Reflation efforts, collapsing glaciers, gold poisoning, and the dark side of the moon: News round-up, May 20

Chuang posts round-ups of China-related news about twice a month.¹

 Image from Ign.com.

 

Must… Reflate…

China slowdown deepens provincial economic divide – FT.com “The rich provinces and regions — with higher household consumption — are proving more resilient,” says Rodney Jones, founder of Wigram Capital and former head of Asian research for Soros Fund Management. “The downturn is being felt hardest in the poorer provinces — which have the biggest deficits and have relied the most on investment for growth.” He estimates that the economies of 11 of China’s 31 province-level regions contracted in real terms in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter, even as wealthy regions such as Shanghai and Beijing continued to perform quite well.

China — all part of the plan? | FT Alphaville As Chen Long said via email, “the way to solve a liquidity problem is simply to keep rolling over debts. Beijing will not admit that there is a big solvency problem and cut lending to entities who have trouble. Instead Beijing wants banks to keep lending, in the hope that one day the borrowers may get better. Who knows if they can get better but let’s keep it going for now. Otherwise the economy slows sharply right now.”

China orders banks to keep lending to insolvent state projects – FT.com The “suggestions on properly handling the issue of follow-up financing for existing projects undertaken by local government financing vehicles” was published on Friday by China’s cabinet, the State Council. It explicitly banned financial institutions from cutting off or delaying funding to any local government project started before the end of last year and said any projects that are unable to repay existing loans should have their debt renegotiated and extended.

China gets serious about reflation | Gavyn Davies The battle to defeat deflationary forces in China has now been well and truly joined…

 

Return of the housing zombie?

China home prices drop over 6% in April (RTE, 18 May)

‘Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities dropped 6.1% last month from a year ago, the same rate of decline as in March, according to Reuters calculations based on official data published today.   But nationwide prices steadied from March, further narrowing from a 0.1% fall in the previous month.   Beijing saw prices rise, albeit modestly, for the second month in a row, while those in Shanghai rose for the first time in 12 months.   But prices in many smaller cities, which account for around 60% of national sales, continued to fall.’

China Home Prices Fall in Fewer Cities in Slight Recovery – Bloomberg Business New-home prices fell in 47 of the 70 cities tracked by the government from a month earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday, compared with declines in 49 in March. Prices rose in 18 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, six more than last month, and were unchanged in five, according to the statement on the website.

Another ghost town pops up in Anhui after 2 billion RMB development project abandoned (Shanghaiist, 18 May)

‘Yet another large-scale development has been abandoned in China, turning part of Chuzhou into a Chernobyl-like graveyard of apartment and office buildings.’

 

 

Inter-imperialist rivalry: Today the Amazon; tomorrow, the Moon

The Worrying Rise of Anti-China Discourse in the US | The Diplomat The third and most disturbing new discourse is the ‘punishing China’ discourse…Maybe this is indeed a ‘tipping point’ for China-U.S. relations, after more than 30 years of engagement. Is the U.S. adopting a containment strategy toward China now? One cannot say that with confidence. But if this radical anti-China discourse is allowed to grow, we might enter a new era of containment politics in China-U.S. relations…

Vietnam opposes Chinese fishing ban in disputed sea | Reuters The ban on all fishing activities between May 16 and August 1 violates international law and Vietnam’s sovereignty and jurisdictional rights, the foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its website late on Saturday. China launched the annual fishing ban in 1999 “to promote the sustainable development of the fishing industry in the South China Sea and protect the fundamental interests of fishermen”, according to state news agency Xinhua. Authorities have threatened violators with fines, license revocations, confiscations and possible criminal charges.

China Grows South America Sway as Commodity Bust Cheapens Assets – Bloomberg Business As Premier Li Keqiang tours Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile for the first time, China is taking advantage of cheaper prices as the commodities super-cycle ends to fast-track its influence in a region that supplies everything from crude to soybeans and copper. High on the shopping list? Infrastructure, power and banking — credit-hungry industries that would help promote growth. Among the more than $50 billion in mostly financing deals announced in Brazil Tuesday was a plan by China’s BYD Co. to build a solar-panel factory, while China’s fifth-largest bank is taking over Brazilian lender Banco BBM SA.

