According to a Jamestown Foundation Brief, in early August 2017, 'Malhama Tactical', a militant group operating in Syria and sometimes labelled the “Blackwater of jihad,” issued a statement in which it hinted at a planned expansion into China and alluded to the experiences of China’s Uighur population in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang.

Exchanging congratulatory messages on August 12 to mark the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Beijing is willing to join hands with Tokyo to work for the long-term healthy and stable development of bilateral ties.

Chinese authorities detained a Voice of America Mandarin Service correspondent Yibing Feng and a multimedia journalist on contract with VoA, Allen Ai for at least six hours ON August 13 evening i n Jinan, Shandong province .

Three pro-Taiwan U.S. House representatives in California including Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, the committee’s Asia and Pacific subcommittee ranking member Brad Sherman and Congresswoman Judy Chu, joined Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during her stopover in Los Angeles.

In the aftermath of the US ban initially and later punitive fines on China's telecom company ZTE, top Chinese leaders are concerned about their vulnerability to potentially “neck-choking” technologies. especially dependence on foreign semiconductors.

On August 6, 2018, the People’s Daily Foreign Edition launched an attack against US President Donald Trump’s trade policy using a Wang Hailou (望海楼) column, an important column directed at members of the Chinese diaspora, written by a senior editor for the newspaper, Hu Jihong (胡继鸿).

A Global Times article published (August 15, 2018) on "the anniversary of the country's independence from the British Empire in 1947" said while in the subsequent decades India lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, "but it has long been beset by a failure to achieve its manufacturing ambitions".

China's official Xinhua News Agency reported that PBSC member and Vice Premier Han Zheng presided over the first meeting of the State Council Leading Small Group for Developing the Greater Bay Area in Beijing on August 15.

At a meeting of a United Nations human rights panel in Geneva on August 13, a Chinese delegation categorically denied there was no such thing as 're-education centers' in Xinjiang or that there was any subjugation of religious freedom in the Muslim-majority region.

In an unprecedented development the Sixth Division of the Xinjiang Production & Construction Corps [XPCC] borrowed RMB 500 million as a 270-day loan at a punitive 5.89% rate of interest to make a bond payment that defaulted on August 13.

Ding Xuexiang, Director of the CCP CC General Office delivered a lecture to staff of the Party’s General Office on July 1, the anniversary of the founding of the CCP.

The Global Times reacted on August 7 to an article in Russia's daily newspaper 'Nezavisimaya Gazeta' which said "the more Beijing invests in promoting BRI for Central Asia, the more local people oppose China".

Speaking at the University of New South Wales on August 7, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in a departure from his previous speeches said Australia and China had prospered by deepening collaboration.

At a press conference on August 10, Gu Xiaohong, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), said that as of July 25, among the 44 airlines, 40 completed the rectification (depiction of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) and the remaining four submitted a rectification report to the CAAC on July 25.

Asahi Shimbun on August 11 reported that Gay McDougall, a member of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, cited estimates on August 10 at the start of a two-day regular review of China's record including Hong Kong and Macao, and said that 2 million Uyghurs and Muslim minorities were forced into "political camps for indoctrination" in the western Xinjiang autonomous region. A Chinese delegation of some 50 officials made no comment on her remarks at the Geneva session.

A speech delivered by Liu Yadong (刘亚东), Editor-in-Chief of the Science and Technology Daily, has been circulating extensively on China's social media.

A 2000-character article published in the People's Daily on August 10, 2018 acknowledged that "there are also some plausible views circulating on the Internet.

According to Xinhua, recently Chinese government awarded three PLA researchers. Professor Xiao Fei, Director of a research institute at the Naval Engineering University, was awarded the ‘First Class’.

The State Council’s Leading Small Group for Migrant Workers has been reshuffled.

62 expert academicians arrived in Beidaihe from Beijing on August 3 for a vacation at the invitation of the Party Central Committee and the State Council.

At a dinner on August 7, 2018, US President Trump "expressed concern that some foreign students were acting as foreign agents, particularly from China".

At a dinner on August 7, 2018, US President Trump "expressed concern that some foreign students were acting as foreign agents, particularly from China".

Japan's Nikkei Asian Review on August 9, 2018 said that the ruling party's annual conclave in Beidaihe, a seaside resort in Hebei Province, has begun.

The Customs Bureau released trade date for July on August 8, 2018.

The People's Bank of China (PBoC) released the official Foreign Exchange reserve data on August 7, 2018.

Over the past month, bodies for collecting national and local taxes, which had thus far been separate, have been merged. Leading Party groups (党组) within tax authorities at all levels have been changed to Party committees (党委).

On August 8, 2018 the State Council has decided to change the name of the National Science, Technology and Education Leading Group to the National Science and Technology Leading Group [NSTLG].”

Release of the new stamps on August 9 to mark the Year of the Pig sparked speculation of a loosening of the two-child policy as the stamps depicted a family of pigs with three little pigs.

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP CC) and State Council between August 3 and 8, 2018 invited outstanding experts from the scientific research and production departments across the country to Beidaihe for vacation.

Reuters reported on August 3, 2018 that China's Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi, said on August 3 that cooperation between China and the US is the only right choice and "China is willing to resolve differences on a principle of equal footing".

In September 2017 just prior to the 19th Party Congress, Luo Jianbo, Head of the China Foreign Policy Center at the Central Party School, Beijing had cautioned against over-estimating China's strength and said the people need to guard against "arrogance" and "conceit".

A Chinese blog recently cited foreign media reports that China is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) submarine to attack enemy aircraft carrier battle groups.

The PLAN inducted its thirteenth Type 052 (Aegis) Destroyer, named 'Nanjing', into service on August 1, 2018. The destroyer was described as deployed with an unidentified “full shield” destroyer detachment of the PLA Eastern Theatre Command Navy.

On the eve of the PLA's 91st Founding anniversary a fighter jet of the PLA Navy conducted its maiden take-off, landing and firing drills from China's first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, at an unidentified distant sea, under simulated real-combat conditions.

On August 1, Xinhua reported that a high-level meeting coordinated jointly by the office of the Central Commission for Integrated Military and Civilian Development, the Standardization Administration, the Equipment Development Department under the Central Military Commission, the State Administration of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense had been held in Beijing on July 31.

On the occasion of the PLA's 90th Founding Anniversary on August 1, 2018 China's official news agency Xinhua published an article reviewing Xi Jinping’s military reforms over the past three years.

The PLA organised a ceremony on August 1 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 91st Founding Anniversary of the PLA.

Premier Li Keqiang visited the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) from July 25-27, 2018 to inspect work on the Sichuan-Tibet Railway.

Speculation in Beijing that the senior, veteran Party leaders and members of the Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) are at Beidaihe for the annual confabulations was confirmed on August 8 with China's official media reporting that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang received newly-elected President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces there on August 8, 2018.

Bloomberg News reported on July 28, 2018 that at the instance of the German authorities the State-owned investment bank KfW will temporarily acquire a 20 percent holding in 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, one of Germany's largest power-grid operators.

The Wall Street Journal reported on August 1, that to ratchet up pressure on Beijing the US is considering more than doubling its proposed tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25%.

Chinese Ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, disclosed on July 30 at an embassy event in Washington celebrating the anniversary of the PLA’s founding, that PLA Navy Commander Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong, will accompany Defence Minister Wei Fenghe on the latter's visit to the US later this year.

The International Campaign for Tibet reported on July 30, that the former home of the parents of the Dalai Lama, 'one of the largest and most important of the few remaining historic buildings in Lhasa', has been demolished and a new concrete structure is being built in its place.

57-year old Zhuang Rongwen was named on August 1, to head the Cyberspace Administration of China.

On July 24, Unirule (天则), the liberal economic think tank in Beijing, published a 10,000-character essay by Tsinghua University legal scholar Xu Zhangrun (许章润) which has sparked wide interest inside China and among observers abroad.

The Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Economic Daily Zhang Lei (张磊) wrote an article in the PLA Daily stressing that the core of “Xi Jinping’s Thought on News” is to “reinforce and improve the Party’s leadership on the work of news and public opinion.”

Xinhua on July 31 publicised a directive jointly issued by the CCP CC Organisation Department and CCP CC Propaganda (Publicity) Department on June 29, 2018 urging members of the Party, Military, Government, intellectuals and others to "carry forward the patriotic spirit of struggle, to make contributions to a new era" campaign.

