-by-seizing-anbang/

Duowei News reported that the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) issued a notice that Feng Xinzhu, Deputy Governor of Shaanxi Province, was “expelled from party membership and stripped of his public office title” for violation of political discipline and rules. Feng is the first “tiger” who went under investigation this year, on January 3, 2018. The article reported that there have been 21 Deputy Governors from 15 provinces taken down since the 18th Congress.

Source: Duowei News, March 31, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/china/news/2018-03-31/60049233.html

According to an article in Radio Free Asia, based on a document that the State Council released on March 21, China will form the world’s largest media station called “Voice of China.” It will combine the existing China Central Television, China National Radio, and China Radio International under one unified name. The Publicity Department will manage it and have the responsibility to “promote the Party theory and guidelines, organize major publicity and coverage, guide social hot topics, strengthen international communication capabilities, and publish positive news on China.” The article reported that, based on information from an undisclosed source, Voice of China will not only produce the party’s propaganda program, it will also copy the model of those public funded stations in foreign countries, receive government funding, and limit the amount of advertising during its programs. According to the official statistics, China Central Television has at least 10,000 employees with over 70 branch stations overseas. China National Radio has over 2,100 employees and China Radio International has over 2,000 employees and broadcasts in over 60 languages. It is expected that, following the consolidation, Voice of China will become world’s largest media.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 21, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/propaganda-03212018093531.html

Radio Free Asia reported that the Shanghai Public Security Bureau published an announcement on its website that it will delay the cancellation of the resident status of those Chinese citizens who live outside of China or have been granted resident status in a foreign country. The original policy was going to take effect in May and use Shanghai as the test city. The website claims that it needs time to further define what it means by “people who have foreign resident status.” Huanqiu published an article last week saying the policy was targeting those who hold dual citizenship. The initial notice drew heated discussions in social media overseas because many Chinese residents who live overseas may face the issue of whether their entitlement to pensions and medical benefits will be stripped in China if the policy were to go into in effective.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 26, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/nu-03262018102304.html