Chinese President Xi Jinping has said ideological work in colleges should be integrated into entire education process and other roundups from across China
POLITICS AND SOCIETY
Xi calls for strengthened ideological work in colleges
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that ideological work in colleges should be integrated into the entire education process, underlining the need of firm Party leadership in higher education. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a two-day meeting on ideological and political work in China's universities and colleges, which concluded on December 8.Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli attended the meeting, together with other senior officials and college officials. As higher education is a key factor in a country's development potential, it is urgent for China to improve the quality of its higher education, Xi said. China's unique history, culture and national conditions have dictated the development path for higher education and colleges featuring socialism with Chinese characteristics, according to Xi. As higher education shoulders the major responsibility of cultivating successors for the socialist cause, it must adhere to correct political orientation, Xi said, adding that only by cultivating first-class talent can universities become world-class institutions.
Source: China Daily
Goals set to invigorate the growth of central provinces
China issued a five-year guideline on invigorating development of its central region, aiming to build it into a key area for advanced manufacturing, modern agriculture, urbanisation and ecological conservation. The guideline was approved on December 7 at a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang. The six provinces in central China — Henan, Shanxi, Hubei, Anhui, Hunan and Jiangxi — have rich land and agriculture resources. The region contributes 20.3 percent of China's total GDP, up from 18.8 percent in 2005. However, amid the ongoing restructuring and industrial upgrading, the region faces challenges in further retiring excess industrial capacity and reducing reliance on labor and investment, as well as in technological innovation. The new guideline sets a goal that the six provinces will account for a considerable proportion of China's production output, while people's livelihoods will be improved significantly.
Source: China Daily
No more ‘private vote’ for China’s top leaders in new hiring and firing rules
The Communist Party’s top body for personnel affairs has rolled out new rules on hiring and firing senior officials, highlighting collective decision-making by party cells instead of following leaders’ top picks. The new rules appear aimed at breaking a decades-old practice of leaders indicating their preferences by circling names or underlining key sentences on documents before distributing them for consultation, according to a Hong Kong-based China watcher. Citing regulations from the Central Organisation Department,
People’s Daily reported that “neither consulting certain persons’ opinions, nor asking leaders to circle certain names are allowed to replace decisions made by collective discussion among party organisations about the appointment and dismissal of officials”. The rules also stipulate that “leaders of a party cell are not allowed to override the organisation”, underscoring opposition to decisions made by individuals or small groups without consulting others’ opinion.
Source: South China Morning Post
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Trump blasts China for ‘not playing by the rules’
President-elect Donald Trump said on December 8 that the United States needed to improve its relationship with China, which he criticised for its economic policies and failure to rein in North Korea. “China is not a market economy,” he said. “They haven’t played by the rules and I know it’s time that they’re going to start.” Trump criticised China repeatedly during his presidential campaign and drew a diplomatic protest from Beijing last week after speaking by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway Chinese province. “You have the massive theft of intellectual property, putting unfair taxes on our companies, not helping with the menace of North Korea like they should and the at-will and massive devaluation of their currency and product dumping,” Trump said of China. “Other than that, they’ve been wonderful, right?”
Source: South China Morning Post
North Koreans stealing ginseng at the border
Chinese police in Northeast China's Jilin Province confirmed with the Global Times on December 7 reports of ginseng theft by North Koreans at the border. Japanese newspaper Tokyo Shimbun reported on December 7 that North Koreans are stealing huge amounts of ginseng from the border areas with China and selling them in North Korea at high prices. The report added that cases of theft in Jilin have increased since the September floods left hundreds of thousands of North Koreans homeless. A police officer from the Changbai Korean Autonomous County in Jilin Province told the Global Times that the thefts exist, but refused to provide further information. But he denied the Japanese newspaper's report that Chinese police warned local residents to hand in money to the burglars to protect themselves instead of resisting. Severe floods at a North Korean border region in September killed at least 133 people, left thousands homeless, according to the United Nations, after Pyongyang reported "great hardship" in the area.