57-year old Zhuang Rongwen was named on August 1, to head the Cyberspace Administration of China. He had been a Deputy Director since 2015. Zhuang Rongwen succeeds Xu Lin, a propaganda official who had held the job since June 2016.

On July 5, the People’s Daily reported a speech Xi Jinping made to a national work conference on Party appointments, known as “organization work,” or zuzhi gongzuo (组织工作), that was held in Beijing from July 3-4.

A Brigade of PLAAF Airborne troops were reported on July 11 to have carried out 'live-fire' exercises in the high-altitude plateau region in west Sichuan province.

An Unidentified Reccee Regiment of the Tibet Military Region Frontier Defense conducted a Confrontation drill " at the southern Tibetan plateau" at an altitude of 4700 meters.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on 26 July that the authorities in Sichuan’s Serthar county are refusing to issue drivers’ licenses to Tibetan nomads.

A number of Officers from the PLA Army (PLAA), PLA Air Force (PLAAF), PLA Navy (PLAN) and PLA Rocket Force (PLARF) have been promoted to the rank of Major General and Lt General since June 19, 2018.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Lhasa's Gonggar airport on July 26 on an inspection of the Gala mountain tunnel, which is at an altitude of 3500 metres, on the Sichuan-Tibet Railway. PRC Premier Li Keqiang also visited Linzhi.

Foreign Policy (July 24) said Chinese security technology companies are present in many parts of Africa and that many countries in Africa are reliant on Chinese companies for their telecoms and digital services.

Taiwan Defense Department sources reportedly disclosed that on June 20 and 21, 2018 a total of 50 PLA Navy ships including the "Chinese Shendun 中华神盾" destroyer passed through the Taiwan Strait.

Since the US first decided to impose tarrifs on US$ 34 billion worth of Chinese exports on 6 July, the CCP's official newspaper published 7 commentaries on the 'Trade War'.

The PLA Daily on June 20 published an article stressing that “the application of big data to national defense mobilization is a trend; only by following the trend, reinforcing big data infrastructure building, and enhancing the ability to utilize big data in national defense mobilization can one have the initiative in future warfare mobilization.”

The official 'The Paper' on July 8, reported that eight students graduated from Shandong University with degrees in “United Front Studies.”

A commentary titled 'Straighten Out The Communist Party’s Spiritual Backbone' was published by the CCP CC theoretical fortnightly journal on June 15 under the pen-name “Qiu Shi” (秋石).

The CPPCC Daily on June 16, reported that the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee’s Ethnic and Religious Committee Director

The CPC News released several graphs in late June 2018 reviewing the demographic changes and other information on the development of the CCP in 2017.

240-hectares of a 4,800 hectare US$ 3.5 billion initiative Free Trade Zone, the largest in Africa, was inaugurated in Djibouti on July 5, 2018.

The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on July 6 that Chinese agents were using fake social media profiles — already networked with several members of the German parliament — to contact German MPs and offer them money in exchange for expertise and insider knowledge.

On July 6, 2018 China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said China’s tit-for-tat measures “had taken effect immediately after the implementation of the US tariffs.”

An open-church priest who serves in Luoyang Diocese of Sanmenxia City, Henan province claims that local officials visited his church on July 1 and handed him a circular titled "Special Office Emergency Notice", ordering clergy to follow the instructions laid out therein.

On July 4th morning a young woman live-streamed herself splashing ink on an image of Xi Jinping in front of a Shanghai office building while speaking out against one-party rule in China.

The US Department of Justice disclosed on June 21, 2018 that 41-year old Shuren Qin, a Chinese national residing in Wellesley, Mass., was arrested on June 21 and will appear in federal court in Boston on June 22, 2018.

According to a report of June 22, Jiangxi province issued guidelines the previous week stipulating that women more than 14 weeks pregnant must have signed approval from three medical professionals confirming an abortion is medically necessary before any procedure.

The bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress on June 22 passed a resolution specifying the authority and responsibilities of the newly reshuffled China Coast Guard.

The PLA Daily on June 23 reported that China has opened the bid to construct its first nuclear-powered icebreaker support ship, which according to Chinese military observers is a move to prepare for the construction of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Separately, a photo of the meeting, held at CSIC’s China Ship and Vessel Research and Design Institute in the central city of Wuhan, has aroused interest.

57-year Sun Bo, General Manager and second-highest-ranking executive at the state-owned military-industry shipbuilding juggernaut China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC), has been arrested by the National Supervision Commission and the Communist Party’s Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) and is under investigation for “gross violation of laws and party discipline.”

To protect U.S. technological discoveries, the US State Department is beginning a new practice from this month which gives consular officers increased discretion to restrict visas for Chinese graduate students in certain important high-tech fields to one year.

The New York-based Rhodium Group reported last week that Chinese foreign direct investment in the U.S. plummeted 92% in the first half of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017.

A report on CNN's website on June 22 stated that Lasers have been used to target US aerial operations in the Pacific and 20 incidents have been recorded since September 2017.

The state-run Global Times on June 21 published an article citing a report in the Indian Express and asserted that "the "China threat" theory is once again being hyped up in India".

A report of May 18 disclosed that China recently established the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR"), which combines the antitrust enforcement responsibilities of the previous Price Supervision and Antimonopoly Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC"), the Antimonopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM"), and the Antimonopoly and Anti-unfair Competition Bureau of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce.

The well-known Chinese news site Tencent News reported on June 14 that Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma had recently delivered a speech at the Conference of the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce.

In an editorial on June 20, China's leading influential financial magazine Caixin commented on the recent emergence of cases of local government employees in China demanding overdue wages and said this has caused widespread concern.

Australia's wine industry which sells approx US$ 644 million worth of wines to China is facing an imminent crisis as wine shipments are now being delayed at major Chinese ports.

The US website americanconservative.com reported that the Chinese Telecom company Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment (ZTE) Corporation opted for an aggressive, extremely well-paid Chinese influence operation in Washington.

The US Administration on June 15 announced it would move ahead with imposing a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of Chinese products that are imported into the United States, escalating what had primarily been a war of words between the world’s two largest economies into a full-blown trade war.

China's state-run Global Times Chinese-language edition on June 14 quoted Japan’s Kyodo News as saying on June 14 that 'According to relevant sources of the Japanese government on the 14th, the North Korean Workers’ Party Chairman Kim Jong-un said at the U.S.-DPRK summit meeting that “it is possible to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Be open-minded.'

Civil servants in Leiyang were supposed to receive their wages on May 15, but their pay was only released on June 8.

A report of June 14, 2018 claimed that the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), a privately funded nonprofit organization based in Hong Kong that is dedicated to ‘facilitating open and constructive exchange among policy-makers, business leaders, academics, think-tanks, cultural figures, and educators from the United States and China,' has funded the online news outlet Vox.

Xinhua (June 16, 2018) reported that China's 26 military colleges and academies plan to enroll 30,500 students this year.

China's official news agency Xinhua reported on June 8, that is planning to build three new airports in Tibet.

Reporting Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the PLAN Base HQ under the PLA Northern Theatre Command at Qingdao, China Daily said he urged the PLAN to further strengthen its combat training and enhance its elite forces' capabilities.

Writing in the Washington Post on June 10, 2018 former Chinese Vice Foreign Minister and former member of the Six Party Talks Ms Fu Ying said of the impending Summit talks of June 12 as "an unprecedented opportunity for peaceful resolution has emerged".

The Nikkei Asia Review on June 4 revealed that Thailand is taking the lead in creating a regional fund with its neighbors, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, to back infrastructure and other development projects and to lessen reliance on Chinese investment.

Major Singapore newspaper Sinchew recently reported that the Myanmar government is in the middle of re-evaluating a Chinese investment project to develop a deep-water port at the Port of Kyaukpyu.

Anti-China protests erupted throughout Vietnam on June 11 and more than 100 people were arrested late on June 10 after demonstrators stormed a provincial government building east of Ho Chi Minh City, the local news media reported.

The state-owned Chinese state broadcaster CGTN plans to hire more than 350 London-based journalists in less than 18 months.

