China Reform Monitor: No. 1199

December 6:

The official Xinhua News Agency published a commentary arguing: "The extremist terrorism that threatens the U.S. is mainly the result of the U.S.' diplomatic and military policies including supporting Israel in its conflict with Palestine, supporting Islamic militants in their fight against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan, support [for] anti-government militias in countries such as Libya and Syria and invading and stationing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the U.S. doesn't change its diplomatic strategy, not change its military operations in these areas and not solve the problem on a political level, it will not be able to resolve the deep-rooted dispute in these regions even if it has killed the heads of some terrorism organizations or have broken up some of them. Also, it will not be able to uproot terrorism, which breeds hatred."

[Editor’s Note: Although the article argues that anti-American "terrorism has political roots," the authors do not mention the political sources of anti-Chinese terrorism.]

December 7:

More than 100 masked men ransacked the Malianjing security outpost between Inner Mongolia and Gansu, injuring 13 workers, robbing the checkpoint and leveling it, the official Global Times reports. At 3:30am the attackers broke in, cut the power supply and smashed surveillance equipment. Then they pepper-sprayed the workers, tied their hands, put bags over their heads, and took them into the Gobi Desert, where it was minus 20 degrees Celsius, and left them there. The attackers then returned to the checkpoint, stole everything they could, and used two bulldozers to demolish it, its dormitory facility, and 11 vehicles. The attack caused an estimated 10 million yuan in damages. In September, more than 40 masked men led by a deputy town chief from Jinhang county, Inner Mongolia besieged the same outpost for an hour before workers persuaded them to leave, South China Morning Post reports.

December 8:

The average number of cyber security violations detected in China and Hong Kong surged 517 percent to 1,245 over the last 12 months, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey. "Many threats came from inside [China]," it showed. The average financial loss caused by cybercrimes rose 10 percent to $2.63 million, compared with a 5 percent decline globally. "We are witnessing attacks from all angles, but the industries facing the most impact include consumer, retail, and technology," said Samuel Sinn at PwC. Hackers target customer data, internal records and intellectual property. Chinese survey participants reported a 64 percent rise in theft of customer records, compared to the global average increase of 35 percent, the official China Daily reports.

December 9:

The Islamic State has released a propaganda song in Mandarin titled "We are Mujahid." The four-minute song contains lyrics calling on Muslims to "awaken" and "pick up weapons and resist." It is an Islamic chant, or "nasheed," featuring a male voice enhanced by digital reverb singing. Lyrics include: "We are Mujahid, our shameless enemy panics before us," and "To die fighting on this battlefield is our dream." The song was released by ISIS’ Al-Hayat Media Center and distributed on Twitter and Telegram, the Independent reports. Most of the terror group’s promotional materials in China are in the Uighur language, although Mandarin is becoming the dominant language for younger Uighurs.

December 12:

A continuous outflow of capital has pushed China’s yuan to a four-year low at 6.4553 to the dollar. Beijing has suspended several state-regulated programs that allow Chinese investors to invest abroad (RQDII, QDII, QDIE). One banker says Beijing "is looking to promote inflows. They are happy to introduce programs that promote in-bound capital as they have shut down anything that leads to outflows." Another said: "It has become extremely difficult for anyone to take money abroad, whether it be mainland banks, domestic fund houses or personal investors." China has cut interest rates six times in the past year from an all time high to an all time low, SCMP reports.