Trump Harder Line On China; Conflicting Cult Signals; Core Socialist Values Campaign - Sinocism 11.20.17
Good Morning...this is Thanksgiving week in the US and so there will be no newsletter this Thursday or Friday.
The excellent Jonathan Swan at Axios has lots more detail on what I have been saying for a while, that behind the pomp and smiles the Trump Administration has been preparing a much tougher approach to China. In 1 big thing: Lighthizer rising Swan tells us that:
Shortly before Trump left for Asia, Lighthizer met with the entire economic team in the White House to discuss the U.S.-China relationship. If the Trump administration takes the hardline actions we expect them to eventually take on China, historians will look back on this meeting as a seminal moment...
Lighthizer — in front of the whole economic team including Cohn, Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue — described the U.S.-China economic relationship as "bullshit." Lighthizer laid out the history of the last 25 years of U.S.-China relations. He went through what each "dialogue" was called under presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama. His point: every administration comes up with a new catchword and strategic framework to describe the U.S.-China relationship, but the trade deficit with China just keeps ballooning by the billions.
I'm told many in the group — which includes officials like Cohn who often disagree with Lighthizer philosophically — found Lighthizer's presentation compelling.
The Wall Street Journal also reports that a tougher approach is in the cards, and confirms my comments in several issues over the last few weeks that the Trump was not going to Beijing with any specific asks but rather taking a "you know what you need to do" approach--Beyond Trump-Xi Bond, White House Looks to Toughen China Policy:
The Trump administration, which recently completed a comprehensive review of China policy, is rejecting the longstanding practice of eking out concessions from Beijing on trade and market access around high-level meetings...
Still, the question is when, or whether, the administration will actually take action on these fronts. So far, trade enforcement has taken a back seat to White House priorities such as winning passage of a tax cut and securing Chinese cooperation to curb North Korea’s nuclear program.
U.S. officials have struggled to find remedies that won’t trigger a wide backlash from industries that consume Chinese products or free-trade Republicans in Congress.
Watch for Beijing to keep manipulating the North Korea issue with a goal towards forestalling any tougher trade actions from the US.
The Essential Eight
1. Conflicting Cult Signals
Comment: This latest Xinhua hagiography of Xi is raising more concerns we are seeing the creation of the "cult of Xi". I still do not see this as approaching anything like the "cult of Mao", and there is a logic in ensuring cadres throughout the system understand the new political landscape. But there is no question this is worrisome. There are, as usual in China, also conflicting signals. First, the latest in what appears to be a budding "Cult of Xi:
Profile: Xi Jinping and his era - Xinhua (The Chinese version-习近平：新时代的领路人-新华网):
At this point, Xi is the unrivalled helmsman who will steer China toward this great dream.
Xi has been described by the media as "energetic," "ambitious," "sober-minded," and a "pathfinder."
OK. So who is Xi then? According to Xinhua’s fawning profile, he’s China’s “unrivalled helmsman” – a title that harks back to the country’s revolutionary founder and great helmsman, Mao Zedong. But that’s not all – Xi is also a reformer, a world leader, a philosopher, a servant of the people, a pathfinder, a consummate communicator, a man who makes things happen and an architect of modernisation. Oh, and he’s also the core
A lengthy profile of Xi published by Xinhua on Friday said:
“Since the 18th National Congress [in 2012], more than 100 PLA officers at or above the corps-level, including two former CMC vice chairmen, have been investigated and punished. “This is even greater than the number of army generals who died in the battlefield during revolutionary times.”
He Yiting on the origins of Xi Thought for Socialism With Chinese Characteristics In The New Era - 伟大思想理论从何而来？-人民网
China Launches Mao-Style Paeans of Praise to President Xi Jinping - RFA:
A newly composed patriotic song lauding Chinese President Xi Jinping is taking to the airwaves in China, as state media published a lengthy article painting the country's "unrivaled helmsman" in rosy tones on Friday.
The song, "To Follow You is to Follow the Sun", is strongly reminiscent of revolutionary songs praising late supreme leader Mao Zedong, of whom choirs of patriotic singers once sang that he was "the reddest sun burning in all our hearts."
Conflicting signals: Remember this from the November 14 Newsletter?