As part of the nationwide "Ten million teachers and students having the same class to study new thoughts" campaign organised by the Ministry of Education and which began on June 8, universities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have begun a lecture series on the thoughts of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Taiwan News reported on June 11, 2018 that mass protests were staged by truck drivers across 9 provinces and municipalities in China to voice their anger over high costs, decreasing wages, excessive highway tolls, changing government policies and police harassment.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will be 65 years old on June 15, 2018.

British Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson revealed at the Shangri La Dialogue that two British naval ships have taken part in ‘freedom of navigation’ operations in the South China Sea during the past month.

A report in the Wall Street Journal on June 8, claimed that a French warship passing through the Spratly Islands was challenged by a PLA Navy warship According to the news report, the PLAN warship said:‘This is China warship calling.

58-year old Ron Rockwell Hansen of Syracuse, Utah, a former US Defense Intelligence Agency officer, was arrested on June 2, by the FBI and charged with trying to sell U.S. government secrets to Chinese spies and taking at least $800,000 in suspicious funds flowing from China.

China's General Administration of Customs stated on June 8 that imports of US products were up 11.4 per cent to touch US$14.7 billion in May from a year earlier.

The US is going to lift the ban on Chinese telecom company ZTE consequent to its agreeing to pay a fine of US$ 1 billion and agreeing to the deployment of US Enforcement officers inside the company to monitor its activities.

The Japanese and Chinese governments on June 8 officially started operating a bilateral maritime and aerial communication mechanism designed to avert unintended clashes between the Self-Defense Forces and the Chinese military.

Chinese President Xi Jinping awarded the inaugural Friendship Medal of the People's Republic of China to Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 8, 2018 and praised his "contribution and efforts to building a peaceful world."

China's State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) under the UFWD posted a report on its official website of a meeting convened on May 23 to discuss curbs on the construction of large statues.

Zongjiao Zhoukan (宗教周刊), a weekly publication associated with the China Ethnic News (中国民族报) reported that a Leading Small Group on pushing forward the sinicization of Chinese Christianity was established on May 22, during a meeting of the China Christian Council (CCC).

The Chinese government allows its corporate 'champions' nearly unfettered access to the country's 770 million internet users, but as China's tech giants get bigger and richer they realise that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gets more nervous.

At an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on May 6, the State Council decided that China will make strenuous efforts to build a more comprehensive and rigorous social credit system to improve the business environment and boost development.

The official Party paper People's Daily on May 26, reported that Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia attended a symposium on inspection work for the armed services and the People’s Armed Police Forces, where he stressed the necessity of deeply comprehending and resolutely carrying out Xi Jinping’s instructions on inspection work.

The CCP CC's United Front Work Department (UFWD) posted on its official website a lengthy Xinhua report dated June 1 that said the Politburo convened a meeting to deliberate the "Guidelines for Rural Revitalization Strategic Planning (2018-2022) (乡村振兴战略规划 (2018-2022年) " and "Guiding Opinions on Three-Year Action on Winning Poverty Alleviation Strategies" (关于打赢脱贫攻坚战三年行动的指导意) .

Nepal’s government on May 29, 2018 said it would build on its own a 750 megawatt hydroelectric plant that was earlier cleared to be developed by China’s state-owned Three Gorges International Corp.

The US newspaper Washington Free Beacon on June 4, 2018 reported that members of the US Congress are moving ahead with legislation seeking curbs on Chinese government influence operations in the United States.

According to an official Chinese government website, since the Chinese government’s Ministry of Education -- the Office of Chinese Languages Council International, better known as the Hanban -- began establishing Confucious Institutes in 2004, there are now 500 "Confucius Institutes" around the world and the aim is to have 1,000 by 2020.

A US report of June 7, 2018 states that Chinese PLA entities have resumed hacking after a hiatus of several years.

The Sydney Morning Herald on May 31, 2018 published a front-page report stating that court documents filed in the US establish that the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE, was established partly as a front for military intelligence and has been linked to corruption in 18 countries.

New analysis from Israeli intelligence firm ImageSat International (ISI) made public on June 6, 2018 indicates that the Chinese missile systems on Woody Island in the Paracel archipelago may have been removed or relocated.

The People's Daily reported on May 30, that Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (SWS) had delivered a 20,000 TEU container vessel to COSCO SHIPPING Lines Co., Ltd after a naming ceremony on May 29.

On May 28, 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a speech at the 19th Meeting of Academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 14th Meeting of Academicians from the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

On May 18, the PLAAF announced that the H-6K nuclear bomber, also known as 'God of War', had landed at Yongxing Island in the Xisha Island group in the South China Sea.

On May 26, the Civil Aviation Administration of China stated that 18 airlines out of 44 have made requisite corrections regarding mentioning Taiwan as part of China and the remaining 26 airlines have also promised to correct.

Xinhua in May 23 reported that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his keynote speech at the 17th Asia Security Summit, or the Shangri-la Dialogue, on May 22 "hailed his country's relationship with China, saying that cooperation between New Delhi and Beijing will benefit Asia and the world".

The Global Times reaction (June 1, 2018) to the US decision to rename the US Pacific Command as the US Indo-Pacific Command was short and swift.

Hongkong's South China Morning Post reported on June 2, that Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung will be a council member on a think tank led by Chinese dissident Wang Dan, to be launched on Monday in the United States.

China's authoritative official news agency Xinhua published an article on its WeChat Official Account on May 26, on the lesson learned from the ZTE incident after the U.S. Department of Commerce issued the notice on May 25, 2018, regarding the lifting of the ban on ZTE’s sales.

The major Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily on May 31 published an analysis by senior Chinese journalist Lu Yue on China’s Vice Premier Liu He and his position on trade.

The official People's Daily reported on June 1 that China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had reported on May 31 that China contributed more than 30 percent to world economic growth during 2017.

Xi Jinping gave an 'important speech' at the National Conference on Eco-environmental Protection held in Beijing from May 18 to 19.

Over the last decade, dozens of Chinese companies have entered the Israeli market as sole or sub-contractors or suppliers in major transportation, infrastructure, agriculture and food projects.

Two ex-DGSE officers are suspected of "extremely serious" treason on behalf of a foreign power according to a French media report of May 25, 2018 quoting the French Defence Ministry.

Canada has blocked a proposed C$1.51 billion (US$ 1.18 billion) takeover of construction company Aecon (ARE.TO) by the overseas investment and financing arm of a Chinese State owned Enterprise 'China Communications Construction Co Ltd' on national security grounds.

China's continued militarization of the South China Sea the US has "disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise.

When Burkina Faso switched recognition to China on May 25, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen reacted angrily.

PLA Lieutenant General He Lei, Vice President of the PLA Academy of Military Science (AMS) will lead the Chinese delegation for the upcoming 2018 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

According to Russian statistics of China's oil imports in May published in the Global Times (military) in Chinese on May 26, figures showed an overall decrease of oil imports, but a steep rise in imports from Russia.

Pony Ma Huateng, Chairman and Chief Executive of Tencent, said China’s internet giant would consider investing into the research and development of computer chips, as the country must focus on research of core technologies.

Xinhua reported on May 23 that the Air Force “Hong Jian-2018” system large-scale confrontation exercise commenced on May 23 "in the Northwest Wilderness of China (Western Theatre Command)".

An article published in Radio Free Asia (RFA) on May 21, claimed that Wang Xiaoming, the Deputy Secretary General of the Beijing municipal government, committed suicide by jumping off the building. Medical records indicate that Wang Xiaoming had been suffering from depression for a long period of time.

Chinese authorities disclosed that dozens of mainland Maoists headed across the border last week for a demonstration to mark the 52nd anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution.

In the recent case of espionage in the US, the affidavit filed by the FBI revealed that Mallory told FBI agents in May that he had been contacted in February on a social media site by a recruiter for a Chinese think tank, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

At the invitation of the US government, Xi Jinping’s special envoy, leader of the China-US Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (中美全面经济对话), and Vice Premier Liu He (刘鹤) led a delegation to Washington, DC.

The US is beginning to feel that the gap in oversight over Chinese activities in buying up US tech firms has became a more urgent problem in 2015, when China unveiled its “Made in China 2025” strategy of working with private investors to buy overseas tech firms.

Following the directive issued on April 25 by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to 36 airlines to depict Taiwan, Hongkong and Macau as part of China within 30 days or face the consequences including legal sanctions, the Associated Press found on May 22, that 20 carriers, including Air Canada, British Airways and Lufthansa, now refer to Taiwan as a part of China on their global websites.

