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CONTENTS

Economy

Industrial profits up 57%: China's major industrial companies saw a steady increase in profits in the first seven months of this year amid a stable recovery in market demand and improving business performance, official data showed Friday. Industrial firms with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about $3.08 million) raked in combined profits of 4.92 trillion yuan during the period, up 57.3 percent year on year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. Read full article →

SOE profits jump 92% Jan-July: The combined profits of China's State-owned enterprises (SOEs) surged 92% YoY to $430 billion, and centrally administered SOEs saw their profits increase 89%.  Read full article →

China hedgies outbid US funds. Hedge funds are offering elite new graduates salaries of up to $300,000 — triple the $100,000 sticker price of Wall Street – at funds which use computer models to trade, which have been lifted by inflows from rich individuals. In the span of a few months, entry-level salaries at top investment banks have shot up into six figures, even before bonuses. Read full article →

A billion active netizens. Booming 5G development and increasing numbers of aged users have boosted the base to 1 billion active users. Read full article →

Having a social conscience can earn a healthy return in China. Investors around the world, including China, are putting more emphasis on how companies deal with environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues as climate change, business sustainability and good corporate conduct move to the top of many governments’ political and financial agendas. Chinese ESG investing is already paying off. The three China ESG indexes have outperformed its benchmark China indexes over three-year and five-year periods to July 30. Read full article →

What is ‘common prosperity’? “Consistent with the government’s long-term plan, we should expect reforms and policy changes to support household income growth, increase of public services including healthcare and education, expand pension and other social welfare, adjust income distribution through tax reform and regulations, and encourage corporations to play a bigger role in common prosperity,” writes Wang Tao, UBS China economist. Read full article →

China's Integrated Circuit H1 imports rose 27% YoY to $233.33 billion, up 42%. IC exports rose 31.1 percent year-over-year to $79.78 billion, up 45.1 percent from the same period in 2019, for the 31st consecutive month of year-over-year growth. Since 2021, the volume and value of China's memory exports have risen continuously, with the average monthly export value remaining at $5.33 billion. Read full article →

Power generation continued its double-digit growth in the first seven months of 2021, with power generated by clean energy growing rapidly. Power generated by major firms in the country increased 13.2% YoY to 4.6 trillion kilowatt-hours Jan-July. The volume rose 12.2% from the same period in 2019, putting the average growth of the past two years at 5.9%. Read full article →

The State Council's new employment plan for 2025 targets 55 million urban jobs with better workers' rights and better training of the labor force. Read full article →

Trade & Travel

American payment company Stripe supports UnionPay International, the overseas subsidiary of UnionPay, China’s largest payment network. Stripe said the partnership will facilitate transactions in China’s currency in more than 30 markets, including Australia, Singapore, the US, the UK, and the European Union. UnionPay offers a Visa-like payment service in China. Read full article  →

A newly opened rail line stretches from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to Lincang, Yunnan Province enabling China to trans-ship cargo from Singapore Port via Myanmar. It will take three days to get from Lincang to Chengdu by rail, and is the first to link western China with the Indian Ocean. The route will go through Mandalay, Lashio and Hsenwi on the Myanmar side. Read full article  →

Urumqi  is one of the top 500 cities worldwide in scientific output (Nature Index rankings). Xinjiang University is a first-class academic institution, specializing in science and engineering with specific leading technologies in developing resilient agriculture in arid ecologies. The city also has sizeable ethnic diversity, and Western media often misrepresents Xinjiang as a Uyghur dominated society, but this has never been true. In 1908, the Uyghur population in Urumqi was estimated by explorer Aurel Stein to be about 25% of the total. Since then, the Uyghur population in Urumqi has grown from 1908’s 12,500 to 388,000 today and has grown by 20% since 2000. That make up is also reflected at the University, where Central Asian culture is an Undergraduate subject. Read full article  →

US exports of wine, coal and beef exports to China are now far greater than those from Australia – driven by the geopolitical dispute between Beijing and Canberra. Critics accuse Washington of doing little to help Australia in its China conflict, as American exporters cash in on increased demand amid supply shortages. Read full article  →

Canada’s China barley exports up 238% and coal 185%, helping fill the gap left by Australia’s being muscled out of these markets. How Australia of all countries — one that does not share an unsettled land or maritime border, was in no frontline dispute such as the one in which Canada became embroiled, and has enjoyed one of the largest and most beneficial trade relationships with China of any country in the OECD — has such terrible political relations with China is a puzzle." Read full article  →

Exporters in Shenzhen engaged in a business model known as “made in China, sold on Amazon” have hit hard times as Amazon shuts down their stores over suspected abuses of the customer review system. Patozon, a Chinese cross-border trading company, was once a high flyer with the potential to dominate the global market for electronics accessories, such as headphones and keyboards. But the exceptional growth of the nine-year-old company, which had over 800 best-selling products on Amazon.com last year, came to a halt four months ago when its flagship store on the US e-commerce platform was shut down. Read full article  $→

Chinese firms have moved up the iPhone value chain. They have performed relatively sophisticated tasks beyond simply assembly; Chinese firms collectively captured 25.4% of the value added in the process of manufacturing the iPhone X, much higher than 3.6% obtained from assembling the iPhone 3G, the first generation iPhone. Read full article  →

Comparing Tesla with the four top electric car companies in China: BYD, Nio, XPeng and Li Auto. SAIC Motor’s makes a lot of cars and EVs in joint ventures with GM and VW. SAIC sells a lot of the $5000 Wuling Mini EV. The BYD, Nio, XPeng and Li Auto are nhigher priced EVs that are closer competition with Tesla. Nio, XPeng and Li Auto are pure EV companies. BYD is older and also makes a lot of hybrids and ICE cars. Read full article  →

China’s pace of agricultural purchases continues to be faster than anything seen in recent years – and it’s not just soybeans. Over the last nine months, the United States set an all-time record for agricultural exports to China. Data from June 2021 shows that the buying streak has continued. An additional $2 billion in purchases were made, bringing year-to-date activity to $15.2 billion. During the Trade War, China’s total annual purchases were $13.2 billion (2018) and $1. Read full article  →

Xinjiang Province has increased the volume of containers it sends to Europe. Fourteen new  freight train routes through Horgos, making it an increasingly important trade hub linking Central Asia east and west. Over 3,600 freight trains passed through the city during the first seven months of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 44%. Cargo volume went up by 56%, reaching over 5 million tonnes.  Read full article  →

Argentina and China to build the fourth nuclear plant in the South American country, using Chinese technology. The 1,200 MW reactor project will receive Chinese financing (ICBC) – with 8-year grace period – for 85% of the cost (US$ 8 billion) and technology transfers; the two countries reinforce "comprehensive strategic alliance"  Read full article  →

Hollywood Needs a Box Office Favor From China: In the first eight months of 2021, Hollywood titles have been chart toppers on just eight occasions, driven by an ageing “Fast and the Furious” franchise, and over two weeks by a rereleased “Avatar.” Hollywood’s share of the China box office market in 2021 has collapsed to a shocking 9.5%, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. Read full article  →

Technology & IP

Urumqi has become industrialized and moved from an agriculture-based economy to manufacturing, especially heavy-duty machinery and vehicles, power transmission equipment, fertilizers, BioPharm, and new energy. Anyone who has travelled from Urumqi to Turpan will be familiar with the sight of thousands of wind turbines and solar panels lined across the Taklimakan Desert. It is again no coincidence that these are the exact products that Afghanistan will need during its reconstruction and that Central Asia is already utilizing. Read full article  →

The US is far behind important core technologies like advanced rocket engines and space station tech, both of which it acquired from Russia. China has similarly acquired nearly all of its core space technology from Russia, but has built impressively on that technology transfer—including developing its very own space station tech, and its own advanced rocket engines. Read full article  →

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) announced a 278% YoY increase in net profits, even while U.S. regulators continue imposing restrictions on the firm’s global operations. SMIC also achieved total revenue of $2.49 billion – an increase of 22.3% – and a gross profit margin of 26.7%. Read full article  →

Scientists in China are about to turn on an experimental thorium-based molten salt reactor that's safer, cheaper and with less potential for weaponisation. Construction is expected to be finished this month with the first tests to begin in September. Thorium is a metallic element close to uranium on the periodic table. Molten salt plants don't use water for cooling like traditional nuclear power plants and so can be built in desert areas. The first commercial plants using the new technology are reportedly planned to come online in 2030. Read full article  →

China halves rice growth cycle to 60 days through groundbreaking controlled "factory" environment: Precisely regulated artificial lighting, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and nutrients provide optimal conditions for year-round growth; one dwarf-variety yielded 43.3 kg/hectare, with two others showing high-yield potential. Read full article  →

China’s mobile internet users, who had an average of 63 apps installed on their phones in the first quarter of 2021, received an average of 100 push notifications a day. The daily total number sent by all mobile apps was 100 billion. Read full article  →

NEV market penetration hits 5.4%. The market penetration rate of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China was 5.4 percent in 2020, indicating strong growth momentum in the sector, according to an annual report released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Thursday. NEV sales in China increased 10.9 percent year on year to 1.37 million units in 2020. Read full article  →

The C919, China's first home-developed large passenger plane, gained another 55 orders on Tuesday from ICBC Leasing Co Ltd, China's largest aircraft leasing company by assets, lifting its total orders to 785. Read full article  →

“The AI software market in China is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 41.5% from RMB29.5 billion in 2020 to RMB167.1 billion in 2025, making it the fastest-growing among major markets globally. The contribution of AI software to the China software market is projected to rise from 9.0% in 2020 to 24.1% in 2025”. Read full article  →

“There has been a steady increase in AI-related research collaboration between China and Russia since 2016. This upward trend mirrors the global expansion of AI research, but the overall number of joint Chinese-Russian AI-related publications, however, remains relatively low compared with the number of papers researchers from China and Russia co-authored with US researchers. The AI-related investment data tell a similar story—an upward trend in Chinese-Russian investment deals over the past five years, but the overall value remains relatively low.” Read full article  →

In 2012, Tencent first introduced the function to “Scan it” (扫一扫) by integrating QR Code technology with WeChat. This step proved to be an empowering innovation of the long-dismissed concept of O2O, making QR Code technology more effective and far reaching. WeChat's 1.25 billion monthly active users and continuous development of new features have made it a “super app” with strong infrastructure-building capabilities. Built into WeChat, QR Codes are now used by tech-savvy youths to elderly street vendors, small businesses, big businesses, public institutions…You name it. Read full article  →

New rules from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) seek to stop internet companies from misusing algorithms. Says Kendra Schaefer, “This marks the moment that China’s tech regulation is not simply keeping pace with data regulations in the EU, but has gone beyond them.”

  • Users must be provided with a convenient way to see and delete the keywords that the algorithm is using to profile them…there are limits on the types of keywords algos can collect…Users…must be allowed to opt out…
  • Algorithms cannot push info to minors that induce them to imitate unsafe behaviors or bad habits, or profile them in order to encourage internet addiction.
  • [Algorithms must not dictate] brutal work conditions for ride-hailing drivers, delivery drivers…
  • No using algorithms for differential treatment: “providers shall not use algorithms to implement unreasonable trading conditions such as differential treatment and transaction prices based on consumer preferences and transaction habits and other illegal acts.”

Adds scholar Rogier Creemers: "China is now the regulatory leader in many of these fields...We could have regulated for political balance on, say, YouTube or Twitter. Perfectly possible within a democratic society: many countries have similar requirements for broadcasting. But we chose to let tech develop as unregulated monopolies or oligopolies. This has consequences for the West’s political attractiveness and corporate competitiveness. Read full article  →

Health

China vows pricing reform to keep healthcare affordable: “The new plan reaffirms the long stated goals of healthcare reform that seek to address pricing distortions to reflect the true value of drugs, medical devices and medical services.” reforms include a pilot program aimed at ensuring proper compensation for service providers and affordable costs for consumers. Read full article  →

The novel coronavirus outbreak which hit the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan in early 2020 may have been caused by virus brought in by cold-chain imports. Investigations of several outbreaks in China have repeatedly confirmed that the virus can be spread across long distances through cold-chain transport. There are multiple incidences of the virus being spread to China through cold-chain transport from overseas, Ma told CNS. Read full article  →

Regions, including Ezhou and Shiyan in Hubei Province and Zhumadian in Henan Province, have canceled mandatory vaccination as of August 30. Read full article  →

Chinese stem cell treatment that ‘helped woman in wheelchair walk again’ could offer hope to other spinal cord patients. Some paralysed patients were able to walk again while others were able to move their limbs and regained some sensation in their limbs. Researchers say the transplanted cells will not fully restore mobility, but can give people a better quality of life. Read full article  $→

Twelve-month systemic consequences of COVID-19 in patients discharged from hospital: a prospective cohort study in Wuhan, China. Clinical Infectious Diseases. From the Abstract: “Physiological, laboratory, radiological or electrocardiogram abnormalities, particularly those related to renal, cardiovascular, liver functions are common in patients who recovered from COVID-19 up to 12months post-discharge.” Read full article  →

1-year outcomes in hospital survivors with COVID-19: a longitudinal cohort study. The Lancet. Also Wuhan. The Interpretation: “Most COVID-19 survivors had a good physical and functional recovery during 1-year follow-up, and had returned to their original work and life. The health status in our cohort of COVID-19 survivors at 12 months was still lower than that in the control population.”  Read full article  →

Society

Seventeen years ago, Ms. Zhang invented the facekini, a Lycra swimming mask that starts at the collarbone and covers the entire head, available in several colors and patterns. Because of its unconventional design, Zhang’s invention gained international notoriety, being featured in publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Vogue. Over the years, the facekini became a global curiosity, a fashion statement, and the source of much controversy. Read full article →

Inequality between countryside and city, social classes, and regions increased in recent decades, decreasing social mobility:  Despite China's economic success, the wealth share of the top 1% increased (20.9% to 30.6%) over the last 20 years, with average disposable income in Shanghai (US $9,843) exceeding Gansu and Tibet's (US $2,620); medical expenses remain the main cause of "illness-induced poverty”. Read full article →

Tencent donated US $7.7 billion towards "common prosperity" after Xi's announcement. Funding to support low-income groups, rural revitalization, and healthcare and education comes after the company's April commitment (US $7.7 billion) towards "sustainable innovations for social value"; Tencent's revenues rose 20% (April-June) year-on-year, with daily profits of over US $77 million. Read full article $→

iQiyi halts 'idol competition' programs amid criticism: video streaming platform iQiyi (IQ.O) said on Thursday it would stop showing all "idol competition" programs, calling them unhealthy amid a regulatory crackdown that has seen Beijing criticise firms for encouraging celebrity worship..."We will cancel idol talent shows and off-site online voting, be responsible as a platform, resist bad influences, and maintain a healthy and clean internet as well as audio-visual environment for our users," the company said in a statement. Read full article →

Children can play video games for three hours a week, an escalation of restrictions which dealt a blow to the world’s largest mobile gaming market, as Beijing signaled it would continue a campaign to control the expansion of large tech companies.  Gaming platforms like Tencent Holdings Ltd. to NetEase Inc. can only offer online gaming to minors from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays, weekends and public holidays. Read full article →

Relieving the burden of childhood, China bans exams for six-year-olds: elementary school first and second grades will not need to take paper-based exams. For other grades, the school can organize a final exam every semester. Mid-term exams are allowed for junior high. Localities are not allowed to organize regional or inter-school exams for all grades of primary school,” says the Ministry of Education (MOE). Read full article →

Dating is an arduous task. Throw in the additional barrier of being a foreigner in a new environment here in China, and you might suddenly feel like you’re navigating a minefield blindfolded. Below, we walk you through the world of dating apps used in China and hear the good, the bad and the ugly of dating app experiences. Read full article →

