CiCM 12th March 2025

NEWS IN CHINA

Central Leading Group for Party Building Emphasises Eight-Point Code: The Central Leading Group for Party Building, in a meeting to study Xi Jinping’s instructions on implementing the eight regulations, pointed out that the Party Central Committee has decided to carry out in-depth study and education on the spirit of the Central Committee's eight regulations throughout the Party, starting at the National People's Congress until July 2025. The Meeting was presided over by Cai Qi, who delivered a speech and was attended by Li Xi, Li Ganjie, Li Shulei, Mu Hong and Jiang Xinzhi. Recently, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued the "Notice on Carrying out In-depth Study and Education on the Spirit of the Central Committee's Eight Regulations Throughout the Party", which was discussed during the meeting. The meeting emphasized that carrying out in-depth study and education of the spirit of the Central Committee's eight regulations is an important measure to consolidate and intensify party discipline and deepen the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party. The Meeting emphasised that Party Committees at all levels should be responsible for learning and education, must take a lead in enhancing education and shoulder the main responsibility of educating newly promoted cadres, young cadres and cadres in key positions.
Government Ministries Release Plan to Boost Green Equipment Manufacturing: Various government ministries in China have issued comprehensive guidelines to accelerate the development of China’s environmental protection equipment manufacturing sector. The document was released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the State Administration for Market Regulation to drive the industry's sustained growth and transition toward low-carbon and circular development, combining sustainability and technology. The guidelines detail various targets relating to market share and self-reliance in core technologies. The guidelines state that by 2027, advanced environmental technologies will see their market share expand significantly, and key industrial chain gaps in core equipment will be addressed. By 2030 the sector is expected to achieve full self-reliance in technology and consolidate China's leadership in global markets. The guidelines have 12 measures targeting areas such as tech innovation, promotion of advanced technologies, cultivation of new growth drivers, and industry ecosystem improvement. Plans include a three-year campaign to upgrade major environmental equipment, deeper integration of 5G and artificial intelligence, pollution treatment and environmental monitoring.
National Data Administration Begins Construction of Digital Economy Innovation and Development Pilot Zones: The National Data Administration has revealed that seven places, including Tianjin, Hebei Province (Xiong'an New Area), Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Sichuan will carry out the construction of national digital economy innovation development pilot zones. Pilot zones will target outstanding issues that restrict high-quality development of the digital economy and assist with execution of important policies, major reforms and major engineering projects. The plan revolves around the five key tasks of promoting the market-oriented reform of data elements, optimizing the layout of data infrastructure construction, breaking through core digital technologies, deepening digital transformation, and promoting appropriate digital reform. The pilot zones will execute targeted measures to explore feasible paths for data elements to empower the development of the real economy, build an internationally competitive data industry cluster and a system to promote the development of the digital economy. The pilot zones have been designed to be "pioneers" of reform breakthroughs and the "vanguard" of innovation sources for the high-quality development of the digital economy. The National Data Administration will work with various regional and central authorities to coordinate policy support for pilot zones, publicise typical experience models and promote the transformation of conditions to create national policies.

Ningxia to Undertake Ecological Governance of Tengger and Maowusu Desert with Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Shaanxi: Ningxia will undertake several measures to promote the ecological governance of Tengger and Maowusu deserts in cooperation with Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Shaanxi. The Ningxia Forestry and Grassland Bureau announced that Ningxia will strengthen regional and international cooperation, while at the same time holding international training courses on desertification prevention and control, share desertification control experience, and sign joint prevention and control agreements with Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Shaanxi respectively, to promote the ecological governance of the 153-kilometer Tengger Desert and 280-kilometer Maowusu Desert in Ningxia and surrounding provinces. The measures include demonstrating and promoting new technologies such as brush nets, blue algae sand crusts, and high-efficiency seedlings, achieving greater policy coordination, technical coordination, and measure coordination, and improving the overall effectiveness of governance. Previously, the Shaanxi Provincial Forestry Bureau and the Ningxia Forestry and Grassland Bureau signed this year's cooperation framework agreement. The two important achievements targeted by Ningxia are the full connection of the Ningxia-Inner Mongolia border-locking forest and grass belt in the Tengger Desert, completing the management of a large area of 200,000 mu, and achieving the full locking of the Tengger Desert in Ningxia; encircling the scattered mobile sand land in the Maowusu Desert, completing the management of an area of 76,000 mu, and achieving the full fixation of the mobile sand land in the Maowusu Desert in Ningxia.
SASAC Appoints New Leaders to Several Central SOEs: The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission announced the appointment and removal of 13 leading personnel in 9 central enterprises. Chen Wenjian was appointed as the Party Secretary and Chairman of China Railway Engineering Group, Chen Yun was removed from his positions as Party Secretary, Party Committee Standing Committee Member, Chairman, and Director of China Railway Engineering Group Co., Ltd. and was retired. Liao Jiasheng was appointed as the Party Secretary and Chairman of China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group, Yang Feng was made member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group. Liu Jiaqiang was removed from his positions as deputy secretary, member of the standing committee of the Party Committee, and director of China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group. Zhou Qun was appointed as the Party Secretary and Chairman of Xinxing Jihua Group Co and was relieved of his duties as Deputy Secretary, Standing Committee Member and Director of the Party Committee of China National Electrical Equipment Group. An Shengjie was appointed as the Standing Committee Member of the Party Committee of Xinxing Jihua Group and nominated as the candidate for Deputy General Manager of Xinxing Jihua Group. Wang Xiaoliang was made deputy secretary of the Party Committee and director of the Mining and Metallurgical Technology Group and Sun Shaobin was removed from his position as member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of China Iron and Steel Research & Technology Group.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER

