China Reform Monitor: No. 999

October 29:

The Republic of China (ROC-Taiwan) has arrested as many as eight retired military officers on charges of leaking classified submarine nautical charts and war plans to mainland China. Prosecutors began investigating Chang Chih-hsin, former head of the political warfare division at the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Office, before his retirement earlier this year. “Chang, who initiated contacts with Chinese mainland officials while still serving in the navy, was suspected of luring his former colleagues and making illegal gains,” a ROC defense ministry statement said. A retired ROC naval general quoted in the South China Morning Post said Chang had access to classified maps and charts of the oceanographic environment around Taiwan. “If China had the classified info, it could know the operation of Taiwan’s submarines,” he warned.

[Editor’s Note: This is the latest in a string of espionage cases reported in recent years. In July 2011, a Taiwanese general lured by a honey trap into spying for China was sentenced to life in prison in one of the island’s worst spying cases in a half century.]

October 31:

China is losing skilled professionals in record numbers, the New York Times reports. In 2010, 508,000 Chinese fled for the 34 OECD countries; a 45 percent increase over 2000. In 2011, the U.S. received 87,000 permanent residents from China, up from 70,000 the year before. Despite China’s economic success, skilled Chinese continue to be lured abroad by a healthier environment, robust social services, and religious freedom. Political instability also plays a role. “A green card is a feeling of safety,” one Chinese told the New York Times. “The system here isn’t stable and you don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

November 1:

Ahead of the 18th Party Congress authorities have enacted a slate of burdensome new government restrictions, according to the New York Times. Thousands of undesirables, from prostitutes to government critics, have been forced to leave Beijing and anything that could carry protest messages – balloons, pigeons, Ping-Pong balls and toy airplanes – has been banned as “suspicious.” Other objects, from kitchen knives to English books on Chinese politics, have been removed from store shelves. Internet access has slowed, CNN and the BBC have disappeared from TVs in upscale venues, business deals at state-run enterprises have been frozen, songs with the words “die” or “down” have been removed from TV and radio, and no new websites can be launched until after the Congress. Across China marathons, conferences, pet adoption fairs, films and concerts have all been canceled or postponed. Beijing even instructed stock traders to minimize market volatility.

November 3:

Next year the Ministry of Public Security will begin registering citizens’ fingerprints, the official People’s Daily reports. In October 2011, China amended its Resident Identity Card Law to require fingerprints and will gradually implement the new policy as China’s first version of ID cards, launched in 1985, expire. Citizens applying for ID cards for the first time or for replacement cards will have their fingerprints recorded. Those holding valid second-generation ID cards, introduced in 2004, can voluntarily register their fingerprints. The ministry has invited Chinese-owned fingerprint reader manufacturers to bid on contracts to build the necessary collection equipment.

November 5:

According to the semi-official Global Times, China does not have the cultural background and political conditions to conduct “highly risky” Western-style elections. It said: “If efforts to maintain social unity loosen a minor problem could pose a heavy threat to national development. The unity of the Party is the certainty of China’s politics. The more certain China’s situation is, the more diversity can exist at various social levels, and the public’s confidence toward reforms can be more consolidated. This week will witness political vitality and diversity across the Pacific. The most well known electoral system in the West, the U.S., will hold president elections. The election did not touch upon any concrete social problems, but is more like a routine with some verbal sparring between candidates. China is totally different. As it develops rapidly, every year is a critical moment. Rapid development will bring more problems and China still has to face the issues brought by its huge population. It would be a utopian ideal to rely on one simple system to realize China's development.”