China links

Courtesy of Sinocism.

• An App Keeps Spies Away from Your iPhone – Technology Review
• China boats return to disputed area: claim | The Australian
  Chinese fishing boats have returned to a lagoon in a disputed South China Sea shoal despite an agreement to clear the area of all vessels, Philippines officials say.
• Bo family in luxury London property deals – FT.com
  The family of the disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai bought luxury London properties through a front company with the help of a French architect, a Financial Times investigation has found.
  They enlisted the great grandson of the co-founder of the British retailer Marks & Spencer to help sell one of the apartments.
• Top CIA Spy Accused of Being a Mafia Hitman | Danger Room | Wired.com

  Enrique “Ricky” Prado’s resume reads like the ultimate CIA officer: veteran of the Central American wars, running the CIA’s operations in Korea, a top spy in America’s espionage programs against China, and deputy to counter-terrorist chief Cofer Black — and then a stint at Blackwater. But he’s also alleged to have started out a career as a hitman for a notorious Miami mobster, and kept working for the mob even after joining the CIA. Finally, he went on to serve as the head of the CIA’s secret assassination squad against Al-Qaida.

  That’s according to journalist Evan Wright’s blockbuster story How to Get Away With Murder in America, distributed by Byliner.

• China’s Turn Against Law by Carl Minzner :: SSRN
  Abstract:
  Chinese authorities are reconsidering legal reforms they enacted in the 1980s and 1990s. These reforms had emphasized law, litigation, and courts as institutions for resolving civil grievances between citizens and administrative grievances against the state. But social stability concerns have led top leaders to question these earlier reforms. Central Party leaders now fault legal reforms for insufficiently responding to (or even generating) surging numbers of petitions and protests.Chinese authorities have now drastically altered course. Substantively, they are de-emphasizing the role of formal law and court adjudication. They are attempting to revive pre-1978 Maoist-style court mediation practices. Procedurally, Chinese authorities are also turning away from the law. They are relying on political, rather than legal, levers in their effort to remake the Chinese judiciary.This Article analyzes the official Chinese turn against law.
• 房地产调控已陷进退两难境地_经济频道_财新网
  楼市调控政策力度趋于弱化、软化；研究者提醒，若中央政府容忍地方放松对房地产的调控，确实能让经济短暂地强劲复苏，但将来则要承担更大的苦果
• McCain Attacks Adelson Spending As ‘Foreign Money,’ Says ‘Corporations Are Not People’ | ThinkProgress
  MCCAIN: This which says that obviously, maybe in a round-about way, foreign money is coming into an American campaign, political campaigns.
  WOODRUFF: Because of the profits that the casinos in Macau…
• Sinopec Team Left Grasping at China Gas Straws – Caixin Online
  A major natural gas supplier is at the center of a shareholder struggle among state-owned and private investors..
  Energy companies from Oman to Beijing have been wrangling over one of China’s largest natural gas distributors with an unusual bow to state-private sector teamwork.
  The competition for control began in December when state-run oil company Sinopec and privately held ENN Energy Service Co. Ltd. joined forces in a hostile takeover bid for Hong Kong-listed China Gas Holdings Ltd.
• FT Alphaville » China’s foreign debt keeps rising
  ChinaScope reports that China’s total outstanding foreign debt was $751.26bn at the end of March 2012, according to data released Monday by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
• Local vs central: China property tug o’war | beyondbrics
• Asia Sentinel – Leung Chun-ying stumbles on illegal additions to his Peak home
  Leung Chun-ying is due to take office as Hong Kong’s chief executive Sunday, anointed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, just at the time Tropical Storm Doksuri appears to be scheduled to arrive and head directly up the Pearl River.
• PDF: Decision making in SOEs and the Implications for the Resource Sector
  Presentation to the Australian China Business Council in Melbourne, June 4, by Urandaline Investments
• Chinese company ensnared in kickback scandal in Philippines – The Washington Post

  After a tense showdown over a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, the closest U.S. ally in Southeast Asia and a rising China now face a new source of potential friction over the alleged corrupt practices of a well-connected Chinese corporation.

  At the center of a case before the Philippine anti-graft tribunal is Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment, or ZTE, a state-linked manufacturing giant that sells communications gear in more than 140 countries. The company is not on trial, but its alleged payment of tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks in connection with a 2007 contract has led to graft charges against former president Gloria Magacapal-Arroyo, her husband and two other former senior officials. All deny any wrongdoing.

• Does China Want to Dominate Afghanistan? – By Steve LeVine | Foreign Policy

  From two decades of watching and covering the country, I feel confident saying that China will not end up “dominating Afghanistan,” because the Afghans are too astute to let that happen. They do not require foreigners to inform them of the downside risks of falling under the sway of an outside power. Yet how astute are we?