China’s Amazonian railway ‘threatens uncontacted tribes’ and the rainforest | The Guardian Environmentalists sound alarm over plans to construct 5,300km route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to cut transport costs

China plans to be the first to land on the dark side of the moon (Quartz, 19 May)      

‘…Wu Weiren, the chief engineer for China’s Lunar Exploration Program, told Chinese Central Television… that the country is planning to land its Chang’e-4 probe on the moon’s “dark” side. “We probably will choose a site that is more difficult to land and more technically challenging,” he said, according to GBTimes. “Our next move probably will see some spacecraft land on the far side of the moon.”’

 

Yet another Chinese Walter White

Breaking Bad in China: chemistry professor ‘in meth gang’ (Guardian, 19 May)

‘Police say man worked as an academic before teaming up with a drug manufacturer to produce methcathinone, a drug similar to methamphetamine… A former chemistry professor has been identified by Chinese police as part of a gang which cooked up synthetic drugs for sale nationwide, media reported Tuesday.’

{Read this story about a similar case from last year – “Professor Xu.”}

 

Gold poisoning

Dying to Breathe—A Short Film Shows China’s True Cost of Gold | National Geographic This is the unseen cost of gold mining in China—the world’s top gold producer. In China, silicosis is considered a form of pneumoconiosis, which affects an estimated six million workers who toil in gold, coal, or silver mines or in stone-cutting factories. It’s the country’s most prevalent occupational disease.

 

The crackdown on NGOs and “civil society” expands to legislation

L’Eggo My NGO! A draft law designed to counter the influence of foreign organizations may choke Chinese civil society instead (FP, 19 May)

‘On April 23, China’s National People’s Congress, its legislature, released the second draft of a new law on “Managing Foreign NGOs.” The impact could be huge. Many foreign non-profits in China have operated in a legal gray area for years. The law would establish procedures for foreign organizations to register formally and conduct activities in China, and places NGOs under the supervision of public security departments. Foreign Policy partner ChinaFile asked experts to comment on whether the law is likely to be enacted, and if it were, what that would mean for foreign and Chinese NGOs, as well as civil society in China.’

The Future of NGOs in China | ChinaFile Conversation 

‘We asked participants in this ChinaFile Conversation to comment on whether the law is likely to be enacted and if it were enacted, what that would mean for both foreign and Chinese NGOs, think tanks, and academic exchanges as well as for philanthropy and civil society in China more broadly.’

 

Food of the Future

Fake rice made with plastic reportedly spreading across Asia (Shanghaiist, 20 May)

‘Plastic rice sold on the Chinese market has reportedly found its way into various Asian countries, including India, Indonesia and Vietnam. The fake rice is made by mixing potatoes, sweet potatoes and synthetic resin, according to the International Business Times. It’s long been circulating on the market in Taiyuan, Shaanxi and appears identical to natural rice. Health experts have warned that consuming the fake grains could seriously damage the digestive system.’

 

“We Can Absolutely Not Allow the Internet [to] Become a Lost Territory of People’s Minds”

PLA Daily warns of Internet’s revolutionary potential – Xinhua The Chinese military’s mouthpiece newspaper has warned of the possibility of “Western hostile forces” using the Internet to foment revolution in China. “The Internet has grown into an ideological battlefield, and whoever controls the tool will win the war,” according to an editorial published in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily on Wednesday…

Related: Cybersovereignty Symbolizes National Sovereignty « China Copyright and Media With regard to cybersecurity, apart from the fact that we have strengthened technological forces, strengthening “moral defence” forces should become the heaviest of heavies. The Internet is “the greatest variable” that we face, if we do not handle it well, it may become “an anxiety in hearts and minds”. Especially online ideological work involves our banners, our path and national political security, this is a core battlefield that we must defend and occupy… //  网络主权彰显国家主权

Army Newspaper: We Can Absolutely Not Allow the Internet Become a Lost Territory of People’s Minds « China Copyright and Media  In the present and future periods, it will be difficult to fundamentally change the situation of Western monopolization of online hegemony, and its occupancy of the superior position in online information dissemination. The circumstances of online struggle are grave, complex and long-term, it is still generally the case that the enemy is strong and we are weak, the enemy is attacking and we are defending. Are we “mid-stream water” or is “the current flowing East”; are we “silent lambs” or are we “valiant warriors”, a time has come to choose, and a time where we must counterattack firmly. The “main force” must be brought onto the “main battlefield”. Only if our Army keeps close pace and stands in the front ranks, and counterattacks well, will it be possible to defend “online sovereignty” and build an “online Great Wall”!