Statistics

Governance

The CPC released a key publication on its mission, contributions: 'Achieving national rejuvenation is the historic mission of the CPC', adding that the Party has made an "unbreakable commitment" to bring the people a happy life:

  • According to a survey of the National Bureau of Statistics, 95.8 percent of the Chinese people consider the CPC's Party governance efforts very effective in 2020.
  • "We allow some people to become well-off first, who then inspire and help the latecomers. We will not opt for a robbing-the-rich-for-the-poor approach," a CPC official said.
  • "China never seeks to export its ideology, values or development model," said another CPC official, rejecting the claim that China is playing a dominant role in the international community and international affairs. Read full article →
We live in an age of systemic gridlock, policy chaos, and sudden-shock failures. How is it possible that Afghan security forces — built and trained by the United States military at a cost of $83 billion over two decades — succumbed to a militia of fighters in pickup trucks in a mere 11 days? How could America’s best and brightest intelligence experts and military leaders have failed to foresee that the rapid withdrawal of U.S. air support and reconnaissance would spell disaster for Afghanistan, and plan their retreat accordingly? Are these not examples of systemic failure? Look at almost any crisis, and you will see multiple causes and drivers. That is as true for the situation in Afghanistan as it is for the COVID-19 pandemic — another multi-dimensional crisis for which there is no silver-bullet solution. Even carefully designed policies, motivated by the best of intentions, can fail to have the intended effect — and often exacerbate problems in unexpected..Thomas Hobbes "offered a straight forward, top-down approach to governing human society, based on 'universal truths.'" Sheng and Geng argue that model is a poor fit for today's "highly complex global system." Read full article $→

At a landmark conference held in Beijing on Friday and Saturday, President Xi laid out the correct approach to handling ethnic affairs.
  • The historical position of the Party's ethnic work in the new era must be understood from the strategic perspective of national rejuvenation.
  • Guiding all ethnic groups to jointly strive for fully building a modern socialist country must be taken as a crucial task of the Party's ethnic work in the new era.
  • Forging the sense of community for the Chinese nation must be the focus of the Party's ethnic work in the new era. 
  • The right perspective of the Chinese nation's history must be upheld, and the sense of national identity and pride must be boosted.
  • All ethnic groups must be equal, and the banner of the unity of the Chinese nation must be held high.
  • The system of regional ethnic autonomy must be upheld and improved, and the implementation of the CPC Central Committee's policies and decisions as well as China's laws and regulations must be guaranteed.
  • The sense of belonging for the Chinese nation must be established, and extensive exchanges and communication among various ethnic groups as well as their integration must also be promoted. 
  • Ethnic affairs must be governed in accordance with the law, and national sovereignty, security and development interests must be resolutely safeguarded.
  • The CPC's leadership over ethnic work must be upheld.
  • Fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation is a critical element of safeguarding the fundamental interests of all ethnic groups.
  • Efforts should be made to ensure that the interests of all ethnic groups are realized in the process of realizing the overall interests of the Chinese nation.
  • Neither Han chauvinism nor local ethnic chauvinism is conducive to the development of a community for the Chinese nation.
  • Ethnic separatism and religious extremism should be continuously eliminated, and international anti-terrorism cooperation needs to be strengthened. Read full article $→
President Xi is testing “common prosperity” policies in Alibaba’s home province, Zhejiang, suggesting that Beijing wants to raise incomes through private sector investment in poorer areas, and to encourage rural residents to start their own businesses. If successful the pilot could be rolled out nationally. Zhejiang’s top official, Yuan Jiajun, described economic growth as the “cornerstone” of common prosperity, and a growing economy makes it easier to reduce inequalities without causing conflict. So while they’re trying to share the pie more evenly, they’re also seeking to grow it. At least 73 companies, including China’s largest insurer Ping An Insurance, food delivery giant Meituan and the state-owned Bank of China, used the flagship slogan in statements to shareholders filed to the Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in the two weeks ending Aug. 31. Read full article →

Zhejiang will spend more on healthcare and education to strengthen the workforce. It wants to lower kindergarten costs and wants 70% of college-aged students to be pursuing higher education by 2025. Another key to grasping the new policy push is to understand that China isn’t shifting to a European welfare states system. With healthy, qualified workers, there should be no need for state welfare, officials say. China can’t afford “to feed the lazy,” Han Wenxiu, a senior official in the party’s top economic affairs committee, told reporters last week, describing “welfarism” as a “trap.” Read full article →

Propaganda

Meng Wanzhou Case Explained in 6 Minutes
China conducts the most sophisticated, global and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world. Beijing marshals its technological prowess, geopolitical clout and vast security apparatus to hound not only the many Chinese people living abroad but also entire ethnic and religious groups, such as Uyghurs, Tibetans and followers of Falun Gong– The New York Times, “Repression Without Borders,” written by Freedom House, which receives 90% of its funding from the US government and is chaired by Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security and co-author of the USA Patriot Act, which justified mass illegal surveillance, torture, and the assassination of American citizens. As head of the Justice Department's criminal division in 2002-2003, Chertoff planned and implemented the Central Intelligence Agency’s torture program.  Read full article →

Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said China's call for an investigation into Fort Detrick is a "contradiction", as Beijing has fiercely pushed back against the lab-leak theory, but there is no "contradiction" whatsoever. Chinese and WHO experts have reached the conclusion that a lab leak from Wuhan is extremely unlikely. Scientists across the world, including in the US, overwhelmingly believe that there is no evidence supporting a lab leak theory. It is the US that refuses to subscribe to this scientific conclusion and asserts that the virus was leaked from a Wuhan lab. Given that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has received two visits from WHO experts already and that the Fort Detrick base and the University of North Carolina (UNC) boast a long history of coronavirus research as well as poor safety records, if the US side insists on the lab leak hypothesis, then it's incumbent on the US to open up Fort Detrick for international investigation. In the same vein, if the WHO Secretariat insists that the possibility of a lab leak cannot be ruled out, then it's incumbent on the WHO to investigate Fort Detrick. The Chinese side has submitted to the WHO Secretariat a joint letter signed by 25 million Chinese netizens calling for a probe into Fort Detrick, but has received no response. By calling for an investigation into Fort Detrick and the UNC, China hopes to show the world with facts whether the lab leak theory claimed by the US is tenable and credible.  Should the US refuse to cooperate, it would only further expose its true intention of politicizing origins study. Read full article →

Allow full right to protest at Beijing Winter Olympics, European athletes’ body says: Athletes don’t have a say on the host city but may face a backlash for attending amid concerns over China’s human rights record, says union. Call from ‘collective voice of European athletes’ comes amid increasing support in the West for a ‘diplomatic boycott’ of the Games. Read full article →

The political speech of the Chinese diaspora has a long history as a site of critique and co-optation by U.S empire and its enabling discourses. Amidst a new apex in Cold War Sinophobia, we trace the revolutionary and reactionary framings of “overseas Chinese” as a political category, from Qing-era anti-colonialism to 20th century Cold War liberalism and beyond. Read full article →

The US President has announced that he will be issuing invitations to world leaders to talk about democracy, authoritarianism, and human rights, at a Summit to be held in early December. The Summit for Democracy, as the US State Department has titled the gathering, is aimed at shoring up fading support for the USA and to up the ante on its anti-China rhetoric. Democracies and what are described as ‘emerging’ democracies are to be invited, although the guest list will be an arbitrary affair and very much in the hands of the host. Read full article →

Geopolitics

Egypt, Saudi join SCO, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, as Dialogue Partners. The SCO, which includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, the CIS nations of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Iran, India, and Pakistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, and Mongolia are participating observer nations, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Turkey dialogue partners, with Turkmenistan an official guest. Several others have applied for observer or dialogue status, including Bahrain, Bangladesh, East Timor, Israel, Iraq, Maldives, Syria, Qatar, and Ukraine. Read full article →

Foreign vessels entering Chinese territorial waters will be required to report their ship and cargo information to the country's maritime authorities if they're carrying hazardous cargo or pose a threat to maritime traffic safety beginning on September 1. Affected vessels include ships carrying radioactive material, bulk oil, chemical, liquefied natural gas and other toxic and harmful substances, as well as to all submersibles, nuclear-powered vessels, or vessels "considered a threat to the country's maritime traffic safety." Read full article →

The US Department of the Treasury said the acquisition of South Korean chip maker Magnachip Semiconductor Corp by a Beijing-based private equity fund poses a national security risk, casting a shadow on the $1.4 billion deal and other efforts by Chinese companies to invest in hi-tech industries abroad. Read full article $→

Investigators follow money trail from Apple Daily bosses to anti-China politicians in UK: Anti-China group secretly financed “independent” inquiry which it then pointed to as confirming their allegations
Apple Daily bosses gave HK$500,000 to finance junkets to Hong Kong for UK anti-China campaigners David Alton and Luke de Pulford. UK plotters raised HK$10 million from the public to prosecute working police officers in Hong Kong but plan mysteriously disappears. Local administrators of the secret scheme admit plot to get multiple countries to sanction Hong Kong. They not only urged the UK government to revoke the citizenship of British police officers serving in the Hong Kong Police Force, but helped raise $1.28 million to bring private prosecutions for terrorism against them in the British courts. Read full article →

"I was amazed to go to the Esquel factory in Xinjiang and find that they had the most sophisticated cotton machines in the world, made by Toyota Machinery. Nobody else in the world could afford them, and they were run by highly trained Uyghur women, two of them standing in a little air-conditioned glass booth at the corner of a football-sized factory with these giant spinning machines, and Uyghur women were in other key positions, like all the quality control jobs". Read full article →

US Confucius Institutes closing: According to the National Association of Scholars (NAS), a conservative American group, only around 30 will remain in the United States by the end of 2021, down from 110 in 44 states in 2017. Read full article →

After establishing diplomatic relations and solving border issues, China and Kyrgyzstan have maintained comparatively close ties in trade, investment, regional affairs, and culture communication. Kyrgyzstan has been among the earliest supporters and participants of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the two countries are expected to deepen their mutual cooperation in areas like agriculture, infrastructure development and connectivity, and trade and investment facilitation. China shares a 1,063 km border with Kyrgyzstan in the western region of Xinjiang. Read full article →

Defense

Did Chinese scientists just bring down an unmanned plane with an electromagnetic pulse weapon? The experiment could be the first publicly reported Chinese field test of the technology China is trying to catch up after the US brought down 50 drones in a single blast in an experiment two years ago. Read full article →

Remember: China’s sustained interest in testing agility-enhancing thrust-vectoring, TVC, engines may support a counternarrative that the J-20 is intended to evolve into a more well-rounded jet once upgraded with new engines, one that could more than hold its own in within-visual range combat. Read full article →
LONG READS
Fake News
WeChat, Douyin and Weibo Commit to “Purifying the Internet” of Fake Financial News

Editor, Central Banking News

Several of China’s leading social media platforms have been compelled by authorities to issue public statements on the dissemination of financial news in breach of regulations, as well as commit to prompt rectification measures.

WeChat, Douyin and Weibo all issued public statements on 28 August declaring that they would engage in “specialist rectification and purification of the Internet environment,” targeting behaviour including the “release of economic and financial news in breach of regulations and the distorted interpretation of economic policy.”

Other behaviour that will be targeted includes the “short singing and doom singing of financial markets,” serving as “black mouths” to attract attention from readers; the fabrication and spreading of rumours and intimidation or blackmail activity.

Douyin said that starting from 28 August it would “undertake specialist rectification activities,” focusing on a total of eight areas including:
  • Absurd criticisms and discussions. Distorted interpretation of economic and financial policy and macro-economic data. Malicious “short singing” of financial markets and “doom singing” of the Chinese economy.
  • The re-reporting of reports and commentary from abroad that misinterpret key economic and financial issues without providing a perspective or additional judgment.
  • The dissemination of “gossip” to create media buzz, using titles such as “exclusive report,” “insider sources say” and “secrets revealed,” and even the fabrication and dissemination of rumours.
  • Malicious distortion, editing or quoting of economic and financial news information that is originally in compliance with regulations.
  • Acting as financial “black mouths” that maliciously “short sing” or drive up stock prices, or drive regional real estate volatility, disrupting the regular market order.
  • Spinning up negative information in order to threaten interested parties, engage in blackmail and seek illegal profits.
  • Spinning up negative social incidents and negative extreme events, to fan negative sentiment and a mood of anxiety and panic, in order to drive sales of “commercial classes” and various types of insurance products.
  • Failure to strictly perform identification confirmation procedures, and operating financial columns or social media accounts that misuse the titles of personnel from financial regulatory departments or specialist experts.
WeChat said that starting from 26 October its platform would “engage in rectification of the non-compliant editing and release of economic and financial information, and purification of the Internet environment.”

WeChat also said that it would “uphold correct values and pragmatically and effectively perform its duties as a platform,” as well as “strictly investigate and shutdown social media accounts that serve as ‘black mouths’ and engage in blackmail as soon as they are discovered.”

“We recommend that accounts promptly engage in self-inspection to avoid subsequent releases causing inconvenience, and request that authors produce more high-quality content in their areas of expertise, and no longer issue or republish the aforementioned forms of non-compliant content and information.”

Weibo said that it would commence its rectification campaign against non-compliant economic and financial information on 28 August, and that this would include “strictly striking against non-compliant economic and financial content, strictly and heavily handling non-compliant accounts, and promptly notifying the public of non-compliant accounts that have been disposed of.” Central Banking News
Media Wars
George Soros’s Dream 

Turn China into a neoliberal grabitization opportunity


By Michael Hudson

In a Financial Times op-ed, “Investors in Xi’s China face a rude awakening” (August 30, 2021), George Soros writes that Xi’s “crackdown on private enterprise shows he does not understand the market economy. … Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has collided with economic reality. His crackdown on private enterprise has been a significant drag on the economy.”

Translated out of Orwellian Doublethink, the “crackdown on private enterprise” means cutting back on what the classical economists called rent-seeking and unearned income. As for its supposed “drag on the economy,” Mr. Soros means the economy’s polarization concentrating wealth and income in the hands of the richest One Percent.

Soros lays out his plan for how U.S. retaliation may punish China by withholding U.S. funding of its companies (as if China cannot create its own credit) until China capitulates and imposes the kind of deregulation and de-taxation that Russia did after 1991. He warns that China will suffer depression by saving its economy along socialist lines and resisting U.S.-style privatization and its associated debt deflation.

Mr. Soros does recognize that China’s “most vulnerable sector is real estate, particularly housing. China has enjoyed an extended property boom over the past two decades, but that is now coming to an end. Evergrande, the largest real estate company, is over-indebted and in danger of default. This could cause a crash.” By that, he means a reduction of housing prices. That’s just what is needed in order to deter land becoming a speculative vehicle. I and others have urged a policy of land taxation in order to collect the land’s rising site value, so that it will not be pledged to banks for mortgage credit to further inflate china’s housing prices.

Warning about the economic consequences of China’s falling birth rate, Soros writes: “One of the reasons why middle-class families are unwilling to have more than one child is that they want to make sure that their children will have a bright future.” This is of course true of every advanced nation today. It is most extreme in the neoliberalized countries, e.g., the Baltics and Ukraine – Soros’s poster countries.

Soros gives his game away by stating that “Xi does not understand how markets operate.” What he means is that President Xi rejects rapacious rent-seeking, exploitative free-for-all, and shapes markets to serve overall prosperity for China’s 99 Percent. “As a consequence, the sell-off was allowed to go too far,” Soros continues. What he means is, too far to maintain the dominance of the One Percent. China is seeking to reverse economic polarization, not intensify it.

