China Reform Monitor: No. 1141

January 4:

According to Russian sources, over the next six years China will invest heavily in advanced nuclear-powered attack and ballistic missile submarines. China has at least three operational Type-094 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, with each capable of carrying twelve JL-2 missiles with a range of 8,000 kms, Taipei’s official Central News Agency reports. By 2020, China’s navy plans to have at least four Type-094s and two next-generation Type-096 submarines, collectively carrying around 80 sea-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and 250 to 300 nuclear-armed missiles. The Type-096 submarines can carry 24 sea-based ballistic missiles with a range of 11,000 kms. China is also building a new, non-nuclear Type-095 attack submarine as a successor to the Type-093.

January 7:

In an interview with the Taipei Times, an anonymous “senior Obama’s administration official” has denied that Washington approved or knew about a Republic of China (ROC) national flag-raising ceremony at the Twin Oaks Estate. The comments contradict a statement by Taiwan’s Representative to the U.S., Shen Lyu-shun, who initially said the ceremony came under a mutual understanding with the Obama administration. The official said the action “undermines trust and puts symbolism ahead of real substance in a way that sets back our efforts. It is a clear-cut violation of our bilateral understanding of our conduct of our unofficial relationship.” President Ma Ying-jeou – who has emphasized a surprise-free policy approach toward the U.S. – described the flag-raising as a foreign policy achievement. Taipei’s handling of the event and Ma’s comment suggest “that our long-term understanding is now being violated,” the source said.

January 8:

Taiwan’s Representative to the U.S., Shen Lyu-shun, addressed a meeting of the self-governing island legislature to answer questions about the New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony at his semi-official residence in Washington, the Twin Oaks Estate. During the ceremony, Shen conferred military honors upon four military personnel serving in the U.S. He said the U.S. was not notified in advance because the ceremony did not require “approval” and “out of good will,” to allow the U.S. to claim it had not known beforehand, Taipei Times reports. Shen added that there was no need to secure either U.S. “approval,” or “forgiveness” since “the Twin Oaks is our property.” During the meeting, one legislator showed a photograph of the U.S. national flag raised at the American Institute in Taiwan asking: “How come they can raise the flag at the AIT, but we cannot at Twin Oaks?”
A police bureau in Wenzhou, Zhejiang has spent 150,000 yuan on a Trojan horse virus for smartphones, the official China Daily reports. A screenshot posted by the South China Morning Post shows a list of the purchase, which was published on the area’s official website on December 15. The list includes a 49,000 yuan Trojan horse virus for mobile phones and a 100,000 yuan device that injected the virus into phones – both supplied by a Hubei company, Wuhan Hongxin Telecommunication Technologies Co. The virus, which targets Android or iPhones, can provide real-time monitoring of calls, text messages and photos. The deputy head of the Wenzhou municipal public security bureau said his department was investigating the claim.

January 9:

New regulations from China’s Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television require all online publications’ writers have a “certificate” than ensures their real-name registration, the People’s Daily reports. The bureau’s “Opinion on Directing the Healthy Development of Online Literature” calls on website publishers to uphold “core socialist values” and requires “professional and moral training” for online authors. “The point is to create a sense of threat, so that authors will censor themselves,” Zhang Yu of the writers’ group Independent Chinese PEN told Radio Free Asia. Last month, Huang Zerong, 81, widely known by his pen name Tie Liu, was arrested in Sichuan on charges of “running an illegal business” after he wrote an article slamming former propaganda minister Liu Yunshan. And in May, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court gave Hong Kong publisher Yiu Mantin, 79, a 10-year jail term for “smuggling ordinary goods” after he edited a book critical of President Xi Jinping.