 

Speechless

Hong Kong puts a face to anonymous litterbugs using DNA from trash (Shanghaiist, 20 May)

‘Hong Kong puts a face to anonymous litterbugs using DNA from trash Hong Kong’s new littering campaign, “The Face of Litter”, will likely leave pedestrians thinking twice before throwing trash on the ground.’

 

Why Not in My Back Yard? — Demanding Development in Sichuan

These Chinese People Want High-Speed Rail So Badly They Are Fighting Police to Get It | Foreign Policy

‘On May 16, thousands of people carrying banners marched through the streets of Linshui, a county in the southwest Chinese province of Sichuan. Some shouted slogans while others hurled rocks at lines of police in riot gear, who pushed back against the crowds and beat some with batons. Photographs show several people with bloody head injuries being cared for by paramedics and onlookers. Linshui residents turned out in droves, burned vehicles, and braved riot police for more than eight hours — not to protest inequality, corruption, or environmental degradation, but to demand that a high-speed rail line be built through their county.’

Massive Protest in Linshui Intense Repression and Resistance–Photos and Video

‘The residents want… to have a proposed railway linking Dazhou to Chongqing pass through their county in the centre of Sichuan. The county currently has no railway, waterway, or airport. Rage built up last week after residents found out that the authorities favor another plan – that the railway stretching more than 200km will instead by-pass Linshui and be routed through the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s hometown Guangan, to the west of Linshui.’

 

Fugitive capitalists

How a Florida Shopping Mall Ended Up in the Hands of a Chinese Fugitive – WSJ

‘Busted plans to redevelop the dilapidated mall have featured in a lawsuit between its Chinese investors. Du Zhenzeng, a steel baron from northern China, sued his naturalized American business partner, Wei Chen, for using their business “as his personal piggy-bank” to fund a flashy lifestyle that includes a Bentley and yacht trips, according to testimony in that lawsuit. In a court hearing in October in Fort Lauderdale, Mr. Du’s lawyers said he invested nearly $160 million in the mall development project. Mr. Chen said the funds Mr. Du promised never materialized. Then, last month, new troubles arose. Back in China, Mr. Chen is known as He Yejun, according to court and immigration records, and that name appeared on an Interpol list released by Chinese investigators of 100 wanted fugitives.’

 

The trials and tribulations of a teenage pimp

It’s Time to Address China’s Juvenile Delinquent Problem-Caixin

‘When authorities in Macao recently uncovered a prostitution ring, the most shocking aspect of the case was that its alleged mastermind was a 16-year-old boy from Chongqing. The teenager represents an extreme example of a larger problem that sees millions of China’s minors not attend school. China is undergoing unprecedented urbanization. As vast as it is, no village in any corner of the country can avoid being swept up in this process. When adults leave their homes in rural areas and head to the cities to work, they either leave their children behind with relatives or bring them along. Because of the household registration system, also known as hukou, which links access to public services to residential status, the children of migrant workers are often refused admission to schools in cities. This means that no matter their origin or ethnicity, the children of migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to delinquency.’

 

Collapsing glaciers

Glacier collapses in China’s Xinjiang – Global Times The researchers would collect information via remote sensing technologies, said Li Zhongqin, head of CAS Tianshan Mountains Glacier Observation Station. “Climate change is the main reason leading to glacier moves,” Li said. Kongur Tiube, which means in the local language “the mountain with a white cap”, is the second highest peak of the Western Kunlun with elevation of 7,530 meters.

 

 Highlights from Chinese labor news (sorry, no translation this week):

 

 

 

 

1. Some of these news summaries are reposted, with modifications, from Sinocism, May 20 & 18.