Soros claims that China’s socialist policies are hurting its objectives in the world. But what he really is complaining about is that it is hurting America’s neoliberal objectives for how it had hoped to make money for itself off China. This leads Soros to remind Western pension fund managers to “allocate their assets in ways that are closely aligned with the benchmarks against which their performance is measured.” But the tragedy of financializing pensions is that fund managers are rated on making money financially – in ways that hurt the industrial economy by promoting financial engineering instead of industrial engineering.

“Almost all of them claim that they factor environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) standards into their investment decisions,” Soros writes. At least, that’s what their public relations advisors advertise. Exxon claims to be cleaning up the environment by expanding offshore oil drilling in Guyana, etc. As for “social standards,” the neoliberal mantra is trickle-down economics: by making our stock prices rise, by stock buybacks and higher dividend payouts, we are helping wage-earners earn a pension, even though we are offshoring and de-industrializing the economy, de-unionizing it and “freeing” the economy from consumer and workplace protection laws.

Soros has a radical solution, which he suggests “should obviously apply to the performance benchmarks selected by pensions and other retirement portfolios: … The US Congress should pass a bipartisan bill explicitly requiring that asset managers invest only in companies where actual governance structures are both transparent and aligned with stakeholders.”

Wow. Such a bill would block Americans from investing in many American companies whose behavior is not at all aligned with stakeholders. What proportion: 50%? 75? More?

“If Congress were to enact these measures,” Soros concludes, “it would give the Securities and Exchange Commission the tools it needs to protect American investors, including those who are unaware of owning Chinese stocks and Chinese shell companies. That would also serve the interests of the US and the wider international community of democracies.” So Mr. Soros wants to block the United States from investing in China. He seems not to see that this is President Xi’s objective also: China doesn’t need U.S. dollars, and is in fact de-dollarizing.

George Soros is obviously upset that President Xi is not Boris Yeltsin, and that China is not following the kleptocracy dependency that warped Russia’s economy. Soros thought the ending of the Cold War would simply let him buy up the most lucrative rent-yielding assets, as he has aimed to do in the Baltics and Ukraine. China said “No,” so it is not deemed to be a “market economy,” Soros-style. It has not made its social organization marketable, and has avoided the financial dependency that makes “markets” a vehicle for U.S. control via sanctions and foreign buyouts. The Saker.
Wind Wars
Can Europe keep pace in its wind war with China?
Jens Pedersen has long maintained a simple rule of thumb for gauging his company’s position against Chinese competitors: “We can’t compete on anything that can be packed in a 40-foot container.”

Pedersen is in the wind business. His company, Welcon, is based in rural Denmark and produces the steel towers that support the nacelle and rotor blades of the modern wind turbine. Often standing over 300-feet tall and weighing 500 metric tons, wind towers do not fit in 40-foot containers. Even when broken down into multiple sections, transporting the enormous steel tubes locally holds its challenges. The roundabouts near Welcon’s offices are sometimes cut in half so that transport trucks carrying towers and turbine blades can drive straight through.

Moving the massive constructs across continents is another story altogether. “It just does not make sense to have tower sections shipped around the world,” says Pedersen.
Yet China has a way of defying basic logic in global industries. While Welcon has been supplying wind towers across northern Europe for decades, it has faced new competition recently from tower makers located over 10,000 nautical miles away in East Asia. The influx of low-cost Chinese tower imports — transported by sea in multiple sections and then stacked on top of each other at installation sites — has pushed European wind tower makers to slash pricesto prevent their production from running idle.

Welcon’s counterpart in Denmark, Valmont, has warned local politicians that jobs are on the line if there is no response to the pressure from Asia. The Danish companies have watched as struggling Portuguese and German tower makers have recently been bought up by their Chinese and Korean competition. In a story that resonates from shipping to telecoms, Beijing’s state-supported companies are challenging the global competitiveness of yet another European industry.

For Pedersen and his European counterparts, however, the influx of Chinese wind towers is particularly discouraging. Not only are the incoming Chinese wind towers bad for business, they also undermine the very purpose of the wind energy industry.
“We did a study and found that if you ship just 20 towers from China to Europe, it corresponds to one full year of pollution from our factory,” says Pedersen. “We’re in the green business. If anyone should care about the environment, it is us.”

Adding to Pedersen’s frustration is the fact that this dilemma was brought on by an earlier attempt by the EU to combat Chinese subsidies. In 2016, the EU placed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on Chinese steel, which had been undercutting European steel prices. No longer able to buy cheap Chinese steel-plates, Welcon and other European tower makers found themselves at a distinct price disadvantage. Chinese wind tower makers — along with those from South Korea, Vietnam, and Turkey who have access to low-cost Chinese steel plates — were able to undercut the Europeans by 10 to 15 percent.

“We are better at producing towers than our Chinese competition. But when they can buy steel plates at significantly less cost, then it doesn’t matter how good we are,” says Pedersen. “The EU system is simply not geared for dealing with countries that don’t think like we do. They can easily play around with us.”

By establishing the European Wind Tower Association in 2018, Welcon and its competitors in Denmark, Spain, and Portugal joined together to make their caseto the European Union. By October 2020, the European Commission had launched a formal investigation into the allegations. A ruling is expected in the coming months and could either reject the tower makers claims or apply duties against competing imports from China.

“There has to be a political solution,” says Pedersen. “We can’t fix this ourselves in the business.” He likens the wind tower situation to the solar panel wars of a decade ago. Back then, when European solar panel producers saw a huge influx of subsidized Chinese solar panels, the European industry brought an anti-dumping case against China. The European Commission eventually sided with them, but it was too late — the once-formidable European competitors had been all but wiped out.

“We’re trying to avoid that same fate,” says Pedersen. “There is no reason why China should be allowed to kill the European wind industry and then effectively control the European green energy supply.”

Especially since the wind industry is expected to grow significantly in the coming years as countries double down on efforts to address climate change. While the global wind tower market was worth nearly $25 billion in 2019, it isexpected to top $45 billion by 2027. To help meet the Paris Climate targets, wind energy alone needs to increase from representing 6 percent of global electricity generation in 2018 to 35 percent by 2050. Annual combined wind power investments in onshore and offshore turbines will need to grow three-fold to over $200 billion per year until 2030 and over $300 billion per year over the remaining period to 2050.
In other words, the companies — and countries — that drive renewable technology and industrial development forward will reap tremendous economic gains and considerable geostrategic and geopolitical clout. China, of course, intends to be at the forefront of the green revolution. It may be the largest emitter of carbon emissions on the planet, but it is also the biggest renewables investor, passing Europe in 2013, and the world’s largest producer of wind and solar energy.

Moreover, its renewable output is expected to grow since President Xi Jinping has called for the establishment of an “ecological civilization” and pledged that China will be carbon neutral by 2060. Looking outward, Chinese officials also want to green Xi’s signature foreign policy initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative, by leveraging China’s advantages in wind and solar into expansive infrastructure and connectivity projects.

According to observers, the European wind tower producers’ complaint is about much more than just the 4,000 jobs it hopes to save. If European wind tower makers go under, it would represent yet another link of the green supply chain taken over by China. Some argue that the bigger European players, such as turbine manufacturing giants like Vestas and Siemens Gamesa, could be next. Indeed, the question left twisting in the wind is if the EU can find a cohesive way to deal with Beijing’s support of its state-owned and private corporations — which are emerging stronger by the day — and stay competitive in the coming global economy.

“This is a pattern that has been repeated across many industries,” says Seung-Youn Oh, an associate professor at Bryn Mawr College whose research focuses on Chinese industrial policy. “The Chinese government doesn’t just pick a handful of companies and give them everything. These new wind tower and turbine manufacturers survived fierce competition involving hundreds of wind companies in the domestic market. Every national champion was created at the expense of thousands of bankruptcies. But China can afford to accommodate those failures, and eventually, it targets the global market.”  


CHINA’S TAILWIND

It was in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) that China is believed to have invented the first rudimentary windmill for agricultural purposes. The technology later appeared in Medieval Europe, via Persia, in the 12th century. The origin story of the modern, multi-megawatt wind turbine, however, has roots in the Danish countryside. In the early 1970s, a group of Danish teachers seeking to demonstrate an alternative to nuclear power went about designing and building a 2 megawatt wind turbine called Tvindkraft. Denmark went on to become a lead player in the wind energy field for much of the last half century. But China’s rapid growth in the sector has turned heads.

“It’s extraordinary,” says Rasmus Lema, associate professor of development economics at Aalborg University in northern Denmark. “Within the span of 10 years China went from not being able to produce a turbine to being able to produce one to world standards.”
So quickly has the Chinese wind industry grown that according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, China’s leading wind turbine maker, Goldwind, surpassedDenmark’s Vestas for the first time in commissioned giga-watt capacity in 2020. Other rankings still place Vestas at number one — and America’s GE closely behind — but after hardly registering among world leaders a decade ago, Chinese wind turbine manufacturers now occupy 10 of the 15 positions of global leaders in installed wind power capacity.

Beijing’s decision to give the wind industry strategic priority explains the displacement, says Feng Zhao, strategy director at the Global Wind Energy Council, an industry representative forum based in Brussels. “Back in 2004, more than three-quarters of the turbines installed in China were made by Western turbine manufacturers,” he says. “But that changed dramatically from 2008 when the Chinese government started promoting locally produced turbines and components with subsidies.”
It’s extraordinary… Within the span of 10 years China went from not being able to produce a turbine to being able to produce one to world standards.
Rasmus Lema, associate professor of development economics at Aalborg University
To boost the position of the domestic market, the Chinese government handed the regulatory reins to provincial authorities, doled out massive subsidies and research and development funds, and most significantly, imposed local-content and joint venture requirements that helped nurture the domestic industry through foreign partnerships.
“China is not unique in using local content requirements,” says Lema, “but they used them exactly at the right time with extra convening power and extra capacity to develop the market.” It was a skillful combination and co-design of environmental and industrial policy.

By the 2010s, European and American manufacturers’ market share in China dropped to the single digits. At the same time, in 2010, China became the world’s largest wind sector. Last year, it accounted for over half of new global capacity. Combined with reverse engineering and internalizing technology through foreign licensing and acquisition, Goldwind, Envision, and other Chinese wind turbine manufacturers not only overtook their foreign competition at home, but China also succeeded in developing a strong position for developing components across the wind industry’s supply chain — from turbine blades to wind towers.
Still, there is an important caveat to the rise of China’s wind power.

"It may look like the Chinese companies are taking over,” says Ilaria Mazzocco, a senior research associate at the think tank MacroPolo. “But that is largely because they are growing with the Chinese market.”

Jan Hylleberg, CEO of Wind Denmark, a Danish industry association, agrees: “If you make a global ranking today without China, the Chinese turbine manufacturers would be very low on it.”
In fact, without China, the leading American and European wind turbine manufacturers control over 90 percent of global market share. Both Mazzocco and Hylleberg see Chinese wind turbine manufacturers continuing to grow overseas, but not necessarily coming to dominate globally as they did in the solar industry.

“Solar is basically just a commodity,” says Mazzocco. “They are produced on a large scale in factories and shipped all over the world where developers, not manufacturers, install them. Wind is a different paradigm altogether. It is a mature industry with a more sophisticated technology that already has a lot of manufacturing outside of China.” She notes that once other markets become larger — for instance, India and South America or offshore markets in Europe and the U.S. — then the Chinese share in the global market may not remain the same.

But with the overall market expected to grow so significantly, Feng, at the Global Wind Energy Council, thinks Chinese wind manufacturers will be propelled to success by Chinese energy developers and Chinese policy banks, such as China Development Bank, a leading player in rolling out China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

“If they go hand-in-hand and compete as one unit, Chinese companies and banks are much more powerful than the European wind turbine manufacturers fighting alone, especially in emerging markets” he says.

Goldwind CEO Wu Gang has said he is dedicated to seeing his company become an “international leader,” and steadily, the presence of Chinese wind manufacturers is growing overseas: Goldwind and Envision, for instance, have already leveraged their access to finance to make inroads into Argentina and Brazil.
Moreover, outside of the competition in emerging markets, some observers say China stands to gain ground in the global wind industry because of technological advancements.
“The competition to date has largely focused on who can build the biggest turbine,” says Stine Haakonsson, an associate professor at the Copenhagen Business School. “But now we’re moving downstream in the value chain to technologies that go beyond the turbine.”

This is most evident in the ongoing shift from onshore to offshore turbines, which rely more on big data and “smart” wind farm management to lower the expense of turbine maintenance.  Haakonsson points to China’s advanced position in artificial intelligence and machine learning as potential advantages.

“If you have the right software, you can almost hear an irregularity in a turbine and immediately know what is wrong,” she says. “You can be proactive rather than reactive.” Agatha Kratz, associate director of the Rhodium Group, and Janka Oertel, at the European Council on Foreign Relations, note that this kind of technological advantage is baked into the Chinese business model. By leveraging their “home advantage,” China’s national champions, such as Huawei and railway giant CRRC, produce economies of scale that generate massive revenues and allow them to invest heavily in research and development. Eventually, this leads to the development of high-quality products and credibility even as Chinese companies undercut their competitors overseas with lower prices.

“European policymakers are focusing very much on subsidies in China as a key distortion,” says Kratz. “But even if you take away all the subsidies, you’ll still be in trouble.”
 

‘DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS’

The gathering wind wars are not the first time European industry has faced intense competition in the global economy. In the spring of 1983, 17 of Europe’s most powerful business executives huddled together in Paris to discuss the competition from American and Japanese rivals. Organized by Peter G. Gyllenhammar, then CEO and chairman of the Swedish automaker Volvo, the meeting included leaders from the likes of Siemens, Philips, and Royal Dutch Shell, and it marked the founding of the European Round Table of Industrialists.

Although not a household name in Europe, the ERT went on to become one of the most influential business advocacy groups in European politics. Often in close communication with European political and bureaucratic leaders, its positions on industrial policy changed the shape of Europe’s economic landscape — particularly by pushing for the creation of the European single market and the free movement of goods, services, and people. 
Today, the ERT includes over 50 of Europe’s largest corporations, representing 5 million jobs and over $2 trillion in revenues. But China presents an altogether new challenge for Europe’s industrialists. For starters, while the ERT is once again led by a Volvo chairman, Volvo Cars has since been bought by Geely, the Chinese auto manufacturer.1 For many in Europe, the Chinese market is inextricably linked to growth.

“We really think that we have to make the ongoing business relationship with China work,” says Jacob Wallenberg, chairman of ERT’s Committee on Trade & Market Access and chair of Investor AB, a Swedish conglomerate with holdings in Ericsson, ABB, AstraZeneca, and other European multinationals. “Any ERT member leading a global company is in China. They will have China as their first, second or third largest market. They are fully immersed.”
This is especially true lately, given the economic shock of Covid-19. With Beijing’s quick containment of the virus, China’s economic resurgence was a boon for European companies. The European Chamber of Commerce in China found that over 40 percent of its corporate members saw an increase in revenues in 2020, and more than half reported that earning margins in China were higher than their global average.

“European business is extremely bullish about China,” says Jens Eskelund, member of the executive committee at the EU chamber in Beijing. “When you talk to many companies here, China is the bright spot in their business and has been for a while.”Still, Eskelund notes, European multinationals are not naive about the challenges they face in China. Market access barriers, compelled transfer technology transfers, and intellectual property right infringements persist. Research and analysis show that China maintains, and in some sectors has expanded, foreign investment restrictions and controls that are three and a half times higher than OECD averages and the third highest among G20 countries.

“It is very much death by a thousand cuts,” says Eskelund, of European companies’ disadvantages against China. “There is no one policy initiative, like subsidies, but across an entire value chain, it can be different small initiatives that conspire in aggregate to create a very significant competitive advantage.”

