THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
1. Bloomberg Briefs-China’s 13th Five-Year Plan comprehensive report
2. [视频]习近平主持召开中央财经领导小组第十一次会议强调 全面贯彻党的十八届五中全会精神 落实发展理念推进经济结构性改革_新闻频道 CCTV Evening News on the 11.10 meeting of the Central Finance and Economics Leading Group, first reported meeting in 8 months
Related: China’s Crackdown on Financial Markets Gets Top-Level Support – The New York Times President Xi Jinping of China called for more measures to protect stock market investors after meeting with financial regulators, the state news media said on Tuesday, signaling top-level support for a national campaign to crack down on market manipulation and to increase transparency… Summarizing Mr. Xi’s speech, the state news media said that the president had called for stock markets to be better regulated so that investors are treated fairly. China’s stock markets have long had a reputation for chronic insider trading and other abuses.// 习近平再谈股市 充分保护投资者权益
Related: 久违的中央财经领导小组会议释放什么信号_观点频道_财新网 Minsheng Securities researchers look at the signals from the CFELG meeting, posted on Caixin
3. How a Detained Stock Trader Played with Fire-Caixin Cover Story Xu Xiang and his Zexi Investment made a lot of money on stock market volatility before authorities smelled the smoke
4. Seven Things You Should Know About China’s Coal Consumption | Barbara Finamore’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC The new coal consumption figures will not derail the Paris climate talks, since they have already been taken into account in many climate analyses after they came out in preliminary form earlier this year. Nor should they cast doubt on China’s commitment to battle climate change, including its support for an enhanced transparent global system of reporting and review of climate actions. Here are seven things you should know about China’s coal consumption
Related: A Glut of Coal-Fired Plants Raises Doubts About China’s Energy Priorities – The New York Times When finished, the plant, run by a company owned by the Beijing government, is expected to have a generating capacity of 700 megawatts of power, more than the total of similar plants in Ohio. But whether it will actually be used to its fullest is questionable, despite the investment of $580 million. That is because the plant is scheduled to come online in three years amid a glut of coal-fired power plants — an astounding 155 planned projects received a permit this year alone, with total capacity equal to nearly 40 percent of that of operational coal power plants in the United States.
5. China says not aware of plan to discuss South China Sea at APEC | Reuters “Everyone knows that APEC is primarily about discussing trade and financial cooperation in the Asia Pacific,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong told reporters in answer to a question. “As far as I know, at this year’s summit, there are no plans to discuss the South China Sea.”
Related China says Philippines must heal rift over South China Sea as Indonesia speaks out | Reuters The arbitration case against China in the Hague “is a knot that has impeded the improvement and development of Sino-Philippine relations”, a statement on the Foreign Ministry’s website cited Wang as saying in Manila. “We do not want this knot to become tighter and tighter, so that it even becomes a dead knot,” Wang told reporters. “As for how to loosen or open the knot, (we’ll) have to look at the Philippines.” // no mention of a bell?
Related: Indonesia says could also take China to court over South China Sea | Reuters Indonesia believes China’s claim over parts of the Natuna islands has no legal basis. “We are working very hard on this. We are trying to approach the Chinese,” Luhut Panjaitan told reporters. “We would like to see a solution on this in the near future through dialogue, or we could bring it to the International Criminal Court.”
Related: China Policy Institute Blog » China’s three-pronged response to the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s rule on jurisdiction While still too early to tell for sure, the first moves by the PRC seem to indicate a three-pronged strategy, whereby Beijing insists in denying the court’s jurisdiction, moves forward in the deployment of aircraft in artificial islands, and explores agreements with some of the claimants.
6. The Pentagon’s Lonely War Against Russia and China – Bloomberg View At last weekend’s Reagan National Defense Forum, top Pentagon officials warned about the coming great power battles with Russia and China. But the U.S. approach to both countries shows that other parts of the administration view those relationships in a very different way.
