China's Lending Spree Continues

Finance Minister Simon Zerpa (second to left) in Beijing to secure US$5B

China is the big benefactor these days.

Earlier this month it gave US$60 billion to African countries during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing. Previous debts were forgiven, making the total investment in Africa to from 2000 to 2017 to US$136 billion.

Zerpa says the loan will be paid back in oil

Of course China gets something for pumping billions into the African continent, though it denies it is neo-colonialism or chequebook diplomacy. African leaders claim the mostly infrastructure projects have helped stimulate social and economic development, and that other countries (like the United States) should do more to help.

However, according to China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the African continent's biggest donor is in fact the US.

This week China is back at it again, this time the recipient is Venezuela which continues to descend into chaos with people desperate for basic needs that are not available and neither is the cash.

China has stepped in to give the Latin American country US$5 billion. Venezuela's finance minister Simon Zerpa is already in Beijing to hammer out the details with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, while President Nicholas Maduro is heading to the Chinese capital.

Cash-strapped Venezuela dealing with anger in the streets

Zerpa has told media he Venezuela would pay back the loan, partly in cash or oil, and that the country would sign a "strategic alliance on gold mining" with China. Hmmm sounds like another way to repay the debt.

But perhaps even more interesting or shocking is that China has been a key money lender to Venezuela since 2008 with an estimated US$70 billion over the years.

Wonder who China will dole out cash and credit to next week...

Xi President for Life

The Communist Party is changing the rules for Xi Jinping to rule for life

The big news today -- there have been rumblings about it for a while -- the Chinese Communist Party is going to abolish its two-term limit for the presidency to allow Xi Jinping, 64, to effectively rule for life, making it the biggest political change in decades.

Previous leaders typically had two five-year terms, but Xi's ability to consolidate so much power since his ascent in 2012 puts him in the ranks of "paramount leader" Deng Xiaoping and the "Great Helmsman" Mao Zedong. 

"Xi Jinping thought" will also be added into the constitution, making any challenge against him a threat to Communist Party rule.

Wang Qishan may replace Li Keqiang as Premier

Originally the two-term limit was meant to prevent the cultivation of cult of personality like what happened with Mao.

But with no heir apparent in sight, or perhaps Xi isn't interested in cultivating one, it seems the authoritarian Xi is keen to continue his grip on power for a while yet. And why not with his signature project Belt and Road still underway, perhaps he wants to see it through.

Sinologists have also been discussing the possibility of Wang Qishan, Xi's right hand man in the anti-corruption campaign, to become his next Premier, replacing Li Keqiang, who has been really quiet for a few years. Maybe he and Xi didn't see eye-to-eye.

With Xi amassing so much power, one really doesn't want to mess with him.

Social media post of Winnie the Pooh making the rounds

As China expert Willy Lam, adjunct professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong and in 2015 wrote a biography about Xi, notes, the Chinese leader needs to be careful with his even greater power.

"Xi Jinping is susceptible to making big mistakes because there are now almost no checks or balances. Essentially, he has become emperor for life."

Meanwhile on social media in China, there's an image of Winnie the Pooh (in a Disney cartoon reference to Xi), hugging a big honey pot.

It says: "Find the thing you love and stick with it."

Makes sense, no?

Flies Caught in Xi's Anti-Corruption Trap

Was the two sessions the last time Li Keqiang will speak directly to the media?

When I met up with my two friends in Beijing, we talked about the "two sessions", the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and National People's Congress that ended recently.

One friend who reported on it, pointed out that when Premier Li Keqiang ended his annual press conference, he thanked the massive room of reporters, and said, "Maybe see you next year if I have the chance".

Many believe that Li may be shuffled out of his job next year, when five people will be replaced in the Standing Committee of the Politburo. There's also talk that Li and President Xi did not see eye-to-eye on things, possibly because the two were originally in the race for the top job which Xi won.

Xi Jinping seems to be amassing even more power

Not only did Xi take over more control of the economy, which is usually the duties of the premier, but also the two seemed to contradict each other in making announcements.

Then the conversation quickly shifted to Xi's anti-corruption campaign and how Wang Qishan who is spearheading this very long campaign should really be retiring at 68, but there is speculation Xi is keeping him on because Wang is doing such a good job.

That reporter friend said that the anti-corruption campaign hasn't just affected the big guys or "tigers", but even people her parents know. Her mother is a doctor who works in a hospital in her hometown of Lanzhou, and one of her friends was convicted of giving bribes of around 200,000 kuai (US$29,000), but in reality was more than that.

"He was sentenced to eight years in jail. Usually for sentences like this they do four years in prison and then they are let out, but he has to serve the entire eight years," she said.

The other friend said her mother works at a university in Shandong and her friend who was a dean of a department had misappropriated funds earmarked for the university and used it to set up a company instead.

Is Xi keeping on Wang Qishan to stamp out more corruption?

This dean was also sent to jail, but when I asked for how long, she said no one knew, but everyone knew this person was definitely in jail.

The second friend added that one of her husband's bosses committed suicide about a year ago in the office. He was one of the senior managers whose office had a shower in it and he hung himself from there...

While he wasn't the one in trouble, he was asked to give evidence and we speculated perhaps he knew too much, or would be implicated himself, or he didn't want to get his family into trouble.

Because once you kill yourself, the investigation into you ends, and then your family is safe.