A Guizhou newspaper, the Qianxi Nan Daily, is going with "Great Leader" Xi. The Newspaper called him 伟大领袖 in the November 10 issue, and this article on local masses and cadres seeing him as "Great Leader" is in the November 14 issue-“伟大领袖习近平总书记” —— 黔西南各族干部群众的共同心声-黔西南日报·
Remember, the "core" appellation for Xi started in the provinces. Xi was a Guizhou delegate to the 19th Party Congress and Li Zhanshu and Chen Min'er both have deep ties there. I hope this is local officials overstepping, but it is worrisome.
Someone was not happy with “Great Leader” and now the front pages of the 11.10 and 11.14 issues are no longer available online; the electronic editions just start on page 2 on those days now. Supposedly the Guizhou provincial propaganda department issued an order banning the usage of "Great Leader General Secretary Xi Jinping 伟大领袖习近平总书记."
2. Could A Massive Core Socialist Values Campaign Be Coming?
Comment: Related to the concerns about a "cult of Xi" are the regular warnings that China could be header for a Cultural Revolution 2.0. I have been saying for years that Xi has launched a cultural revolution, a intra-party "cadre Cultural Revolution". So far it has not bled much over into society, but the increasing focus on "core Socialist values" strikes me as something to take very seriously.
China minister warns against seduction of values by Western nations - Reuters:
Huang Kunming, who was appointed to the post following last month’s key party congress at which Xi further cemented his grip on power, wrote in the official People’s Daily (培育和践行社会主义核心价值观（认真学习宣传贯彻党的十九大精神) that there was an intensifying “surge and collision” in the world between different values.
“There are especially some Western countries who use their technological advantages and dominance of discourse that they have accumulated over a long period to peddle so-called ‘universal values’,” he wrote.
Huang Kunming calls for implementation of core socialist values - Gov.cn:
He also shared his thoughts on drawing on core socialist values to guide education, efforts to raise cultural-ethical standards, and the creation, production, and distribution of cultural and intellectual products. And all areas of social development should be imbued with these values. People should step up institution building across the board to make integrated advances in law-based governance, and Party members and families should play their exemplary and fundamental roles in implementing core socialist values, Huang wrote.
3. Foreign Educators Thought Their China Ventures Were Protected From Communist Party Influence?
Comment: Think again. But if you still believe existing contracts will protect your school then please call me as I have a terrific Beijing bridge for sale, cheap...Seriously, this should prompt a rethink at many foreign higher education institutions with operations in China.
Beijing vies for greater control of foreign universities in China - FT $$:
The Chinese Communist party has ordered foreign-funded universities to install party units and grant decision-making powers to a party official, reversing an earlier promise to guarantee academic freedom as President Xi Jinping strengthens political control over all levels of education...
Foreign-invested universities and institutes will need to show co-operation over the next few months, the two people said.
Discussions over the new directive began in August among party and education officials. The formal decision to implement it was made after the party’s recently concluded 19th congress, at which Mr Xi said: “Government, military, society and schools — north, south, east and west — the party is leader of all.
4. Anti-corruption Law Not Going To Boost Demand For Lawyers
A new anti-corruption law, expected to come into force next year, looks likely to make denial of access to a lawyer the norm in such cases. According to a draft of the bill, it will give Chinese graft-busters the legal grounds to detain any individual suspected of involvement in corruption for months – including those suspected of giving or receiving bribes – and block their access to lawyers during their detention.
The national supervision law, released in draft form on November 6 and expected to take effect in March, will establish a new anti-graft super body – the national supervisory commission – and give the commission and its local branches special detention powers when targeting corruption suspects.
5. Is The Asset Management Crackdown Real?
Comment: Dismiss the Financial Stability and Development Committee as toothless or unserious at your peril...
Regulators Issue Unified Rules for Asset Management - Caixin Global:
The rules were jointly rolled out by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), along with top regulatory bodies overseeing banking, securities, insurance sectors and foreign exchange. The rules cover standard leverage ratios, risk reserve funds, investment restrictions and other requirements for asset management products issued by all financial institutions, according to a draft document published on the PBOC website.
