NATION: STAMPEDE DEVASTATES P.26 | BUSINESS: E-BANKS CASH IN P.32

VOL.58 NO.3 January 15, 2015 WWW.BJREVIEW.COM

FRUITFUL EFFORTS meets UN commitment to poverty relief

RMB6.00 USD1.70 AUD3.00 GBP1.20 CAD2.60 CHF2.60 JPY188 邮发代号2-922·国内统一刊号：CN11-1576/G2

VOL.58 NO.3 January 15, 2015 CONTENTS

EDITOR’S DESK BUSINESS 02 China and the MDGs 34 The Market Calls the Shots China kicks off 2015 with price reform THIS WEEK 36 SOE Fast 14 State-owned enterprises are getting Cover Story better, faster 18 A Developing Vision Cover Story 38 Market Watch UN member states prepare new agenda CULTURE WORLD 42 ‘Marco Polo’ Rebooted 22 Is a Cyberwar Coming? Netflix goes international with new series Sony hacking raises concerns Rising Out of Poverty FORUM NATION China reaches UN-set goal 46 Should We Use Child Endorsers? 28 Better and Better Muslim Chinese keep the culture alive ESSAY 29 Rich in Tradition world 48 Lessons From the Shanghai Stampede Islam factors into China today Tragedy calls to mind security’s P.20 | Positivity on the Peninsula importance -Seoul relations are on the rise

nation P.26 | A New Year’s Nightmare Shanghai reels from New Year tragedy

Cover Photo: A farmer rejoices in his full  persimmon crop in Fuping County, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, in November 2014 (TAO MING) business P.32 | A Small Bank Makes a Big Difference ©2015 Beijing Review, all rights reserved. Internet banks see an auspicious future

www.bjreview.com Follow us on BREAKING NEWS » SCAN ME » Using a Qr code reader Beijing Review (ISSN 1000-9140) is published weekly for US$64.00 per year by Cypress Books, 360 Swift Avenue, Suite 48, South San Francisco, CA 94080, Periodical Postage Paid at South San Francisco, CA 94080. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Beijing Review, Cypress Books, 360 Swift Avenue, Suite 48, South San Francisco, CA 94080 EDITOR’S DESK

A News Weekly Magazine Published Since 1958 President: Li Yafang Vice President: Qi Wengong Associate Editors in Chief: Li Jianguo, Huang Wei, Wang Yanjuan, Zhou Jianxiong, Ding Zhitao Assistant President: Li Zhenzhou Assistant Editor in Chief: Wa Chunfang Executive Editor: Ding Zhitao

Assistant Executive Editors: Zan Jifang, Liu Yunyun, Yu Shujun, Production Director: Yao Bin Editorial Administrators: Liu Xinlian, Shi Bosen Commentators: Zhang Zhiping, Lan Xinzhen, Yan Wei Opinion/Culture Editor: Yan Wei World Editor: Liu Yunyun China and the MDGs Nation Editor: Zan Jifang Business Editor: Yu Shujun The drive to meet the UN Millennium construction of much-needed infrastruc- Web Editor: Chen Ran Editorial Consultants: Joseph Halvorson, Kieran Pringle, Eric Daly, Development Goals (MDGs) by the sched- ture, promoting urbanization, increasing Kylee McIntyre uled deadline of the end of 2015 has now employment, developing education and Staff Reporters: Tang Yuankai, Ding Ying, Wang Jun, Yin Pumin, entered its countdown phase. Many of the improving its social security system. Pan Xiaoqiao, Yuan Yuan, Wang Hairong, Yu Lintao, Zhou Xiaoyan, Bai Shi, Li Fangfang, Deng Yaqing, Ji Jing goals set out 15 years ago, which have China has realized such goals as Photo Editor: Wang Xiang served to gauge development levels and achieving universal primary education, Photographer: Wei Yao develop a global partnership for develop- eliminating gender discrimination in ac- Art: Li Shigong Art Director: Wang Yajuan ment, have already been transformed cess to primary and secondary school Chief Designer: Cui Xiaodong from mere aspirations into tangible education, reducing the mortality rate of Designer: Zhao Boyu Proofreading: Ma Xin realities. China has made tremendous children below 5 years old, preventing and contributions toward realizing the afore- controlling tuberculosis and malaria and Distribution Director: Hu Keqiang Advertising Director: Yang Jincheng mentioned goals. providing safe drinking water and basic Human Resources: Zhang Yajie China’s single most significant con- hygiene equipment. The country has also Marketing/PR Director: Pan Changqing tribution thus far is that it has enabled its made progress in promoting universal Legal Counsel: Yue Cheng 1.3 billion people to obtain an improved employment and in the prevention and North America Bureau Chief: Huang Wei standard of living. treatment of HIV/AIDS. Tel/Fax: 1-201-792-0334 The issue of sustainability in feeding Aside from addressing its own MDGs, E-mail: [email protected] China’s population was one that preoc- China has supported other developing Africa Bureau cupied many more than a decade ago. countries’ efforts to realize their goals. For Chief: Li Jianguo Today, securing subsistence, especially in example, it has helped African countries Africa Managing Editor: Francisco Little Tel: 27-71-6132053 terms of food and clothing, is no longer enhance their food producing capacities. In E-mail: [email protected] a problem for China because the country addition, the country has participated in the General Editorial Office has achieved the goal of halving its poor international partnership for development by Tel: 86-10-68996252 population in 1990 well ahead of sched- helping other fledgling economies build in- Fax: 86-10-68326628 English Edition ule. What the international community frastructure such as roads, bridges, hospitals, Tel: 86-10-68996259 now marvels at is how China has been schools and agricultural irrigation systems Advertising Department able to lift its people out of poverty within and by alleviating or in some cases outright Tel: 86-10-68998164 E-mail: [email protected] such a short span of time. In alleviating exempting the debt shouldered by poorer Distribution Department poverty, the developing world may well countries. Tel: 86-10-68310644 E-mail: [email protected] draw inspiration from China’s experiences At a UN summit in September, world in the years to come. leaders are slated to create a develop- Published every Thursday by BEIJING REVIEW, 24 Baiwanzhuang Lu, The Chinese Government has in- ment agenda beyond 2015. The Chinese Beijing 100037, China. corporated the MDGs into its national Government has clarified its stance in a posi- Overseas Distributor: China International Book Trading development plan. It has taken great tion paper published in 2013. Going forward, Corporation (Guoji Shudian), P. O. BOX 399, Beijing 100044, China strides in attempting to maintain stable China hopes to formulate a new set of rea- Tel: 86-10-68413849, 1-416-497-8096 (Canada) and rapid economic growth, adjusting its sonable and sustainable goals and continue Fax: 86-10-68412166 E-mail: [email protected] industrial structure, strengthening the to work toward their realization. n Website: http://www.cibtc.com General Distributor for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan: Peace Book Co. Ltd. WRITE TO US 17/Fl, Paramount Bldg, 12 Ka Yip St, Chai Wan, HK Tel: 852-28046687 Fax: 852-28046409 Send an e-mail: [email protected] Beijing Review (ISSN 1000-9140 USPS 2812) is published weekly in the United States for US$64.00 per year by Cypress Books, Please provide your name and address along with your submissions. Submissions may be edited. 360 Swift Avenue, Suite 48, South San Francisco, CA 94080 CHINA...... RMB6.00 U.S.A...... USD1.70 AUSTRALIA...... AUD3.00 UK...... GBP1.20 CANADA...... CAD2.60 SWITZERLAND...... CHF2.60 News Postage Paid at South San Francisco, CA 94080 JAPAN...... JPY188 EUROPE...... EURO1.90 TURKEY...... YTL5.00 HK...... HKD9.30 NEPAL...... RS40 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Beijing Review, Cypress Books, 360 Swift Avenue, Suite 48, 北京周报 英文版 2015年 第3期 ISSN 1000-9140 广告许可证 0171号北京市期刊登记证第733号 South San Francisco, CA 94080 邮发代号2-922·国内统一刊号：CN11-1576/G2 国内零售价：人民币6.00元

