The Sinocism newsletter is compiled by Bill Bishop, and republished here with permission. Be Informed About China. The Sinocism China Newsletter. Free.
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
房子的焦虑 - 经济观察网－ 专业财经新闻网站- original story that telegraph corrupt cadres and panic property sales story based on..but if the "panic selling" since Oct/Nov really mattered in the market, why have prices gone up in most markets? Hainan though may be crashing// 此外，中纪委、监察部12月14日也下达通知：严令各地纪委、监察部、印监委及公安部门要按规定政策把好关，严惩以假名、匿名、假公司、企业进行非法、违法物业转售、出售等。严惩违规、违法提取各种货币、套汇及洗钱外流等活动。上述中纪委的通报称，据不完全统计，2010年大陆非法资金外流是4120亿美元，2011年达到6000亿美元，2012年估计已突破10000亿美元。2013年的非法资金外流规模将达到15000亿美元。
China's Communist party cadres launch property fire sale - Telegraph - A report by the Communist Party's powerful anti-corruption unit, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CDIC), said "a wave of luxury home sales began last November and has accelerated since December". It said the volume of deals had intensified by "a hundred times" after Xi Jinping, the incoming Chinese president, warned that corruption could kill the Party and put one of the country's most vigorous and resolute politicians, Wang Qishan, in charge of stamping out graft...They never register the houses in their own names and they use a string of agents to do the deals," said Mr Fu. He said one company had bribed an official by buying him a property at the Mountain Water International Complex. "The property was put in the name of the official's relative. After six months, it was sold for two million yuan (£200,000), around the same amount it cost. Then the official could cash out.
学习时报刊文建议全国人大设宪法审查委员会_政经频道_财新网 - 文章称，“根据我国现行体制在全国人大常委会下设一个专门的违宪审查委员会来对各级立法机关的立法予以监督，专司全国各级人大及其常委会的立法是否违宪的审查”
PBOC Signals Change in Liquidity Management - WSJ.com- SHANGHAI—China's central bank has taken a step toward establishing a more market-oriented interest-rate system, putting it more closely in line with the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major global central banks in how it manages banking-system liquidity. In a statement released late Friday, the People's Bank of China said it would immediately begin using new short-term measures to inject or withdraw cash from the banking system as needed. The measures would be conducted with 12 major commercial members and would supplement its current twice-a-week open market operations when liquidity in the banking system suffers "temporary fluctuation," it said.
China Premier-Designate Pushes for Disclosure of Pollution Index: Media-Caijing - This was the first time for a member of the ruling Party's seven-member Politburo Standing Committee has addressed the pollution levels
Caterpillar Unit in Scandal Has Unusual Roots - WSJ.com- The company had been a relic of China's planned economy, but a U.S.-trained mining engineer and coal tycoon, Li Rubo, and Emory Williams, a Beijing-based American entrepreneur, transformed it over the past decade, seeking to tap growing demand for industrial equipment. They got it publicly listed as a non-Chinese company, with prominent international shareholders. The company obtained its Hong Kong listing in 2010, using a maneuver called a reverse takeover, according to ERA Mining's regulatory filings. It bought out a nearly defunct distributor of Hollywood DVDs called Era Information & Entertainment Ltd. and used its Hong Kong listing to bypass regulatory hurdles involved in an initial public offering.
Information Dissemination: 风向转变时,有人筑墙,有人造风车 - What does the PLA Navy look like if the Chinese decide to retain their shipbuilding sector through this downward economic period by keeping only 30 (~15%) of their major shipyards open via governement orders? I don't know what that would look like, but I will note that 30 major shipyards building navy ships is the same shipbuilding capacity the United States leveraged to build all warships in World War II. While no one would expect China to field ships at the same pace the US did in WWII, even if China adds orders of a single large PLAN vessel or multiple smaller vessels for 30 shipyards over 5 years while sustaining current construction pace for PLA Navy and government maritime agencies, the size of the PLAN and associated government maritime agencies could potentially triple by 2020.
U.S., China in deal on U.N. North Korea rebuke; Russia to back it | Reuters - The United States and China have struck a tentative deal on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution condemning North Korea for its December rocket launch, U.N. diplomats said on Friday, and Russia predicted it would be approved by the council.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
A Confusing Debut for Daughter of Mysterious Huawei Founder - China Real Time Report - WSJ- In a somewhat momentous move Monday, China telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. presented Cathy Meng, its chief financial officer and daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, for her first on-the-record meeting with the Western media. Less impressively, Ms. Meng followed up a vow to continue improving transparency at the famously secretive company by muddying the water on key operational issues.
State-owned Banks Cut Profit Expectations for 2013 - Caixin - The decline was mainly a result of last year's interest rate changes, which adjusted the floating ranges of deposit and lending interest rates and limited banks' pricing power over capital. The cost of capital rose also because many customers opted for better-paying wealth management products over ordinary savings accounts.
Caterpillar writes off most of China deal after fraud | Reuters - Caterpillar closed the purchase of ERA Mining Machinery Ltd and its subsidiary Siwei last June, paying HK$5.06 billion, or $653.4 million. ERA had been publicly traded in Hong Kong, doing business through Siwei, which is known for making equipment to support roofs in mines. A member of the Caterpillar board during the course of the Siwei deal told Reuters the board was distracted at the time by a larger transaction and paid relatively little attention to the Siwei acquisition.//serious due diligence negligence at best
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