中国人民银行就《关于规范金融机构资产管理业务的指导意见（征求意见稿）》公开征求意见
China Moves to Rein in Risks From Asset-Management Products - Bloomberg:
Financial institutions should offer yields based on the net asset value of the
products they issue, to reflect the risks and return of the underlying assets, instead of offering a guaranteed principal repayment or rate of return, the People’s Bank of China said in a joint statement with other financial regulators on Friday. Firms that fail to comply with that rule will be punished with measures such as additional reserve requirements, they said.
China's $38 Trillion Off-Balance Sheet Binge Poses Little Risk: UBS - Bloomberg:
Despite the size of the figure, a financial systemic credit event in China is “very unlikely,” Jason Bedford, a Hong Kong-based analyst at UBS, said in a Nov. 15 report. Growth in assets kept on the balance sheet has outstripped off-the-book expansion, Bedford wrote after studying 282 bank filings from 2016 and the first half of 2017.
Bedford’s conclusions add to a growing assessment that China will evade a financial crisis as authorities tighten their grip on structures such as wealth-management products. While the People’s Bank of China still warns of “contagious and hazardous” risks, Moody’s Investors Service this month said regulation is biting and shadow banking has stopped growing.
Committee to coordinate fiscal policies - China Daily:
The newly established national financial regulatory body is designed to be the top-level executor and coordinator of the State Council's macroeconomic policies rather than to only safeguard the inflated financial sector, according to experts directly involved in the committee's preparatory work.
The priority task of the Financial Stability and Development Committee, which debuted earlier this month with Vice-Premier Ma Kai as the head, is to effectively implement and coordinate economic and financial policy decisions made by the State Council, Chen Daofu, deputy director of the Research Institute of Finance under the State Council's Development Research Center, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.
Comment: I thought that was the Premier's job...Liu He will be one powerful guy if he replaces Ma Kai.
6. Political Will To Curb Excessive Infrastructure Spending?
Comment: The new Caixin cover story says reining in subway boom just a part of a renewed effort to halt wasteful and infeasible infrastructure projects--【封面报道】千亿项目叫停信号_财新网.
But when growth falls off a cliff will the central government hold firm, and how will Beijing manage the local governments who are on the front lines of any slowdown?
China Revises Key Policy to Rein in Subway Boom - Caixin Global:
Sources close to the matter told Caixin that the National Development and Reform Commission is soliciting internal comments on a draft revision to the 2003 policy. The commission proposes to tighten scrutiny of population, GDP and fiscal conditions of the cities that want to build subways.
The move came after the cities of Baotou and Hohhot, both in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, scraped construction plans for subway projects worth billions of dollars under central government pressure. The project cancellations sparked market speculation that Beijing is tightening its grip on local subway projects because of debt concerns after an investment binge in city-rail projects since 2015 to boost economic growth.
7. SOE Stakes Distributed To Fund Pensions
Comment: This is an important and good move, the state needs to redistribute assets back to the citizens.
Pension fund to get State assets boost - China Daily:
Ten percent of State-owned equity, including shares of State-owned enterprises and financial institutions, will be transferred to the National Council for Social Security Fund and smaller, local State-owned companies, the State Council, China's Cabinet, announced in a document on Saturday.
The pilot program will begin with three to five SOEs and two central financial institutions in several provinces this year. The program aims to make up for possible shortfalls in the nation's pension provisions and will be expanded in 2018 to involve more State-owned companies, the document said.
国务院关于印发划转部分国有资本 充实社保基金实施方案的通知 国发〔2017〕49号
China plans to transfer state capital to social security funds - Gov.cn:
Currently the transfer proportion is 10 percent of the state-owned shares and might be adjusted later considering the reform of the basic pension system and requirements for sustainable development.
The National Council for Social Security Fund is authorized to hold the shares of centrally-supervised SOEs. The council can set up a pension management company specially operating the transferred shares when conditions are mature.
8. Beijing Fire Kills 19 Migrant Workers and Relatives
China Focus: Beijing orders city-wide investigation after deadly fire - Xinhua:
Cai Qi, secretary of the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee, has ordered a 40-day city-wide safety check after a deadly fire killed 19 people and injured eight more. A fire broke out Saturday night at a three-story apartment at Xinjian Village, Daxing District in the southern suburb of the city. A total of 19 people died. Eight people were sent to the hospital, and seven of them have been out of danger.
