Back in Beijing, today’s issue is a long catchup.
Today’s Links:
The Essential Eight *
1. The film that is going to change China | Business Spectator The film reveals the power of the big three oil companies that threaten to shut down supplies if the central government agencies impinge on their turf. Even the most powerful National Development and Reform Commission, Beijing’s key economic planning agency and price regulator looks less omnipotent in front of the big oil bullies. Who would have thought that? The documentary also shines a light on the so-called zombie companies, mostly steel mills, who are relying on government handouts and cheap loans to survive. It talks about these companies’ crude and basic products that no wants to buy as well as their minuscule margins. “10 million tonnes of steel production equates to 100,000 jobs, who dares to shut it down”, says one local official. // hard to imagine this was a truly independent undertaking given Chai’s decade plus at CCTV, the sensitivity of the subject and the timing just ahead of the opening of the CPPCC and NPC meetings. If that is the case, it makes this even more interesting
Related: Chai Jing’s review: Under the Dome – Investigating China’s Haze 柴静雾霾调查：穹顶之下 – YouTube with English subtitles
Related: 2015-02-28期 《穹顶之下》 – 腾讯视频 “Under the Dome”, well over 100 million views on Tencent’s video site, far more than any other site. The power of Wechat, it had taken over my Wechat streams by Saturday night
Related: 人民网专访柴静：“人去做什么，是因为心底有爱惜”–人民电视–人民网People’s Daily Online interviews Chai Jing about Under the Dome…they first released the film along with Youku
Related: China’s Coal Use and Estimated CO2 Emissions Fell in 2014 | Barbara A. Finamore Good news! China’s coal consumption fell by 2.9 percent in 2014, the first drop in 14 years, according to official Chinese energy statistics released yesterday. Glen Peters of the Global Carbon Project calculates that China’s CO2 emissions have also fallen, by 0.7 percent, for the first time this century. So contrary to grumbling in the U.S. Congress about the strength, or even existence, of China’s climate commitments, it’s clear that China’s efforts to cut its coal consumption and carbon emissions are not only real, but are already producing results.
Related: Can Market Mechanisms Clear China’s Bad Air? – Caixin The Chinese government recently responded to rising public discontent over environmental degradation by introducing tougher rules for industrial emissions. Meanwhile, a non-governmental organization and a state-run newspaper are coordinating a parallel fight against industrial pollution based on market mechanisms. Trusting that the equities market can push companies to do good, the environmental track records of publicly listed companies are now being compiled and publicized by the Beijing-based NGO Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) and the state-run Securities Times newspaper.// environmental shares up big Monday on back of Chai Jing’s video
2. China orders two local governments to punish polluting steel mills | ReutersInspectors from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) last week summoned mayors from the cities of Linyi in the eastern province of Shandong and Chengde in the northern province of Hebei, urging them to crack down on firms that have violated environment laws, the ministry said on its website (www.mep.gov.cn). “We have to fully implement the law … to shut down those enterprises which haven’t taken any environmental protection measures and haven’t run environment protection equipment,” MEP official Gao Zhenning told state television channel CCTV.
Related: 陈吉宁：把环保执法过软翻过来_京华时报 昨天下午，在被正式任命为环保部部长48小时后，陈吉宁在环保部与20多家媒体进行了座谈。据了解，这是他接任部长后的第一次对外活动。陈吉宁在会上表示，过去环保执法过松过软，今后要让守法成为常态。应媒体要求，陈吉宁对柴静发布的有关雾霾的纪录片《穹顶之下》也给予了回应。陈吉宁表示自己当天晚上就已完整看完，昨天上午还专门给柴静发短信感谢，感谢她唤起全民对环境问题的关注。
3. Mutual Suspicion Mars Tech Trade With China – NYTimes in many ways, China seems to hold all the cards. China has twice as many Internet users as the United States, a market expected to account for half of all information technology spending globally in 2015. Its industrial policy gives the government strong control over the economy. And its own tech companies are growing in size and capability. American companies — eager to do business in the expanding market — are divided on how to deal with the Chinese, a weakness China has cannily exploited over the last decade.
Related: China draft counterterror law strikes fear in foreign tech firms | Reutersseveral U.S. technology executives and industry sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said they feared the security law would be more stringent than the bank regulations – and more sensitive to discuss – because it was rooted in public security considerations. The vague, open-ended requirements for cooperating with law enforcement appeared the most worrying, as well as the possibility of steep penalties or jail time for non-compliance, according to one executive. “It’s the equivalent of the Patriot Act on really, really strong steroids,” said one U.S. industry source, referring to the anti-terrorism legislation enacted under the George W. Bush administration following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Related: WTO rules make it difficult for Cisco and Apple to challenge Chinese government ‘black list’ | South China Morning Post Complex World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations will make it very difficult for the US government and major technology companies to take legal action against Beijing’s decision to drop Apple and Cisco from its approved state procurement lists. When the Chinese government joined the WTO in December 2001, Beijing did not sign up to a plurilateral treaty on government procurements. As a result, China is able to remove any foreign brands that the government doesn’t like from its state procurement lists with little potential WTO blowback.