Tibetan language education activist Tashi Wangchuk was sentenced on May 21, to 5 years imprisonment for “inciting separatism” by the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province.

In an interview with the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper on May 22, Chinese military expert Liang Fang said China will certainly build more aircraft carriers.

China's second aircraft carrier returned to dock at the Dalian Shipyard in Liaoning Province on May 18 after its first sea trials.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has shut down the prominent Maoist website Utopia amid concerns it may boost extreme nationalist sentiment that could undermine Beijing's trade policy with the United States.

Bloomberg News reported on May 21, that China is planning to scrap all limits on the number of children a family can have.

China's Ministry of Civil Affairs published a notification of April 28, 2018 requiring social organizations to add content on Party building and core socialist values to their charters on its website.

Xinhua reported (May 15) that CCP CC General Secretary Xi Jinping who is also Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Working Committee, chaired the first meeting of the Central Foreign Affairs Working Committee on May 15 and delivered an "important" speech.

Xinhua reported (May 21) Wang Qishan’s membership of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, headed by President Xi Jinping.

The main points in the U.S. briefing paper for the first round of US-China talks on Trade in Beijing recently, were at first leaked on the social-media site Weibo and was deleted by Chinese government censors.

Chinese tourists to Vietnam sporting T-shirts with a map of China showing the 9-dash line arrived in southern Cam Ranh airport on May 13 night and were stopped by security at the Immigration desk.

The accreditation for two Taiwanese journalists to cover the upcoming World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland has been denied.

The South China Morning Post on May 16, 2018 published a report quoting PLAAF spokesman Senior Colonel Shen Jinke talking about the flights going around Taiwan and the missiles the aircraft were carrying.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) recently sent a letter to 36 international air carriers demanding that they remove from their websites references implying that Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau are not part of China. T

A Working Paper by Luis R. Martinez of the University of Chicago, and published recently claims that authoritarian regimes are especially likely to artificially boost their gross domestic product numbers in the years before elections.

On May 21, China plans to launch a satellite with a vital but unglamorous mission. From a vantage point beyond the moon, Queqiao, as the satellite is called, will relay data from Chang'e 4, a lander and rover that is supposed to touch down on the lunar far side before the end of the year.

South China Morning Post (SCMP) May 13.reported on May 16, 2018 that 64-year old PLA General Cai Yingting, a former Nanjing Military Region Commander and rising star who retired prematurely after his appointment as President of the Academy of Military Sciences (AMS) when the five Theater Commands were formed, has been demoted by eight grades to become a battalion commander. )

The official CCTV reported on May 13, 2018 on China’s first domestically made aircraft carrier and mentioned that its Commander was PLAN Senior Captain Lai Yijun.

The FBI Press Release of May 8 provided additional details on the arrest of 53-year old Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a resident of Hong Kong and U.S. citizen who speaks fluent Chinese.

The Washington Post on May 13, 2018 quoted US President Trump as tweeting “President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast.

There are reports to indicate that in the wake of US-China trade tension and Washington’s efforts to scuttle the 'Made in China 2025' initiative, Beijing is using Hong Kong to counter US efforts.

China's state-owned Economic Times reported (May 7, 2018) the release of a Blue Book focusing on the current situation of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investment security, assessment of investment risks, and impact of cultural differences and climate change on investment.

In a ceremony in Beijing earlier this week, Xu Lin, Director of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), presided over the inauguration of the China Federation of Internet Societies (CFIS), an internet industry grouping whose stated purpose is to “promote the development of Party organizations in the industry.”

The website of the Chinese Tibetan Department of Advanced Buddhist College on May 11, 2018 reported on a conference of Party members held by the College the previous day to convey and study the “Notice on Conducting the Special Work on the Party’s Style and Incorruptible Politics” focusing on the use of the “first form” by the Central United Front Work Department.

In an article in the Party theoretical journal 'Qiu Shi' on May 7, 2018, Zhu Jidong, Deputy Director of the Chinese Academy of Social Security and the National Center for Cultural Studies and Secretary General of the Ideological Construction of Marxism Research, argued against the interpretation that Marxism is a foreign culture.

Xinhua reported on May 7, 2018 that the CCP CC had printed and issued the "Law of the Socialist Core Values ​​into the Legislative Construction of Laws and Regulations" (hereinafter referred to as the "Planning"), and issued a notice requesting all regions and departments to implement the plan in accordance with actual conditions.

Few senior appointments were publicised by the CCP CC Organisation Department in early May.

ABC reported on May 9, 2018 that Lincoln City in Australia's central Queensland region of Rockhampton removed the Taiwanese flag from a children’s art project ahead of a major international beef expo.

The US Commerce Department last month blocked American firms from selling parts or providing services to ZTE until 2025.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on May 9, 2018 that China intends to further tighten the regulation of public religious worship in a bid to prevent "hostile foreign forces" from infiltrating the country.

China is currently discussing the construction of airport and airplane maintenance facilities at Guadalcanal Island (Solomon Islands) in the western Pacific Ocean.

China's official Xinhua News Agency reported on May 10, that a draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law was announced on the Chinese People's Congress website to solicit opinions from the public.

The Paper, an official newspaper of China, reported on May 9, 2018 that Han Kun, founder CEO of Yixia Technology had announced at his acceptance speech in Guangzhou on May 8 that he would whole heartedly support the Party and actively cooperate with the authorities to ensure a "clean" internet.

The Cyberspace Administration of China announced on May 9, 2018 that 53-year old Ma Yun (Jack Ma) founder Chairman of Alibaba and 46-year old Ma Huateng, also known as 'Pony' Ma, and founder Chairman of TenCent, are Chairmen of the China Federation of Internet Societies consisting of 300 groups to study and implement Xi Jinping thought and promote “correct political direction”.

Xinhua reported (May 10, 2018) that China is developing a "youth credit system" to encourage young people to take an active part in building a high-trust society.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, a former C.I.A. officer suspected of helping China unravel the agency’s spy network in China was indicted on May 8 on a charge of conspiring to commit espionage.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Dalian on May 7, when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping. Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported that the official had arrived by North Korea's Air Koryo.

The top ten recipients of China's Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) are strategically or resource rich countries looking for aid.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported on May 9, 2018 that Shanghai retained the top spot on the list of 31 province-level jurisdictions, with residents of the financial hub earning an average of 17,277 yuan (US$2,700) over the January-March period.

More than 200 ex-PLA personnel who had been employed by 4 banks after demobilisation and then ""illegally" laid off without commensurate medical or pensionary benefits, wrote letters on May 8, 2018 to China's newly established Ministry of Veterans Affairs requesting intervention.

China Change reported on May 7, 2018 that a WeChat group named “Changsha tower crane operator federation” posted an "open letter' om April 25 asking construction, crane, and mechanical equipment operators and engineers in China to trigger a wave of simultaneous strikes among crane operators around the country.

Senior military officers from 19 countries in Asia and the Pacific have gathered in Shanghai for a regional workshop on the law of armed conflict at sea to be held from May 8 to11, 2018.

54-year old dismissed Politburo member and former Party Secretary of Chongqing, was found guilty of taking over 170 million yuan ($26.7 million) in bribes, the First Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin said in a statement on its website.

Chinese media and telecommunication companies in Africa who are there as part of Beijing’s “going out policy”, have increased and diversified their operations.

Tensions between the US and China increased on May 4 as it emerged that US officials had handed Beijing a list of demands including a $200bn cut in its trade deficit and an end to state subsidies on strategic industries.

CNBC reported on May 4, 2018 that China had quietly deployed HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles and YJ-12 supersonic anti-ship missiles onto its outposts in the South China Sea in the past month.

While inpecting Peking University (PKU) on May 2, 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for building world-class universities with Chinese characteristics to nurture people well-prepared to join the socialist cause.

FT on April 18, 2018 reported that since 2010, US weapons exports to Pakistan have plummeted from $1bn to just $21m last year, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Defence News quoted Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White as saying on May 3, 2018 that two U.S. airmen suffered “minor” injuries as a result of the use of Chinese-deployed lasers in Djibouti.