Freezing Out Discussion of Winter Heating | China Media Project:
After a blaze swept through a dense residential area populated by migrant workers on the outskirts of Beijing, killing at least 19 people, there was speculation online that the fire might have been caused by the use of electrical heating owing to a recent government ban on the residential burning of soft coal. News coverage has been severely curbed in the wake of the tragedy, with only a smattering of reports outside those of the official Xinhua News Agency.
Business, Economy, Finance And Trade
Regulator Moves to Tighten Oversight of Bank Shareholders - Caixin Global The China Banking Regulatory Commission published on its website Thursday draft rules on supervising the ownership of commercial banks. The new rules, open for public comments, require any investor planning to hold a stake of more than 5% in a commercial bank to register for CBRC approval.
German firms warn Chinese Communist Party’s drive to gain more control over business operations may drive them away | South China Morning Post The German Chamber of Commerce in China told a press conference on Friday to release its annual business confidence survey that companies were concerned that the requirement to have the party members involved in company management would affect business operations.
China’s laid-off workers pose daunting welfare challenge - FT $$ Mr Xu is one of about 10,000 workers let go in Ma’anshan, a steel town in Anhui province, as China scales back its state-owned enterprises and upgrades its manufacturing sector. Across the country 1.8m coal and steel workers are to be banished from the payroll by the end of this year as part of the biggest wave of redundancies since the late 1990s.
China's Quest for Clean Air Shakes Up Industry and Inflation - Bloomberg As President Xi Jinping’s government intensifies the fight against the country’s world-class pollution problem, companies are scrambling to adapt to tighter regulation while investing in cleaner energy. In industries from steel to textiles and consumer goods, the resulting shakeout has left the survivors with far more pricing power. That in turn is reinforcing the already-resurgent factory prices that contribute to global inflation.
China’s state-owned firms must take leading role in world markets, says chief regulator | South China Morning Post Xiao Yaqing, chairman of China’s State-Owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission, said in remarks published on Friday that SOEs must first acquire “leading positions in the allocation of global resources” to meet ambitions.
Gene Science Firm Stops Trading to Investigate Meteoric Stock Rise - Caixin Global Shares of China’s largest genomics firm BGI Genomics Co. were, as of Wednesday, worth 17 times more than when it listed in Shenzhen just four months ago, triggering concerns over potential risks behind the investment craze
China Cracks Down on Public-Private Partnership Abuse - Caixin Global China is stepping up efforts to close loopholes in its public-private partnership initiative that are being exploited by local governments to borrow more money through banned channels. In a notice posted Thursday on its website, the Ministry of Finance announced an overhaul of the approval system and told local governments nationwide that they have until the end of March to comply with orders to review, identify and remove unqualified projects from the official PPP registration system.
Alibaba goes offline with $2.9 billion stake in China's top grocer - Reuters The deal would give French retailer Groupe Auchan SA, China’s Alibaba Group and Taiwanese conglomerate Ruentex 36.18 percent, 36.16 percent and 4.67 percent stakes respectively in Sun Art. Alibaba would replace Ruentex as the second-largest shareholder.
Expect a huge rise in global influence by innovative Chinese companies over next decade, says JP Morgan Asia-Pacific chief | South China Morning Post In an exclusive interview, Nicolas Aguzin also told South China Morning Post that its progress in the financial technology (fintec) and consumer sectors would be especially dramatic, with emerging Chinese firms becoming increasingly respected globally for their quality of innovation and creativity.
How China’s Acquisitive HNA Group Fell From Favor - WSJ As lenders have become less willing to fund HNA in recent months, its cash situation has tightened, according to a person familiar with HNA. Executives told people inside and outside the company that it was in “wait-and-see mode” on major new deals until China’s gathering of Communist Party leaders in October, but HNA’s deal-making pace hasn’t resumed. Earlier this month, a unit of the company had to pay 8.875% in interest to borrow $300 million for less than a year, compared with similar bonds issued by a junk-rated Chinese property developer at 5.5%.