Related: Document: Letter from Sen. John McCain to SECDEF Carter on U.S. South China Sea Freedom of Navigation Operation – USNI News Is Sen. McCain confused about what happened, or is he trying to force the Pentagon to go on record publicly with all the details?
Related: China responds to Pentagon chief’s speech regarding S.China Sea – Xinhua China’s position is reasonable and lawful and the U.S. side has no right to make irresponsible comments, he said. Last week, Carter boarded an American aircraft carrier in the South China Sea to demonstrate the U.S.’s commitment to freedom of navigation. The move posed serious damage to China’s sovereignty and security while exacerbating tensions in the region, Hong said. “It is very clear who is breaking the international order and making trouble,”said Hong.
Related: Washington losing leverage in S.China Sea – Global Times Assistant US Secretary of State Daniel Russel said recently that China wants the US to give it a “free pass” on issues that China considers its “core interests,” and that’s just not a deal that the US “ever can or would make.” US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter recently played tough and called China and Russia potential threats to the world…It is difficult for the South China Sea issue to become a prime bargaining chip for Washington to deal with Beijing. Last week in Kuala Lumpur, many defense ministers from ASEAN countries refused to be railroaded by the US into releasing a joint statement that included content on the South China Sea. Washington should be aware how far its leverage goes on the issue.
7. Alibaba’s Global Shopathon Is On: Live Updates – Alizila sold just over $14B USD on the day
Related: Alibaba’s Global Ambitions Face Counterfeit Challenge – WSJ “There are substantial concerns among brand owners that expanding Alibaba’s AliExpress platform will result in a very significant increase in the sale of counterfeit and otherwise infringing goods” unless more safeguards are imposed, said Paul Kilmer, founder of the Trademark Working Group, a collective of U.S. companies and organizations. // USTR should add Alibaba back to notorious markets list. Scandalous they were ever removed, but Alibaba has good lobbyists
Related: Why Alibaba Is Having Singles’ Day in Beijing for First Time – Bloomberg Business Shifting from its Hangzhou home to the heart of Chinese power shows Alibaba’s ambitions to maintain growth, penetrate the northern region where rival JD.com Inc. is based and answer the government’s call for “national champions” in technology. Even amid a slowing economy, Alibaba estimates that 1.7 million deliverymen, 400,000 vehicles and 200 airplanes will be deployed to handle packages holding everything from iPhones to underwear.
Related: The weirdest online shopping habits of Chinese go beyond your imagination | AllChinaTech According to Kuyun Eye, a TV ratings organization, the live broadcast of Alibaba’s Gala was watched by 28.4% of the television viewing population, far exceeding any other program on air at the time. At the same time, Alibaba released some interesting stats on the weirdest shopping trends in China. For example, which city bought the most bikinis, which age group bought the most long underwear, and which city bought the most acne treatment products.
Related: China’s ‘singles day’ blamed for baby formula shortages in Australian supermarkets | Business | The Guardian Thousands of sellers can be found hawking Bellamy’s Organic baby formula products on Taobao…Chinese tourists, students and relatives living in Australia had been bulk-buying the products throughout October to sell on Taobao and other Chinese websites ready for the singles day shopping frenzy, Bellamy’s Organic chairman, Rob Woolley, told media this week. // aren’t some of these Chinese then “working” illegally in Australia if they are making money doing this?
Related: JD has already beaten its Singles Day orders record-TechinAsia As of 5pm local time, JD went above 20 million total orders. An hour or so later, the company said it has now had more orders in 2015 than in all five of its previous Singles Day sales combined. Original story follows:
8. China population fears held up scrapping of one child policy – FT.com Mr Wang said a study of the nation’s population growth between 2006 and 2008 showed 80 per cent of Chinese couples wanted one boy and one girl. That survey, combined with German research estimating families must average three children to have at least one of each, alarmed family planners, he said. They instead opted for a phased approach
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