Writing in the FT of May 6, Keyu Jin, daughter of the Director General of AIIB Jin Liqun and an Associate Professor at LSE, argued that , paradoxically, it may be better for China to lose a trade conflict with the US than to win it as China would be the winner in the long run. She said reformers within China are likely to seize on it as an opportunity to hasten domestic reforms which will strengthen the country.

In a document entitled “Balancing the Trade Relationship” that was 'leaked' to Bloomberg News on May 4, the U.S. government made a series of demands from China at the outset of meetings in Beijing on May 4-5, 2018 to resolve a simmering trade dispute.

The New York Times on May 3 reported from Beijing that members of the Trump administration delegation who arrived in Beijing on May 3 for two days of high-level talks found that their Chinese official counterparts had limited experience in trade matters.

Earlier the same week, Xi Jinping visited Peking University (PKU), China’s most prestigious school, and according to Xinhua told students about his "enlightenment" at age 15 when he grasped the truth that is Marxism.

Xinhua reported that at an event in Beijing on May 4, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth, Xi Jinping praised Marx as: "[A]Teacher of revolution for the proletariat and working people all over the world, the main founder of Marxism, creator of Marxist parties, pathfinder for international communism and the greatest thinker of modern times…".

On May 1, 2018 the Dominican Republic switched formal diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.CCTV on May 1, 2018 showed PRC Vice President Wang Qishan meeting the visiting Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic.

US President Trump on April 30, raised expectations for his meeting with DPRK President Kim Jong-un, saying he would like to hold the at the Peace House in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas because “there’s a great celebration to be had on the site” if the negotiations are successful.

After China tested an "invisibility cloak" that would allow ordinary fighter jets to suddenly vanish from radar screens in April, American officials fear China may have gained the technology in part from a Chinese researcher who roused suspicions while working on a similar technology at a Duke University laboratory in 2008.

Sina.com reported on April 22, 2018 that Huanqiu, a subsidiary under People’s Daily, published an article asking the Chinese people not to boycott U.S. goods.

Reports reveal that the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) was active in breaking up what was probably the largest strike in China in the past 2 years.

Xinhua quoted a statement released by the China Geological Survey's Guangzhou branch on May 2, 2018 which disclosed that China has carried out deep-sea scientific research with two domestically-made deep-sea submersibles, the unmanned submersible Haima (Seahorse) and manned submersible Shenhai Yongshi (Deep Sea Warrior), to explore a cold seep in the South China Sea.

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) disclosed on April 27, 2018 that MPS personnel had been honoured for "loyalty to the Party' in a ceremony on April 27.

The China Cyberspace Administration disclosed on April 27, 2018 that the Guangdong Internet and Informatization Office had mobilised 5000 police officers and censored 6 million pieces of “harmful information,” shut down 580,000 Internet accounts and had taken down 700 apps in 2018.

Radio Free Asia reported on April 27, 2018 that an unofficial shrine to late supreme leader Mao Zedong and other heroes of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's mythology has been destroyed in Henan province.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's speech at the State Council’s first meeting on clean administration on April 27, 2018 had emphasized that the people should use the Internet and big data to “ oversee the government’s behavior throughout the process. ”

A law to protect the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs has been passed and will take effect on May 1, 2018.

Tanzania has officially submitted its letter of approval on April 24, 2018 for the Bagamoyo Special Economic Zone venture to China Merchants Port, agreeing and accepting the investor’s comprehensive project proposal.

US Admiral Philip Davidson, tipped to take over the US Pacific Command, said in testimony to a US Senate Committee on April 24, 2014 that he will restructure the 375,000 military and civilian personnel, 200 ships and nearly 1,100 aircraft in the region and “recalibrate” the command in line with the Pentagon’s new national defense strategy.

Meeting the Pakistan Navy Chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi in Beijing on April 20, 2018, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe has said that China is willing to work with Pakistan to focus on building a community of human destiny, consolidate the all-weather friendship and deepen pragmatic cooperation between the two armed forces.

An article posted on April 18, 2018 on the Council on Foreign Relations website showed that even though the RMB is the 7th most widely used in global payments, settling 1.6 percent of transactions, it is only the 20th most “globalized” among major currencies—as measured by adjusting for how much trade each country does.

Diao Weiming, Editor-in-Chief of the prominent Maoist website 'Utopia' died in a crash with 36 other people during a tour to North Korea.

On April 17, 2018, Xinhua reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his wife Ri Sol Ju and the head of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee's International Department Song Tao watched a performance of the ballet "The Red Detachment of Women" at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater, Pyongyang on April 16. Kim Jong Un "highly praised the Chinese artists' performance" and took a group photo with them on stage along with his wife Ri Sol Ju.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi travbelled to Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, for an "informal" meting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 27-28, 2018.

Global Times reported on April 25, 2018 that hundreds of primary school students in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region recently recited classic texts from Chinese ancient philosophical works to promote traditional culture.

Students of Beijing University circulated a letter via email on April 25, 2018 protesting against the "anti-sexual harrassment" of a Peking University student and Yue Yue college students in Shenyang for disclosure of information.

China is creating a giant media outlet called Voice of China, which combines the three state television and radio broadcasters namely China Global Television Network, China Radio International, and China National Radio.

The National Cyber Security and Informationization Conference was held in Beijing on April 20-21, 2018. CCP CC General Secretary, Chairman of the State Council, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Director of the Central Cyber ​​Security and Information Technology Committee Xi Jinping attended and delivered an "important" speech.

According to an article the Jing Rong Jie (Financial World) website published on April 14, 2018, during the Tenth Chinese Mulan (Women) Entrepreneur Annual Conference held on April 14 in Beijing, Mao Zhenhua, the Founder and Chairman of China Chengxin Credit Management Company gave a speech in which he stated that, each year, China spends 15 to 17 percent of its GDP to make its interest payments.

South China Morning Post reported (April 14, 2018) that while speaking at a forum in Guangzhou on April 13, 2018, Li Ruogu, the former president of Export-Import Bank of China, said that most of the countries along the route of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, as the plan is known, did not have the money to pay for the projects with which they were involved.

The ossicial Global Times on April 16, 2018 publicised that China's new J-10C fighter jets have been put into service improving the combat capabilities of the PLA Air Force.

45 warships, including two Jin-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), along with at least two new Shang-class nuclear attack submarines, participated in the recent PLAN parade.

On April 8, 2018, PB Member and Director of the CCP CC Central Propaganda Department Huang Kunming attended the unveiling ceremony of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism where he emphasised 'the need to adhere to the guidance of socialist ideas with Chinese characteristics in the new era of Xi Jinping'.

An article in the state-run Global Times on April 12, 2018 by Wu Zhenglong, senior research fellow at the China Foundation for International Studies, claimed "Sino-Indian relations have presented a rosy development scenario recently" and "It seems that a new day has dawned for the two countries which were once at odds."

The official Global Times on April 12, 2018 published an article titled 'CPEC can build bridges between India, Pakistan through economic cooperation' in which it claimed "those most qualified to evaluate the impact and realities of the cooperation in the South Asian country are the people of Pakistan" and that "the project is considered by some Indian observers as a strategic tool of China to contain India's rise".

On April 7, 2018 an unidentified Brigade of the PLA Marine Corps participated in the driving training of armored units in accordance with 'real combat requirements', to fully test the combat driving skills of the driver and improve the maneuverability of the troops in environment of a complex terrain.

Chinese media reports indicate that China's second aircraft carrier might undergo its first sea trial on 23rd April, which is China’s Navy Day.

Russia delivered the first regimental set of S-400 Triumf advanced interceptor-based Air Defense Systems (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) to China under a 2014 government-to-government contract, an unnamed Russian official told TASS news agency on April 3.

The Global Times on April 4, 2018 reported that, according to Russian news media, voices from the Moscow Economic Forum expressed the expectation that China’s tariff hikes on American food would be very helpful in turning Russia into China’s primary foreign food supplier.

FT reported (April 8, 2018) that IMF Chief Ms Christine Lagarde has warned China on Belt and Road to the risks of burdening recipients of its infrastructure finance with heavy debts.

The Japan Times on April 12, 2018 claimed Xi Jinping "has emerged as one of the protectors of the global trade order."

Chen Zongrong, a senior Chinese religious-affairs official described at a press conference in Beijing on April 3, 2018 as a “former vice administrator” of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, said the Chinese government is making concerted efforts to conclude an agreement with the Pope, which would end a decades long rift.