Politics, Law And Ideology
Xi honors ethical role models - Xinhua: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday encouraged ethical role models and pioneers to make new contributions to raising socialist cultural-ethical standards. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while meeting representatives attending the award ceremony on the initiative. Fifty-eight people were honored as ethical role models, the sixth group to receive the honor since 2007.// 习近平会见全国精神文明建设表彰大会代表 Xi pulled over chairs for old delegates and insisted they sit 温暖的力量 感人的瞬间——习近平总书记会见全国道德模范代表引发强烈反响
Top honour for 93-year-old engineer behind China’s first nuclear submarine | South China Morning Post: For more than three decades, Huang Xuhua was little known beyond the small team of researchers he worked with to design China's first nuclear submarine... The 93-year-old engineer was thrust into the spotlight when President Xi Jinping invited Huang to sit next to him for a group photo, state media reported.
China's Chongqing renews attacks on disgraced former leaders | South China Morning Post The official Chongqing Daily said in a front-page commentary there could be no excuses for ignoring party instructions, especially on party discipline issues. “Bo Xilai raised his own flag, started something new in order to be different and set up an independent kingdom,” the paper wrote, in apparent reference to his “Chongqing model” policy of more equal growth and flashy infrastructure projects...“Sun Zhengcai practised lazy and indolent politics, bullied those below and hoodwinked those above, and was passively handled enforcement of decision from the party centre,” it added.// 把十九大精神全面落实在重庆大地上 必须注重从政治上抓落实
China: Police ‘Big Data’ Systems Violate Privacy, Target Dissent | Human Rights Watch One of the Ministry of Public Security’s (MPS) most ambitious and privacy-violating big data projects is the “Police Cloud” (警务云) system. The system scoops up information from people’s medical history, to their supermarket membership, to delivery records, much of which is linked to people’s unique national identification numbers. This allows the Police Cloud system to track where the individuals have been, who they are with, and what they have been doing, as well as make predictions about their future activities. It is designed to uncover relationships between events and people “hidden” to the police by analyzing, for example, who has been staying in a hotel or travelling together. It can also alert the police to activity that might seem unusual – such as when someone who has a local residence frequently stays in a local hotel.
公安部提醒：身份证将迎来巨变 影响所有人|电子|银行卡|网络诈骗_新浪新闻 China's national id card to go electronic, be written into your phone SIM card?
省委书记失责拖出大案，最高检今介入 Interesting look at the downfall of Wang Sanyun, formerly Gansu Provincial Secretary, links it to environmental pollution case in the province
Foreign and Military Affairs
Xi’s envoy meets North Korean officials - Global Times "We hope Pyongyang can treat this visit seriously. Song is the special envoy of Xi, which is very different from other diplomats. If Pyongyang can take this rare opportunity to make key adjustment to its nuclear program, it will largely ease tensions. If North Korea can accept China's 'dual-approach' through a significant meeting, the ball will be in the US' court and the common ground between China and North Korea will be increased,"
Beijing blamed for blocking Japanese students' speech：The Asahi Shimbun China blocked Japanese high school students acting as peace ambassadors from giving their annual anti-nuclear weapons speech at a U.N. disarmament event, according to Japanese government sources. Beijing requested that Tokyo stop the students from delivering the speech at the United Nations European Headquarters in Geneva, the sources said.
举行在大洋彼岸的党组织生活-大连理工大学能源与动力学院 CCP party branch formed at UC davis, announced with pictures before realization that maybe best not to be so open, deleted. but original lives on in this google cache page. FVI going to look at this from a FARA perspective?
Axios Sneak Peek - Bannon's new group Steve Bannon is setting up a new 501(c)(4) — aka a "tax-exempt social welfare organization" — to promote his agenda, and, he argues, the president's...Bannon plans to use the group to establish a "war council" to promote hawkish policies against China
The Meaning of Sharp Power: How Authoritarian States Project Influence | Foreign Affairs Contrary to some of the prevailing analysis, the influence wielded by Beijing and Moscow through initiatives in the spheres of media, culture, think tanks, and academia is not a “charm offensive,” as the author Joshua Kurlantzick termed it in his book Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power Is Transforming the World. Nor is it an effort to “share alternative ideas” or “broaden the debate,” as the editorial leadership at the Russian and Chinese state information outlets suggest about themselves. It is not principally about attraction or even persuasion; instead, it centers on distraction and manipulation. These powerful and ambitious authoritarian regimes, which systematically suppress political pluralism and free expression to maintain power at home, are increasingly applying the same principles internationally.
