China Reform Monitor: No. 865

November 16:

Over the last month Sichuan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Anhui, and Hunan provinces have experienced protests in which large crowds of thousands of disgruntled citizens target police. Most recently, Japan’s Kyoto News Agency reports, a ban on motorbikes in Chenzhou, Hunan led 1000 motorcycle taxi drivers to overturn and smash seven police vehicles, leaving about 100 injured. Protesters chanting “down with the Communist Party and triads” blocked roads, smashed the police vehicles and clashed with police who dragged some away. The 126th mobile division of the People’s Armed Police at first dispatched 1500 officers to quell the protests but later deployed 4000 to disperse the crowd, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy reports.

[Editor's Note: Over the last month at least four other large-scale protests targeted authorities. In Dujiangyan, Sichuan several thousand migrant workers demanding back-pay clashed with police, leaving two dead, 100 injured, and ten police cars smashed. The most common reason to target the authorities appears to be among the oldest reasons for rebellion in Chinese history: unscrupulous land acquisition. Over the last month, land-related disputes sparked violent protests with thousands of participants in Wuxian, Guangxi (October 13), Shaotong, Yunnan (November 2) and Chizhou, Anhui (November 3). In each case, protesters targeted police, destroyed vehicles, and in Wuxian and Chizhou even beat the vice mayor and mayor, respectively.]

November 17:

China's Supreme People's Court has issued a 14-article judicial interpretation of the Property Law, the Law on Urban Real Estate Administration, and the Administrative Procedure Law entitled the "Provisions on Some Questions Regarding Adjudication of Housing Registration Cases." It remains to be seen how or if the decision, which will take effect immediately, will redress social concerns about the issuing of housing registrations (i.e. hukuo) and the adjudication of housing registration and land rights cases which have multiplied and sparked civil unrest in some places (see above). The new law will address issues of homeownership, liens, work permits, as well as appeals for corrections and changes in residency and housing rights. The wide-ranging decision also addressed the problems of duplication of registrations, cancelation of registrations, and seizure of ownership, the official Xinhua News Agency reports.

November 22:

According to an official report scheduled for release in January, China’s tobacco industry is a huge drag on the country’s economy. Despite ratifying the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control five years ago, there has been almost no reduction in estimated 301 million Chinese smokers. In the past, when individuals, work units and companies covered medical care, the nominal cost to the state was negligible. Now, as the government seeks to extend healthcare to the rural areas, Beijing must determine at what point do the medical costs of smoking-related illnesses outweigh the financial benefits of the tobacco industry. According to China's National Tobacco Control Office, cigarettes kill a million Chinese each year but contribute over 7.5% of total government revenue. The industry generated $77.3 billion in taxes and profits last year and employs 520,000 workers in 183 factories. As China's tobacco consumption has grown from 589.9 billion cigarettes in 1978 to about 2.3 trillion last year, cases of lung cancer have soared by 465% since 1980 and now account for nearly a quarter of China’s cancer deaths, according to the Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Center of the Capital Medical University in Beijing. If China fails to reduce tobacco consumption, the number of deaths is expected to double by 2025 and triple by 2050, the official China Daily reports.

November 24:

China and Russia have agreed to use their own currencies – the Renminbi and the Ruble, respectively – rather than the U.S. dollar to conduct bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in St. Petersburg. Wen and Putin signed 12 cooperation agreements on energy, aviation, railroad construction, customs, protecting intellectual property, and culture. The Renminbi has already started trading against the Ruble in the Chinese interbank market and will soon trade against the Ruble in Russia as well, Putin said. The two countries have been accustomed to using foreign currencies, especially the dollar, for bilateral trade but since the financial crisis decided to move towards bilateral convertibility. Both sides also agreed that Sino-Russian relations had “reached an unprecedented level” and pledged that two countries will “never become each other's enemy.” In comments carried by the official People’s Daily, Wen said: “China will support the renaissance of Russia as a great power.”