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Media Report
June 12 , 2017
  • The Wall Street Journal：Protests Opposing China's Crackdown on Housing Speculation Swell
    The Wall Street Journal reports: "Protests against Chinese property controls have grown in intensity in recent weeks, underscoring the challenge for the government in preventing public eruptions of anger as it cracks down on housing speculation. In response to skyrocketing home prices, governments in China's big cities have set limits on the buying of multiple homes and higher down-payment ratios, which has left many unable to sell their homes and others worried they won't be able to buy in before prices rise further. Protests over the new rules started in early May. In the latest and largest breakout, hundreds of people marched down a busy Shanghai shopping street this weekend. Snapshots of the Shanghai protest quickly whirled through mobile-messaging app WeChat, showing scenes of protesters clashing with police and some being dragged away. In videos set against bright neon lights and in drizzly rain, the shrieks of whistles were heard as fists pumped and the crowd chanted demands that the city loosen restrictions. 'So far, no Shanghai leader has come out to speak to us,' said Li Pinger, a 40-year-old IT contractor at a local university who took part in Saturday's protest. Ms. Li said she has been unable to move into an apartment she bought last year at a hotel project in Shanghai's Qingpu District after the Shanghai government in May banned the sale of apartments built on land for commercial or office use and directed developers to convert thousands of units back to fit those purposes."
  • Quartz：A series of Chinese inspections have found that 70% of firms violate air pollution regulation
    Quartz comments: "To combat air pollution, China has been locating the culprits —firms pumping out emissions—around some of the most polluted cities in the country. According to China's Ministry of Environment (MEP), which has been sending out thousands of environmental offiicers since April, more than 70% of inspected companies failed to meet environmental standards. The series of inspections is part of a year-long project in 28 cities inside one of the country's largest regions—colloquially known as 'Jing-Jin-Ji' (for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, which is sometimes referred to by the character ji). Companies such as metal, machine and recycled plastic manufacturers have been under scrutiny. According to four announcements, the latest on June 10, a total of 14,727 out of 20,775 companies were found to be producing more emissions than allowed, or operating without pollution-control equipment...Last year, in an earlier effort, inspectors found nearly 4,500 local companies violated environmental standards, according to state news agency Global Times. Apart from industry emissions, Beijing often sees particularly heavy pollution in winter due to its heavy reliance on burning coal for heat."
  • The New Yorker：Are China and the United States Headed for War?
    The New Yorker comments: "Overheated topics invariably produce ill-considered books. Some people will remember the time, in the late nineteen-eighties, when Japan was about to buy up America and conquer the world. Many a tidy sum was made on that premise. These days, the possibility of war with China is stirring emotions and keeping publishers busy. A glance at a few new books suggests what scholars and journalists are thinking about the prospect of an Asian conflagration; the quality of their reflections is, to say the least, variable...China's own attitude toward the status quo is far from straightforward. China may dream of sweeping its seas clean of the U.S. Navy. But, if the alternative is the military resurgence of Japan, the Chinese would probably opt for maintaining the Pax Americana. At the moment, though, the United States itself appears to be drifting. Trump has accused Japan of playing the U.S. for a sucker. He has even suggested that Japan and South Korea might build their own nuclear bombs. But the ex-generals and corporate executives who run his foreign policy seem to favor sticking to the world we know. Both of these policies are flawed. There is no ideal solution to the late-imperial dilemma. But the surest way to court disaster is to have no coherent plan at all."
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