China-US military exercise to enhance rescues - China Daily The joint exercise between the Chinese and the US militaries, which was held from Thursday through Sunday at Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Facility of the Oregon Army National Guard in Warrenton, Oregon, involved more than 200 people from both sides. Its goal was to improve response to natural disasters and deepen relations and cooperation between the sides
PLA opens website for tip-offs - Global Times The system is operated by 81.cn, the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) news website, under the guidance of the CMC network public opinion bureau. Illicit behavior include falsifying a military unit or membership; publishing information that is harmful or insulting to the military; attacking the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) over the PLA; and using online accounts without approval or revealing a soldier's personal identity, according to the PLA Daily.
人民日报：海洋强国建设助推实现中国梦--观点--人民网 article in 11.20 People's Daily by 王 宏 Wang Hong, the head of Chinese State Oceanic Administration, calls for building China into a great maritime power
China Offers Solution for Rohingya Refugee Crisis in Myanmar - Bloomberg At a joint press conference on Sunday with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined a three-point solution that would allow Myanmar and Bangladesh to resolve the situation. The steps included a cease-fire, repatriation of refugees and talks on a long-term solution.
Behind Mugabe’s Rapid Fall: A Firing, a Feud and a First Lady - The New York Times While Mr. Mutsvangwa worked on South African officials, Zimbabwe’s longtime top military commander, Gen. Constantino Chiwenga, was in China on an official trip. He was tipped off while abroad that Mr. Mugabe had ordered him arrested upon his return home, according to several people close to the military. The police were going to grab the general as soon as his plane touched down, on Nov. 12. But as General Chiwenga prepared to land, soldiers loyal to him infiltrated the airport. His troops — wearing the uniforms of baggage handlers — surprised and quickly overwhelmed the police. Before departing, the general is said to have told the police officers that he would “deal” with their commander, a Mugabe loyalist.
Bangladeshi PM meets Chinese FM on pragmatic cooperation, Rohingya issue - Xinhua | He expressed the hope that the two sides could speed up the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, and actively push forward the building of Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar-Economic Corridor.
China proposes building China-Myanmar economic corridor to boost cooperation - Xinhua The economic corridor, in consideration of Myanmar's national development plan and its actual needs, will start in north from China's Yunnan Province, go down south to the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, and further extend east to the new city of Yangon and west to the Kyaukpyu special economic zone, forming a three-pillar giant cooperation pattern, he explained.
China protests over Indian president’s trip to contested border area - Reuters China has criticised a visit by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind to the remote state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims, saying China opposed any activities by Indian leaders in disputed areas.
Nepal and Pakistan pulling the plug on Belt and Road plans, casts spotlight on public tender issues | South China Morning Post Full transparency – through competing public tenders – of the adequacy, suitability and quality of the Chinese equipment being used could soon become a serious problem
China’s nuclear spaceships will be ‘mining asteroids and flying tourists’ as it aims to overtake US in space race | South China Morning Post The ambitious claims, made by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology – the country’s leading rocket developer and manufacturer – were published on the front page of People’s Daily on Friday. According to the report, a new “nuclear fleet” of carrier rockets and reusable hybrid-power carriers will be ready for “regular, large scale” interplanetary flights, and carrying out commercial exploration and exploitation of natural resources by the mid-2040s.
Hong Kong, Macao
Pro-Beijing heavyweight puts Article 23 national security law in manifesto for seat on China's top legislature | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP Pro-Beijing heavyweight Tam Yiu-chung has said that legislating for Hong Kong’s controversial national security law will be in his manifesto when he runs for China’s top legislature. Tam, a former lawmaker, is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. But he has said he will switch from the advisory body and run for a seat on the National People’s Congress. He may replace Rita Fan as the only Hong Kong member of the top legislature’s Standing Committee.
Tech And Media
Chinese researchers win "Nobel Prize" of supercomputing application - Xinhua A Chinese team using the world's fastest supercomputer to simulate a devastating earthquake won the 2017 ACM Gordon Bell Prize on Thursday.