  By appearances, not very. We seem to have determined that because China is a great rival in many sectors, it is by definition a danger everywhere. But the logic does not hold in Central and South Asia, where a robust Chinese economic role — a Pax Sinica, if you will — may be what stands between the success and failure of primary U.S. and Western strategic objectives. “Without China’s assistance, almost nothing of sustainable consequence will happen in South or Central Asia — in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, or elsewhere,” Larry Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Gen. Colin Powell, told me.

• 40重点城市住房信息恐难如期联网_中国经济网――国家经济门户
  now chinese press saying now info system linking 40 cities various real estate information systems is unlikely to be online by june 30. doubt it ever will be, as too many interests do not want this to happen. transparency is a dangerous thing
• Stocks Rise on China Stimulus Bets as Italy Bonds Advance – Bloomberg
  The China Securities Journal said the country may introduce “more proactive” policies to ensure stable growth in the world’s second-largest economy, while the Xinhua News Agency said China plans to boost Hong Kong’s integration with mainland financial markets. Italy sold 9 billion euros ($11 billion) of 185-day bills, matching its target, on the eve of Europe’s 19th summit to tackle the debt crisis.
• Cooking oil thieves hit Montgomery’s Red Rooster restaurant – The Washington Post
  But for iron-stomached criminals, the greasy dregs translate to easy cash. Demand is high for recycled oil. Once treated, “yellow grease,” which can net $3 per gallon, is used to fuel biodiesel fleets and as a key ingredient for feeding poultry in Delmarva and pigs in China.
• US envoy’s humble trip brings Chinese netizens to criticize officials｜Politics｜News｜WantChinaTimes.com
  The United States Ambassador to China Gary Locke’s recent low-profile family trip to the Chinese city of Guilin has been used by Chinese netizens to mock the extravagant manners of Chinese officials.
• CapitalVue News: China Medium-End Baijiu Prices Up
  June 27 — Second and third-tier Chinese baijiu makers are expanding production capacity due to the rising prices of medium-end spirits, while the prices of high-end baijiu are dropping during the low season in summer, reports China Securities Journal.
• Police seize hundreds of endangered animals in Nanning｜Society｜News｜WantChinaTimes.com
  Police in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have busted a criminal gang trafficking endangered animals, seizing hundreds of bear paws, bear meat and animal carcasses during a raid of one of the ring’s warehouses, local officials said Tuesday…
  Some of the carcasses, including those of pangolins and tortoises, were sealed in a refrigerator and disguised as tea, police said.
• Diao si: internet buzzword reflects angst among young Chinese｜Society｜In-depth｜WantChinaTimes.com
• Founder of Singapore’s Biggest Church in Hot Water – Southeast Asia Real Time – WSJ
  authorities on Tuesday arrested the founding pastor and four executive staff of City Harvest Church for alleged misuse of church funds to fund the pop music career of the senior pastor’s wife, Ho Yeow Sun. Ms. Ho is not among the five arrested.
• Vietnam Protests Cnooc Move in South China Sea – WSJ.com
  Vietnam late Tuesday launched a formal protest against China National Offshore Oil Corp.’s move to offer nine blocks in the South China Sea for joint operation
• China Prohibits Local Government Bond Sales In Budget Law | MNI
  Local Chinese governments won’t be allowed to raise debt directly, according to the draft of amendments to the central government’s budget law, dealing a blow to hopes that Beijing would move forward with the development of a municipal bond market.
• China Local Govts Test Beijing Resolve On Housing Crackdown | MNI

  Authorities in the Chinese province of Henan played down Wednesday reports that they are planning to loosen restrictions on investing in the property market there, the latest local government unsuccessfully test Beijing’s resolve on maintaining its strict real estate policies.

  An authoritative source with the provincial branch of the China Banking Regulatory Commission said that reports Monday of plans to loosen lending conditions for homebuyers and developers were “misinterpreted”, the 21st Century Business Herald reported, adding that the source denied that the government had introduced any policies to loosen restrictions.