The EU, for its part, has tried to chip away at these problems. The now politically frozen EU-China investment deal was a move to overcome at least some of the challenges facing European companies in China, providing new market access and relaxing joint-venture requirements in key industries such as automobiles. Back home, the EU put into place new barriers to foreign acquisitions of high-tech and advanced manufacturing in 2019. Brussels is also working on expanding its defensive toolkit with new anti-subsidy and anti-coercion instruments as well as procurement rules in EU markets.

“In the years to come, historians will look at these defensive measures as the first step in realizing that we have a challenge coming from China,” says Patricia Schetelig, deputy head of international markets at the Federation of German Industries. “The next step is to think about what we can do in a proactive way to help promote the competitiveness of the EU and our companies.” She points to the pursuit of new trade and investment agreements across the Asia-Pacific region and the EU’s industrial policy agenda as two examples.

But only the historians will know if these measures were implemented in time to give European industries a fighting chance. When it comes to complying with international trade rules, for example, the work of Oh at Bryn Mawr College shows that China often abides by World Trade Organization rulings against it — but it is a “convenient compliance.” During the multi-year interim period before a trade ruling is made, China’s subsidies and state-support help raise the competitiveness of Chinese companies and undermine its international counterparts.

As Pedersen, at Welcon, is arguing, by the time the European Union’s ruling about Chinese wind towers is made, it might already be too late.
It is very much death by a thousand cuts… There is no one policy initiative, like subsidies, but across an entire value chain, it can be different small initiatives that conspire in aggregate to create a very significant competitive advantage.
Jens Eskelund, member of the executive committee at the EU chamber in Beijing
“We are too slow in Europe,” he says. “China is one step ahead of us in selling its steel plates to third countries.” In other words, even if the anti-dumping case of Welcon and the European Wind Tower Association is successful, the European companies will then need to deal with towers built with cheap Chinese steel plates entering the EU from Southeast Asia and Turkey. This kind of pressure, Pedersen maintains, is a clear sign that the EU needs to take on a more holistic understanding of economic success when it comes to its relationship with China.
Indeed, the business perceptions of Europe’s biggest industrialists at times stand in contrast to its smaller industries, which together make up over half of GDP in the European economy. As Eskelund, at the EU Chamber explains, depending on what industry a European company is in, and whether it is a large, publicly listed company, or a smaller, private family firm, the balance between prospects and challenges from China is skewed differently.

“That is the genius of the Chinese model,” he says. “Some European companies are allowed to prosper, but a lot of the other ancillary companies and benefits — like employment, taxes, and contributions to development — stay in China.”

This divide within European industry is evident in the wind wars. European turbine manufacturers like Vestas and Siemens Gamesa — who still reign supreme across much of the globe — have benefited from the influx of cheaper towers. Their industry associations, such as Wind Europe, are actively working against Pedersen and the wind tower makers’ case.

“We oppose anti-dumping measures against imports of Chinese steel wind towers,” says Joshua Gartland, a senior advisor at Wind Europe. Gartland points to general declines in industry profitability, delivery time challenges, and capacity issues as the reasons for the tower markers’ struggles. “I don’t think the story is as simple as what the wind tower association is saying.”

The story of how Europe both protects its industry at home and competes with China abroad is anything but simple. European policymakers must find the balance between defending and promoting the interests of both industrialists and small business owners. But when it comes to Europe’s green energy revolution, Pedersen maintains that the fate of wind tower manufacturers may mark the beginning of the end. If they fall, Vestas and Siemens Gamesa will be some of the only companies left standing to face Chinese competition.
“The next thing to happen is that the Chinese will start to subsidize complete projects,” says Pedersen. “Then you’ll see the European turbine manufacturers come crying.”
Luke Patey is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies and Lead Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Institute for Energy Studies. He is author of How China Loses: The Pushback Against China’s Global AmbitionsHis work has been published in The New York TimesFinancial Times, ThGuardianThe HinduForeign Affairs and Foreign Policy@LukePatey
Real Aid
Afghanistan: Chinese Reconstruction vs. US Sanctions

 

Brian Berletic
 

Beijing now has a key opportunity to demonstrate the stark contrast between its brand of foreign policy and Washington’s through its own plan to aid in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

A Global Times piece titled, “China to offer ‘genuine’ aid in Afghanistan’s economic reconstruction amid chaotic transition,” in title alone infers that the US – despite occupying Afghanistan for two decades – never genuinely sought to build up the nation.

Ironically, this is not a notion entertained only by Beijing and its allies – it has also been the theme of the US government’s own Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) quarterly reports for years.

China’s plans for Afghanistan (which include projects already completed or underway) involve highways, factories, rail lines, and other essential infrastructure projects. Over the last 20 years US SIGAR reports indicated most US “reconstruction” funding went to building up Afghanistan’s police and military or to corrupt contractors who worked on minor infrastructure projects with little or no concern about their outcome once the projects were completed, if they were even completed.

Mention of actual infrastructure projects in SIGAR reports is sparse with a focus instead placed on keeping locals dependent on USAID handouts rather than creating any sort of sustainable economic self-sufficiency.

And while on paper the contrast between Beijing’s proposals and Washington’s approach over the last 2 decades to foreign policy is clear, China now has an opportunity to fully demonstrate these differences on-the-ground. The Global Times piece states:

While the wait-and-see approach is a result of SOEs [state-owned enterprises] weighing up both political security risks and China’s national strategy, the boldness of risk-taking private firms also underscores China’s successful diplomacy with the Taliban, which lays the foundation for the safe and smooth operation of Chinese businesses in Afghanistan.

Chinese private firms are set to stand firm in Afghanistan, despite Western governments’ potential sanctions on the Taliban, a move that maliciously aims to advance Western geopolitical objectives and stifle China’s economic interests, said industry insiders. 

The article notes the potential impact of US sanctions on Chinese companies already operating in Afghanistan – a destructive policy the US can employ to further grind Afghanistan into dust without the need of a costly military occupation.

US sanctions will seek to compound the disastrous state Afghanistan has been left in after two decades of US military occupation by deliberately creating and perpetuating the conditions for extremism and division to fester, further impeding China’s attempts to drive development across Eurasia and beyond.

The Global Times piece cites a Chinese researcher, Qian Feng of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, who claimed the US and its allies are concerned, even envious of the potential the economic vacuum left in Afghanistan will be filled by Chinese firms.

Yet this was a vacuum the US never intended to fill itself and a vacuum the US will attempt to maintain for as long as possible after its departure.

The US Never Wanted to Build Up Afghanistan

The US government’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and the method it chose to do so, created historical scenes of a humiliated and defeated empire limping away from a two decade-long war and a client regime built up during those two decades that collapsed in mere days.

Much analysis and commentary has explored why this happened but ultimately it is incredibly simple – the US never intended or attempted to build up a credible government or a unified, stable Afghan nation with the necessary infrastructure required for a modern nation-state to thrive.

America’s presence in Afghanistan served a wider geopolitical objective, the encirclement and containment of Russia, China, and also Iran. Its proximity to Pakistan was also a key motivation.

America’s position in the region allowed the US to drive extremism it could then export into eastern Iran, across Central Asia, and into western China and Pakistan.

This extremism would help impede the development of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) including a crucial juncture in Xinjiang in western China and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in western Pakistan. It also would help destabilize Central Asia, creating a pretext for US “anti-terrorism” mission creep along Russia’s peripheries. The US position in Afghanistan also created the potential to apply additional pressure on Iran by sponsoring armed militant groups operating along Iran’s eastern borders.

At one point between 2011 and 2012 the US was even eagerly promoting armed separatism in Pakistan’s western Baluchistan province with retired United States Army lieutenant colonel Ralph Peters and otheres testifying before the US Congress about the possibility of giving American troops occupying Afghanistan access to the Arabian Sea by creating a US-friendly client regime in a hypothetically independent Baluchistan.

A client regime controlling an independent Baluchistan, bordering Afghanistan, would mean Gwadar Port – instead of serving as the terminal destination of CPEC for China and Pakistan – would be transformed into a logistical hub for US military operations (overt and covert) across Eurasia.

The Global Times piece noted that if a stable government emerges in Afghanistan with international recognition, there is a possibility of including Afghanistan into CPEC. But it is also clear that the US would simply extend its campaign of terror targeting CPEC in western Pakistan into Afghanistan to follow Chinese investments and infrastructure projects.

Pursuing Hegemony, Settling for Perpetual Instability 

For a variety of reasons Washington’s most ambitious plans for Afghanistan were never realized, but extremism in Xinjiang and Baluchistan have nonetheless ebbed and flowed during the US occupation. So has extremism along Iran’s eastern borders. Central Asia had initially been pulled into Washington’s “anti-terrorism” agenda as part of the 2001 invasion and subsequent occupation, before incrementally over the years trying to minimize this unsolicited and unwelcomed relationship.

China’s rise and Russia’s reemergence over the last two decades has played a major role in foiling the most ambitious plans Washington had for Afghanistan. Like in Syria, the conditions on the ground that had two decades ago favored America’s style of aggressive foreign policy no longer exist.

In a supposedly “rules-based international order” where the only real demonstrable rule seems to be “might makes right,” the US finds itself no longer the “mightiest.”

Its capacity to continue destabilizing the region, however, by retrenching its position in Afghanistan from an overt, expensive, and ultimately ineffective military occupation to a much smaller and less noticeable covert footprint driving extremism within and beyond Afghanistan’s borders still persists.

It is not clear how, in the near and intermediate future Afghanistan’s neighbors can mitigate this threat. US-sponsored terrorism targeting CPEC in neighboring Pakistan still persists and will likely only worsen and spread to Afghanistan to follow Chinese infrastructure and economic investments.

In the long-term, real reconstruction and development in and around Afghanistan will drain the swamps of extremism the US will undoubtedly use in pursuit of its foreign policy objectives in the region.

The conundrum here is that covert and semi-covert US-sponsored extremism in the region, along with the threat of looming US sanctions on companies operating in Afghanistan, will all be aimed directly at genuine reconstruction and development projects to impede or entirely roll them back – just as the US is doing through covert violence everywhere from neighboring Pakistan, to Syria in the Middle East, to Southeast Asia’s Myanmar.

A security effort across all affected nations in the region would be required to stem this terrorism long enough for the sustainable benefits of economic development to drain the socioeconomic swamps fueling violence. But this will be a security effort added on top of existing crises being created by the US along Russia’s, Iran’s, and China’s peripheries from Eastern Europe, across the Middle East and North Africa, into Central and South Asia, to the encirclement of China and Russia to the far east through Southeast and East Asia.

Brian Berletic is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

CPC Agenda

 

Mekong-US Partnership:
Promoting Poverty, Driving Sinophobic Hostility

Joseph Thomas - NEO.
 

It’s no secret that the US is engaged in heated competition with China and openly aspires to “contain” China’s rise as a global power and its otherwise inevitable surpassing of US primacy.

It should by now also be no secret that in order to do this, Washington has attempted to recruit China’s neighbours into various united fronts regarding everything from disputes in the South China Sea to baseless allegations of “human rights abuses” by China in its western Xinjiang region.

Perhaps less understood, however, is Washington’s ongoing focus on the Mekong River and Chinese dams upstream. It must seem strange to onlookers that Washington is so concerned about water management in Southeast Asia thousands of kilometers from its own shores while Americans back home go without safe drinking water.

But if we understand Washington is not concerned at all about the Mekong River and the people living along it, and is instead using it as yet another leverage point in what is ultimately its power struggle with China over the Indo-Pacific, this conundrum is easily unraveled.

Mekong-US Partnership: Maintaining Poverty, Building Hostility

According to the US State Department’s own official website in a “fact sheet” titled, “The Mekong-US Partnership and the Friends of the Mekong: Proven Partners for the Mekong Region,” the Mekong-US Partnership (MUSP) is described as:

The countries of the Mekong sub-region and the United States reaffirmed their long-standing relationship at the second Mekong-US  Partnership (MUSP) ministerial on August 2, 2021. Through the MUSP, the US government, working with Congress, continues to support the autonomy, economic independence, good governance, and sustainable growth of Mekong partner countries.

“Autonomy, economic independence, good governance and sustainable growth” is thinly veiled code for “blocking out Chinese influence, blocking economic cooperation with China, building up Western-friendly political opposition groups and blocking infrastructure development in favor of continued subsistence fishing and farming.”

The so-called MUSP describes its investments in the region over a period of now over 10 years, claiming:

The Mekong-US Partnership includes 14 US government agencies and departments with over 50 programs to strengthen cooperation to address shared interests and common challenges.  From fiscal year 2009 to 2021, the US government provided over $4.3 billion in bilateral and regional grant assistance to the five Mekong partner countries, including nearly $4.0 billion from the State Department and USAID.

There is, however, nothing tangible to show for this investment. In reality, this money, like the money the US “invested” into Afghanistan over a period of nearly twice as long, has been spent to build up US-backed opposition groups and organisations posing as “nongovernmental organisations” (NGOs) and to hook impoverished local communities along the Mekong River on US handouts and programmes.

The “flagship programs” of the MUSP are not infrastructure projects granting the people economic opportunities, ease of travel, electricity or other absolute necessities required for modern civilisation, but instead programs like “USAID Mekong Safeguards.” The State Department explains:

 

Mekong Safeguards provides policy makers, government regulators, financiers, and contractors with information and tools to apply environmental, social, and governance standards for infrastructure development in the Mekong sub-region.  This helps MUSP countries build locally developed solutions, improve transparency in infrastructure decision-making, and accelerate the role of the private sector as a driver of development.

In other words, the US is injecting itself directly into matters that should be determined by the governments of Southeast Asia, not a Western capital on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

Other “flagship programs” include the “Mekong Water Data Initiative,” where Washington supplies “data” to help skew decision making regarding infrastructure projects toward abandoning them entirely or recruiting the US, EU, Japan and the World Bank to develop “alternative” projects for the region.

There is also the “MUSP Track 1.5 Policy Dialogue Series” in which the US sponsors “civil society” (fronts funded by the US government, EU governments, the British government as well as Western corporate-funded foundations) to push US foreign policy objectives in the region.

Finally, there is the “Pathfinder Health Program” which the US State Department claims, “helps Mekong sub-regional health authorities identify and respond to future emerging infectious diseases.”

This last programme is particularly revealing. Its funding bypasses central governments to address healthcare locally. Rather than depending on each sub-region’s respective central government, they depend on USAID instead. Those familiar with USAID’s role in US “counterinsurgency” strategy will understand the implications of this.

The goal is to “capture” communities along the Mekong River, cutting them off from their respective central governments, creating dependence on USAID and other Western forms of funding, control policymaking locally to reflect US foreign policy objectives and create enthusiastic political cadres who will vocally oppose regional governmental cooperation with China.

The end result is communities along the Mekong deliberately kept in poverty to cement their dependence on Western funding and encouraged (and essentially paid) to oppose any cooperation with China and for all local problems to be blamed on China.

Through funding and the West’s formidable control over Southeast Asia’s information space, otherwise obscure, fringe points of view are brought to centre stage.

Montree Chantawong of “Mekong Butterfly” is a career activist based in Thailand who insists no dams of any kind, anywhere should be built, ever. He cites risks to the environment and the disruption of small, impoverished villages that would need to be relocated as the primary reason projects that would benefit millions including those being relocated should otherwise never be built.

He has been afforded space in Bangkok Post, a Western-leaning newspaper, to spell out his agenda which almost always involves attacking China for trying to push development and criticising the US, not for interference in Southeast Asia’s internal political affairs, but for not interfering enough.  He regularly attends Western sponsored forums and openly supports other forms of US interference in the region including US-backed anti-government unrest in Myanmar and Thailand.

In reality, there is a need for genuine civil society to ensure dams are designed properly to maximise sociopolitical benefits and minimise the impact on the environment. Public oversight is also needed to ensure relocation is done fairly. Contracts between governments and those building dams also deserve public scrutiny.

