CHINA – POLITICS

1. Zhou Yongkang’s associates targeted in corruption probe

   1. Jiang Jiemin, director of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, “is suspected of grave violations of discipline and is currently under investigation”. Before promoted to the assets commission, Jiang was a general manager at energy giant China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), where four senior managers were also removed on similar charges recently. Rumours also alleged that Jiang helped cover up a Ferrari Crash which killed the son of Ling Jihua, Hu Jintao’s former top aide, specifically with regards to hush payments the state-owned giant to the families of two female passengers injured the crash.
   2. Analysts believe the implicit target is Zhou, who worked at CNPC where he built his power base and who later became China’s once most powerful public security czar. However, analysts predicted different outcomes for Zhou.
      1. Investigation will eventually come to Zhou: ‘“It makes logical sense that this is aimed at Zhou,” said Chen Ziming, a political commentator. “It’s all too concentrated, all follows this same line to him. CNPC and Sichuan are both places he worked. It’s a step by step process, questioning people associated with him, former secretaries and so on.”’
      2. Send a message to Zhou without disciplining him: ‘Li Weidong, a former magazine editor in Beijing who closely follows party affairs, said, “I think it’s certain that the investigators received authorization to look into Zhou Yongkang’s cronies and family, but I’m very skeptical that Zhou would ever be punished.” He added: “I think they’ll use this to break his influence — to go against his people, but not him. He knows too much, and that would be too dangerous for Xi.”’
      3. Reuters reports that former security chief and Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang is not under investigation for corruption. Sources told Reuters that Zhou has not been “shuang gui” (a form of internal investigation in which a suspect is required to confess within a prescribed time and place). “He was merely asked to assist with the corruption investigation…Unlike Bo, Zhou is unlikely to be arrested or put on trial” even if he is implicated in the probe.”
   3. LA Times says Xi’s corruption crackdown, and specifically the targeting of Zhou, is an effort to “consolidate his power and push his economic agenda”. Report cites Willy Lam who said “[t]his is a sign that Xi Jinping has the guns to go after a powerful politician. He must feel that he is a strong enough leader to do so.” He also suggested a more sincere motive, that Xi wants to root out corruption in the state-owned enterprises as a precursor to economic reforms in the public sector.
   4. Economist looks at the outcome of the political struggle: “Mr Xi is also open to the charge of being selective about leaving other tigers untouched. His own family’s fortune, piggy-banking off Mr Xi’s career, runs into hundreds of millions of dollars. Even as Mr Xi rails against corruption, he has overseen a crackdown on reformers calling, among other things, for the assets of senior cadres to be disclosed. And although the party makes much of how Mr Bo’s trial is the rule of law at work, many of the moves against Mr Bo, Mr Jiang and Mr Zhou appear to be taking place in a parallel and obscure system of detention for party members known as shuanggui.”
   5. Last week, Wu Bing, a Sichuan-based tycoon linked to the oil industry and embattled former security chief Zhou Yongkang, has reportedly been detained in Beijing

2. Crackdown on liberals gained pace

   1. SCMP Patrick Boehler’s blog post features an interview with liberal activist Wen Yunchao (Beifeng). Wen said that the Southern Weekend New Year affair was a miscalculation on Xi’s stance towards dissents. “This led some in Beijing to believe there is an opportunity to raise the bar and take to the street with placards.” Wen said that a **new pattern has emerged in which authorities detain activists and release them on bail. “It can usually be considered a warning,” he said. “Few of those released on bail are detained again.” Wen said he thought political reforms have become less likely. “Internally, momentum has stalled. Those outside the system have lost patience.”
      1. A timeline that shows list of activist arrests in the past year
   2. PKU economics professor Xia Yeliang threatened to be expelled for mocking the notion of China Dream and maliciously attacking Chinese socialism. Xia was seen as a staunch liberal proponent in China. He is one of the first to sign Charter 08. A group of US academics from Wellesley wrote a petition to PKU in support of Xia.
   3. Last Friday, prominent billionaire civil society activist Wang Gongquan was detailed on suspicion of “gathering crowds to disturb social order”, a charge used to detain activist Xu Zhiyong last month
      1. Wang is a venture capitalist and a colourful figure in his private life known for his political activism and romantic exuberance as much as for his success as an investor. Sometimes outspoken critic of the government, he is a prominent member of the “New Citizens Movement 新公民運動,” a loose collection of mostly white-collar urbanites who have issued calls for greater protection of the right to free speech and other individual rights enshrined in China’s constitution. Members of the group have been aggressive in pressing officials to publicly disclose their assets.
      2. Wang’s arrest sparked online protests
   4. Xinhua head Li Congjun warned on Wednesday that Western media are trying to destabilize and discredit China. “近年来，尽管我们在加强国际传播能力建设等方面取得积极进展，但从总体上看，西方主要媒体依然左右着世界舆论，“西强我弱”的国际舆论格局没有根本改变，我国在国际舆论场中的传播能力与我国际地位远远不相适应。特别是西方一些敌对势力和媒体不愿看到社会主义中国发展强大，将西化分化和“颜色革命”矛头对准我国，运用其强大的传播能力，大肆鼓吹“中国威胁论”“中国崩溃论”等，对我们党和国家造谣攻击丑化，极大地损害了我国家利益和国家形象。这再次提醒我们提升国际话语权的极端重要性和紧迫性。”