• Local Gov.’s Property Retreat “Dead on Arrival”-Caijing
  The cat-and-mouse game is the latest in a series of local governments’ impulse to ease property restrictions because they are too dependent on property sales for their revenue.
• China’s Repo Rate Declines on Speculation Policies to Be Eased – Bloomberg
  China’s money-market rate declined on speculation the central bank will loosen monetary policy to ease a quarter-end cash shortage.
• PBoC may Cut RRR in July, Interest Rates in Aug.: CICC-Caijing
  The People’s Bank of China will probably cut the deposit reserve requirements for banks in July and cut the interest rate in August
• China’s officials forced to sell luxury cars – FT.com
  who are the buyers, and will they “lend” the cars back to the sellers?//
  The municipalities say the auctions are their way of implementing a central government policy to root out misuse and illegal purchases of official cars. But despite policy being in place since 1994, the number of government cars has mushroomed.
  “It’s not only about reform,” said Prof Tao. “Many are short of money.”
• Business – Matthew O’Brien – Why China Is in the Business of Building America’s Houses – The Atlantic
  There’s a government that wants to invest in the United States. That might seem hard to believe amidst our age of local austerity. But it’s easy to find. Just go west. Keep going west. Seriously, keep going west. Okay, stop when you reach east. It’s China.
  The big news is that the Chinese Development Bank might pour a cool $1.7 billion into a pair of stalled San Francisco housing developments. Yes, the same Chinese Development Bank that typically makes infrastructure investments in the developing world.
• » Another Riot In Guangdong, Caused By Teens Fighting, Reportedly With Casualties [Video] Beijing Cream
• 传十八大10月召开 习近平主导筹备工作_多维新闻网
  so how will reuters cover the word now that the 18th party congress will be held as scheduled, likely in october//
  【多维新闻】薄熙来事件后，外界曾一度炒作中共十八大延迟的消息。近期有消息称，十八大具体会期确定在10月下旬，筹备工作在组长习近平的领导下正按进度进行，多维新闻曾于去年10月独家报道称，十八大人事由习近平主导、江泽民任总顾问。而近期的消息进一步印证中共正有步骤的展开十八大的各项筹备工作。
• 切割和地方利益链 解放军深挖贪腐根源_多维新闻网
  Duowei on anti-corruption campaign in the PLA. no wonder there is so much loyalty propaganda right now
  随着中共解放军内部反腐的推进，有消息称中国军方高层正在将军队和地方的经济利益链进行切割，而军官也被明确要求进行财产申报。有分析说，解放军此番的反腐力度非常罕见，或预示中共高层决心深挖军队贪腐根源。
• 城市一卡通巨额押金去向为何成谜？_网易新闻中心
• Top Ten Search List (June 27)
  wish baidu did this more regulalry
• NSA Spying and the Illusion of Oversight | Cato @ Liberty
  China probably envious of US domestic surveillance tech and breadth?
• Hillary Clinton’s Last Tour as a Rock-Star Diplomat – NYTimes.com
  including China trip and Chen Guangcheng
• As U.S. Leaves, Oil-Hungry China Stuck in Middle East – WSJ
  China increasingly has reason to worry about Islamic terrorists, between Xinjiang and propping up nasty regimes in the Middle East.
• 南方周末 – 2011年中央单位“三公经费”支出93.46亿元
• Enraged residents besiege Shaxi local govt offices after school beating – Globaltimes.cn
• China’s Henan reverses easier-mortgage plan – Economic Report – MarketWatch
• The internal struggle for the Party’s military – China Media Project
  pair this with the Peter Mattis piece highlighted in the June 25 Sinocism
• No Second-Half Rally for China Stocks, Top Fund Manager Says – Bloomberg
  China’s economy will probably stay in the “doldrums” in coming months, preventing a second-half rally for the nation’s equities, according to the country’s best-performing fund manager.
  The government will do just enough to prevent the world’s second-biggest economy from slowing further instead of taking more aggressive measures to boost growth, Yu Guang of Invesco Great Wall Fund Management Co. in Shenzhen, said in an e-mailed interview on June 21. Property, auto and household-appliance stocks may outperform even as the overall market stalls, said Yu, whose Core Competitiveness Fund has returned 25 percent this year, ranking it first among 714 China-based mutual funds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of June 25.
• Not Best Time to Buy Land in China Now, Hang Lung’s Chan Says – Bloomberg
  Land prices in China may drop further and it is still too early to buy land in the country, said Ronnie Chan, Chairman of Hang Lung Properties Ltd. (101), the Hong Kong developer investing at least $8.5 billion in Chinese real estate.
  “Why hurry? It’s not like the market is going to take off anytime soon,” Chan said in an interview at the sideline of the Real Estate Investment World conference in Singapore today. “It’s still not the best time yet. We need to look more carefull
• Gov’t Faces Questions over Housing Market Curbs – Caixin Online
  Beijing’s tightening policies have cooled sector, but local governments are taking steps to circumvent them
• Bad Loan Problem Spreading across Country, Banker Says – Caixin Online
  Guangdong and Inner Mongolia can be added to the list of places witnessing a surge in NPLs
  (Wenzhou) – The resurgence of bad loans is not only a regional issue but a national problem, an executive at a joint-stock bank says.
  The ratio of all but two commercial banks’ non-performing loans (NPLs) to small and medium-sized enterprises hit 2 percent, he said. The exceptions were China Minsheng Bank and Shenzhen Development Bank.
• CDT–Riot in Guangdong Village Over Sale of Lan
  Zuotan, Foshan
• Domino Risk Grips Zhejiang Bankers, Borrowers – Caixin Online
• Myrtle Beach-area golf industry looks to China to boost its brand – Myrtle Beach Golf – MyrtleBeachOnline.com