2 BEIJING REVIEW January 15, 2015 http://www.bjreview.com THIS WEEK DING LIN A Grand Debut The First Ministerial Meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) opens in Beijing on January 8. The two-day meeting set new goals for future cooperation between China and the Caribbean, including rais- ing their trade volume to $500 billion in 10 years from $261.75 billion in 2013. The creation of the forum was announced during Chinese President ’s visit to Latin America in July 2014. The 33-member CELAC groups all South American countries and some Caribbean countries in addition to Mexico.

http://www.bjreview.com January 15, 2015 BEIJING REVIEW 3 THIS WEEK SOCIETY WANG SONG procurement barriers, improve competi- tiveness and promote efficiency. Since 2014, a series of policies have been issued to improve military and civilian integration, market access, information exchange, supervision, and security. In May 2014, the first military and ci- vilian integration forum released around 200 items on weapons procurement, which attracted more than 100 private enterprises and led to the signing of scores of cooperation agreements. New Tibetan Words Nearly 1,500 new words and terms were given standardized Tibetan equiva- lents in 2014, the Tibetan Language Committee said on January 7. Among the new terms are popular online phrases such as “lightning marriage,” referring to when a couple decides to wed soon after meeting. The term was changed from the Chinese Glittering Ice World shanhun transliterated into Dobdob The 16th Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, kicks off on January 5. Covering Nyatri when written in standardized 800,000 square meters, it is the largest ice-themed park in the world. Tibetan. New words related to politics and the economy, including “the new nor- mal” and “the Silk Road economic belt,” Environment Protection Environmental protection NGOs have also been translated into Tibetan can also sue violators across the vocabulary, said Yezang, head of the China will offer more support for non- country, regardless of their registration agency for standardization of Tibetan governmental organizations (NGOs) to region, said the judicial interpretation. GROWING terminology under the committee. bring lawsuits against those who com- PANDA After being translated correctly, mit environmental violations, according Military Website the new words can be widely used by to a judicial interpretation issued on Yuanzai, the first baby of a giant A website on military weapons pro- translators, school teachers and govern- January 6 by the Supreme People’s panda pair, namely Tuan Tuan ment officials in Tibet, Yezang added. curement was officially launched on and Yuan Yuan, who were given Court (SPC). Tibet began collecting and translat- The SPC, together with the Ministry January 4. as a goodwill gift to Taiwan by Under the General Armament the mainland, weaned on ing new vocabulary in 2002. As of 2014, of Civil Affairs (MCA) and the Ministry January 6. The cub was born on Department of the People’s Liberation a total of 9,000 emerging phrases and of Environmental Protection (MEP), July 6, 2013 60,000 technical terms were released also issued a circular to guarantee such Army (PLA), Weain.mil.cn provides SHEN HONG after examination. litigation. information on the country’s weapon and armament needs, relevant policies, The move can help standardize the According to the judicial interpreta- Tibetan language and keep it up to date tion, which came into effect on January 7, procurement notices, enterprise lists and technology. with the changing times while promot- an NGO that protects the public interest ing Tibetan culture, Yezang said. and carries out environmental protec- Private enterprises, military tion activities qualifies for recognition as armament-purchasing departments an “environmental protection NGO.” and military industry groups as well as Potato Cultivation As of late September 2014, China personnel can register on the website for China is boosting potato acreage to had more than 700 environmental consultation and further information. transform the crop into the country’s protection NGOs. According to the PLA General fourth staple food after rice, wheat and The judicial interpretation said that Armament Department, the new corn, said Yu Xinrong, Vice Minister of court charges should be reduced in platform was established to cement agriculture, at a seminar on January 6. public non-profit environmental litiga- military and civilian integration and It is time for potatoes to become tion and shall be paid by the defendant aims to accelerate steps in armament a staple food, given China’s rapid if the plaintiff wins the lawsuit. procurement system reform, break urbanization, and they can diversify the

