CiCM 15th February 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

ICAC to launch new anti-corruption Academy in Hong Kong: An Anti-corruption academy will be launched in Hong Kong with a 9-day Wealth investigation course alongside the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as part of its aim to create a global learning platform for law enforcement and fighting corruption. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has designed a Virtual Reality programme, where in the anti-corruption officers will face live simulated situations and get trained to tackle difficult situations accordingly. The ICAC, () since its inception in 1974, has been aimed at a three-toothed approach of law enforcement, prevention and community education to fight corruption and other fraudulent activities. The academy is likely to organise 20 courses for its international students and 10 courses for its local officials in various sectors to fight and deter corruption. Officers from mainland China, Macau, Spain, Panama, Sweden and Iraq are likely to undergo training in the inaugural course. According to Danny woo ying-ming, Commissioner of the Independent Commission against Corruption, their aim is to create a Forum of Experts in this field who would share their experiences and knowledge and to simultaneously launch and design courses based on the needs of its members from around the world.

Six major banks in China announce urban real-estate financing coordination mechanism: Six major state-owned banks in China have announced their active organization and implementation of urban real-estate financing coordination mechanism. The Industrial and Commercial bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and Postal savings Bank of China form the super-six who aim at revolutionizing the real-estate financing in China. Of the six banks, five except the Postal Savings Bank of China, have announced publicly that they are already connected with more than 8200 projects. The Postal savings Bank of China announced on 15^th February that it has established a working group to strengthen this coordination mechanism and has connected with various projects in 10 provinces with a financing amount of 5.7 billion Yuan. It has also established a green channel for credit, liability exemptions and supervision arrangements to further bolster these projects. The Bank of Communications, Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial bank of China have also formed the special working groups to facilitate the coordination processes. The Bank of Communications is currently linked with 1442 projects, the Bank of China with completed 75 projects and in the process of approving 110 other projects, the Agricultural Bank of China with more than 2700 projects, ICBC with more than 2000 projects and the China Construction Bank with more than 2000 projects respectively.

China announces increased subsidies for high-standard farming construction: The Central Government has announced that it will applicably increase the level of central and provincial investment subsidies for high-standard farmland construction in this fiscal year. It aims to continue supporting its seed industry revitalisation actions, agricultural machinery agricultural-socialization services, establishment of an inter-provincial horizontal interest compensation mechanism for grain production and marketing areas, and improve the diversified investment mechanism. In 2023, it was planned to invest 92 billion Yuan to support the construction, renovation and upgrade 80 million acres of high-standard farmland and actively promote the protection and utilization of black soil, launch a pilot program for comprehensive utilization of saline-alkaline land. Li Xianzhong, the director of Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance has informed that 2024 will be about the supervision over the use of fiscal funds, strengthening policy implementation to ensure better national food security. He has further reaffirmed that the central government has always regarded and will continue to ensure national food security as its top priority in its agriculture policy.

The Spring Festival witnesses test flights of multiple China-built aircrafts: A number of Chinese aircraft developers have seized the Spring Festival as a perfect window for its flight tests. The climatic condition around the spring festival has provided the developers to conduct key plateau and low-temperature flight tests signifying a steady step towards commercialization. China’s largest amphibious aircraft the AG600M, underwent a low-temperature test flight in Hailar of Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Zhao Yuhe, the vice- general manager of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) General Huanan Aircraft Industry Co. Ltd, said that in this period of tight schedules, the spring festival was their last opportunity in this year to have the favourable climatic conditions for flight tests. The team had planned to complete the cryogenic tests of three systems and Four Flight Tests and completed all the preparatory works even at -20 ͦ Celsius. Besides the AG600M, several other china-built aircrafts also carried out their flight tests successfully. The AC313A, a 13 ton civil helicopter underwent its first plateau-low temperature flight test in Mohe city of Heilongjiang province. Following this was the MA60 fire fighting aircraft’s ultra-low altitude water drop test in the Jiangsu province which brings this aircraft one step closer to be used in real-time firefighting situations.

Comprehensive measures to reduce pollution and carbon emissions in China: The General Affairs Department of the Ministry of Ecology and environment have announced plans for ecological and environmental protection of China in the upcoming year. The government plans to carry out multi-level collaborative measures for reducing pollution and carbon emissions in China. It will focus on long-term collaborative management of pollution, coordinate emissions, emphasise on source control, optimize treatment processes, control on greenhouse gas emissions and establish rules and guidelines on sustainable collaborative techniques to ensure pollution reduction. Along with that, the government also encourages local level collaborative mechanisms or pilot projects in various cities and industrial parks. These pilot projects will be widely distributed and diversified in nature. The ministry has also recently released the list of its first batch of pilot projects in 21 cities and 43 industrial parks respectively.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER IN CHINA

Video of a 5-year old girl Inserting Acupuncture needles stuns the social media: The video of a 5-year old girl applying acupuncture needles to the hands of a family member has taken the mainland social media by storm. Her mother informed the media that her daughter had learned the acupuncture and other TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) techniques from her grandmother. The dedicated learning has resulted in the child mastering the precise technique of inserting needles in the accurate points of the body, sterilizing them and also the TCM therapies of cupping and Tui Na massage. In China, to be a licensed TCM practitioner, one needs to have studied it from a university or learned from an expert TCM doctor with at least 15 years. The video which was originally posted in Douyin, a short-form video hosting platform, have received huge safety concerns from online users due to the precision required for performing acupuncture techniques. Many People on the social media referred to the girl and the person who was on the receiving end of the TCM technique, as a “Daredevil”.

INDIA WATCH

India has also been massively focusing on its policies aimed at nullifying all forms of corruption. The central government has declared its Policy of “Zero Tolerance against Corruption” in the G20 anti-corruption ministerial meeting. In pursuing its true commitment towards achieving this goal, the Indian government has laid down several policies that aim at total non-cooperation with any forms of corruption. These include, implementation of E-tendering in public procurements, introduction of E-governance and simplification of procedures and systems, introduction of government procurement through the government E-marketplace (GeM) to ensure that benefits of welfare distribution can reach the public directly. Along with that, the Prevention of the Corruption Act, 1988 which was amended in 2018 has clearly criminalised the act of bribing in any form of institutional activities. However, the overall performances of both India and China have not been quite satisfactory. The ranking of both the countries in the CPI (Corruption Perceptions Index) India (93^rd), China (76^th) has been below the desired norms. While India focuses mainly on the legislative and judicial organs, China relies on the Party’s supervisory organs, particularly the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection along with the introduction of technological innovations to counter corruption. Therefore, the room for improvements in the both the scenarios is plenty. In this regard, the new era of interdependence and the march of technological innovations provide a room full of opportunities for both these countries and the entire South Asian region to engage in their fight against corruption in a united way. The launching of anti-corruption academy provides a big-playing field for China and also the other countries to develop devise and fight against corruption together as well within their territory, while keeping their national interests intact.

Prepared By

Agniva Ray

Agniva Ray is an M.A, 2nd year, 4th semester student pursuing Political Science with International Relations in the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University. He holds a deep interest in Socio-economic (Non-Traditional Security) as well as Traditional security issues concerning South Asia and aims to pursue research work in this very field.