Writing in the US newspaper 'The Beacon' on April 2, 2018, Bill Gertz claimed that a secret program authorized by the CCP CC's General Office approved a "working plan on strengthening the intensity of United Front Work in the area of science and technology of the United States in 2017."

Wang Zuoan has been promoted as Deputy Director of the CCP CC's powerful United Front Work Department (UFWD) as it takes control of all religious.

Almost 6,000 workers in Zhuhai have been on strike since March 29, 2018 after learning that their employer Flex, a NASDAQ-listed technology company, plans to sell Multek, its Chinese subsidiary, to MFLEX, a subsidiary of Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing (DSBJ).

In late March 2018, 3000 Sanitary workers went on a six-day strike in Shanghai's Changning District caused by a $110 pay cut.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on April 12, 2018 that fans of a humorous video app shut down by the ruling Chinese Communist Party for "vulgar content" staged traffic-stopping and horn-honking protests around the country on April 12.

China Daily reported on April 12, 2018 that 54-year old Sun Zhengcai, former secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, went on trial in Tianjin on April 12, 2018 on bribery charges.

Chinese state media reported that two days after the Boao Forum (April 11, 2018), Chinese President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) Xi Jinping reviewed a "spectacular parade" involving 10,000 Naval personnel, China's only operational aircraft carrier, 48 ships and submarines and 76 aircraft.

The Financial Times on April reported that China virtually halted exports of petroleum products, coal and other key materials to North Korea in the months leading to this week’s unprecedented summit between Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Japan Times on April 2, 2018 disclosed that in a phone call on March 9 with U.S. President Donald Trump last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for setting up a new four-way security framework involving China, North Korea, South Korea and the United States to ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The state-run Global Times, published an article on March 27, 2018 citing former Deputy Commander of the Nanjing Military Region, General Wang Hongguang, as declaring that China could take over Taiwan in three days with “six fighting means.”

Duowei News reported on March 31, 2018 that the CCP CC's Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) issued a notice that Feng Xinzhu, Deputy Governor of Shaanxi Province, was “expelled from party membership and stripped of his public office title” for violation of political discipline and rules.

As threatened, China's official news agency on April 2, 2018 confirmed that China with the approval of the State Council and the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council decided, starting April 2, 2018, to suspend tariff concession obligations on the seven categories of 128 imported commodities originating in the United States.

China Education Daily reported on April 2, 2018 that the Xinjiang government will pay special attention to preschool education this year, which includes building more public kindergartens and improving kindergarten students' mandarin in preparation for primary school.

On March 25, 2018 China's Ministry of Education notified that commencing this year's gaokao, sports, math and science competition winners nationwide will no longer get bonus points added to their gaokao results.

Xinhua on March 21, 2018 reported that acting in accordance with the new regulation on enhancing and safeguarding the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee, for the first time Politburo members submitted annual reports on their work to Xi Jinping and the Central Committee.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) issued a statement that China's PLAAF sent four Xian H-6K long-range bombers, one Shaanxi Y-8 electronic countermeasures aircraft, one Tupolev Tu-154MD electronic intelligence plane, and at least two Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter jets through international airspace between the Japanese islands of Okinawa and Miyako in the East China Sea on March 23 as part of a military exercise.

Nikkei Asian Review reported on March 26, 2018 that grassroots activists in Thailand's northern Chiang Rai province have successfully lobbied the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), a state power utility, to suspend its decision to purchase electricity from a controversial hydropower dam proposed by China's Datong Corporation on the Lao side of the Mekong river.

Xinhua and Global Times on March 28, 2018 confirmed that North Korean President Kim Jong Un had visited Beijing from March 25-28 and been "warmly received" by Xi Jinping.

Interesting Engineering reported on March 27, 2018 that China is planning to implement a large-scale weather changing project to ensure a consistent rain supply in the Tibetan Plateau.

China's Xiaomi Corp founder Lei Jun disclosed on March 28, 2018 that it has formed an artificial intelligence team with about 500 employees.

Taiwan`s Ministry of Economic Affairs expressed regret March 23 that the US did not give Taiwan immunity from the Trump tariffs (the ``DTs``?) and therefore will face additional levies of 25 percent on steel imported into the US and 10 percent on aluminum.

According to the Nepal Rashtra Bank, Nepal's exports to China rose by 72% to US$ 17 million in the first 7 months of 2018.

The SCMP published an interview with India's Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale on March 24, 2018 when he said “Political level communication has come back, but more importantly, I think we need to have discussions between the two militaries.

The state-run Global Times on March 21, 2018 published a lengthy article entitled 'Sino-Indian border row a wound from history' the concluding paragraphs offered an insight to China's perception of India's stand on the border issue.

An article in the state-run Global Times on March 22, 2018 captioned 'India shouldn’t make aid to needy neighbors a bargaining chip against China' said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government's generosity "to its neighbors, notably Nepal, is worthy of applause" adding that "Increased Indian pledges of aid can support growth in the recipient countries, thus contributing to the shared prosperity that China, the initiator of the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative, has long advocated".

The state-run Global Times on March 20, 2018 front-paged Iran's invitation to China and Pakistan to participate in construction of the Chabahar Sea Port.

Wang Shumao, a Deputy to the Thirteenth NPC and Deputy Head of the militia at Tanmen, the port township nearest to Nansha in the South China Sea, said to Global Times on the sidelines of the NPC session that China should send more militia missions to safeguard national sovereignty.

On March 23, 2018 the UNHRC passed a resolution that without specifying any immediate action called for “a community of shared future for human beings” and “mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of human rights.”

Bloomberg News cited "numerous sources" as stating on March 26, 2018 that Kim Jong-un is visiting China in what is his first trip outside North Korea since 2011.

Qizhala, Chairman of TAR, said at the NPC that TAR plan to build a modern high altitude economic system. It will focus on supporting key industries that are unique and suitable for its high altitude environment such as tourism, border trade and clean energy.

A People's Daily commentary of March 14. under the pen name “Zhong Sheng” (钟声), which stands for “Voice of China” and authoritatively transmits the official positions of People’s Daily on matters of international affairs, compared China’s Two Sessions with the current political situation in the West.

The People's Daily reported that the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) established 10 Special Committees.

Less than a week after Yi Gang was appointed Governor of PBoC, Beijing unexpectedly placed Guo Shuqing, former head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, as the Communist Party secretary at the central bank.

The new Cabinet announced by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on March 19 at the NPC, included Wang Yi as Foreign Minister, 1954-born former Commander of the PLA Rocket Force Wei Fenghe as Defence Minister, Han Zheng, Sun Chunlan, Hu Chunhua and Liu He as Vice Premiers, Zhao Kezhi as Minister of Public Security, and US-educated former Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China (PBoC) Yu Gang as Governor of PBoC.

A People's Daily commentary on March 14, 2018 under the byline “Zhong Jiyan” (钟纪言) noted that there are 21 amendments to the constitution, 11 of which are related to reforming the country’s supervision system, including those related to the new National Supervision Commission which has been added to Chapter 3, “National Institutions” (国家机构).

On March 15, 2018 Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in an article captioned Unswervingly taking the path of peaceful development and promoting the establishment of a community of human destiny said China "will surely maintain and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era and realize "the goal of struggle and the Chinese dream of a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" which provide a strong constitutional guarantee of "great practical significance and far-reaching historical significance".

Three CCP CC Politburo members published articles in People’s Daily indicating their support for the “CCP Central Committee Decision on deepening structural reforms of Party and state institutions” (中共中央关于深化党和国家机构改革的决定), after Wang Yong introduced plans for institutional reform at the NPC meeting.

Writing in Hongkong's South China Morning Post on March 24, 2018, its former Editor-in-Chief Wang Xiangwei pointed out that the Party's official newspaper 'People’s Daily' in a front page editorial last week described Xi Jinping as “the helmsman of the nation” and the “guide of the people”, both terms very close to how Mao used to be referred to. It is the first time that Xi Jinping has been publicly referred to as "the helmsman".

Publishing the list of congratulatory messages sent to Chinese President Xi Jinping on his re-election as President, the state-run English-language China Daily mentioned the message from Indian Prime Minister Modi at the end.

Taiwan's Defence Ministry reported that the Chinese aircraft carrier 'Liaoning' entered and sailed through the Taiwan Strait on March 20, 2018.