4 BEIJING REVIEW January 15, 2015 http://www.bjreview.com THIS WEEK LI HUA dinner table, said Wan Baorui, Director of China’s State Food and Nutrition Consultant Committee. The potato has been grown for about 400 years in China and now covers 5 million hectares in China, ac- cording to the Ministry of Agriculture. Acreage will expand to 10 million hect- ares in the future to better safeguard the country’s grain supply, according to the ministry. The country will see 50 billion kg of new food demand by 2020. China has a shortage of farmland and although it is hard to improve the yield efficiency of wheat and rice, it is comparatively easier to improve that of potatoes, according to the ministry. The country has set a “red line” Homemade Aircraft minimum of 120 million hectares of In a designer’s sketch, China’s self-developed amphibious aircraft AG600 takes to cultivated land, but pressure on arable the skies. land is still great, largely due to rapid The first major part of AG600, the fuselage mid-section, was completed at the urbanization. “A high-voltage Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC) Xi’an Aircraft Industry Co. in Xi’an, Shaanxi stance will be held Province, on December 29, 2014. Anti-Graft in 2014 The AG600, a multi-use amphibious aircraft, is expected to be used for forest to curb firefighting and marine rescue missions. After caging dozens of high-level corruption.” “tigers” and swatting thousands of lowly “flies,” China’s anti-graft campaign will Huang Shuxian, Vice continue to carry out strong measures Secretary of the CPC The campaign also made efforts in cooperate in the anti-corruption efforts, Central Commission for

to root out corruption, said a senior Discipline Inspection reducing corruption opportunities for including the United States, Canada and graft-buster on January 7.  discipline inspectors, prosecutors, and Australia. Huang Shuxian, Deputy Secretary others tasked with fighting graft. Huang A total of 71,748 Chinese officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said 1,575 corrupt graft-busters were were punished in 2014 for violations of Central Commission for Discipline rooted out during the campaign. the CPC’s anti-graft rules. Inspection (CCDI), said cases involving China also sought international Since the anti-graft campaign 68 high-level officials are under investi- help in hunting those who fled the started in 2012, China has finished gation or have been closed. country, said Huang. China brought regular inspections across 31 provincial- According to Huang, the cases back more than 500 fugitive corrupt level regions as well as in the Xinjiang involving some top-level officials have officials from overseas and recovered Production and Construction Corps. been transferred to judicial organs, more than 3 billion yuan ($483 million) In 2014, special inspections have been while the cases of some others are still in 2014, he said, adding that China has carried out in 19 ministries, state-owned under investigation. inked deals with several countries to enterprises and institutions. WANG HU

Early Music Treasure A cluster of musical instruments, believed the earliest in China, have been discovered in central China’s Hubei Province. Archaeologists found a broken se (a 25-stringed plucked instrument similar to the guzheng) and the frame of a bianzhong set (bronze chimes), in tombs which could date back to more than 2,700 years ago. The graveyard where the tombs are located covers more than one square km. Archaeologists also found 400 pieces of bronze- ware, some pottery and 27 horse-drawn carts.

http://www.bjreview.com January 15, 2015 BEIJING REVIEW 5 THIS WEEK ECONOMY

market demand, slumping industrial at the 2015 International Consumer PMI Data product prices and dropping profits, said Electronics Show (CES) that opened on

Chinese manufacturing activity waned Cai Jin, Vice Chairman of CFLP. LI WEN January 6 in Las Vegas. slightly in December 2014, whereas China’s “new normal” of slower but The showcased products include activity in the service sector rose in the higher quality growth will result in a mod- Huawei’s latest flagship smartphones, month, official data showed on January 1. erate slowdown, but it does not mean wearable devices, tablets, mobile-access The manufacturing purchasing the growth rate will continue to shrink for devices, home-access devices, smart manager’s index (PMI), a key measure of long; the growth rate will stabilize in the home devices, OTT (Over The Top) and factory activity in China, posted a value second quarter of 2015, Cai said. vehicle-mounted modules. of 50.1 in December, down from 50.3 in Meanwhile, the PMI for the non- The company also introduced the November, according to data released manufacturing sector rebounded to 54.1 start of the Hilink era—its strategy to by the National Bureau of Statistics in December from 53.9 in the preceding offer fully integrated mobile Internet (NBS) and the China Federation of month. solutions to consumers all around Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP). Zhao said the non-manufacturing the world as part of its commitment A reading above 50 indicates sector has been improving since the to bringing the latest technology to expansion, while a reading below 50 country mapped a series of measures consumers and creating extraordinary represents contraction. to boost the service sector and upgrade connected experiences for people The slumping PMI showed the industries. everywhere. manufacturing sector does not have Wu Wei, an analyst with China A QUICK “The year 2014 saw our greatest great upward momentum, though it Logistics Information Center, said the CHARGE achievements to date. Our strategy of is running stably, said Zhao Qinghe, a service sector has been running health- focusing on premium mid-to-high-end senior NBS statistician. The first solar-power-backed ily and plays a more important role charging station is unveiled products has borne fruit, with year-on- China is experiencing industrial than ever in providing jobs. in Beijing on January 6. All year smartphone sales increasing by restructuring, and prices of industrial mainstream electric cars can 30 percent to over $11.8 billion,” said products have been slumping, affecting Overseas Ambition charge in the station Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer the production and order sub-indices, Business Group. Zhao said. Huawei, one of top Chinese hi-tech Huawei’s global influence has Deflation appears with signs of weak brands, exhibited over 100 products continued to grow as it became the first Chinese mainland company to successfully enter the London-based DU Y U consultancy Interbrand’s Top 100 Global Brands of 2014, he added. Founded in 1987 and headquar- tered in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, Huawei replaced Ericsson in 2012 as the world’s largest telecom- munications equipment maker. In 2014, Huawei’s smartphone global shipment ranked third in the world. Car Import in FTZ On January 7, China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) launched a pilot program on parallel imports of cars. The program, green-lighted by a circular issued on January 7, will allow cars to be imported without getting authorization from carmakers and thus promise lower prices for Chinese buyers. The Shanghai Commission of Commerce and the Shanghai FTZ Administrative Committee jointly issued the circular. The circular has listed requirements A Stronger Port for companies wishing to join the pro- The second-phase project of the Hefei Port in east China’s Anhui Province begins operations on January 7, gram, including those having engaged increasing the throughputs of the port to 600,000 containers per year. in car transaction for five years or more