Related: Gemalto Doesn’t Know What It Doesn’t Know – The Intercept China Mobile, which uses Gemalto SIM cards, has more wireless network customers than any company in the world. This week it announced it was investigating the breach and the Chinese government said it was “concerned” about the Gemalto hack. “We are opposed to any country attempting to use information technology products to conduct cyber surveillance,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said. “This not only harms the interests of consumers but also undermines users’ confidence.”
Related: The United States Is Angry That China Wants Crypto Backdoors, Too | Motherboard “You can’t have it both ways,” Trevor Timm, the co-founder and the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Motherboard. “If the US forces tech companies to install backdoors in encryption, then tech companies will have no choice but to go along with China when they demand the same power.”
Related: Commentary: Washington’s politicalization of business with Beijing destined to backfire – Xinhua And indeed, a sovereign government may be justified in saying no to foreign investment out of national security concerns, yet such a mechanism should never be exploited or abused as protectionism in disguise, or used as a political weapon against another country. In a move that seems to the follow U.S. lead, its Asian ally the Philippines has announced suspending a Chinese company’s involvement in the construction of the country’s power grid, also citing “national security concerns”. This is not only a flagrant violation of business ethics, but also lays bare Manila’ s short-sightedness and asininity. The United States, the world’s sole superpower and the largest economy, has long portrayed itself as a victim of plots and conspiracies from the outside world
4. Draft Chinese law paves way for counter-terror operations abroad | ReutersExperts said Article 76 of the draft anti-terrorism law would allay concerns among the military elite about the lack of a formal mechanism for carrying out such operations, as well as mark a shift in foreign policy thinking and military doctrine. The article is a small part of a draft law chiefly aimed at combating terrorism at home that was made public in November. It has undergone a second review by a parliamentary committee, and is likely to be adopted in the coming weeks or months.
Related: How China Defines Terrorism | The Diplomat Dr. Zunyou Zhou, head of the China section at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, is the author of Balancing Security and Liberty: Counter-Terrorism Legislation in Germany and China (2014).
5. The Evolution of Xi Jinping’s ‘Four Comprehensives’ – NYTimes Mr. Xi’s slogan is, like these, capable of shifting emphasis to ride out political tides, said Perry Link, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, who has written a study of Chinese political language. “Exactly what it means could be put to various purposes,” Mr. Link said in a telephone interview. “You’re automatically correct even though it’s not clear what you said. It provides, as it were, a theoretical cudgel with which you can pick your own fights.”
Related: 国平:奏响“四个全面”的两会主旋律-新华网 中国特色社会主义如何发展？具有许多新的历史特点的伟大斗争如何开展？令亿万人民憧憬的中国梦如何一步一步铺就现实的宏伟画卷？“四个全面”正是着眼这样的重大理论和实践问题，为顺利推进党和国家事业发展提供了科学答案。
Related: 学习习近平“四个全面”战略思想–时政–人民网 People’s Daily Online now has a microsite for the Four Comprehensives
Related: Rise of China’s middle class will not challenge Communist Party: state media | South China Morning Post On the second day of its efforts to disseminate Xi’s governing vision for the country ahead of the nation’s annual parliamentary session, the party’s mouthpiece expounded the rationale behind the theory as: building a middle-class society, breaking up vested interest groups, restoring strong governance in accordance with laws, and eliminating the main risk to the party.
6. Sex, Lies and Espionage: Did a Professor Spy for the FBI? – Bloomberg Business When Dianne Mercurio first knocked on Dajin Peng’s door, he was searching the Internet for the best way to kill himself. Mercurio, an FBI agent, had other ideas. Mercurio knew Peng was in trouble with the University of South Florida, where he taught international business and ran the Confucius Institute, a cultural program funded by a Chinese government affiliate. USF had placed him on leave for alleged mismanagement there. As they strolled outside his apartment, she asked Peng, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen, to serve his adopted country.
7. Closer Look: Local Officials Have Little Love for National Hukou Reform – Caixin The central government may want to revamp the household registration system, but financial concerns mean many cities are not on board with the idea// 户改风向偏紧 厦门为何取消四类落户政经频道财新网
8. Chinese Dissident Accuses Top U.S. Diplomat of Lying | Foreign Policy In a copy of Chen’s unpublished memoir, The Barefoot Lawyer, obtained by Foreign Policy, Chen details the promises U.S. officials made to him — and then broke. According to Chen, Kurt Campbell, the then-assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and the highest-ranking United States diplomat directly involved in the affair, said that he and then-American Ambassador Gary Locke would personally reunite the dissident with his family.
You can read the rest of today’s Sinocism newsletter here.