Instead of the region’s civil society space being filled with groups dedicated to doing this important work, the US has displaced genuine civil society along the Mekong and filled it up with “Montree’s” who insist no development take place at all, rivers be allowed to flow “unimpeded” and impoverished villages be left to fish in canoes before eating their meals in shanties along the banks of the Mekong.

The Mekong-US Partnership is revealed as no partnership at all, but an abusive relationship where the US batters its partner and prevents them from achieving any sort of  personal growth. To take this analogy further, in an abusive relationship, the dominant, abusive partner is often driven by extensive insecurity and fear that if their partner is afforded personal growth and independence, they may one day decide they are better off without this relationship.

For Washington, this translates from analogy to geopolitical reality so well, it is almost palpable.

Joseph Thomas is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

Afghan Crisis

Above: Kabul Chinatown


The Afghan Crisis in Chinese Media
 
TJ Ma 

PandaPaw Editor’s Note: The almost instantaneous collapse of the Afghan military and its government in the face of US pullout and Taliban advancement over the past week left the world shocked and bewildered. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Hua Chunying, reflected, “the outside world lacked an objective assessment of situations in Afghanistan, and an accurate grasp of where public opinion stood in that country.” Hua asserted that the West was particularly prone to this kind of misjudgment. But how is China’s assessment of the situation faring as one of its central Asian neighbors fell back into a state of deep uncertainty?

We decided to make this week’s Paw Tracker newsletter available to all our readers, as Afghanistan is probably on the mind of many today. In this special issue, we look at how Chinese media and society is trying to make sense of the situation, the future of China’s relationship with the country, and prospects for the handful of ongoing investments and projects in the country. (by Ma Tianjie and Tom Baxter)


Talk of the Town

Unlike the majority of overseas issues, particularly those with high relevance to China’s own foreign policy, the media narrative on Afghanistan has yet to settle, with the tone of coverage ranging the full gamut from optimism to shock and horror. This in itself is noteworthy.

In this sense, the Chinese media conversation on Afghanistan has in fact been far more diverse than its Western counterpart. When it comes to Chinese official media, the sense of pessimism, regression and dread that dominated Western media coverage, was strikingly absent. The tone of official media was rather on a spectrum between moral and political ambivalence to optimism that change could lead to a better future. Much of the tone was set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ attempted apolitical official position on the Taliban takeover. “We respect the will and choice of the Afghan people,” said Hua Chunying on Aug 16.

A point that has come up consistently in Chinese official media is that the Taliban is changing, becoming less conservative and should be given the benefit of the doubt. As we noted a few weeks ago, this argument was present when the Taliban delegation visited Tianjin on July 28. Interviewed by the Global Times last week, Zhu Yongbiao, Director of the Lanzhou University Afghanistan Research Center, expressed that the Taliban are unlikely to carry out “brutal revenge attacks” against former government and army personnel, a major concern in Western commentary. He also stressed that the higher levels of Taliban leadership who have appeared in media coverage over the last week do have a strong degree of control over the actions of middle and lower ranks, indicating that we should trust that what the upper echelons promise can indeed be implemented on the ground in Afghanistan. Echoing this point, Zhou Rong of the Renmin University Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, said to Global Times that the Taliban’s main efforts going forward will not be recriminations and violence, but on constructing a new country (“建国”) under their leadership. For this to succeed, they require international recognition and therefore have little interest in doing anything which will damage relations with key partners, including China.

An opinion piece on Daodu Shijie, a WeChat account managed by Singaporean Chinese language paper Lianhe Zaobao, suggested that “state media are warming up public opinion for China to recognise the Taliban government.” 

Outside of Chinese policy thinking circles, a Chinese businessman based in Kabul also offered an optimistic outlook in an interview with Southern Weekend. “There has been war here for 40 years, people don’t want to fight again. My Afghan friend once expressed this to me saying, ‘we fought for two generations, we don’t want to continue’,” he told the journalist.

What these future-looking accounts largely gloss over is the fear of a return to the atrocities of the last Taliban era, the topic which most dominated Western media coverage and contributed to scenes such as Afghans clinging to the side of Western evacuation planes in their desperate attempts to escape Taliban rule. A focus on these aspects was very present in other quarters of the Chinese media discussion, however. Numerous non-official WeChat accounts with high readership, usually among young and well educated audiences, highlighted issues such as women’s rights and education. A translation of a letter by Sahraa Karimi, general director of Afghan Film, speaking out against the horrors of Taliban rule – particularly against women – and calling on the world “not to abandon Afghanistan” went viral online, numerous reposts reaching in the 100s thousands of views. Another viral article focused on female musicians and their fear that everything they achieved over the last 20 years would be lost.

The audiences for such articles, more aligned with Western narratives on Afghanistan, are interest-driven, niche, and probably bubble-like. On women’s rights, the bubble has not been totally impermeable, however. An interesting Weibo account is that of Gao Cheng, a former Chinese diplomat in Afghanistan. In her reflections on the country last week, she noted how she was often the only woman on flights going to Kabul, and certainly the only not wearing a full burka.

 

Infrastructure?

Another key aspect of the Chinese discussion on the new Afghanistan has been on to what extent Chinese infrastructure investments should enter the country. In an OpEd for the New York Times on Aug 20, a former senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army, Zhou Bo, argued boldly that “Beijing can offer what Kabul needs most: political impartiality and economic investment. Afghanistan in turn,” he continued, “has what China most prizes: opportunities in infrastructure and industry building — areas in which China’s capabilities are arguably unmatched — and access to $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits.” The BRI is the lens through which many in China view developments in Afghanistan. Some are optimistic that a “stabilized” Afghanistan will be a plus to trade and connectivity routes going from Xinjiang to Pakistan and Iran. Others warn that a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan only worsens China’s security prospects in Central Asia, giving the fundamentalist group great leverage in threatening the Silk Road Economic Belt. Citing Iranian scholar Seyed Mohammed Marandi’s words, an observer on Weibo suggests that the US’s sudden pullout is a calculated move to sow chaos in the region in an attempt to disrupt the BRI. 

As we show in this week’s newsletter, there are reasons for both optimism and pessimism for Chinese investments in the country. On the one hand, resourceful Chinese businesses have cultivated genuine economic connections in Afghanistan largely in an improvised, bottom-up fashion. On the other hand, key Chinese investments in the country have historically struggled to get off the ground. Whether the removal of US and allied forces and the re-emergence of a Taliban led government will provide for a better investment environment seems unlikely. But if the last few weeks have shown us anything about Afghanistan, it is that the unlikely can very quickly become reality.

As the US military, foreign embassies and civilians fled Kabul in a frenzy that shocked the world, others decided to stay. Among them are Chinese managers and employees of China Town, a trade center for Chinese goods and services in the middle of the city. Their accounts to the media back home gave Chinese society a glimpse of what’s going on in Kabul. China Town’s presence and development in Kabul also illustrates the spontaneous and somewhat messy nature of Belt and Road projects in a country of extreme uncertainty like Afghanistan.

“We don’t want to give local people the impression that us Chinese are unreliable and will escape at the first sight of trouble,” Yu Minghui, the person in charge at China Town, told Global Times. He claims that China Town has a few outstanding contracts with Afghan ministries and the state grid, and he is not considering bailing on them. In another interview, he told Yicai that the trade center is suspending business for 3 days to “observe the situation”, but he did not expect major disruption to China Town’s plans in Kabul.

Yu has been doing business in Afghanistan since 2001. “Over the two decades, the Chinese business community’s relationship with the country has shifted,” he told Yicai, “from one-off sale of low-quality products, we are now developing longer term business relationships.”

The China Town’s evolution in Kabul is a reflection of the other side of China’s “Going Out”, which is not strategically coordinated, infrastructure driven and executed in a top-down fashion. The trade center grew out of loosely connected business and investment interests in the post-war Afghanistan that brought Chinese companies and business people to the country starting from 2002. The privately invested Minghai Steel project in 2010 was a major catalyst in the process, as the investor later seized upon China’s increasing interest in Central Asia after 2013 and jumped on the bandwagon of the BRI to turn the project into a multifunctional platform for facilitating China-Afghanistan trade and investment. It took another 6 years before the China Town idea materialized into a building complex in central Kabul, offering shop fronts, storage space, hotel rooms and even karaoke facilities for those interested in finding business opportunities in the impoverished country.

The project is gradually finding its place in China-Afghanistan economic interactions. One year after its opening ceremony in Kabul, it is already looking to expand into an industrial park with manufacturing capacities for electric wires, shoes, garments and plastics. In early June this year, China Town even reached an agreement with the Afghan government on building a 300MW coal-fired power plant to solve the chronic problem of power shortage once and for all. The rooftop of the China Town building has also become a demonstration space for Chinese solar technology. “China is exploring ways to bring peace to Afghanistan through economic means, not military force,” Yu Minghui quoted a Peking University expert in a blog he contributed to Guancha.cn on Aug 11. His China Town will be a major test of that philosophy in a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

 

Minerals?

Another project that has aroused much speculation amid the latest political turmoil is the mothballed Mes Aynak copper mine 40km southeast of Kabul. In 2008, the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) and Jiangxi Copper Corporation won a major deal to develop the mine, believed to contain ores worth USD 50 billion, but progress has since been minimal. Mining was stalled by difficulties in building key infrastructure, lowering copper price in the global market, and unstable security situations throughout the years. The uncovering of an ancient Buddhist shrine on top of the deposit also became a major regulatory roadblock for the Chinese developers.

After the Taliban takeover of the country last week, The Paper contacted Jiangxi Copper Corporation and the company responded that all its on-site staff members had been evacuated to Pakistan early on. It could not share more information as it was in a quiet period before releasing its H1 2021 report to shareholders. 

Meanwhile, MCC was much more blunt about its frustration with the project. The company complained that the Afghan government had not fulfilled its commitment to secure crucial phosphorus and coal resources for the project, and procrastinated on issues of relocating villages, clearing land mines and sorting out archeological arrangements. MCC told the Paper that it engaged the Afghan side on multiple rounds of renegotiation. As recently as 2019, MCC conducted a feasibility study of underground mining following the requirement of the Afghan Ministry of Mining and concluded that it was uneconomical. The request was likely made to explore ways of mining that avoid destroying the archeological site. Progress was further stalled by Covid-19 in 2020. “Copper price has been good recently.

The project could have had decent economic returns if it were in operation now,” an MCC spokesperson told the Paper, “but it will take 4-6 years before Mes Aynak can be brought to operation. In the current circumstances, we will take very careful considerations about its economics, after the political situation stabilizes.” Since coming into power, Ashraf Ghani’s government reached multiple deals with China on railways, roads and residential buildings. Some of them are still ongoing, including the 300MW coal-fired power plant mentioned above whose agreement was barely two months old before its signatory partner, the Afghan government, became obsolete. We will likely see a lot of reassessment, renegotiation and reconfiguration of such projects in the coming months and years.


Further reading

Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, China Is Ready to Step Into the Void


By Zhou Bo

Zhou Bo is a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University and a member of the China Forum. He was a senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army from 2003 to 2020 and is an expert on the Chinese army’s strategic thinking on international security. He directed the Centre for Security Cooperation in the Office for International Military Cooperation at the Ministry of National Defense.

The speed and scope of the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan have prompted introspection in the West over what went wrong, and how, after billions of dollars spent on a 20-year war effort, it could all end so ignominiously. China, though, is looking forward. It is ready to step into the void left by the hasty U.S. retreat to seize a golden opportunity.

While Beijing has yet to formally recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s new government, China issued a statement on Monday saying that it “respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny” and will develop “friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan.”

The message here is clear: Beijing has few qualms about fostering a closer relationship with the Taliban and is ready to assert itself as the most influential outside player in an Afghanistan now all but abandoned by the United States.

Unlike the United States, China brings no baggage to the table in Afghanistan. China has kept a low profile in the country since the U.S. invasion, not wishing to play second fiddle to the United States in any power politics. Beijing watched as Washington’s foray in Afghanistan became a messy and costly morass. In the meantime, China providedAfghanistan millions of dollars in aid for medical assistance, hospitals, a solar power station and more. All the while, Beijing was fostering stronger trade relations, eventually becoming one of Afghanistan’s largest trading partners.

With the U.S. withdrawal, Beijing can offer what Kabul needs most: political impartiality and economic investment. Afghanistan in turn has what China most prizes: opportunities in infrastructure and industry building — areas in which China’s capabilities are arguably unmatched — and access to $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits, including critical industrial metals such as lithium, iron, copper and cobalt. Though critics have raised the point that Chinese investment is not a strategic priority in a less secure Afghanistan, I believe otherwise.

Chinese companies have a reputation for investing in less stable countries if it means they can reap the rewards. That doesn’t always happen so smoothly, but China has patience. Although the presence of U.S. troops went some way toward preventing armed groups from using Afghanistan as a haven, their exit also means that a 20-year war with the Taliban has ended. Therefore the barriers for Chinese investment on a large scale are removed. China is of course a major buyer of the world’s industrial metalsand minerals to fund its economic engine.

One of China’s current long-term strategic investment plans is the Belt-and-Road Initiative, an effort to finance and build infrastructure across the region. And Afghanistan until now has been an attractive but a missing piece of the enormous puzzle. If China were able to extend the Belt-and-Road from Pakistan through to Afghanistan — for example, with a Peshawar-to-Kabul motorway — it would open up a shorter land route to gain access to markets in the Middle East. A new route through Kabul would also make India’s resistance to joining the Belt-and-Road less consequential.

Even before its takeover of Kabul, the Taliban had promised to protect Chinese investments in Afghanistan.

Beijing is now also positioned to hold greater influence over the country’s political landscape. Afghanistan’s history tells us that one group is rarely in control of the entire country, and given the Taliban’s lightning takeover, it’s reasonable to expect some civil strife. China — already the largest troop contributor to U.N. peacekeeping missions among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — has also registered a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops — a move that could make it one of the largest contributors overall. If a U.N. peacekeeping mission is deployed to Afghanistan, Chinese peacekeepers, coming from a friendly neighboring country, will almost certainly be more welcome than those from afar.

Becoming an influential player in Afghanistan also means that Beijing is better positioned to prevent what it considers anti-Chinese groups from gaining a foothold in the country. A primary concern of China is the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. According to a Chinese government report, the group had early roots in Afghanistan. According to the U.N., it receivedTaliban and Al Qaeda support in the 2000s. Some scholars and expertsquestion whether the group has the capacity to instigate violence, or whether it even continues to exist. Still, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said in a July meeting with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy leader of the Taliban, that he hoped the Taliban would “make a clean break” with the East Turkestan group because it “poses a direct threat to China’s national security and territorial integrity.” Mr. Wang also expressed hope that the Taliban would “build a positive image and pursue an inclusive policy” — a signal that China wants the Taliban to make good on its promise of “inclusive” governance.

In response, Mr. Baradar promised that the Taliban would never allow any group to use the Afghan territory to engage in acts harmful to China.

The key to Afghanistan’s peace and stability, of course, also lies partly in Pakistan. Despite their proximity, the “conjoined twins,” as described by the former Afghan president Hamid Karzai, don’t always look in the same direction. Pakistan’s Afghanistan policy is driven largely by the strategic goals of ensuring a friendly government in Kabul and undercutting India’s increasing influence in Afghanistan. It is in Beijing’s own interest — not least for the success of Belt-and-Road — to ensure that Pakistan and Afghanistan are on good terms.

It is no secret that China already enjoys strong influence in Pakistan. Anticipating a more prominent role and future necessity, Beijing pledged in June to continue helping develop and improve relations between the two countries.

Finally, even though the United States is leaving, there is an opportunity for Beijing and Washington to work together for a stable Afghanistan. China and the United States, despite their differences, have enjoyed some cooperation in Afghanistan already — for example, jointly training diplomats and technicians. Neither country wishes to see Afghanistan slide into a civil war. Both of them support a political solution that is Afghan-led and Afghan-owned. Therefore, Afghanistan provides an area for the two competing giants to find some common cause.