6 BEIJING REVIEW January 15, 2015 http://www.bjreview.com THIS WEEK Y ANG SHI Y airlines have cut fuel surcharges since

AO September 2014, and prices are now at a five-year low. China has cut the retail prices of Clean Energy gasoline and diesel 10 times since July 2014 in line with reductions in the prices Boom of crude oil. A wind farm collects energy in Xuanhua County, Zhangjiakou, north Credit Collection China’s Hebei Province, on January 2. China’s central bank said on January 5 The installed power generation that it has told eight non-bank institu- capacity of wind power and solar tions that they should get ready to power that were connected to the conduct personal credit information national grid totaled 120 million operations within six months. The com- kilowatts in 2014. panies include subsidiaries of Internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. “A broad-based, market-oriented personal credit database is being de- veloped in China with the participation of institutions outside the traditional banking sector,” the central bank said in a statement. The move is aimed at promoting development of credit information and laying a stronger foundation for personal financial transactions. and reporting profits over the past three the largest Chinese bank in the country According to the central bank, there consecutive years. since it acquired ACL Bank in 2010. had been 436 million credit cards in The circular required participating Yuan clearing overseas has become use in China as of September 30, 2014, companies to shoulder duties, including a driving force behind the globalization compared with the country’s total popu- recall, after-sale service, repair guar- of the currency. Clearing is now autho- lation of 1.36 billion. antees and replacement or refunds for rized in Hong Kong and Macao, as well As many people do not have such faulty products. THE LAST STEP as in Doha, Frankfurt, Kuala Lumpur, cards, commercial banks can only Cars imported through this channel London, Luxembourg, Paris, Seoul, provide limited information on their Two parts of the Xinghai Bay must meet China’s relevant quality and Singapore, Sydney and Toronto. credit, which makes it difficult for these cross-sea bridge in Dalian, consumers to get loans, said Yang Tao, technical standards. northeast China’s Liaoning A founding member of ASEAN, Gu Jun, deputy head of the Province, come together on Thailand is China’s third largest trading a researcher at the Institute of Finance Shanghai Commission of Commerce, January 5 partner in the regional grouping, with and Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. said the pilot program would benefit WANG HUA bilateral trade totaling over $71 billion the market competition and the pricing in 2013. “Today, an increasing number of cars. of transactions and payments are done through e-commerce platforms Fuel Surcharges Cut and various terminals of third-party Yuan Clearance Chinese airlines cut fuel surcharges for payment companies. They all leave The state-owned Industrial and domestic flights due to a decline in fuel traces of information to support credit Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) prices on January 5. evaluation by commercial banks,” said will conduct yuan clearing business in Starting from January 5, major Yang. Bangkok, Thailand, the People’s Bank of airlines, including Shandong Airlines Wu Qing, deputy director of China, the nation’s central bank, said on and Xiamen Airlines, have reduced banking research at the Development January 6. surcharges for domestic routes of Research Center of the State Council, The authorization came after an 800 km or less to 10 yuan ($1.63) said that Internet companies such agreement between the two central from the current 30 yuan ($4.83). The as Alibaba and Tencent are capable banks. On December 22, 2014, the two surcharges for routes longer than 800 of rating personal credit based on extended a currency swap agreement km will be cut to 30 yuan from 60 big data analysis, which in turn will worth 70 billion yuan ($11.4 billion). yuan ($9.66). compensate for the weakness of com- The ICBC Thailand branch has been This marks the fifth time Chinese mercial banks.

http://www.bjreview.com January 15, 2015 BEIJING REVIEW 7 THIS WEEKWORLD XINHUA/AFP

  FRANCE IRAQ Firefighters carry an injured man on a stretcher in front of Newly-graduated officers take part in the 94th the office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Army Day parade in central Baghdad on January January 7, after armed gunmen stormed the office and left 6. Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi vowed 12 dead, including two police officers during the ceremony to rebuild the nation’s army by addressing weaknesses such as poor leadership and training  BRAZIL A woman views the wreckage of two commuter trains that collided at the Presidente Juscelino Train Station in Mesquita, 34 km from Rio de Janeiro, on January 5. More than 200 people were injured in the accident XINHUA/AFP

8 BEIJING REVIEW January 15, 2015 http://www.bjreview.com  JAPAN A restaurant owner displays a 180-kg bluefin tuna he bought for 4.5 million yen ($37,500) at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market on January 5, the wholesale market’s first trading day of the new year XINHUA/AFP XINHUA/AFP XINHUA/AFP XINHUA/AFP  THE UNITED STATES The new $6,000 Lamborghini 88 Tauri smartphone is displayed by Lamborghini Mobile CEO Bob Hatefi at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 5

 INDONESIA Members of the Indonesian Navy carry wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ8501, which was recovered from the Java Sea, upon its arrival at Juanda Military Airport in Surabaya on January 7. The tail of the plane was found that day, marking a major step toward locating the plane’s black boxes and helping shed light on what caused it to crash into the sea on December 28, 2014 http://www.bjreview.com January 15, 2015 BEIJING REVIEW 9 THIS WEEKPEOPLE & POINTS