3. Xi rallies on propaganda war on internet

   1. Xi ordered the Communist Party’s propaganda machine to build “a strong army” to “seize the ground of new media”. His remarks was made during his speech in the national propaganda meeting, and came as the central government cracked down against internet rumours and targeted online celebrities. The speech was reported the next day by Xinhua, but it is only in recent days that some of Xi’s more combative remarks have come to light.
   2. Media sources said Xi’s August 19 speech ordered officials to “unite all intellectuals”. The remark was interpreted as meaning mustering as many intellectuals as possible to back the party’s agenda. One senior state television journalist said “[i]t is a continuation of the style during the Maoist era to set intellectuals apart from the public.”
   3. More on the crackdown against Internet rumours. SCMP reports that a libelous online post that is forwarded more than 500 times or viewed more than 5,000 times could land its author in jail for up to three years, according to the mainland’s first judicial interpretation to control online rumours. But exceptions could be granted. Those who posted false corruption allegations about officials online could be exempted from libel charges as long as the content is proved not to be deliberately fabricated. Tong Zhiwei, a law professor, pointed out the party’s dilemma. “On the one hand, online rumours are perceived to damage social stability. On the other hand, the internet has increasingly become an indispensable component of the anti-graft campaign.”
   4. State Internet Information Office Director Lu Wei 鲁炜 spoke on the 5^th Sino-UK Internet Roundtable Meeting on the topic “Internet freedom and order (网络空间的自由与秩序): Freedom means order 自由意味着秩序。自由和秩序紧密相连、不可分割，自由是秩序的目的，秩序是自由的保障，离开了秩序的自由是不存在的。哪里没有秩序，那里一定没有自由。我们越追求自由，就越需要秩序。秩序的要义正是“为了每一个人”。He proposed six kinds of “order” in his speech: 倡导互相尊重的秩序、倡导信息共享的秩序、倡导传播正能量的秩序、倡导文明和谐的秩序、倡导维护安全的秩序、倡导依法治理的秩序

4. Politburo member Liu Yunshan：Some understanding about criticism and self-criticism (关于批评和自我批评的几点认识)2013年9月1日在中央党校2013年秋季学期开学典礼上的讲话第二部分… connected to the new Rectification Campaign?

   1. 我们党是一个大党，拥有8500多万党员、400多万个基层党组织，靠什么来形成强大的凝聚力、战斗力？就是要靠统一的意志、统一的步调。只有坚持批评和自我批评，及时纠正党组织内部的各种错误思想认识和不良行为倾向，才能保证全党思想上、政治上、行动上的团结一致。
   2. 这次教育实践活动一开始，中央就明确提出要体现整风精神，整风精神就是批评和自我批评的精神；强调要认真整治“四风”问题，对作风之弊、行为之垢来一次大排查、大检修、大扫除，说到底还是要用好批评和自我批评这个利器。可以说，这次教育实践活动能否达到预期的目的，能否取得人民群众满意的效果，重要的是在于能否体现整风精神，运用好批评和自我批评这个武器。一定要在批评和自我批评上好好下一番功夫，真正让党员干部受到教育、受到警醒，真正能够解决一些作风方面的突出问题，确保教育实践活动不虚、不空、不偏、不走过场。

5. Military exercise involved more than 40,000 PLA soldiers from the Nanjing and Guangzhou commands

   1. Experts say that it demonstrates that President Xi Jinping, chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), has overcome the traditional rivalry between these powerful military regions.

CHINA – DIPLOMACY

1. Xi Jinping at the G20s

   1. Before the summit, Xi visited Turkmenistan and agreed with his Turkmen counterpart to upgrade the status of diplomatic ties to strategic partnership. Turkmenistan would boost its natural has shipments to China. Xi also attended Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan. Xinhua said China and the Central Asian countries “reached a consensus on the strategy to build a Silk Road economic belt, a platform for closer regional cooperation”.
   2. At the summit, Xi voiced opposition to the U.S. president’s proposed course of action. He urged for a “political solution”. Chinese media argues that without approval from the UN Security Council any foreign military action in Syria would be a breach of international law. As the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius visited, China said they welcome US-Russia deal on destroying Syria’s chemical weapons.

2. Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Sino-Japanese relations

   1. Global Times editorial sees the win as a “fresh chance” for Japan to undertake an overdue reflection on crimes committed during World War II: “The successful bid has profoundly reinvigorated Japanese society, which will be beneficial to the rest of Northeast Asia. Japan has been playing an aggressive role in this region when facing territorial and historical issues with its neighbors but the Olympics will produce some pressure for Japan to realize the importance of self-restraint. …However, it needs to be pointed out that Japan has done a lousy job in reflecting its misdeeds in World War II.”
   2. Nationalistic stance is also observed among netizens’ comments
   3. According to Reuters, Chinese government “grudgingly” congratulated Japan on the successful bid. “Asked specifically whether China had offered congratulations, Hong Lei (Foreign Ministry spokesman) said such a question should be directed to the Chinese Olympic Committee. In a statement posted on the ministry’s website after the news conference had ended, Hong said that the Chinese Olympic Committee had in fact expressed its congratulations. It did not elaborate.”

CHINA – SOCIETY

1. On Urbanization, Li Keqiang stressed that there should be a “human focus” to the urbanization drive

   1. Li told China Daily that urbanization should be “humanity-centered”, focusing on quality of life and the environment and driven by job creation. In the 1990s, Li wrote his doctoral thesis on urbanization.
   2. NY Times video shows the predicament of displaced farmers who have lost their old livelihoods
   3. Times’ Ian Johnson focuses on a series of self-immolations and other suicides and protests in response to heavy-handed land seizures

2. China Floating Population Development Report 2013《中国流动人口发展报告2013》is published by the State Family Planning Commission 国家卫生计生委流动人口司: one in six Chinese people belongs to the 236 million floating population in 2012. Their average age is 28.

CHINA – ECONOMY

1. Free yuan exchange will be allowed in Shanghai trade zone, as draft plan shows

   1. Free RMB convertibility allowed beyond trade liberalization
   2. Bypass HK? “The Shanghai FTZ is intended to make the city into a true international trade and financial centre and challenge the free economy of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, analysts and government officials said.”
   3. The FTZ might also be extended to cover Pudong. It was reported earlier that Beijing would allow foreign banks to set up wholly owned units in the zone, mainland banks could offer offshore banking business and foreign commodities exchanges and trading companies could own their warehouses there.

2. Li Keqiang said in the WEF that economic restructuring is at a critical stage, with an overhaul of the financial sector the most important and most complicated task

   1. China can accept a slower economic growth as it made structural reforms, including a shift to domestic consumption instead of government-led investment.
   2. Li said the next stage of financial reform is to stick to market-oriented principles. “The government would “actively and steadily” push forward with interest rate and exchange rate liberalization, promote the yuan’s convertibility under the capital account, and ease barriers for new, smaller players to enter the state-dominated financial industry”
   3. Chinese economy is sound and stable, and will not experience “hard” landing. Local government debt is “safe and controllable”.
   4. Financial Times points out that Li specifically mentions the increasing role of “多种所有制”in China’s financial market (multiple ownership system, which implies private or foreign owned companies). The current market is still dominated by state-owned financial institutions.
   5. Analyst Xu Jin summarized the three key themes of Likonomics: 首先是认可增速中枢下移而不短期刺激，其次以自贸区等制度建设促进开放，最后则是激活市场活力。

3. Guangdong aims to make the entire province an economic powerhouse, solving huge wealth gap

   • Guangdong has the biggest economic imbalance out of all provinces. Party chief Hu Chunhua plans to spend 672 billion yuan on transport, industrial zones and new cities and towns. He hopes investment-led growth in 12 economically backward cities can become the engine for development as the export-led region deals with rising costs and declining orders. Key development cities are Meizhou, Maoming, Jieyang, Yangjiang, Shanwei, Shaoguan, Zhanjiang, Chaozhou, Shantou, Yunfu, Heyuan and Qingyuan. The plan is to double or even treble their economic output by 2018.
     1. High speed rail, roads and highway construction
     2. New industrial zones, with the aim of doubling each county’s industrial output within three to five years
     3. Private capital will be a major source of funding for the new town and industrial parks

HONG KONG – POLITICS

1. NPC Chairman Zhang Dejiang backs CY Leung and police

   1. Zhang met with HK security chief Lai Tung-kwok and praised HK’s “highly professional” men and women in uniform who played an important role in safeguarding national security and social order. Zhang is the highest-ranking mainland official in charge of HK affairs, and normally HK ministers would only be received by ministerial-level officials. It is rare for top leaders like Zhang to receive Lai and gave a high level speech. Zhang also gave firm support to CY Leung in his speech.
   2. Analysts saw this as part of an effort to cripple Occupy Central, as Zhang specifically said that the key to democratic reform is the “rule of law”.