Source: Global Times
ECONOMY
Foreign investment gets more market access
The Chinese government further loosened its grip on the market by reducing the number of forbidden or restricted investment areas for overseas investors in a new draft of guidelines released on December 7. The
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planning body, said it has removed restrictions on many tourism and entertainment areas in a revised Catalogue for the Guidance of Industries for Foreign Investment. With certain limitations on the tourism and entertainment sector lifted, foreign investors can now invest in projects such as golf courses, nature sanctuaries and large theme parks. In the new catalogue, the NDRC also opened up a number of areas in the manufacturing sector, like corn processing and motorbike manufacturing that had been off limit to overseas investors. The economic planner also listed a number of places in high-tech industries that foreign investors are now encouraged to enter, including automobile electronics development and new energy car parts manufacturing.
Source: Global Times
Over 500 multinationals set up regional headquarters in Shanghai
Shanghai is home to the regional headquarters of 573 multinational corporations, the Shanghai Municipal Government said Wednesday. Thanks to the city's growing influence, 38 multinational corporations chose Shanghai for their headquarters in 2016, and 13 of them also serve as the Asia-Pacific headquarters for the companies, according to Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce. The city has welcomed 13 new foreign investment companies and 12 new research and development centers of foreign enterprises this year. In addition to creating jobs, the headquarters of multinational corporations contributed taxes of about 41.7 billion yuan (6.06 billion US dollars) in 2015. According to Shanghai regulations, the headquarters of multinational corporations refer to exclusively foreign-owned enterprises that have multiple functions, including management decisions, fund management, purchasing and marketing, research and development and training.
Source: Xinhua
Nation’s top 20 tourism groups’ revenue surpasses $145b
China's top 20 tourism groups' total revenue exceeded 1 trillion yuan ($145.3 billion) for the first time since 2009, increasing 40 percent year-on-year, said a report released on December 7, during the 2016 Tourism Development Forum in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province. The top 20 tourism groups include e-tourism giant Ctrip, China Tourism Group and HNA Tourism Group, according to the report. In general, domestic tourism groups all saw strong revenue growth. China Tourism Group's sales had exceeded 100 billion yuan as of November this year, while those of HNA Tourism Group had surpassed 180 billion yuan.
Source: Global Times
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Space exploration programme launched
The National Space Science Center affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences has officially launched a program consisting of five space exploration projects to be accomplished during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20). The projects involve a series of satellites and a spacecraft to study solar-geophysical activity, the water cycle on Earth, and cosmogenic origin of black holes, gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts. President Xi Jinping spoke of the importance of space exploration at a major sci-tech conference on May 30. “It is necessary to promote the all-round development of space science, space technology and space applications via initiating these projects," said Xiang Libin, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The five projects were selected from a number of candidates sponsored by the academy's Strategic Priority Program on Space Science over the past five years.
Source: China Daily
China develops non- toxic propellant for orbiting satellites
A non-toxic propulsion system developed by Chinese scientists will enable satellites to carry more pay load and save on satellite launching costs, the system's developer said on December 6. The ammonium dinitramide (ADN) technology used in the system proved successful when it was tested in the Shijian-17 satellite sent into space last month, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said in a statement. Shijian-17 is tasked with verifying technology for observation of space debris, new electric sources and electric propulsion. According to scientists, the propulsion system is meant to help an orbiting satellite sustain its altitude as atmospheric drag and gravity can lead to gradual descent in orbit. It will also make China the second country after Sweden to master a non-toxic propulsion technology in orbit, it said.
Source: Xinhua
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yang Zhiyong, “Reform must usher in best income tax system”, China Daily, December 9, 2016
Alex Lo, “The government is a social welfare department for the rich”, South China Morning Post, December 6, 2016
Ian Bond, “The way forward for the west? Help China and wave the rulebook at Russia”, The Guardian, December 8, 2016
Jean-Pierre Lehmann, “The most important bilateral relationship in the world? China-Japan”, The Strait Times, December 6, 2016
Hu Weijia, ‘Donald Trump presidency could help speed up China-Mexico cooperative ties’ Global Times, December 6, 2016
Mei Xinyu, ‘Commentary: Western Countries lose more than credibility by rejecting China as market economy’ People’s Daily Online, December 7, 2016
Erica Yeung, Lai Chi Kok, “Hong Kong bookstores feeling the pinch as online sellers storm the market”, South China Morning Post, December 6, 2016
“Xinhua Insight: Innovation sets new path for growth in China”, Xinhua, December 6, 2016
“Animal rights or human health? Chinese medicine at the crossroads”, Xinhua, December 6, 2016
Contributors:
- Sreeparna Banerjee
- Pratnashree Basu
- Ambalika Guha
- Swagata Saha
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