 ‘China’s Mr. Olympics’ Dies

He Zhenliang, former Vice President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), passed away in Beijing on January 4 at the age of 85. IOC President Thomas Bach asked for the Olympic flag to be flown at half-mast for three days in tribute to him. He was born in December 1929 in , east China’s Purchasing Property Province. His family moved to Shanghai during World War II. He gradu- ated from Shanghai-based Fudan University in 1950, majoring in Abroad electric engineering. He was selected for his outstanding foreign lan- guage ability in French, Russian and English to work in Beijing that year. China Newsweek He started his Olympic mission in July 1952 when he attended the 15th December 25, 2014 Olympic Games as an interpreter. He was elected to the IOC in 1981 and became its vice president Given the restrictions some large Chinese in 1989. He was instrumental in Beijing’s successful bid for the right to cities have placed on buying property in host the 2008 Olympic Games. a bid to cool the real estate market, more and more Chinese are choosing to pur- chase property abroad. The United States is the hottest destination for Chinese property buy- ’s Brothers ers. A report published by the National Caixin Century Weekly Association of Realtors in July 2014 showed that China has overtaken Canada December 29, 2014 as the biggest overseas buyer in the U.S. On December 22, 2014, state media announced that Ling Jihua, a senior Party property market. Chinese property buyers official and national political advisor, was under investigation for suspected also topped the list of overseas buyers serious disciplinary violation. Ling had served as vice chairman of the National in Australia. Moreover, small European Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and countries such as Cyprus are becoming head of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the new targets thanks to their permanent Communist Party of China. residence policies. For example, Cyprus Ling has three brothers and one sister. His eldest brother Ling Fangzhen grants “green cards” to those who buy died of an accident in the 1970s. His second eldest brother property worth above 300,000 euros built up influence in Province, the coal-rich home of the family where he served as vice chairman ($356,252). of the province’s political consultative body before being put under investigation in June 2014. He was also On the one hand, purchasing property the head of Shanxi’s development and reform office, which wields great power in the distribution of coal abroad provides a new channel for invest- resources in the province. ment; on the other hand, such a choice His younger brother Ling Wancheng worked at Xinhua News Agency for nearly 20 years before being might harbor hidden risks. Chinese buyers named head of a company under telecommunications giant China Netcom in 2003. In 2008, he led a may not know the distinction between group of Shanxi businessmen to establish a private equity fund and invested in online TV, having reaped a residence permit, permanent residence, profit of at least 1.2 billion yuan ($193 million). He was placed under investigation in October 2014. Only Ling immigration and naturalization and be Jihua’s sister Ling Luxian, who works at a local hospital, remains in Yuncheng, Shanxi, taking care of their 104- cheated by real estate brokers. Besides, as year-old father.

“The government should avoid paying “The high incidence of corruption is too much attention to the speed of blamed on the deformity of social values financial revenue growth.” and the officials’ strong desire for Lou Jiwei, Finance Minister, on China’s “new normal,” material benefits.” at a recent finance conference in Beijing Pi Yijun, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, commenting on the government’s vow to conduct a persistent campaign to fight corruption

10 BEIJING REVIEW January 15, 2015 http://www.bjreview.com THIS WEEK

(NHFPC), 300,000 people are in need of organs Ending Prisoner Organ for transplants every year, and only 10,000 can receive transplant operations. Use The public has been able to donate or- Beijing Youth Daily gans after death under a nationwide system launched in 2010 by the NHFPC and the Red January 4 Cross Society of China. As of December 2, 2014, China stopped using human organs from executed there were 2,948 organ donors from the public prisoners starting on January 1. Voluntary organ do- through the system, involving 7,822 organs, nation will be the only source of organ transplants. according to official figures. However, such Getting organs from executed prisoners numbers fall short of the demand. for transplants has long been controversial, The public’s low willingness for organ although written consent was required from do- donation may be attributed to the current nors and their relatives. Ending such a practice system. For example, many are unclear about has won acclamation from the public; however, how donated organs are distributed and making up for the big shortage of human or- worry that political power may intervene in gans in China remains a thorny issue. the process. They also have questions about According to statistics from the National the donation procedure. A difficult process Health and Family Planning Commission may hinder the desire to donate organs.

 New Energy Head

Nur Bekri, former Chairman of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was appointed to head the National Energy Administration in late December 2014. He has also taken a Chinese customers are unfamiliar with the position as deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the na- housing market abroad plus linguistic ob- tion’s top government agency in charge of macroeconomic planning. stacles, they will easily run into troubles in Nur Bekri, a Uygur, was born in August 1961 in a village near Kazakhstan in negotiating contracts or calculating taxes. Xinjiang’s Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. He enrolled at Chinese customers should adopt ra- Xinjiang University in September 1978 and studied political theory. tionality in making investments abroad. After graduation, he worked at the university before joining the According to a July 2014 report by the civil service. Since 1993, he has held a number of government Bank of America Merrill Lynch, a U.S. invest- posts, including deputy prefectural commissioner of Kashgar, dep- ment bank, the rising trend of U.S. housing uty secretary general of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional prices will stop in 2016 and then the prices Government and mayor of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. He be- will enter a six-year period of zero growth. came chairman of the regional government in 2008. While low prices seem like a great incentive His recent appointment points to the Central Government’s to buy, the future remains unclear. high expectation of the development of China’s northwest.

“Mobile users are required to present “The increase in blue skies and decrease their ID information when they apply for in pollution days show our measures on numbers.” air pollution control are effective.” Zhao Zhiguo, an official with the Ministry of Industry Fang Li, Deputy Director of the Beijing Environmental and Information Technology, encouraging users who Protection Bureau, announcing an improvement in the had acquired their phone numbers before the policy city’s air quality on January 5 emerged to register

http://www.bjreview.com January 15, 2015 BEIJING REVIEW 11 12 BEIJING REVIEW January 15, 2015 http://www.bjreview.com http://www.bjreview.com January 15, 2015 BEIJING REVIEW 13 COVER STORY

he global quest to eliminate poverty has reached a pivotal moment as the interna- Ttional community enters the final year of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs, which were agreed on by world leaders at a UN summit in 2000, set specific goals on poverty alleviation, educa- Rising Out tion, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental stability, HIV/AIDS reduction and a global partnership for de- velopment. The goal on poverty alleviation aimed to reduce by 2015 the proportion of people living below the international poverty of Poverty line in 1990 by half. Fortunately, the goal was achieved in China achieves its UN goal for poverty alleviation China five years ahead the UN’s 2015 dead- line. According to the World Bank, China has By Yin Pumin reduced the proportion of its population