It's just interesting that corruption cases used to be incidents that were reported in the news, but now they are affecting people at the ordinary level -- people who know others who were caught.

Many believe this exercise is a way for Xi to get rid of his enemies. Perhaps it's another kind of "cultural revolution", but an economic kind...

Beijing Water Usage Doesn't Add Up

Ski resorts like this one near Beijing have to prove they are recycling water

Beijing will be hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics, but will it have enough snow when the Games begin?

Perhaps that's why the government is further clamping down on golf courses and ski resorts. State-run Beijing Youth Daily reported this week that city officials would assign business quotas for water use based on location and annual rainfall.

Water usage will also determine whether construction projects get the green light or not. As of July 31, only 295 out of 456 construction projects in the Chinese capital were approved because of the lack of adequate water usage plans.

Either golf courses and ski resorts "spend a lot of money to buy water, or they adopt water-saving measures including using water-saving equipment or improve waste-water recycling to decrease water consumption," the Beijing Water Authority told the newspaper.

Hmmm lots of water being used in this Beijing golf club...

This year more than 60 golf courses were shut down, mostly due to Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive.

However even more needs to be done to clamp down on water usage. Annual levels of water consumption in Beijing reached 3.75 billion cubic metres last year, beyond the entire water supply available in Beijing of 2.025 billion cubic metres.

How the city made up for that whopping difference is a puzzling question... Does this mean 1.725 billion cubic metres of water were trucked in somehow? Or do have some people secretly dug some wells or somehow diverted water for their own use?

How do you use more water than is available?

Now that's a magic trick anti-corruption czar Wang Qishan needs to know...

An App to Crackdown on Corruption

The public can now use a new app to crack down on corrupt officials in China

It's getting harder for Chinese officials to get away with robbing from taxpayer coffers and spending it on themselves.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) has just launched a smartphone app that allows the public to anonymously upload pictures and videos they take of officials who may be misusing public funds or government vehicles, or breaking Communist Party rules on lavish entertainment.

Not only is it a way for the public to help the CCDI root out bad elements from the Party, but also perhaps instill some confidence in the people that the government is trying to tackle the problem.

CCDI says the public can anonymously upload text (432 characters), pictures and videos (up to 5MB) that denounce what the Communist Party says are "the four decadent tendencies" that include "hedonism and extravagance".

Wang Qishan (centre) heads the CCDI to root out corruption

Violations that could possibly be lavish spending on entertainment, expensive holidays in China or abroad, handing out funds or gifts that violate Party rules, extravagant wedding banquets, parties or funerals.

According to the Communist Party, some 100,000 people have been punished for disciplinary violations in the past two years, though many received minor disciplinary punishments to avoid going to court.

While some members of the public thing the app is a fantastic idea, even praising anti-corruption czar Wang Qishan as a "great man", others are cynical and wonder if the CCDI has enough manpower to catch all the corrupt officials on the app. Others pondered online if these officials would really be brought to justice, or that others may take revenge through the app...

Nevertheless, it will be much harder for officials to think themselves different from the rest of the people.

In China these days, appearances really are everything.

Newsworthy Catch

Guo Zhenxi of CCTV is the current target of a corruption probe

China's graft busters are on a roll, this time targeting a senior executive with state broadcaster CCTV.

Guo Zhenxi, 49, China Central Television's financial news channel director, and is producer Tian Liwu, are suspected of accepting bribes and were taken into custody.

Apparently there was no advance warning Guo would be detained, which shows anti-corruption czar Wang Qishan playing his cards close to his chest.

Seems that Guo's career blossomed with CCTV, having joined this state media outlet in 1992 as a financial journalist and then crossing over to the business side to become deputy chief of advertising in 1998, according to Caixin.

Then between 2005 and 2009, he was both CCTV's advertising chief and head of its financial news channel, CCTV-2. He gave up the marketing role in 2009, but it is very unusual and not to mention unethical for someone in a news organization to hold those two positions at the same time. No wonder CCTV has lost its integrity...

Every year the state broadcaster holds auctions for advertisers to bid the highest price for prime time slots, particularly the Spring Festival Gala and other events when it is believed people tune into the TV.

In 2002, CCTV advertising slots raised 2.6 billion yuan but by 2009 it was a whopping 9.3 billion yuan. Last year it was 15.9 billion yuan.

Editorially, Guo was responsible for two popular shows. One was Chinese Annual Economic Figures, where top business leaders who appeared on the show gained a lot of exposure.

The other program was the consumer rights show 315 Gala, referring to Consumer Rights Day on March 15. The show sends reporters undercover to reveal irregular business practices. In recent years the targets have been foreign companies. Starbucks was the victim last year for allegedly overcharging customers in China more than anywhere else in the world.

The accusation was criticized by netizens who said the American coffee company had every right to charge whatever it wanted, and that there were other issues that deserved reporting instead.

Some academics are not surprised by Guo's detention. "With his powerful position within this powerful organization -- which enjoys a national television monopoly -- you can imagine how many people stand in line to bribe him," said Deng Yuwen, a former deputy editor for the Central Party School's Study Times.

"The content-providing departments should be separate from those overseeing commercial interests," added Zhang Zhian, a professor of journalism at Sun Yat-sen University.

We will be watching Guo's case with interest, to find out how much money he allegedly fleeced CCTV and how he managed to hold two positions at the same time. Perhaps this event will be the turnaround for CCTV's battered integrity?