China Reform Monitor: No. 1149

February 9:

Economists at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and Goldman Sachs estimate that within a year or two, India’s economy will be growing faster than China’s. Newly published official Indian statistics show that India’s GDP rose by 7.5% in 2014, slightly faster than China’s, The Economist reports.

February 11:

President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, Politburo Standing Committee member Liu Yunshan, and Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, have joined military and armed police representatives for a ceremony promoting Government-Military unity. Zhang, who presided over the event, said: “China’s ideology requires the army support the government.” He also hailed the “increasing solidarity” in 2014 epitomized by the establishment of “a memorial day for victory in the Anti-Japanese War, a memorial day for martyrs, and a national public day of remembrance for victims of the Nanjing Massacre and a ceremony to receive the repatriated remains of martyrs of Chinese People's Volunteer Army who fell in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea,”the official People’s Daily reports.

February 13:

The Beijing Municipal People’s Congress has approved a proposal from the military procuratorate of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff Headquarters to use “coercive measures” against Major General Liu Hongjie. Liu, who is accused of abuse of power and taking bribes in 2013, had been “in charge of logistic support,” the officialXinhua news agency reports. The PLA required “approval from the Beijing municipal legislature before taking action because Liu was also one of its deputies.” Coercive measures include summons by force, bail, residential surveillance, detention and arrest.

[Editor’s Note: China is in the midst of a PLA purge, the Washington Times reports. “Our determination to use strong remedies to cure illness will not change,” Xi has vowed. “Our courage to rid our bones of poison will not diminish. We will continue to hold the sharp sword of anti-corruption high.” Of those PLA commanders purged at the provincial level or above, the most senior is former vice chairman of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission, General Xu Caihou.]

February 16:

In Guma (Pishan) County, Hotan, Xinjiang a young Uighur man killed as many as eight people when he grabbed a police officer and set off an explosive device attached to his body, Radio Free Asia and the New York Times report. At least seven people remained hospitalized.

February 19:

Dozens of have died and tens of thousands of refugees are fleeing into China since fighting erupted in Kokang, Myanmar, near the Chinese border last week. Beijing is trying to quell nationalist fervor stoked by a request by the Kokang rebels, who are ethnic Chinese, for help against Myanmar government forces. Last week the 85-year-old rebel leader, Peng Jiasheng, appealed on social media for support from those of “common race and roots.” He wrote: “How is it possible that more than a hundred years after the Opium War, there are still more than 200,000 Chinese suffering under ethnic discrimination? Every time I am reminded of this situation I burst into tears.” Online censors have deleted images of a young girl holding a Chinese flag, looted storefronts, and civilian casualties. The official Global Times published an editorial arguing that, “Chinese society should stay sober and avoid any premature stance or interference in northern Myanmar affairs.” Meanwhile, at the border the “outpouring of support from Chinese citizens has been overwhelming,” the New York Times reports.

[Editor’s Note: Peng, an ethnic Chinese who was affiliated with the now defunct, formerly China-backed Communist Party of Burma, leads the rebel forces. He ruled Kokang until government forces ousted him in 2009.]