Social Media Reacts to Haidilao Response to Indecent Incident at Restaurant: Netizens of Weibo are reacting to popular hot-pot restaurant chain, Hailidao’s response to an incident of a man filmed urinating into a hot pot at one of the restaurant's outlets. In a video that has gone viral, a man can be seen urinating into a Hailidao hot pot, shocking social media users and sparking conversations over public health and safety. The company released a statement announcing that it has filed a lawsuit against the individuals involved and would be providing a full refund to all 4,109 customers who dined at the affected location, as well as offering 10 times the amount of their meal in cash compensation. Social media users have come out strongly against the accused individuals, criticising the parents of the two accused, calling for strict punishments and highlighting the importance of social responsibility and education. One user commented on a post about the incident stating, “Children need to be disciplined and educated. If parents don't educate them well, then let society educate them”. Others have criticised and praised Hadilao's response to the incident, stating that the brands image has now been tarnished due to the incident. Haidilao's decision to provide compensation has been met with mixed reactions from the public, with conversations swirling around how to mitigate negative impact on the company's reputation and assessing liability for the indecent act.

INDIA WATCH

The Paper Reports on DRDO’s BM-04 Unveiling: An article by Lan Shunzheng, a special correspondent for The Paper, discussed the recent unveiling of the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization’s (DRDO) self-developed BM-04 hypersonic ballistic missile to the outside world for the first time. The article states that because of the uncanny similarity in performance and positioning of the missile with China's Dongfeng-17 missile, it is being called the Indian version of Dongfeng-17. The author states that it is a key project promoted by the Indian DRDO to respond to regional security challenges and enhance strategic deterrence capabilities. The article notes that the BM-04’s power system uses a two-stage solid-fuel rocket engine and the technical framework has been provided by previous projects like Agni Prime and K Series ballistic missiles. In terms of the guidance system, BM-04 adopts a composite guidance method of inertial navigation along with satellite correction (GPS/IRNSS). The author argues that due to the limited coverage of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the guidance accuracy of the missile in a complex electromagnetic environment is still questionable. It also argues that while India claims the BM-04 as self-developed, many of the core components rely on French and Israeli technology. The missile, the article argues, is stated to have a negative impact on regional stability by increasing the likelihood of misunderstanding and misjudgements during border standoffs between India and Pakistan. Moreover, the article argues that countries in the region may take countermeasures and build missile defence systems and speed up the development of anti-hypersonic weapon interception systems.

Prepared By

Rahul Karan Reddy

Rahul Karan Reddy is a Senior Research Associate at Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). He works on domestic Chinese politics and trade, producing data-driven research in the form of reports, dashboards and digital media. He is the author of ‘Islands on the Rocks’, a monograph about the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute between China and Japan. Rahul was previously a research analyst at the Chennai Center for China Studies (C3S). He is the creator of the India-China Trade dashboard and the Chinese Provincial Development Indicators dashboard. His work has been published in The Diplomat, East Asia Forum, ISDP & Tokyo Review, among others. He can be reached via email at [email protected] and @RahulKaranRedd1 on Twitter.