When Mr. Wang spoke to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, he said China stood ready to work with the United States to “push for a soft landing of the Afghan issue.”

Afghanistan has long been considered a graveyard for conquerors — Alexander the Great, the British Empire, the Soviet Union and now the United States. Now China enters — armed not with bombs but construction blueprints, and a chance to prove the curse can be broken. New York Times

BOOKS

P.A.

The Art of the Staff Assistant:
the Art of Serving the Boss 

The Bitter, Hot, Sour and Sweet of Following the Boss

David Cowhig

 

This 1994 book The Art of the Staff Assistant: the Art of Serving the Boss [参谋助手论——为首长服务的艺术] has gone through many editions and is widely available on many Chinese websites and in bookstore. Here I have relied on the DeepL machine translation program to do a rough translation. I smoothed out some machine miscues in the first few pages. The rest will be more difficult going, but read it for the gist. The authors’ experience was working as a staff officer in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) although they are writing a more general book about the art of the staff assistant reflecting the experience, hope, humiliations, glories and disappointments of people working as staff assistants in Chinese government and Party organizations. [Machine translation using DeepL. I smoothed the first few pages. After that it gets a bit rough but can still repay you with its insights and inside view]. 

 

Book Excerpt Begins  

As mentioned in the introduction of this book, for the sake of convenience, we refer to the staff officers, officers and assistants who serve the chief as secretariesThe secretary, as the dictionary explains, is a person who is in charge of paperwork and assists the head of an organ or department in his or her daily work. From here, we can see that the secretary is the leader’s assistant and staff, the main task is in charge of the paperwork, to assist the head of the day-to-day work, and to undertake other tasks assigned.


For the secretary, there are more than a hundred images in the eyes of a thousand people, and more than a thousand comments in the mouth of a thousand people: either honor or shame, or disaster or blessing. In addition, the usual image of the secretary in the mass media and literature is someone who is a flatterer and false. No wonder people so often criticize but rarely praise them.

As a secretary, whether it is a long term of two or three decades, or a short term of two years or three years, are inevitably a few bumps and bruises, a few storms, and even a few degrees of shock and awe. There are bitter and sweet, there are worries and joys, there are comfort and sorrow. Secretary of the staff of the bitter, spicy, sweet and sour, the general outsiders are rare to know. From what I describe there, I think you can come to understand something about their work.
 

I. The Work of the Secretary

About the characteristics of the work of the secretary, there has long been a sophisticated and authoritative theoretical exposition. Starting from my work experience in the PLA, at the division and corps level and from examining the perspective of close the personal experience of Party and government cadres, I would say that the basic characteristics of secretarial work are as follows.

(A) Secretarial work is hard work
The secretary’s career is a profession that breaks the bones and exhausts the heart. Hard work and endurance is the basic spirit of the secretary should have.

First of all, it is a busy job. A wife said this about her husband who is a secretary: always busy all day long, so busy that there is no dinner time, no time to sleep, no concept of holidays. This is not an exaggeration. According to the statistics of a command office, the secretary in charge of writing work, the annual work 3781.4 hours, calculated on 365 days, the average daily work in more than 10.36 hours, equivalent to 472 days, more than the normal workload of 166 days. The statistical results of an agency in the troop site show that other staff members work an average of 206 days a year, a difference of 266 days.

The second is exhaustion. Secretary’s feet are non-stop running, the heart is always alert. During the day there are endless affairs, and at night there is an endless climbing grid. The work is complicated and specific, and one thing is more demanding than another. Sometimes when you are eating, suddenly something comes up, you have to put down the bowl and run, and when you come back, the food is cold and the time for work has come, so you have to walk into the office half-starved. Writing materials have a long and short, a tighter than a rush, a head than a head to be urgent. When you go to work to write, after work to drive the night to write. Hot days you sweat as you write, cold days you stomp your feet with a runny nose as you write, and even when you are asleep you have this urge to jump up and write. Some people say: the text debt in the body, the food is not tasty, sleep restless.

 

If you do not believe this, here are are examples in evidence: A

A secretary for 5 years, how many nights for writing articles have not yet been statistics. Once to the head of the rush to write a speech, from the morning to write late at night, hungry, hit the road back to the house, pull out the key but how can not open the lock, sweating, the door suddenly opened, rushed out two people, each holding a stick. It turns out that he was thinking about the manuscript on the way, on the wrong floor, the homeowner saw someone in the middle of the night to get the door lock, thought it was a burglar, want to hit ……

Once again, it is bitter. Although the secretary is not sweat, labor its muscles and bones, nor is it a coarse food and thin clothing, the cost of food and clothing, but the secretary’s hard work is really something else. It is not an exaggeration to say that the secretary sometimes have to spend more effort than the leader, sweat more, eat more suffering. A secretary once went with the the head of a PLA military region to a meeting, when returning to the peak of New Year’s travel rush, the train stunk and cold and crowded. Secretary D squeezed and squeezed, dry mouth, exhausted, finally the head of the arrangement to sit, but he had to stand to get off. When he returned home, his face was not washed, the head of the instructions, quickly put together the meeting materials, tomorrow morning to open the Standing Committee to use. He had to make a cup of hot, strong tea, a cold towel, to lift up his spirits so he could fight on doing the work of the evening. He has a warm nest but can may not rest there; there is a delicious meal but may not eat it. This is not the same as being out in the hunger and the cold, but come down to that in the end.

Secretary work is really “endless, not hungry but never eating you full, day and night have no meaning to you”. It goes on day after day, year after year. You rarely have the opportunity to breathe. A day down, exhausted, a little leisure, you feel sleepy immediately. A Ministry B officer well known as the “pencil” for his writing skills, has broken seven rice bowls during his naps and so got the additional nickname of “rice-bowl smasher”. Such situations are numerous.

(B) the secretary’s work is lonely
Secretarial work is a kind of occupation without flowers and applause. It is often accompanied by indescribable loneliness.

First of all, making clothes for others is always the most distinctive feature of the secretary’s work. Busy offstage, no nameless on stage. In the work of the troops on the stage, the head of the rightful role of the famous and tangible protagonists, and the secretary can not shirk the responsibility is to make the boss look good and to play his part by working desperately hard behind the scenes. People’s eyes tend to focus only on the leadership at all levels, large and small, to hear the impassioned leadership report, see the leadership to make a variety of decisive decisions, to see the the leadership to direct the activities with style. They rarely notice the secretary working beside the leaders, do not think much of the leader’s report, decision-making and style, as the crystallization of untold hours of hard work by the secretary. This just as how delicate flowers are much more likely to make people ignore the green leaves below.

A director, in the military division regiment three-level organs to write more than twenty years of material, to the “official” key moment, but can not find an article signed their names. A head of the speech caused a large reaction, until the people into the restaurant are still talking about: the head of the speech! It was wonderful! As there were more people accompanying the meal, there was no room for the secretary. A staff member said with resentment: “What are these stupid staff officers doing.” It was really irritating and sad. The labor of a secretary and its value are not easily understood and recognized. As long as you as a secretary, we must always be prepared: no one to get ahead of the day, there are silent and unheard of reality.

Secondly, there is “suffering” difficult to say is always the heavy weight of the secretary’s psychological burden. As a secretary, in front of the boss and the crowd, often wears a smile on his face and radiates calm. And it is precisely at this time, they may be suffering fallout from some devious scheme, be wrongly blamed, and even be made to suffer in the place of others. This pain must be openly suffered. This makes it more painful that it would be otherwise. First of all, writing articles, is the the most important psychological burden the secretary cannot escape from. Much indescribable suffering arises from that. Some leaders are too simple, they do not provide a detailed explanation, do not give detailed guidance for the secretary’s work, leaving everything to the secretary. Other leaders are too casual, they’ll change everything in a flash and the secretary’s efforts have all gone to waste. Others are too harsh, the show no mercy when they review a manuscript, keeping the secretary on pins and needles; some leaders hold views that are self-contradictory so that the secretary is in at a loss at what to do; some leaders are too stubborn, the views are not quite right, but the secretary has to be hard-headed and write just as he is told. And so on. The secretary in writing articles, inevitably encounter the above-mentioned situations, but in any case, when the article is not written to meet the requirements, the secretary should not and can not have a plea, no need for a detailed table of hardship. Zhang × × is a well-known “pencil” of a government office, but he is increasingly afraid to write important materials. Once the head of the B called him to say: “Zhang officer, the party committee wants you to write the report on its study and rectification session. They want something special this time.”

“Boss, what will be the main points? What is the most important experience the committee learned from? Give me a hint.”

“You write a draft, and then the party committee will discuss it.”

“What……”

“Now hurry up and do it!”

“……”

Officer Zhang collected materials. From concept to first draft took a whole week. He did two all-nighters. Finally, when the party committee discussed the draft, the senior official B said that it lacks a high-level perspective and sent it back to do over. After writing it out again, the senior official A said it was not realistic enough and so it had to be rewritten once again. It went through seven drafts, until the next day to report it was accepted. When Zhang compared the first draft with the seventh draft it was the same – from the point of view to the examples used. No only were a weeks worth of brain cells completely gone to waste, he also got the “reputation” of being a secretary who has “a hard time understanding the intentions of his boss”.

Once again, bear the humiliation, which is another secretary can not get rid of the psychological burden, sometimes unbearable. Some leaders are unhappy and have no where to vent their feelings. And so they blame their secretary. The secretary becomes a punching bag. Some leaders are dissatisfied with other leaders but are unable to say it so they will criticize the secretary who becomes a scapegoat. When some leaders wrongly entrusted with the work and the relevant superiors examine who is responsible, shift the blame to the secretary and so the secretary has become a scapegoat. A troop had several vehicle accidents one after another, it is ordered that they all take a day in the field to work on their driving. No one is allowed out of the car. This day boss D had a relative visiting, they instructed the secretary to send a car to pick up the relative at the station, and said: “It’s okay, I’m responsible for the accident.” The secretary had to do as he was told. The car had not yet left the courtyard, when he was stopped by administrative head C: “orders today are they we are not allowed to go out in a car. Are you deliberately defying orders?” The secretary knew that the boss C was critical of boss D. When talking with boss C, he hurriedly said, “I made up my own mind, you criticize it!” Some people say that a secretary keeps all is feelings to himself. There is some truth to that. No matter what the complaint, blame or suffer on behalf of others, can only swallow down. It can be said that, for the sake of the overall situation and the commission, can tolerate the good, is the secretary of the unique spirit of loyalty to duty. This generosity of mind is undoubtedly a valuable asset. Tolerate humiliation is probably the secretary’s “life” it!

Caution, caution always on behalf of the leader a code of conduct that secretaries must abide by. The secretariat of an organization, which serves many leaders, while providing good service to the leadership must also to try to maintain the prestige of the leadership and the unity of the leadership collective. Both to often pretend to be deaf and dumb, but also to have hearts beating as one with the leadership. If you have something to say, you can’t always be blunt; nor can you lay it all out at once. As a secretary, the work is governed by people, must be done as the boss intends. One’s time is governed by others; arrangement must be done as the boss requires. It can be said that the secretary studies the expressions on the face of the boss and the boss’s temperament to decide what to do. 

G had been a soldier for 30 years, has been a division major, so far, every matter entrusted by the superiors, have done piece by piece to check the implementation; to carry out each work, have shown a desperate spirit; to each visitor is given a warm reception. Also unconsciously reveal a certain sense of inferiority. Why is this so? In his own words, it was because he was used to being a secretary, and the shadow of being a secretary remained everywhere. He once remembered that once with the head of the outing, the first night to rush to write a speech to 3:00 a.m., the head of the dawn to leave, and did not bother to eat, after a few hours, get off to rest, as required by the head of the meal to doze off again. The chief has a characteristic, eat fast, sleep fast, wake up fast, the chief fell asleep, G a person has not finished eating. The chief got up, G just fell asleep. The chief left, G has not yet woken up. The chief is far away, G found that he was abandoned. G had to take the train instead, and it took two days and two nights to catch up with the chief, who was severely criticized. From then on he was cautious up, dreaming when also calculating the work arrangements.

Treat people very cautiously, observe discipline very strictly, consider the problem very carefully, carry out the work very seriously, this is the natural characteristics of the secretary profession, but also the inevitable requirements of the secretary profession.

(C) The secretary Puts on Airs
The role of the secretary is mysterious and unique. In the midst of labor and loneliness and not infrequently can put on airs.

The secretary can often not only represent the head, and even under certain conditions can replace the head. In some occasions, in a particular condition, others respect and fear you. Secretary is the head of the close staff, where the head to go, the secretary to follow to where, the head of what to eat, the secretary can eat what, the head of what to enjoy, the secretary can also enjoy what. Like riding in a car, others in a big car, the secretary can ride with the chief in a small car. The chief to attend a banquet, the secretary of the entourage naturally to participate, not only because of the responsibility to take care of the chief, but also the reception units do not dare to offend the secretary. Because the need for the head to approve things, there are many things that must first go through the secretary. If you offend the secretary, of course, future work will be difficult. For example, a unit to the head of a very nice souvenir, but did not give the secretary a copy, the secretary is not very happy. This is also understandable. The undignified secretary not only has ideas, but also practices. When the unit wants to let the head through the secretary to do something, the secretary thought to himself, when sending something did not expect me, the head of the door when you give the door, I have not gone in, you let go; now something, want me to be a bridge when the boat, to give you a message to think of me, not so cheap. Of course, the mouth does not say, promise when also quite quick: “No problem, can talk about it.” But in the heart said: “You wait.” The result is like a clay ox plunging into the sea — dissolving, never to be heard from again. 

Some people say that the secretary is the “second head”. This is not unreasonable. Some times, the head does not directly appear, let the secretary to deal with, then the secretary on behalf of the head. His speech, his opinion, his attitude, is the head of the speech, the head of the opinion, the head of the attitude. Some times the head is not in, entrusted to the secretary is responsible for solving some problems, then the secretary instead of the head, according to the head of the principle of entrusted to the specific undertaking some things. Therefore, in the eyes of the general public secretary is very powerful, the secretary himself will also feel this kind of power. However, here we remind the secretary, must pay attention to modesty and prudence.

(D) The secretary is fortunate
The secretary is indeed quite lucky. “Those on the water tower see moonrise first”, because of working beside the head, the head of the secretary know very well. To the secretary’s level, ability and work achievements, in the eyes, in mind. It is often said that “know people good appointment”, the reason why “good appointment”, the premise is “know people”, the secretary was the head as “know people “can be called on the unique advantage. Because the head understand the secretary, and trust the secretary, it is easier to appoint the secretary, promote the secretary. For the secretary, working under the watchful eye of the head, more opportunities to exercise, work ability to improve quickly, the opportunity to be reused a lot, the possibility of promotion is great. When the need for some people entrusted with important tasks, the head of the first thought may be the secretary. According to a unit of cadres department statistics, in a high-level cadres of the same level, the secretary or as a secretary of the average of about 5 years younger, and 2.5 times more than other professional origins. Under normal circumstances, secretaries almost everyone can go up one level. In today’s important leadership positions in China, people who have been secretaries of all kinds make up a significant proportion. This is the actual situation.
 

Second, the requirements of the work of the secretary

The basic requirements for secretarial work have been clearly stated in numerous published treatises. The secretarial staff of the army includes both staff officers, officers and assistants, as well as the heads of operational departments. According to this specific object, we believe that the secretary to handle the matters entrusted by the head, there are three requirements as follows.