14 BEIJING REVIEW January 15, 2015 http://www.bjreview.com A HAPPY LIFE: Two children play in front of a local residential house of the listed as the key poverty-stricken counties to Tujia ethnic group in Guzhang County, central China’s Hunan Province, a listed be aided at that time. The number of coun- poverty-stricken area, on September 2, 2014. The county aims to develop ties listed in the poverty reduction program tourism based on their unique minority ethnic culture has been capped at 592 since then. Over the past two decades, the list has undergone three major adjustments, with more than half of the counties replaced. In 2001, the Central Government decided to exclude all counties in relatively wealthy coastal areas from the list, leading to 33 such counties being dropped. To be considered for the list, counties are evaluated by factors such as the population living below the poverty line, per-capita net income and per-capita government revenue. Zhuang Jian, a senior economist with the Asian Development Bank, said that the program has played a significant role in pov- erty alleviation in China by providing fiscal and technical support to poverty-stricken regions. “In many listed counties, we have seen an improvement in the local infrastructure as well as people’s access to drinking water and electricity,” Zhuang said. Meanwhile, many rural poor have re- ceived government help to start their own businesses. Gao Xinqiang is a farmer who was in pov- erty in Qinglong County in southwest China’s Guizhou Province. In 2008, with the help of the local government, he became a shep- herd breeding more than 20 sheep. “Before I started to raise sheep, I had to

xinhua use every method to cultivate those barren and fragmented cornfields on the hillside, but all those efforts were fruitless,” Gao said. living under the international poverty line of and build a moderately prosperous society As part of the local authorities’ poverty $1.25 per day from 43 percent of the world’s in all aspects by 2020, LGOPAD Director Liu alleviation efforts, many such hillside lands total poor population in 1981 to 13 percent Yongfu said at a conference on poverty al- have been turned into pastures for the villag- in 2010. leviation in Beijing on December 24, 2014. ers to breed their own sheep or cattle. Figures from the State Council Leading “I feel much more relaxed now than in the past,” Gao said. “We used to plant corn Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Great achievements but could only fill our stomachs without sav- Development (LGOPAD), China’s task force Since the initiation of reform and opening- ing a cent.” for poverty alleviation, show that China lifted up policies in the late 1970s, the Chinese Raising sheep not only frees his family around 660 million people out of poverty Government has implemented extensive pov- from laborious work in the cornfields, but from 1978 to 2010. erty alleviation efforts with the aim of securing also brings in 30,000-40,000 yuan ($4,878- The drop in individuals living below the subsistence, especially food and clothing, for 6,504) a year to the four-member family. poverty level in China since 1990 accounts poor rural residents. Such a household income is high enough to for more than 70 percent of the global total In 1986, the country started implementing lift Gao’s family out of poverty. relieved poverty population, according to sta- its anti-poverty program in an organized and By the end of 2010, China had managed tistics from the UN Development Program. large-scale manner, designating 273 counties to reduce the impoverished rural popula- China is the first developing country as national-level poverty-stricken counties. tion, which lacked food and clothing, from to achieve the anti-poverty targets of the In 1994, 592 counties in 27 provinces, 250 million to 26.88 million, which in turn MDGs, and it has vowed to eliminate poverty municipalities and autonomous regions were lowered the percentage of rural residents in s s http://www.bjreview.com January 15, 2015 BEIJING REVIEW 15 poverty from 30.7 percent to 2.8 percent, a current goal to double per-capita income 200 million according to the international according to a paper released by the Chinese from those recorded in 2010 by 2020. one,” he said. Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in 2011. In an effort to expand the safety net for Data from the office also show that The country has also made outstanding those in poverty, the Chinese Government 128,000 villages in 832 key counties in- contributions to global poverty alleviation raised the poverty threshold to 2,300-yuan cluding those located in extremely poor efforts, accounting for 76.88 percent of the ($374) annual net income of farmers in contiguous regions remain poverty-stricken. total reduction in the number of people liv- 2011, a 92-percent increase from the stan- Poor people are not only poorly paid, but ing in poverty globally between 1990 and dard set in 2009 at 1,196 yuan ($194). also beset by unavailability of water, roads, 2005, according to statistics from the UN As per the new standard, an estimated electricity, schooling, healthcare and lack of Development Program. 128 million rural residents were living in pov- access to higher incomes or loans. “China’s economic success is the key erty at the end of 2011, accounting for 13.4 Zheng admitted that there are difficulties factor in reducing the country’s poverty percent of the total rural population. in solving these problems as poor popula- population during the past 30 years,” said Li “The previous poverty line underesti- tions are concentrated in extremely poor Xiaoyun, a professor with Beijing-based China mated the number of poor people in rural contiguous regions with substandard living Agricultural University. China,” said Wang Sangui, a professor at the conditions and inadequate infrastructure in He said increasing agricultural productivity School of Agricultural Economics and Rural addition to vulnerability to natural disasters. resulted in a rise in farmers’ incomes, and the Development of the Beijing-based Renmin Li Shi, a professor of economics at development of small and medium-sized en- University of China. “Only 2.8 percent of the Beijing Normal University, said that he is not terprises prompted the migration of rural labor rural population was officially considered surprised by the number of those classified forces to cities, where salaries also increased poor, which was lower than many developed as impoverished as China has a huge popu- income for families left behind in rural areas. countries such as the United States, which lation compared to other countries, so it is “Although the rich in China are reaping has a poverty rate of about 15 percent.” understandable that it has a relatively high more benefits, the country’s economic suc- Wang believes the new poverty standard population living below the poverty line. cess still has great potential to further reduce better reflects the situation in China and will The poverty alleviation authority also vowed poverty in most areas in China’s relatively bring more resources to poverty-stricken in October last year to reform a program as- poor central and western regions,” Li said. regions. sisting counties designated as national-level Along with overall GDP growth targets, In the following two years, China further poverty-stricken counties after widespread the government is now focusing on raising lowered its population living under the state public complaints over some of these counties’ the income of the country’s population with poverty line of 2,300 yuan per capita a year misuse of poverty alleviation funds and their to 82.49 million by the end of 2013, accord- reluctance to exit the program. ing to LGOPAD figures. In December 2013, the National Audit Adjustments of Poverty Lines Office reported that some funds set aside for 3,000 underdeveloped regions had been misused A lasting battle based on an audit carried out across 19 tar- 2,300 yuan ($373.98) In a teleconference on October 17 last year, geted counties in six provincial-level regions 2,000 the country’s first Poverty Relief Day, Chinese of Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Gansu 1,196 yuan President Xi Jinping pledged to make con- ($194.47) and Ningxia in April and May of that year. It tinued efforts to fight poverty. He asked audited funds appropriated to these coun- 1,000 1,274 yuan 1,067 yuan ($207.15) authorities to mobilize all social forces to join ties from 2010 to 2012. 865 yuan ($173.5) ($140.65) the war against poverty, as the most arduous During the three-year period, 3.92 billion 0 task in building a well-off society is raising yuan ($643 million) was injected into the 19 2000 2008 2009 2010 2011 the poor out of poverty. counties with the audit checking 32 percent China should continue innovating and of it, or 1.24 billion yuan ($203 million). Population in Poverty in Selected Years take differentiated and targeted steps to de- The audit found that 326 million yuan liver more people from hunger, Xi said. 150 Unit: mln ($53 million) had been misused through 128 Although some 660 million people were false declaration, embezzlement and of- lifted out of poverty between 1978 and ficials’ wasting on expensive gifts, banquets 100 94.22 2010, some 82.49 million people remain in and tours. The results led to a total of 137 82.49 poverty in rural areas as of the end of 2013, individuals being investigated. according to official data. Meanwhile, many counties took a short- 50 35.97 Zheng Wenkai, Deputy Director of the sighted approach, using the fund by simply 26.88 LGOPAD, said at a press conference in Beijing giving money to the poor instead of taking

