April 21:
"We have seen Chinese from Zimbabwe with suitcases depositing cash with a Chinese bank in Johannesburg. It's not just the currency, it's also ivory and precious stones. A few of them have been arrested but the fines have not been deterrent," an official at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) told the Financial Gazette. In 2015, $684 million was “externalized” from Zimbabwe "for various dubious and unwarranted purposes.” Last year the Chinese diamond mining firm Jinan Mining took some $546 million offshore, which bankers say is "just the tip of an iceberg." Last month, a Chinese bookseller was detained at Harare International Airport with $32,000 in cash and fined only $200. George Guvamatanga at Barclays Bank Zimbabwe said: "[Chinese] are taking the cash outside the country and depositing it with their banks in South Africa.” Chinese banks in South Africa offer a range of financial products and services to entrepreneurs, who have penetrated all economic sectors in Zimbabwe including bricks, bottled water, bookshops, and mining.
April 29:
The economy in Liaoning contracted 1.3 percent in the first quarter, making it the first province to register negative growth in seven years. A severe downturn in the energy and heavy-industry sectors has hit China's north-east hard. Liaoning's economy is the largest among the three north-eastern provinces, which also include Jilin and Heilongjiang. The province is home to the modern city of Dalian as well as some large, struggling steel mills. Estimates of quarterly GDP growth in oil-dependent Heilongjiang are at 5.1 percent,the Financial Times reports. China's national growth was officially 6.7 percent in the first quarter, but that figure masks discrepancies between provinces reliant on heavy industry, mining or oil, and the southern and eastern regions with more diversified economies. Last year regional disparities emerged as service sectors performed well while regions dependent on heavy industry were “effectively in recession.”
[Editor's Note: Premier Li Keqiang is associated with economic revival in Liaoning after a severe downturn following reforms to state-owned heavy industry in the late 1990s. His policy, which included state-funded housing projects designed to replace decrepit neighborhoods for workers at state-owned enterprises, fueled a construction boom but failed to alter the region's reliance on heavy industries.]
April 30:
Taipei has issued a strong protest after Malaysian authorities deported 32 Taiwanese suspected of online fraud to China aboard a plane specifically sent by Beijing. They were among a group of 52 Taiwanese who were arrested last month in Malaysia for telecommunications fraud against people in mainland China. A group of 20 others were flown back to Taiwan April 15 and released for lack of evidence, Focus Taiwanreports.
May 3:
An online video clip showing urban management officers (chengguan) in Haikou, Hainan beating women and children for resisting a demolition order has gone viral online. The video has sparked an outcry about whether "excessive force" was used to carry out the order. According to an official press release, residents resisting a "lawful" order demanding some 100 illegal buildings to be torn down attacked the chengguan with rocks, bricks and fireworks. Police have detained 11 people and are questioning several officers. An editorial in the official China Daily questioned the cause for the clashes: "Did the government act according to procedure and try to negotiate with villagers over compensation or relocation before forcibly evicting them from their homes? Was there any dereliction of duty involved? Was there any collusion between officials and businesspeople in the planned development project? After all, an advanced and civilized society is not just about how many skyscrapers and highways it has, it is also about how the fruits of prosperity are shared among the members of that society."
[Editor's Note: Of the 800,000 civilian cases filed with the courts over the past five years, more than 40 percent were related to forced demolitions. Many demolition are intended to improve the local GDP figures, others are under-the-table deals between officials and developers.]
Police in Nairobi, Kenya have paid an undisclosed amount to acquire riot gear from China. The order, including special protective gear, clubs, and 20 anti-riot water cannons, was unloaded from Port Mombasa and driven aboard trailers under an armed escort. "You will no longer throw stones at police during riots. We are bringing in anti-riot gear that will help them deal with rioters who we see are increasing," said Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery. In February, China supplied Kenya 30 armored personnel carriers and 25 mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles at an unknown cost, Kenya's The Standard reports.