The first is to remember everything accurately. Secretary to the head of each matter, there can not be the slightest error. In particular, the time, place, personnel, requirements, causes and consequences, specific figures, percentages, and even the head of the attitude, tone of voice, must be clear. Should do: pocket notepad, the table has a notepad, there are notepad helpers around (family members, children at any time to remind), so as not to forget and miss things, while doing ding is ding, dao is dao, there must not be the slightest error. If there is a slight omission, there will be a problem. One Saturday, the army commander said to Secretary D: “Tomorrow I am on duty, 10:00 am. The higher-ups came to inspect the work of the direct team, when you give me a call, I accompanied the comrades of the working group to go together.” Secretary D wrote it down on the notepad as he was accustomed to do, and gave some instructions to his family. The company’s first-ever “The Best of the Best” is the first of its kind. It took this secretary a moment of clarity. If not for the help at home, D How should the secretary answer to the military commander?

For the chief’s outings, it is even more important to make careful arrangements not to make the slightest mistake. Please see a head of the troops to visit the half-day activities arrangements (see attached).

Secondly, everything has to be done. The chief of every thing, whether it is a major national event, or family matters, and whether it is easy to do things or difficult things, there must be results. You can’t talk about the price, can’t complain, can’t pose difficulties, not to mention the excuse not to do. The chief in handing over the task to the difficult aspects have been taken into account, there is generally some leeway. Of course there are difficulties, or you can not see the secretary’s skills.

Third, the second time to hear back. The chief of the matter, regardless of the outcome, should be reported in a timely manner, and the sooner the better. For example, buy a ticket, is a matter of urgency. The secretary bought a good in the pocket not to report to the head, so that the head of the anxious: buy no? Which train? What time does it leave? The chief may be anxious to go around, you are quite frank. Can you not be criticized? Such things have been three times, the secretary can not do.

These three requirements are not esoteric and do not have any theoretical depth, but is very important, is the minimum conditions for good secretarial work.
 

Third, the secretary should have these qualities

Secretary to follow the head of the bitter, spicy, sweet and sour, not everyone can adapt, endure. As a qualified secretary, to have some special qualities, in the mind, moral, psychological, clerical ability, writing level and other aspects have very high requirements.

(A) politically strong
Secretary work position is important and has great responsibility. Secretaries are often involved in the core of the Party

The secretary is often involved in the Party’s core secrets, involved in some major issues of decision-making and processing. This requires.

First of all, have a firm political position, always adhere to the belief of communism, in ideology, politics, action and the party to maintain a high degree of consistency. In particular, it must be able to withstand the storm and not make mistakes on major issues of principle. The kind of people who kill back at the first sign of trouble can not be the secretary.

Secondly, there should be a deep theoretical foundation of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and a high level of policy. Will use the Marxist-Leninist position, views and methods of observation, understanding and solving practical problems, understanding and mastering the party’s line, guidelines, policies, and good at implementing in the practical work.

Again, have a strong sense of enterprise and responsibility. Always put the interests of the Party and the people in the first place; from the high and strict requirements of their own, love their jobs, dedicated to their duties, not afraid of hardship and fatigue, regardless of gains and losses, not for fame and fortune.

(B) business to fine
Secretary directly for the head of the service, not only the important matters, and complicated affairs, high standards and strict requirements. Up to assist the leadership in decision-making, down to food, clothing, housing and transport are to manage. Secretary staff must be both civilian and military, a combination of coarse and fine, doing a good job of big things, small things to do smart.

First of all, to have the ability to work shrewdly and competently. Quick-witted, sharp, efficient handling of documents and telegrams; timely arrangement of relevant activities; initiative to collect, analyze and synthesize the situation; good at representing the leadership, convey the views, arrange work, handle matters. Properly send and receive, call, receive visits and other matters in an orderly manner, even to the leadership’s life issues should also be meticulous and thoughtful arrangements.

Second, to have excellent writing skills. Familiar with the basic knowledge of the application of the authorities, comfortable with the use of various types of documents, clear thinking, reasonable structure, simple and concise style, fluent and vivid language, accurate and appropriate expression.

Again, have a wealth of scientific and cultural knowledge and certain skills. Understand the latest research results in social sciences, natural sciences, know the general state of politics, economics, astronomy, geography, history and culture and art, etc., familiar with the unit’s expertise and business work of various departments, as soon as possible to master the use of microcomputers, fax and other modern office equipment, if necessary, should also learn photography, video, driving and even self-defense skills.

(C) the style should be hard
The style of secretarial staff, related to the quality of service for the head of the issue, but also the overall image of the unit is part of. Secretary staff style is multifaceted, summarized in the following points.

First, diligent efforts, thunder and lightning. Not lazy willingness to make efforts, do not wait and do not rely on, said to do, pay attention to time and efficiency.

Second, in-depth practical, contact the masses. Effective investigation and research, grasp the real situation, do not pose, do not take the form, treat people with generosity, solidarity with comrades.

Three is thoughtful and meticulous, rigorous and steady. The paperwork is perfect, meticulous, modest and cautious in dealing with people and arrangements are well thought out. Not impatient, not paranoid, not self-assertive, calm and collected, coping with a clear sense of urgency, lift the weight as lightly as possible, not panic, not fumbling.

(D) cultivation to be good
The ideological and moral cultivation of secretarial staff is extremely important, it is one of the basic qualities of qualified secretaries. A person’s cultivation is the performance of its psychological quality. Therefore, the secretary must have the following good psychological qualities.

First, indifference and not lose the clear will. No desire for power, being in the power staggering, in the calm, not moved by it, no desire for power will use the power not offside. No profit desire, in the vital sector, the self-poor, not for the temptation, no profit desire will be beneficial not to seek private. No name desire, in the off-stage behind the scenes, in a place of honor and prominence, willing to be a cow, not to be confused, no name desire will become famous not to enjoy the reputation. Although indifferent but should have the will to show an independent personality, with real talent, to show their own ideas, to support the leadership decision. Aloof will directly expressed as not afraid of hardship, not to enjoy; heavy career, light gain and loss, more dedication, less demanding.

Second, calm and not lose decisiveness. Deep and good thinking, patient and steady, never act rashly, emotional, with strong self-control. Firm and decisive, dare to do, never indecisive, fearful, have greater courage and boldness.

Third, self-confidence without losing modesty. Self-respect and self-love, self-confidence, indomitable spirit, review the situation, honor and disgrace. Forbidden to grovel, obsequious, is the strong man of life. He is kind, full of enthusiasm, speaks kindly and is willing to help others. Never arrogant, overbearing, is a friend of all people.

Fourth, dignified and humorless. Demeanor dignified, generous, civilized and elegant, calm demeanor. No dirty words, no complacency and forgetfulness. The expression is rich and subtle, the words imply philosophy, can trigger people’s thoughts and fun, can eliminate tension and dull emotions.

Secretary good ideological and moral cultivation and stable psychological quality is multi-level, multi-faceted. In actual life people from personal experience, there are many very accurate and vivid expressions of this. From the style point of view, the secretary should have the style of willingness to be a ladder, the style of taking the credit, the style of tolerance and generosity, the style of democracy and equality, the style of treating people with sincerity and the style of being a pioneer. From the perspective of character, the secretary should be decisive, self-improvement, composure and generosity. From the point of view of manners, the secretary should be smart, quick, modest, dignified, enthusiastic, confident, simple and humorous temperament. From the point of view of character, the secretary should do: the power does not trespass on power, control of people not whole, no selfishness since the peace of mind; can bear the humiliation, the commission, the overall situation; to comrades warm, caring, sincere, to see the problem accurately, clear, dare to take responsibility; do not believe in gossip, not to set right and wrong, not to “bully others”.

Engels said: “The character of a person is not only in what he does, but also in how he does it.” The ideal quality of secretarial staff is the clever combination of reason and emotion, introversion and extroversion, independence and obedience and other psychological factors. As a secretary, to potter and hone themselves in long-term practice, so that they become qualified secretarial talent.

In the leader’s mind how the secretary is considered qualified, many experts and scholars at home and abroad have proposed many assessment topics and methods, now a little collated for reference. (In the text, “you” refers to the leader)

1 Secretary know the scope of your duties and all activities? Do you understand your goals and intentions?

2. If you leave the organization for 3-4 weeks, are you convinced that your secretary can still handle your business and personal affairs in a serious and responsible manner?

3. Does he help you to arrange the schedule of activities, coordinate appointments, so that you can go to the appointment as scheduled, all without your urging and bothering? Is he a person

who is very good at organizing his own time?

4. if you do not remind him, he can take the initiative to perform and firmly complete the work you give him?

5. Is he polite to your colleagues and visitors? Can he be respectful, helpful and take others’ matters to heart?

6. Is he an imaginative and creative person? Can he come up with new ideas and suggestions for you to consider? Does he often adopt new ways to improve your work and his own work? Is he able to develop new work systems or work procedures? Is he organized in his work?

7. Is he a resourceful person? Can he take the initiative to solve some problems without bothering you? Is he afraid of difficulties?

8. can he improve the efficiency of the paperwork? Can he find in time the documents on your desk that have been sitting there for a long time while other leaders are waiting to read them? Can he pick up the documents you need from other leaders in a timely manner?

9. Does he possess basic secretarial skills (such as filing, shorthand and telephone manner) that are beyond reproach?

10. Is he calm in critical situations? Is he calm in an emergency? When you are under pressure and sulk or lose your temper, he can still calmly continue to work as usual?

11. Is he loyal to you and worthy of your trust? Can you entrust him with some confidential information, both public and private?

12. Does he have a wide reading and knowledge base? Can he often draw your attention to publications that are relevant to the unit and to your personal affairs?

13. does he become a valuable source of information for the unit? Is he a valuable source of information that is difficult, inconvenient, or impossible for you to obtain on your own?

14. Does he have a personal education program? Does he ask to learn more about your unit, your work, your colleagues, or your industry?

15. Does he speak clearly? Can he briefly brief you in writing or verbally? Can he communicate your instructions clearly and correctly? Can he understand your ideas about a policy or action and tell others about it as accurately as you do?

16. Does he get his daily work done regardless of time? Does he volunteer to work overtime at night or on weekends as needed?

17.Can he delegate his unfinished work to others when necessary and supervise others to complete it responsibly, just like a manager?

18. can he take care of the daily routine for you without your intervention?

19.Can he remember some important dates (such as anniversaries, someone’s birthday, traditional holidays, vacations, etc.) and arrange celebrations for your superiors, family or colleagues on your behalf?

20.Is he competent in research work? For example, can he collect information, investigate what happened in a certain matter and write an investigation report with facts, analysis and recommendations, etc.?

May all our secretaries, through their efforts, be able to meet these 20 standards.

The art of familiarizing yourself with the personality of the chief

The secretary-general period and the chief together, get along and work together, need to establish a good relationship of trust and dependence. And the establishment of a harmonious relationship depends mainly on the secretary’s understanding of the head’s personality characteristics and compliance. On the basis of a full understanding of the personality characteristics of the head, the secretary to adjust themselves to the needs of the head. Secretary to the head of the lack of understanding of personality traits can not comply, can not comply with the difficulty of establishing a good relationship. Do a head like the secretary, likewise, also like a head of the secretary, you must do to understand and comply with the head of the personality characteristics.
 

A, understand the head of the habits of life

The secretary working beside the chief, should be the chief very satisfied with the person. Generally speaking, the size should be moderate, look dignified and clean, the body should be healthy and strong. When which the head of the secretary, should be for which the head of the dedicated service. This requires the secretary to have a clear understanding of the habits of the head of life.

(A) on the head of the “eating” habits

People are food for the day. The chief is also a member of the people, but also to eat. Eating is the most important part of the chief’s habits.

On the leading cadres “eat”, that is, what to eat, how to eat, where to eat, is a current hot issue, is the most discussed by the masses, but also one of the most disgusting issues. Once you hear that the head to eat, it is creepy, in the clean government, with public money to eat and drink is one of the most serious problems. A large sum of the hard-earned money of the workers is eaten up, which is distressing.

In the head of the problem of eating, but also can not be generalized, there should be a comprehensive and specific analysis of understanding. There are three situations: First, some chiefs do love to eat and drink, love to eat good love to eat strange. Second, some of the chiefs do hate eating and drinking, especially resent the endless eating and drinking. Third, some chiefs do not seek to eat and drink, only “Coca-Cola”, that is, to eat smoothly and casually as the standard. According to our analysis of 100 division leaders and above, only 7 people love to eat and drink. The 56 people who hate eating and drinking. “Coca-Cola” of 37 people.

The first kind of head only accounted for a minority, but the impact is greater. Although the secretary can not stop, but to be aware of.

The second kind of chief accounts for the majority, is the hope and strength of the party style improvement. Some of them come from a poor background, home in the countryside, grew up eating hardships, quite averse to big food and drink. There are those who come up from the lower level of the head, know the grassroots of the bitterness, to spend a day of eating and drinking is very uncomfortable. There are also some from the hardship of remote areas out of the head, the squandering of public funds to eat public drinking public also deeply distressed.

The third kind of head accounted for a considerable number, is the secretary should seriously understand the important object to master. There is a chief in the issue of eating especially “picky”, he likes to eat boiled dumplings. See the broken skin of the dumplings will say: “Today’s food is good!” Next to a sumptuous banquet table seems to have little appeal to him. The secretary had to make it clear to the cooks that the dumplings should be made more often, and that there should be some openings. Another head likes to eat thin rice, four plates of pickles, a glass of wine, he is quasi-happy to see: “The food is good, really good.” And the stomach can also eat quite large. Another chief is from Shanxi, nothing else matters, but every meal must have two potatoes, see the skin open flesh of the potatoes, eyes shine, while eating and say: “nutritious ah, where does the starch come from? Mainly from here.” And so on, they are the standard of “Coca-Cola”.

Each head in the issue of eating, habits are very different, the secretary can not be treated equally. Whether at home or abroad, are on the head of the sea and delicacies are not necessarily happy.

(B) on the head of the “drink” habits

Drink, more complicated than in the past. Tea, drinks, wine, fancy, to charm the eye. Wine imports, “Remy Martin”, “XO” a cup with a little, 70 to 80 yuan is considered cheap. Domestic is also very expensive, “Maotai”, “Wuliangye”, “Jiannanchun” one or two hundred yuan a bottle, may also be fake. Plus beer, blue belt, drink a few tubes of half a month’s salary. The variety of drinks is even more, the juice, the pulp, countless. A mouthful of sour water, three or five yuan or even one or two dozen yuan, after drinking the stomach ache. It can really be said that the grade is getting higher and higher, appetite is getting worse and worse.

For the head of the drink, the secretary should also be analyzed to master. Or according to our examination of more than 100 division chiefs as an example, there are roughly four kinds of cases: one is like a big drink, drink high-grade 7 people. 25 people who have to drink a little every day. 40 people who can drink or not. 25 people who hate drinking.

The first kind of head accounted for a very small number of, “no wine is not a seat”, the banquet must be a drunkenness, their own drink, persuade people to drink, “Wuliangye” more than two or three bottles, half are poured on the ground. To these chiefs love to “drink” bad habits, the secretary should try to dissuade.

The second type of head is not a small number, which is a manifestation of their habits. They have to drink two mouthfuls at each meal, or look at the meal can not eat, take a little wine to, without high-grade, eat the meal down, talk more. In general occasions, the secretary can give care, let the cook prepare some wine, the head is very happy, and will not miss work.

The third kind of head of the majority, there is no wine does not affect the meal, on the wine, do not feel cheerful, not on the wine is not feeling spoiled. But in any case can not drink more, and do not want to drink more. To their secretaries do not have to force, and do not need to take special care.

The fourth kind of head of the number of people. They see wine fret, especially for a meal to drink a few hours annoyed to death. If they are forced to go to the mountain, the middle also have to go out a few times to hide, or halfway out of the scene. To them, the secretary should step in to bail out, and greet the accompanying food staff in advance. Don’t be a deadbeat to the head of the wine.

