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1 Talking Point 6 Week in 60 Seconds 7 Banking and Finance Week in China 8 Economy 9 Auto Industry 11 Internet and Tech 13 Energy and Resources 14 Society and Culture 2 October 2015 17 And Finally Issue 298 18 The Back Page www.weekinchina.com Red guest at the White House m o c . n i e t s p e a t i n e b . w w w Xi visits Obama in Washington, but was his US trip overshadowed by the Pope’s? Brought to you by Week in China Talking Point 2 October 2015 Pontiff pips president Xi Jinping plays second fiddle to Pope Francis on American tour China’s president grabs his moment in the spotlight with tech executives in California last week oth hold sway over more than Catholic: “We have the propaganda The Pope’s trip to the US was Ba billion people. And both got department and you have the evan - rare – it was only the tenth Papal the top job after closed-door elec - gelicals. We have the organisation visit. Even rarer was a speech in tions that remain well nigh impos - department and you have the Col - Congress, as well as another on the sible for outsiders to figure out. lege of Cardinals. What’s the differ - White House lawn (delivered in They are, of course, Xi Jinping and ence, then?” English, and ending with the crowd- Pope Francis. Adding to the sense of mystery pleasing line “God Bless America”). Some of the similarities in the or - surrounding the two organisations Inevitably this raises the ques - ganisations that the two men lead was a new one last week. tion: was Xi Jinping’s own visit – have been mentioned before. How had both these powerful made in the very same week – over - As Richard McGregor notes in his men scheduled official visits to shadowed? book The Party , the Vatican “is the America in the same week? Did the only organisation of comparable di - Chinese know that their President He came, he saw… P h o t o mensions to the Chinese Commu - would be going head-to-head with Before arriving in the US, Xi did S o u r c nist Party” with “a similar addiction the Supreme Pontiff for media air - something rare too. He had an in - e : I m a to ritual and secrecy.” time? And if so, why did Beijing’s terview with a Western media out - g i n e C McGregor even quotes one Chi - diplomats agree to the arrange - let, giving written responses to h i n a nese source as telling a senior ment? questions from the Wall Street Jour - 1 Week in China Talking Point 2 October 2015 nal. Perhaps the most notable phrase he used was that “all roads lead to Rome”. Wittingly or not, the metaphor foreshadowed a week in which the Fiat-driving Francis would grab most of the attention. Chinese media did its best to sound unconcerned. As Wujie News commented: “Considering the Pope’s influence in the Western world, especially his identity as a spiritual leader beyond politics, any state leader visiting the United States at the same time would be robbed of the limelight.” The American media noticed it too. The New York Times ran a car - toon showing Obama holding out his hand to Xi, only to turn and focus his attention on Pope Francis instead. Jon Stewart’s replacement at the Daily Show , Trevor Noah, told Thanks for dropping by: Xi visited the White House last Friday the same newspaper that a comic segment of his programme had pact of Xi’s visit. Its editorial page Chinese side, the likes of Alibaba’s been designed to reflect this reality. described the trip as “nothing but a Jack Ma and Tencent’s Pony Ma “We’re commenting on the fact that success” although it did concede turned up; and from the US were everyone is only covering the Pope. that “Chinese media have sounded heavyweights such as Apple’s Tim Everyone’s going mad over the more upbeat about the visit” than Cook, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Face - Pope. What I found interesting is their American counterparts. book’s Mark Zuckerberg (who even the fact that the Chinese president Xinhua, meanwhile, cited Xi’s wore a suit and tie). is there, and no one’s talking about personal verdict that the trip had All told, those present repre - it.” been “fruitful” and it listed 49 sented companies with a combined MediaMiser, a monitoring com - “achievements” that had been made market value estimated at $2.5 tril - pany, calculated that between Sep - during the week. lion. tember 20 and 27, the Pope was Some of these were substantive, A photo of Xi with the tech lead - mentioned more than 21 times others might strike WiC readers as a ers went viral online and did a little more frequently on US television little desperate, such as the news to reinforce the Chinese leader’s than Xi, and nearly five times as that 2016 had been “designated as enormous sway. A common view often in American print media. China-US Tourism Year”. among Chinese netizens: only Xi Xi even faced competition from could have got this many of the his own wife for media coverage. Not so sleepy in Seattle world’s tech bosses to gather in the One of the more memorable parts It was widely pointed out that Xi same room. of their visit was a speech Peng spent more of his time on Ameri - At another business-focused Liyuan gave at the United Nations can soil in Seattle than he did in the event in Seattle, Xi sought to ram in pretty fluent English (for more nation’s capital, Washington. Ar - home his key messages that eco - see page 16). guably this part of his trip had the nomic reforms would be ongoing The China Daily dutifully highest impact, especially in regard and that China would continue to recorded that this was the “first to its photo opportunities. be an engine of global growth. time in the People’s Republic of Xi convened a conference about As Wujie News reported: P h o t o China’s diplomatic history this had the internet that was attended by 28 “Whereas the outside world is wor - S o u r been done”. tech titans from China and the US. ried about the economic slowdown c e : R e Of course, the same newspaper The invitee list read like a veritable in China, Xi Jinping has rendered u t e r s was in no mood to belittle the im - who’s who of the digital elite: on the hope to the US business commu - 3 Week in China Talking Point 2 October 2015 nity: he said that in the next five years, China is expected to import Planet China $10 trillion of goods, make more Strange but true stories from the new China than $500 billion in overseas in - vestment and provide more than ICY THINKING. 500 million outbound tourists.” Last week it was revealed that children’s author Du Hong, Xi also showed off a little of his who died from pancreatic cancer in May, has had her head cryogenically classical history in denying that frozen, making her the first Chinese to undergo such a procedure. America and China were heading The operation was conducted by American cryonics company, Alcor. for the “Thucydides trap”, a refer - Since its founding in 1967, Alcor has carried out 141 freezing procedures, ence to the thesis based on ancient but reported exactly zero reanimation procedures. In a brief Q&A Athens and Sparta that a newly ris - published by 21CN Business Herald, Alcor explains that the freezing ing power is bound to challenge the process is currently “irreversible” but that the “technology of the future is boundless in possibility”. existing power, making war in - Du Hong was the fifth Alcor patient this year. In addition to writing evitable. children’s books, she was also the editor of The Three-Body Problem , a For CCTV the key thing about the Chinese work of science fiction which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel trip was the tone set by their man. (see WiC262). In the book a character’s head is cryogenically frozen and Reflecting on his Seattle speech the despatched to outer space, where it is eventually reanimated by aliens. state broadcaster said : “Xi did a fine Du Hong’s connection to the novel and her decision to undergo job in addressing US concerns while cryostasis has attracted great debate. Most have questioned the scientific advocating his views on fostering benefits of the operation. Jiang Jiyao, a noted neurosurgeon, is sceptical peaceful and symbiotic relations that the structure and tissue of the brain can survive the low temperatures and affirmed that China’s economy required for cryostasis. Alcor’s endeavours are “commercial rather than is in fine fettle. Xi’s references to medical”, he also suggests. American culture, such as the pop - Although Alcor is a registered non-profit body, its patients have to pay a range of fees to undergo the procedure. According to Du Hong’s husband, ular television series House of the cost of freezing her body would have been Rmb2 million ($314,329) so Cards , also endeared the president they only froze her head, which was cheaper at Rmb750,000. But even after to the American public.” making this economy, her husband still had to sell their flat and fully deplete Du Hong’s savings account.