0 that poverty is still a salient problem in China. more diverse and efficient supportive mea- 2000 2009 2010 2011 2013 “As of the end of 2013, demographically, sures, said Liu Zhongcheng, head of the

(Source: The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development) 82.49 million people are still trapped in pov- poverty relief office of the Inner Mongolia erty according to China’s poverty line, and Autonomous Region.

16 BEIJING REVIEW January 15, 2015 http://www.bjreview.com Eliminating poverty is not simply about giv- ing money to the poor. The more sustainable approach is to work with them to help lift them- selves out of poverty and thrive through techno- logical, policy support and other measures, said Wang Binbin, a project manager of the climate MEDICAL VOLUNTEERS: A medical team from a hospital of Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui Province, change and poverty xinhua offers service to residents in mountains in Yuexi County of the province on November 11, 2014 project with Oxfam, a worldwide development organization focusing on poverty alleviation. ed by the Ministry of Finance, China National LGOPAD Director Liu Yongfu said at the In fact, the special funds for poverty relief Tobacco Corp. and State Development and conference on December 24 last year that should have been split into three parts, with 60 Investment Corp. the Central Government is planning to push percent earmarked for developing industries This is the first such fund with govern- forward the use of e-commerce platforms to and special agricultural items, 30 percent for ment backing and independent operations, more than 60,000 impoverished villages in infrastructure construction and 10 percent for an important move to innovate poverty relief the next five years to aid its relief effort. the training of impoverished locals. and fiscal investment, the founders said in a Residents in poor rural areas will be Su Guoxia, another official with LGOPAD, joint statement. encouraged to open stores on major e- said that the authorities will take three steps to The registered capital of the fund amount- commerce platforms to distribute their tackle the problem. This will include cancella- ed to 2.8 billion yuan ($455.28 million), all agricultural produce, Liu said. The authority tion or reduction of the proportion of GDP in contributed by the founders. It aims to attract will select 1,500 poverty-stricken villages in the assessment of poverty-stricken counties, more social funding into featured and potential 2015 for an e-commerce pilot project. establishing a restraint mechanism to prohibit industries in poverty-stricken areas. The e-commerce program is part of the counties from unnecessary infrastructure proj- According to a cooperation memoran- authority’s effort to help those with the most ects and establishing an exit mechanism for dum, the fund will target farming, animal pressing needs and to make the most effi- poor counties with incentives. husbandry, product processing, tourism, cient use of poverty reduction funds. Meanwhile, a nationwide campaign to forestry, clean energy, logistics, high tech- “We should further increase the intensity gather detailed information on the poor has nology, culture, medical care and natural of our relief efforts, but we should also make been launched, including information on the resources. sure that efforts will go to those who need it causes and level of poverty, so the govern- “Public finance shall improve the liveli- most,” he said at the conference. ment can offer specific support, she added. hood of people suffering poverty. The fund Several leading e-commerce companies in Du Xiaoshan, Deputy Director of the CASS’s has made an innovative step in the country’s China have already announced plans to boost Rural Development Institute, said that the strat- poverty relief work,” said Hu Jinglin, Vice their infrastructure and facilities in rural areas to egies suggested should be an effective way to Minister of Finance. further explore the untapped market. tackle poverty as different development zones Meanwhile, private enterprises are en- E-commerce giant Alibaba, for one, an- have different problems and needs. couraged to participate in poverty alleviation. nounced plans in October last year to invest “In counties that have severe ecological or Social organizations and individuals will also 10 billion yuan ($1.63 billion) within three to environmental problems, the GDP should not be mobilized to support the poor, according five years to build thousands of facilities in rural be assessed. The assessment should focus on to a circular issued by the State Council in China. The move will include 1,000 “county the recovery of its ecology and environment, early December last year. operational centers” and 100,000 “village such as air and water quality. These places Enterprises investing and creating jobs e-commerce service stations,” extending the should be assessed more on the stability of in poor regions will enjoy more favorable company’s network to one third of China’s people’s livelihoods, such as employment policies in taxation and other fields. Where counties and one sixth of its rural areas. n levels. These strategies will allow officials to conditions allow, they will be supported in concentrate more on improving people’s living setting up poverty alleviation funds, the cir- standards rather than blindly constructing roads cular read. and shopping malls,” he said. China aims to establish an environment where the government, market and society New channels join hands, with all willing participants al- On December 10 last year, China’s first industry lowed and able to provide help to the poor, fund in poverty-stricken areas was jointly found- according to the circular. [email protected] http://www.bjreview.com January 15, 2015 BEIJING REVIEW 17 COVER STORY A Developing Vision UN member states prepare for a post-2015 agenda that renews and expands the Millennium Development Goals By Zhang Chun