(C) on the head of the “receipt” of the habit

Receive is a gift from someone to receive down. The problem of receiving is more common than the problem of eating and drinking. There is not like to eat, there is not like to drink, but do not want to receive, refuse to receive but not many. There is a receipt, there is a gift, someone in a sedan chair and someone willing to carry the sedan.

There is a story: During the Warring States period, Zou Ji, a great official of the State of Qi, dressed up one day and asked his wife, “Who do you think is beautiful between me and Xu Gong in the north of the city?” The wife said, “Of course you are beautiful!” Zou Ji did not believe it, because Xu Gong was known as a beautiful man. The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. The company is still not convinced. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. Later, when Duke Xu came to Zou Ji’s house, Zou Ji was convinced that he was not prettier than Duke Xu in any way. The next day he met King Wei of Qi and recounted the incident. King Wei of Qi asked him, “Look for yourself, who is beautiful?” “Of course Duke Xu is beautiful.” “Then why do they say you are beautiful?” “My wife says I am beautiful because she favors me; my concubine says I am beautiful because she is afraid of me; my guest says I am beautiful because he begs me.”

From this we can know that those who give gifts to the head are mostly trying to achieve some purpose of their own from the recipient. Generally speaking, between sending and receiving, the giver often shows an active behavior.

Nowadays, there are many different ways to give gifts to leading cadres, and they are changing day by day. Call people feel wonderful, and sometimes feel helpless.

First, on the method of sending.

There are direct delivery, face to face to the head. There are indirectly sent to the head of the family, children, or through the secretary and other relevant personnel forwarding.

There are openly sent, mentioned in front of the head is the gift.

There are secretly sent, quietly put there without saying anything, or the surface does not look like a gift, but in fact in the intentional gift. According to the newspaper, a provincial organ a director often pulled by the unit to play mahjong, his tile skills are not really smart, but always he won. A few times even waist back home. But he also had to pay the price, in some documents, instructions or some what to sign his name on the note. As a result, mistakes were made.

Second, about the timing of the delivery.

The birthday of the chief or a family member is a good time to give a gift, especially the best time for the birthday of a junior that the chief likes very much.

When the chief is hospitalized, gifts are often inundated with people in the ward, in front of the couch, condolences piled up into a mountain. One chief likes to smoke, a hospital can receive dozens of red Tashan, Ashima.

When the chief went to the grassroots,

many people also sent things. Before leaving, someone said: “The head of the grassroots is quite hard, take two cigarettes to smoke.”

“Forget it, forget it, I have it with me.”

“Two cigarettes is nothing, this is not a gift!”

“Next time do not come to this set.” Still, they were accepted.

When they returned, someone said, “We have nothing good in this ravine, take a few ginseng head to take back to make wine, tonic body.”

“This is not good, right?”

“What’s wrong with that? A few ginseng is not worth much, your health is good for work. We are also contributing to the construction of the army!” He put a box of ginseng on the car seat.

The chief’s children went to school and joined the workforce, which was also an opportunity to give gifts.

“It’s worth celebrating when you go to college. Take care of yourself away from home. Take this blanket and put it on your feet.”

“Children become adults when they work. It’s time to dress up, this necklace will look good on you.”

The people who came to celebrate expressed in different languages the reasonableness of sending things, and inevitably interspersed with some kind of unreasonable demands.

Thirdly, about the variety of sending.

It can be divided into three categories. The first category is daily necessities, from chicken feed, local specialties, clothing, cigarettes, alcohol, lighters, health care products to high-grade furniture, cameras, VCRs and even video cameras and so on. The second category is the appreciation of goods, there are antiques, jade, jewelry, handicrafts, celebrity paintings, precious books, etc., ranging in value from a few dozen to tens of thousands of dollars. The third category is currency, from red envelopes and cash to credit cards. Peony card, Great Wall card, in which a few digits are stored, it is convenient to give to the head with.

Sometimes the receiving party also shows an active behavior, that is, to take. There are two ways, one is openly take, one is secretly so. The chief to a troop inspection, a banquet to eat a speciality of Xinjiang camel feet, very good taste, so said: “Zhang ah, your camel feet here is very good.” Before leaving, the unit leader prepared a considerable amount of camel’s feet to give to the chief, which is Mingna. The chief went to a unit to understand the situation, saw a good book, loved it, so he said to the secretary: “really a good book, I still see for the first time, we can buy there?” The secretary said, “This is a rare ancient book, I’m afraid it’s not for sale.” The troop leader understood the intention and said, “Take it if the chief likes it, we can only use it as a decoration, why not give the chief a good study.” This is the secret sauce.

The chief in the “collection” of the problem, the performance is more common, only the lightness of different.

(D) on the head of the “live” habits

The head of the problem of living is relatively simple. As the head of the equivalent level, generally speaking, live in a relatively high grade. Regiment-level live in a single room, the division above the suite, the room is not in the size, the key is to live comfortably, thoughtful service. Secretary in consideration of the head to live, to consider the habits of the head. For example, some chiefs like quiet, as long as the quiet is good, not necessarily high class.

(E) on the head of the “play” habits

The chief loves to play what has also developed. From the past walk, play ball, play poker development to watch video, dance, listen to music, sing karaoke and so on. The secretary should make arrangements according to the hobbies of the chief. Love to play chess, go out to bring chess, love to read books to prepare several books, and some only like to brag, after dinner and tea, the sky and the north blow a pass, finished sleeping. For those who love high-grade play the head, but also pay attention to remind him.

(F) on the head of the “line” habits

The chief likes to go out by train, plane or car? Like to drive a fast car or a slow car? The seat of the car should also be careful. The chief likes to sit in the front row or back row? These, the secretary should have a number in mind, do not compete with the head of the seat, making jokes, in foreign countries, leaders are sitting in the back row, while China, in addition to senior leaders, generally sit in the front row. This is because.

First, the leaders go out more without guards, the front row position is empty, so that the leaders have the possibility of choice; leaders sit in the front row with a wide line of sight, conducive to observing the situation on the way.

Second, the quality of China’s roads is poor, bumpy, the leaders sit in the front row than the back row of the smooth some, encounter potholes can also be found early a thought to prepare.

Third, the leader went out with more people, the back row sitting 3 people more crowded, sitting in the front row more comfortable. In addition, there is a traditional cultural psychological factors, many people think that the front row of people sitting than the back row of people to sit noble. So always guests, leaders to the front row please, over time on the convention. It is said that Cixi once imported a small car, she asked the driver to either drive behind her, or kneel to drive. Because of the inability to meet her requirements, and even indignant not to sit in a small car.

(G) the secretary of the head of the various habits should be held attitude

Secretary to understand the head of the habits of life, in order to comply with the needs of the head, in order to achieve the purpose of working with the head of harmony, and to achieve the best work of the head. This is not flattery. The head of the eating, drinking, sending, taking and other habits, to dialectically analyze, they have multiple: political transactions; friendship; emotional compensation; there is a balance of interests. In summary, it can be said that the exchange of power and money; human feelings; courtesy; gratitude. It cannot be regarded as corruption in general. Invitation to give gifts in China is a long history of custom, is a common feeling. During the Spring Festival, when you go to your friends’ and relatives’ homes to pay respects, you have to send boxes of snacks. You send me, I send you, after a big circle, and was sent back. If your in-laws come to visit you, it’s not right to not add two good dishes. In fact, this kind of treats and gifts is not very meaningful, but indispensable. The old head to visit, can not eat some good food? Before leaving can not send something? You have today, are people cultivated, this is emotional compensation, not to talk about corruption.

The secretary can have four attitudes towards the habits of the chief.

  1. First, the normal habits of the head of life should follow him. For example, he goes to bed on time and gets up on time to work. The secretary should not learn from the night owl, reluctant to sleep at night, do not remember in the morning.
  2. Second, the head of the peculiar habits of life should adapt to him. For example, he went to work late in the day and did the work at night, the secretary should also learn to work overnight.
  3. Third, the head of the bad habits should remind him. For example, his respiratory organs are sick, but must smoke, the secretary should try to control him.
  4. Fourth, the head of the bad habits of life to moderate him. For example, he saw the wine no life, a drink will be drunk, drunk on the nonsense, cursing, making a fool of himself. The secretary should do a good job in advance, instructing the relevant personnel not to fill the head. When drinking to grasp the fire, the drink for the drink for the drink, the cup to take away the cup. “The chief has a meeting tonight, I’ll drink this cup.” “The chief has been feeling, and then drink is not good, this glass of wine is exempt.”


Second, good knowledge of the head of the character traits
Everyone has their own character, the chief is the same. Since he is the leader, his character traits are particularly prominent. The secretary must accurately grasp the unique character of the chief.

The chief’s character traits can be broadly divided into these types.

Some chiefs are impatient, some chiefs are very steady.

some chiefs are very fast, some chiefs are very slow.

some chiefs are very bold, some chiefs are very restrained.

some chiefs are lively, some chiefs are subdued.

Some chiefs are rough, some chiefs are very delicate.

The head of the character traits for such a division, is to facilitate the secretary can accurately grasp the different characteristics of the head, in order to respond to the needs of the head, and then get along with the head of the co-workers.

The following is a brief introduction to how the secretary to adapt to the head of several major character.

(A) on the impatient character

Impatient character of the head, the biggest feature is to land on the ground, said dry immediately hands. To be a style, thunder and lightning. Many military chiefs over the years to develop such a character.

The secretary should pay special attention to this: the head of this character often lack of thoughtfulness, his decisions often do not count. One may not have the final decision, the second when he calmed down and self-denial. In particular, an angry discipline, punishment, the secretary should do some work privately to the staff concerned: “Although the head criticized you, scolded you, but that is in the fire, do not carry baggage. I as the secretary, the head of this I know very well. I don’t believe that when we meet again tomorrow morning, he will still smile at you.”

(2) About the bold character

The head of the bold character, the most important feature is generous and cheerful, people are loyal and straightforward, clear and bright, there is never any secret to keep in

mind. Just convey a provincial military-level documents, he walked when he met the directors may leak out in the conversation: “This issue you can pay attention to, the central government has the spirit of the document …… but you know on the line, do not spread. …… just now I gave you guys what to say?”

“Didn’t say anything.”

“Then it’s right.”

This secretary should pay special attention to this, this character of the head of the decision is more casual, anything is full of care. The subordinate’s request, request easily get in his promise. But his promises and often do not count, especially after the promise of alcohol, can not be trusted. “Want money well, 30,000 yuan is not much, can consider.” The secretary should promptly explain to people: the head of just drunken talk, never count, please do not have to take it seriously. Sober up and ask him again, he will forget.”

(C) on the restrained character

Restrained character of the head, the most important feature is the lack of courage and boldness, careful in everything, everywhere to be careful, fear of the word head, worry a lot. Do not dare to take responsibility, do not dare to do something, everything from the book, the spirit of the document prevails. No basis, or the need to adapt the implementation of things, they do not dare to make decisions, wait and rely on the seriousness of the idea. For example, in order to meet the needs of modern army construction, the relevant departments asked the head of B to replace the program-controlled telephone exchange between command organs and large units. He said, “It is indeed necessary, we have money ourselves, but have not seen the specific instructions from the top, this is not good.”

In this regard, the secretary should pay special attention to this character of the head of the decision hesitant, easy to miss things. Some urgent matters, major events, special circumstances of the matter, to his place to play stalemate. The secretary should take the initiative to participate in decision-making, reasoning, talk about the situation, prompting the chief to make up his mind. At the same time in the possible case, may be with other chief ventilation.

(D) on the rough character
Rough character of the head, the biggest feature is only care of the rough branches, regardless of the details. They are not confused about big things, small things are not clear, there is a shuttle angle, no lines. You do right he pretended to be confused, you do wrong he is very clear. Small things can bluff him, big things do not lie to him. He only cares about the principle, do not ask specific. Emphasis on the results, regardless of the process. A large construction task, he was only involved in the plan, as to how to implement, find a deputy or the specific leadership to do.

In this regard, the secretary should pay special attention to this character of the head of the decision is too rough, the lack of specific guidance. Many parts of the work are prone to problems, often due to small losses, resulting in losses that should not have. The secretary should do a good job to make up for the work, for the head of the well thought out, according to his basic principles to develop a specific implementation plan, the head of the neglect of all the little things in mind. For example, after the chief thought of the decision of large-scale operations of the troops, in the formation of documents, the secretary should make a detailed elaboration of the relevant organizational leadership, safety and accident prevention, confidentiality and other aspects of the work.

In addition, about the fast character, the biggest characteristic of this type of head is to do a good job before rest. On the slow character, the biggest characteristic of this type of head is to rest well before doing, and so on, and so forth. The secretary should be the relevant impact of its character traits, make the appropriate response.
 

Third, adapt to the head of the work style

Because the chief’s habits, characteristics and experience are different, they do their work in a different way. The chief according to their own way to do the work, the secretary should find ways to adapt.

The chief’s way of working is different as follows.

Some love to go to the grassroots, some love to squat organs.

Some love to speak long words, some love to speak short words.

Some love impromptu speeches, some love written reports.

Some love to work during the day, some love to work overtime at night.

Some love to meet to set up, some love to give individual instructions.

Some love collective discussion, some love individual dictation.

The chiefs’ different ways of working are habits they have formed over time. The reason why they take this way and do not use that way is because the chiefs think that this way can make their work effective, impactful and interesting to themselves. There is a Buddhist saying that many things in the world are neither right nor wrong in the first place; it is people themselves who decide whether they are right or wrong. This statement is not without truth. Is it right to love squatting organs? Yes. The leadership is to command the troops through the organs. Love to go to the grassroots right? Also true. How can we make decisions without understanding the grassroots? Love to speak long words right? “I can’t do it without talking. If you don’t talk about it, something will happen to him.” Yes. Is it right to talk short? “Talking too much is nonsense.” Also right. Love to work at night, right? “Too much interference during the day, can not produce results.” Yes. Is it right to love working during the day? “I fool around during the day and pretend to be a fool at night.” Also right. Each has its own reason, no need to force.

Secretary of the head of the grassroots love, you need to be able to suffer. The head of the love of squatting organs, it is necessary to report often. The head of the love to talk long, you need to write more. The head of the love of short talk, you need to refine. The head of the love of daytime work, it is necessary to keep the system. The head of the love of the night work, you need to practice the night war. The head of the love of collective discussion, need to be good synthesis. The head of the love of arbitrary, will need to be accommodated.

In short, the secretary should be able to make their own fully suitable for the head of the way of work, and the head of the cordial co-working, excellent play the role of staff assistant, to do their best for the construction of the troops.

Assist the head of the art of decision-making

Secretary as a profession, in a unit, depending on the size of its establishment, sometimes a person, sometimes several people, and sometimes it may be a team or even several teams. Their duties are not just to go in and out with the head, to help the head copy and write, to send and receive for the head.

In the senior organs of the party, government and military, there are often one or several think tanks, also similar to the secretary team, specifically for the head of the advice and counsel. Their advisory role, decision-making role, the rise and fall of all aspects of our country, playing a pivotal role.

We are talking about the secretary to assist the head of the decision, only from a certain unit, a certain side, or can be said, only on a secretary individual, to grasp the analysis.

Nevertheless, the role of the secretary in the decision can not be underestimated. So, what are some good methods that secretaries can use to assist the chief in decision-making? The following nine are provided here. Read the entire translation on David's blog..

 

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The Report of the International Scientific Commission for the Investigation of Facts Concerning Bacteriological Warfare in Korea and China (the ISC report), published at the height of the Korean War, validated claims by North Korea and China that the US had launched bacteriological warfare (biological warfare, BW) attacks against both troops and civilian targets in those two countries over a period of several months in 1952.
   

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