The United States Congress continued its steady support for Tibet through the provision of approximately $20 million for Tibet programs in the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (H.R. 1625).

During the 2016-17 academic year, the number of Chinese students studying in the US climbed to 350,755, accounting for one-third of the 1.1 million foreign students in U.S. universities, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE).

The US announced on March 22, 2018 that it will propose import tariffs amounting to US$50 billion on products from China as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to fight Beijing’s industrial policy that is meant to strengthen the country’s tech sector and long-standing imbalances in the bilateral trade and investment relationship.

Jin Canrong, Professor and Associate Dean with School of International Studies at Renmin University of China and an influential Chinese commentator on China-US relations, on March 12, 2018 wrote that China should be aware of challenges while advancing its diplomatic agenda and advised that China needs new metrics to evaluate diplomatic risks and needs caution and increased emphasis on regional security.

Hongkong's South China Morning Post reported on March 22, 2018 that Shanghai has become the first mainland city to enforce a ban on its registered citizens from holding permanent residency in other countries – for example the US green card.

The Beijing News reported on March 20, 2018 that 17 PLA personnel who decided they were fed up with their daily duties were blacklisted in China’s social credit system, restricting them from traveling by air and rail and from seeking civil service employment.

The official Chinese newspaper 'The Paper' reported on March 19, 2018 that China's Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Civil Affairs had signed an agreement to implement sharing of parties' marriage registration information, minimum guarantee information (including household income information), registration information of social organizations, case information concerning marriage and income-related assets of social assistance recipients, and untrustworthy persons Social organizations) list information, etc.

Following Xi Jinping's re-election as President of China, the CCP official newspaper People’s Daily published a number of greeting letters from foreign leaders.

In an article on March 20, 2018 the US-based Chinese online news outlet Duowei News stated that Xi Jinping has changed his focus on China’s foreign affairs effort, thereby elevating it to an important position and that there will be a major reshaping of China’s foreign affairs work to enable it to play a more important role in the party’s governing body.

Bloomberg News service reported that Chinese companies are purchasing cash-strapped US universities and that four universities have already been purchased.

Alex Wong, US Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, arrived in Taipei on March 20, 2018 a 3-day visit.

Yang Wei, Deputy to the Thirteenth National People's Congress (NPC), Vice President of China Aeronautical Academy and Chief Engineer of J-20 Fighter Jets, said in an interview before the closing session of the 13th NPC that the J-20 has made many "breakthroughs" in many aspects such as situational awareness, information confrontation, airborne weapons, and coordinated operations.

Ye Jiangming, Chairman of the Shanghai-based CEFC China Energy Co. is reported to be under investigation and likely to step down as Chairman soon.

Squads of students dressed in camouflage and helmets performed night time drills recently and clamped down on a range of "inappropriate behaviour", including smoking and dropping litter in the Binzhou Vocational College, in eastern Shandong province, according to videos shared on Chinese social media.

RFA’s Uyghur Service on March reported the death of 17-year-old Yaqupjan Naman of Yekshenbe Bazar township, in Kashgar’s Yopurgha (Yuepuhu) county.

According to a statement sent by Shunxi to the Global Times, China is to build its first DNA database from ethnic minorities of Yunnan Province to assist research into diseases and biological traits.

Over the last few years, China has actually been pouring even more resources into domestic security than external security.

On March 13, 2018, a poster captioned “Protest China’s Pseudo-Constitution and Xi Jinping” appeared in the building of the Student Union of the Shanxi University of China, on the campus billboards and other public places in the University.

CMC -The Chairman of the Central Military Commission Xi Jinping nominated Xu Qiliang and Zhang Hexia as candidates for the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

On March 11, 2018, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed broad changes to the existing government structure. The number of ministries under the State Council, China’s cabinet, will be reduced by eight to 26, while seven non-ministerial agencies will also be cut.

On March 2, Daimler made a surprise announcement that Geely's founder and Chairman, Li Shufu, had acquired almost 10 percent of the automaker.

For the first time since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, a United States aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson, will make a port call in Danang, Vietnam on March 5, 2018.

Voice of America (VoA) reported on March 5, 2018 that China has allegedly detained dozens of Muslim women in its restive Xinjiang province for marrying men of the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region.

A Global Times article of March 6, 2018 quoted a Chinese expert as saying China has the right to build military facilities within its own territory and complaints from New Delhi made "no sense".

The Wall Street Journal on March 6 reported that data from a study by the Center for Global Development, an international think tank, reveals that China is financing as much as $8 trillion in deals as part of its “Belt and Road Initiative” in 68 countries winding through Asia, Africa and Europe.

There is an 8.1% increase in China's defence budget this year bringing the total amount to US$ 175 billion.

The budget proposed by the Ministry of Finance on March 5, 2018 to the first session of the 13th NPC said the Central government will allocate 106.095 billion yuan to subsidize local poverty reduction, an increase of 20 billion yuan, or 23.2 percent over last year.

The constitutional changes including removal of the term limits on the posts of China's President and Vice President were passed by China's National People's Congress on March 11, 2018.

The Australian media reports that China is putting Australia into a diplomatic deep freeze, stalling on ministerial visits, deferring a trip by its top diplomat and putting off a broad range of lower-level ­exchanges to pressure Malcolm Turnbull over the new foreign ­interference laws and naval challenges to disputed Chinese claims in the South China Sea.

The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) Shannan City government announced on March 3 that a new meteorological observation station has been established in the Yumei Township 'frontier well-off model village'.

Unconfirmed reports sourced to Taiwan claim that Ms Hua Chunying, Deputy Director and spokesman for the Information Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MFA), who has been well known for her style and eloquence has reportedly been found with US$ 5 million in her possession by police prosecutors at her residence.

Domestic media outlet Caixin reported on February 28, 2018 that Ye Jianming, founder and Chairman of the Chinese conglomerate CEFC China Energy Co., has been investigated by government authorities.

Speaking to China Daily on March 3, 2018 Liu Zheng, Chairman of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry in Liaoning province, said his company and its parent, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, the world's largest shipbuilder, have acquired the ability to design and build aircraft carriers－the most technologically sophisticated of all surface vessels.

An article in Foreign Policy on March 2, 2018 claimed that as part of the campaign to monitor and control the Uighur diaspora, Chinese police are demanding that Uighurs living in France hand over personal information, photos, and identity documents — and in some cases, the personal information of their French spouses.

The PRC State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office is being 'readjusted' according to the latest restructuring plan to be approved by the NPC that opens on March 5, 2018. Former PRC Ambassador to the UN, Liu Jieyi is expected to play a key role.

It was announced in Beijing on March 2, that the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, will open its annual session on Saturday afternoon in Beijing.

The Third Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was held in Beijing from February 26 to February 28, 2018 where CCP CC General Secretary Xi Jinping made an important speech.

A commentary in the authoritative official Party newspaper 'People's Daily' on March 1, 2018 defended the constitutional change as an "important move."

China's official Global Times on February 26, 2018 reacted sharply to India's 'Milan' Navy Exercises in which 16 nations are participating saying they will "inflame tensions with China, expand potential conflict from land to sea" and has prompted "Chinese observers to warn that Sino-Indian tensions are spreading from the land to the sea and that China should prepare a military response".

China’s overall resources of water are roughly 2,000 cubic meters, but 80 per cent of water resources are in the south. In the north, eight provinces suffer from acute water scarcity, a further four from scarcity.

Liu He, Politburo member, Director of the General Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs and Harvard trained economist fluent in English, arrived in the US for 5 days (February 28 - March 5, 2018) to exchange views on China-US ties and economic and trade cooperation.

China's Ministry of Environmental Protection notified on February 27, 2018 that more than 1,100 people have been held accountable of which 60 are departmental level cadres and more than 240 are division level cadres.

Zhu Zhengfu suggested that mobile telephones be seqized only in cases of criminal investigation and that since they contain a lot of private personal information there should be strict checks and procedures for seizing mobile phones.

Of the 2980 Deputies elected to the 13th NPC more than 2,200, or nearly 75% , of those elected are new deputies.

Xinhua and South China Morning Post both reported on February 25, 2018 that 65-year Yang Jing, Secretary General of China’s State Council, has been removed from his administrative posts, which decide his perks, and demoted from deputy state to ministerial level, partly because of links to troubled businessman Xiao Jianhua.