3.3 million people. About 90 percent of them made in meeting the MDGs varies widely in dif- The author is deputy were children under the age of 5 living in Sub- ferent regions. For example, China has made director of Department Saharan Africa. The intensive efforts to fight great contributions to attaining the poverty for West Asian and another prevalent disease in less developed reduction target, but few countries in Sub- African Studies under countries—tuberculosis—have saved about Saharan Africa can reach the target by the end the Shanghai Institutes 22 million lives globally since 1995. If these of 2015. for International Studies trends continue, the world will reach the MDGs Even though the MDG on improving drink- on malaria and tuberculosis by the end of 2015. ing water sources has been met ahead of Improving access to safe drinking water t the turn of the century, world leaders schedule in terms of global population, it is un- is one of the earliest accomplished MDGs. gathered together at an extraordinary clear how many Sub-Saharan African countries The target of halving the proportion of people UN summit and put forward a bold vision have fulfilled the ambitious target. A without access to an improved drinking water Significant progress in achieving the MDGs for future development with a plan dubbed the source was achieved in 2010, five years ahead Millennium Declaration. In the 14 years since, demands the combined efforts of all govern- of schedule. The 2014 UN MDGs Report states the international community has made great ments and public and private sectors in the that by the end of 2012, 89 percent of the strides in fulfilling the Millennium Development world. But the international community’s at- world’s population had used improved water Goals (MDGs)—a series of objectives largely tention and input in this aspect have been sources, up 13 percentage points from 1990. centered on poverty reduction—and have distributed unequally among different countries Over 2.3 billion people gained access to an im- even reached some targets well ahead of the and regions. In 2013, the world’s total funding proved source of drinking water between 1990 2015 deadline. for Official Development Assistance reached a and 2012. record high of $135 billion, yet 53 percent of By 2012, all developing regions had the funds were given to the top 20 recipient Achievements and obstacles achieved or were close to achieving parity in pri- nations worldwide in 2012. In contrast to a 12.3- One major MDG has already been met: with the mary school enrollment between boys and girls. percent year-on-year increase in aid to the least concerted efforts of all UN member states, the Substantial progress has been made in developed nations in 2013, the volume that population living in extreme poverty around the most areas, but greater efforts are needed to Sub-Saharan Africa received dropped 4 percent reach the targets in the fields of environmental globe has been reduced by half. from the previous year, standing at $26.2 billion. According to the 2014 UN MDGs Report, sustainability, halving the world hunger popu- as early as in 1990, nearly half of the popula- lation, improving nutrition among children, tion in developing countries and regions lived reducing the mortality rate for children under 5 Making new agendas on less than $1.25 a day. By 2010, this rate had years and the maternal mortality ratio, access As the MDG deadline approaches, it is urgent dropped to 22 percent, with 700 million fewer to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV-infected for the UN to formulate a roadmap for post- people experiencing extreme poverty. people, improving sanitation and the school 2015 development. Discussions to this end In addition, from 2000 to 2012, efforts in enrollment rate in primary education. have become increasingly heated. So far, a the fight against malaria saved an estimated It should be mentioned that the progress basic consensus on the new agenda is that it

18 BEIJING REVIEW January 15, 2015 http://www.bjreview.com Proportion of People Living on Less Than $1.25 a Day, 1990 and 2010 (Percentage) on goals set by the out- might neglect the experience and lessons of Sub-Saharan Africa come document of the the MDGs. 56 Rio+20 UN Conference In contrast to the explicit MDGs, the post- 48 on Sustainable 2015 agenda emphasizes establishing macro Developing regions Development in 2012 and long-term international rules and norms to the 68th UN General 47 for development as well as defining some Assembly (2013-14). A threshold targets. As a result, issues such as ed- 22 committee of experts on ucation quality and decent employment have World sustainable development become important benchmarks throughout 36 financing has also been the discussion process. Considering different 18 established. A major development levels among countries, this effort task in this period was to might make Western standards dominate the 0 20 40 60 80 100 short-list almost 200 tar- post-2015 agenda. gets and 1,700 indexes Current discussions on the post-2015 1990 that were collected in the agenda could increase the possibility that some 2010 first stage in a bid to pro- donor countries might legitimate their political 2015 target (Source: The United Nations) vide a feasible framework and economic appeals as conditions to give for the final intergovern- aid. Adding such conditions to aid has long mental negotiations. been criticized by the international community. The open working However, in response to claims that the effects should include both unfulfilled MDGs and long- group submitted its final report in July 2014, of the MDGs were weakened due to poor gov- term sustainable development. In other words, which listed 169 targets in 17 categories. ernance, low transparency and lack of credible centering on poverty reduction can have only Secretary General Ban proposed the final data, there have been growing calls for a stable modest effects in terms of improving people’s report as the basic framework for intergov- environment for implementing the post-2015 quality of life, whereas the new blueprint should ernmental negotiations in early December agenda in addition to improved tracking, super- put a positive growth model for sustainable de- 2014. visory and reporting mechanisms. velopment at its core. Intergovernmental negotiations on a post- The UN open working group has also pro- Selecting post-2015 targets has undergone 2015 agenda will kick off on January 19, 2015, posed targets on advancing domestic social, legal two stages since the UN summit on MDGs and are planned to conclude on July 31. The and regulatory environments as well as improving in 2010. The first stage, from 2010 to 2013, targets for post-2015 development reached implementation measures for the SDGs. Many of consisted of discussions and consultations. during the negotiations will be reviewed by the the requirements are closely related with condi- During this period, a number of functional UN General Assembly on September 25 and tions advocated by Western countries. organizations and consulting commissions, 26 this year. Upon approval, they will be imple- Despite various challenges, a brand-new including the UN System Task Team on the mented on January 1, 2016. agenda for future global development will be Post-2015 UN Development Agenda, the UN unveiled in September 2015. As a major emerg- Development Group and a high-level panel of Ensuring a fair plan ing country, China should play an important role eminent persons, gave their research reports to in initiating the intergovernmental negotiations As a substitute and upgrade of the MDGs, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Based on and building a new type of global development Post-2015 UN Development Agenda is both their input, the secretary general delivered an partnership. Based on the principle of seeking ambitious and controversial, especially for de- advisory report to the UN General Assembly in common grounds while shelving differences, veloping countries. July 2013. China aims at working with other countries to At the beginning, discussions on the global In the second stage, from 2013 to 2014, seek a fair, reasonable and sustainable system development agenda beyond 2015 concen- topics on the Post-2015 UN Development for attaining the post-2015 targets. n Agenda were intensively discussed at a number trated on post-MDG targets, but the Sustainable of meetings presided over by the president of Development Goals (SDGs) then substantially the UN General Assembly. An open working replaced the former. As the new agenda fo- [email protected] group was tasked with submitting a proposal cuses heavily on sustainable development, it http://www.bjreview.com January 15, 2015 BEIJING REVIEW 19