Chinese Phone Maker Bets Big With a Premium Price - The New York Times The phone takes dazzling photos and sports advanced artificial intelligence. Its display stretches gloriously from edge to edge. And at nearly $1,000, it pushes into eye-watering territory on price
China Mobile, ZTE, Qualcomm Announce 5G Breakthrough - Caixin Global Two Chinese telecom giants together with Qualcomm announced a major milestone for research into fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks, as carriers across the world race to build systems that can transmit several gigabytes of data per second.
Victoria’s Secret models’ visa denial is of their own making - Global Times China's entertainment industry is very open, but it has its own rules. Political correctness cannot be ignored. In the Chinese mainland, the public, especially netizens, keep a watchful eye and they do not want foreign stars who offend China's basic values to perform on its soil.
China’s Transsion dominates African mobile phone market - FT $$ The Shenzhen-based company — best known by the names of its Itel brands — sold more than 50m phones in Africa in the first half of this year, mainly “feature” models with physical keypads, according to technology research group IDC.
Huawei Phone with Built-In Muslim Prayer Function Stirs Controversy | What's on Weibo Huawei’s response to criticism over its Mate 10 Pro’s special alarm function for Muslim prayers has spiraled into a ‘PR crisis
Society, Art, Sports, Culture And History
Exhibiting the Cultural Revolution, Part 4: Pictorial Posters - Fairbank Center Julia Murray, Professor Emerita of Art History, East Asian Studies, and Religious Studies, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explores the artistic tradition of revolutionary posters in China.
【论文范文】免费范文网站_免费范文大全网_论文范文吧_论文范文网站-海达范文网 a website for every model speech or essay or application, including Communist Party application.
Energy, Environment, Science And Health
China’s plan to use solar power to melt permafrost to turn a Tibetan grassland into an artificial forest on the roof of the world | South China Morning Post The absence of trees ranked along with the area’s lack of oxygen, extreme cold and geographic isolation as top reasons for the mental breakdown of Chinese military personnel in this city 4,500 metres above sea level. Soldiers from Nagqu who would go to Lhasa on leave were known to leap off their buses to hug a tree, in tears, according to the People’s Liberation Army Daily. Now China is taking the unprecedented – and expensive – step of harnessing solar power to melt permafrost to allow trees to grow in Nagqu.
China honors founding scientist of FAST telescope - Xinhua The Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee announced the decision on Friday. Nan had worked as the chief scientist of a team who selected the site for FAST and oversaw its construction since 1994, before his death due to sickness in September at the age of 72.
China on Pace for Record Solar-Power Installations - Bloomberg About 54 gigawatts will be put in place this year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said Monday, raising a forecast of more than 30 gigawatts made in July. That amount of additional capacity would likely surpass all the solar energy generated in Japan in 2017.
Health Officials in China's Hunan 'Kept Quiet' Over Tuberculosis Outbreak - RFA The Aug. 19 outbreak at the Taojiang No. 4 High School sparked emergency diseased control measures from the county and provincial centers for disease control and prevention (CDCs), the state-owned China Daily newspaper reported. TB experts were called in from the Hunan Tuberculosis Control Institute to help treat suspected cases. According to the institute, they treated 29 confirmed cases, five suspected cases and 38 students undergoing preventative medication and management, for a total of 72 cases. 湖南桃江四中肺结核事件：一年以前已有发病者 // Comment: And looks like this may not be the only place with a TB outbreak coverup
Over 1,000 officials held responsible for pollution - Global Times Chinese environmental authorities on Thursday announced 1,140 officials of eight provincial-level regions have been punished, following investigations by central inspectors in 2016.
Books And Literature
A Chinese Novelist Is Found in Translation - The New York Times Xue Yiwei, who has been hailed as China’s “most charismatic literary stylist,” is virtually unknown among English-language readers. With the recent English translation in Canada of his 2010 novel “Dr. Bethune’s Children,” which is written in the form of letters to Norman Bethune, a Canadian doctor who died on the front lines of the Communist resistance to the Japanese occupation in 1939, that is about to change.
Beijing
Beijing Area Sees Fewer ‘Blue-Sky Days’ This Year - Caixin Global Air quality in “China’s most polluted area” — Beijing and the surrounding region — deteriorated in the first 10 months of the year, with 22 fewer “blue-sky days” compared with the same period last year.