2. Guangdong authorities said they are also studying a plan to create a free-trade zone covering parts of the province, Hong Kong and Macau. The idea was floated by provincial party secretary Hu Chunhua at a Pan Pearl Delta forum, which came two weeks after Shanghai won State Council approval to set up the mainland’s first free-trade zone. CY Leung said he has discussed with Hu but the plan was still in its infancy.

3. Development minister Paul Chan Mo-po said on his blog that the city could consider using sections of country parks for housing

   1. Lau Wong-Fat supported the proposal. But former Observatory head who is a CY Leung supporter Lam Chiu-Ying opposed it, said it was a “mind cancer”. Bernard Chan, executive council member, suggested farmland as another development alternative.
   2. Analysts see Chan’s “proposal” as a move to test waters. CY Leung said a few days later that the government has yet no plan to develop country parks.

4. Report on former ICAC chief Timothy Tong proves spending misconduct

   1. A probe into overspending by ex-ICAC chief found rule breaches on 42 occasions in his five-year reign

5. China Rejects Open Nomination for Election of HK Chief Executive

   1. “The city’s Basic Law states that candidates for the chief executive position have to be nominated by a “broadly representative” committee, Zhang Xiaoming, director of China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong, said in an open letter to Alan Leong, the head of the Civic Party.”
   2. British minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Hugo Swire said in an opinion piece in SCMP that Britain has a big economic stake in seeing Hong Kong remain “prosperous, stable and energetic”. “The important thing is that the people of Hong Kong have a genuine choice to enable them to feel they have a real stake in the outcome.” He also said that “Britain stands ready to support in any way we can.” But Chief Secretary Carrie Lam rebuffed his offer, saying she does not “think there is any need for a foreign government to offer any assistance on this matter.”

TAIWAN – POLITICS

1. Power struggle in KMT

   1. Taiwan legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng is expelled from KMT for allegedly meddling in a legal case. Special investigation, which involved wiretapping, under the Supreme Prosecutors Office accused Wang of lobbying former justice minister Tseng Yung-fu not to appeal in a breach-of-trust case against Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Ker Chien-ming. If Wang is expelled, he would immediately lose his speakership. The veteran KMT politician enjoys broad support in the legislature and the south. The way Ma dealt with the case without due process of law and his subjective conclusion has seen Wang gain overwhelming support and sympathy from the public and news media. Analysts see Wang’s expulsion as a power struggle within the KMT which will further damage KMT’s internal cohesion.

   2. Political crisis deepens as a local court ruled on Friday afternoon that ousted KMT member and head of Taiwan’s legislative body Wang Jin-pyng secured a court order blocking Ma’s bid to oust him from his post. He could retain his temporary membership until the final court ruling. Beijing worries that the crisis might impede improving cross-strait relations.

PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS

1. The Diplomat’s The “Patriotic Education” of Tibet” investigates its impact on its religious landscape

   1. “One such policy is “patriotic re-education” or simply “patriotic education,” under which “work-teams” (known in Chinese as gongzuo dui and in Tibetan as ledonrukhag) consisting of both Chinese and trusted Tibetan officials visit monasteries and nunneries to force on monks and nuns the concept of unity of Tibet and China and to identify dissidents”
   2. ‘One young Tibetan nun said, “Sometimes your head starts to spin and you don’t know what you really believe… “ “The extent of Chinese coercion is evident from the U.S State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report of 2008, which mentions that monks and nuns were required to trample a photo of the Dalai Lama.”’

2. Reuters looks into Tianjin’s Sina Weibo censorship centre and did interesting interviews with young “censors”

   1. “20-something college graduates plow through 3,000 flagged posts per hour for the equivalent of $490 a month”
   2. “People are often torn when they start, but later they go numb and just do the job,” said one former censor, who left because he felt the career prospects were poor. “One thing I can tell you is that we are worked very hard and paid very little.”
   3. Studies done by Gary King shows that deletion was incurred not by criticizing authorities, but by touching on topics deemed to have “collective action potential.”

3. Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific Editor of The Australian newspaper, has published a new book Party Time: Who Runs China and How

   1. The China Story interviews him: “the Party remains at the centre of contemporary China. It does not have to control directly every institution and activity; it does retain though the capacity to do so, which remains crucial, a level of authority that marks China’s governance out as unique in the twenty-first century world.”
   2. SCMP Book Review: The merit of Callick’s book is that he lets party members tell the story. The wealth of the book is in the interviews with members in many walks of life, who describe the good and bad points, and the accounts of party institutions such as the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the new National Cadre School in Pudong, Shanghai. There are chapters on joining the party, cadre school, the security agencies, the justice system, the media, art and culture, “controlling legends”, Confucius, life at the top and doing business.