According to a commentary published in the huaglad.com on February 25, 2018, Ding Xuexiang, Director of the CCP CC General Office and close aide to Xi Jinping, recently spoke at a meeting attended by departments under the Party Central Committee.

In a statement on WeChat on February 25, 2018 addressed to Beijing’s Deputies to China’s National People's Congress (NPC), Li Datong, a former editor for the state-run China Youth Daily, wrote that lifting term limits would “sow the seeds of chaos.

After news emerged on Feburary 25, 2018 that the Chinese Communist Party had proposed abolishing term limits for China’s President and Vice President from the State Constitution, a long-standing meme comparing President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh quickly resurfaced on Sina Weibo and Tencent’s WeChat, including this image showing the bear dressed as a king.

Argentina's Coast Guard said on February 25, 2018 that it opened fire on a Chinese vessel illegally fishing in its waters. Nobody was reportedly injured and the Chinese fishermen were not detained.

South China Morning Post reported on February 21, 2018 that a move is underway in Macau to amend a law which came into force when Macau returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1999 and bar non-Chinese judges in Macau from presiding at court hearings involving national security issues.

The ethnic Hui minority in Gansu which is Muslim apprehend that the latest restrictions on education are the beginning of more severe measures. In January 2018, education officials from the local government in Guanghe county, which is a heavily Muslim area, banned children from attending religious education during the Lunar New Year break.

Taxpolat Tiyip , Prominent scholar, Geographer and President of Xinjiang University in northwestern China was removed from his post and detained after a meeting of Communist Party cadres on March 31, 2017.

The Hongkong Free Press Journal reported on February 20, 2018 that a Chinese Weibo user ZhuoLawyera6j_ – a former lawyer in Shandong province -- had been fined and detained for 10 days.

63-year General Wei Fenghe, a reputed 'quiet achiever' and the last Commander of the PLA Second Artillery Corps, is tipped to be appointed the next Defence Minister at the upcoming NPC session in March 2018. Wei Fenghe was named as one of the members of the Communist Party’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) on October 25.

The Party's official paper, People's Daily on February 15, 2018 front-paged a report highlighting that 'Chinese President Xi Jinping's Spring Festival greetings to all Chinese people with references to hard work and family values on Wednesday have struck a chord with overseas Chinese'.

University of Canterbury Professor Anne-Marie Brady told t he Australian Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee in Canberra of three recent break-ins to her office in December 2017 and at her Upper Riccarton home.

On November 9, 2017 when US President Trump and his team visited Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Chief of Staff John Kelly and a U.S. Secret Service agent skirmished with Chinese security officials over the nuclear football.

The number of Chinese tourists to Antarctica and the Arctic has spiked. Antarctica attracted 5,289 Chinese visitors last year - making up 12 per cent of visitors - overtaking Australians as the second-largest group of travellers there.

China's official Global Times on February 15, 2018 reported that China had "expressed firm opposition" to the visit by Prime Minister Modi "to a disputed area, urging the Indian side not to take action that could complicate the boundary issue". It quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang as saying "China's position on the China-India boundary question is consistent and clear-cut.

UK's Financial Times reported on February 19, 2018 that China has been quietly holding talks with Pakistani tribal separatists for more than five years in an effort to protect the $60bn worth of infrastructure projects in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

There is a lot of focus on the activities of the Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSA) set up by Chinese diplomatic missions in the US and elsewhere including the funding received by them from the Chinese Embassy/Consulates.

A commentary written on January 31, 2018 in the People’s Daily Foreign Edition’s Wang Hailou (望海楼) column, an important column that targets foreign Chinese speakers, discusses the “guiding opinion on pushing forward the reform and development of the Confucius Institute” (关于推进孔子学院改革发展的指导意见) recently passed by the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform.

PLAAF: J-11 FIGHTER JETS IN MILITARY EXERCISES

There was a fire in Lhasa's famous Tibetan Buddhist Jokhang Temple on February 17, 2018 night but reports say that it did not destroy the whole temple.

Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) Member and CDIC Chairman Zhao Leji (赵乐际) addressed the Central Inspection Work Mobilization and Deployment Conference held in Beijing on February 2, 2018.

1958-born PLAAF General Yi Xiaoguang was on February 1, 2018 been appointed Commander of the PLA Central Theater Command, becoming the first-ever PLAAF officer to be appointed as head of a Theater Command.

Nikkei reported that Apple is in talks with Yangtze Memory Technologies over a potential deal for purchase of storage chips from the Chinese state-backed semiconductor manufacturer.

Foreign Policy on February 14, 2018 published an article revealing that the Georgetown University Chinese Students and Scholars Association disclosed in September 2011 that the group received $800 each semester that school year from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.

In a notice issued on February 15, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the US highlighted various concerns, including whether the deal would allow it to supervise the exchange properly.

Mong Pao reported on February 13, 2018 that the CCP Central Committee and PRC State Council issued a circular in January month urging the entire nation to launch a "special campaign to eliminate the evil in black" and move rapidly around the country.

117 Tibetan intellectuals published a letter on Trimleng, an important forum for discussion particularly on legal and policy issues affecting Tibetans in Tibet, on January 11, 2018.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) on February 4, 2018, quoted a “senior scientist involved with the programme” as saying there is a project underway to update the computer systems on PLAN nuclear submarines with an AI​ ​decision-support system with “its own thoughts” that would reduce commanding officers’ workload and mental burden.

A Chinese source has been quoted as saying that a new government directive requires the PLA personnel to stop using their phones and buy a new kind. The name of the phone is nt clear but it could be the 'OPPO'.

23 election units, including the Theater Commands, all armed forces, Departments and Commissions of the military authority, the Academy of Military Sciences, the National Defense University, and the National University of Defense Technology, convened a conference of military representatives to elect Deputies to the 13th NPC session by secret ballot.

On February 10, 2018, CCP CC General Secretary and Chairman of the CMC, Xi Jinping visited a base in Sichuan and met the officers and soldiers and extended sincere New Year greetings on behalf of the Central Committee and CMC.

Lu Wei, former Deputy Head of the CCP CC Publicity Department and former Head of the Cyberspace Administration of China, has been expelled from the Party.

Former PBSC member Wang Qishan has been elected on January 29, 2018 as one of 118 Deputies from Hunan Province to the National People's Congress (NPC).

On February 12, 2018 on the eve of Spring Festival -- that commences on February 15 -- the 'People's Daily' and CCTV co-produced the online micro-video "People's Leader."

According to a report dated February 3, 2018, construction of a Chinese data centre for Apple Inc, the U.S. tech giant, is scheduled to begin later this year and the centre is expected to open in 2020.

The official CCP newspaper People's Daily on February 9, 2018, observed that Daimler’s Chairman Dieter Zetsche and Daimler Greater China’s Chairman Hubertus Troika sent a joint letter of apology to the Chinese ambassador in Germany on Wednesday, sincerely apologizing to China for quoting the Dalai Lama in a social media post.

Dutch newspapers on February 7, 2018 reported that during his brief visit to Beijing – on his way to the Winter Olympics – Dutch King Willem-Alexander had dinner with Xi Jinping and raised the issues of human rights in China.

3258 private teachers in Hubei province jointly wrote a letter to PRC Premier Li Keqiang which they posted on a blog on February 9.

Beijing Review on February 9 said that the PRC Ministry of Education had instructed that supervisors of postgraduate students should have ethics and maintain socialist ways of teaching and that offenders will be punished.

The Vice Minister of Justice Xiong Xuanguo released the document on judicial reforms entitled 'Interpretations for Administrative Procedure Law', which is based on the "Opinions on Accelerating the Reform of Judicial Administration" which began being drafted in Match 2017.

The Wall Street Journal on February 7, 2018 reported that Beijing police are using a new addition to their crowd-surveillance toolbox: mobile facial-recognition units mounted on eyeglasses.

Bloomberg News on February 7, 2018 reported that China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) was being overhauled with more authority being given to Ambassadors on matters regarding personnel deployment and budgets.

On January 29, 2018 afternoon a PLAAF aircraft crashed during flight training in Guizhou killing all the crew.

By the beginning of February 2018, the Military Energy Bureau of the Military Logistics Department under the CMC disclosed that 144 border posts of the entire army have been connected to the national power grid, and electric power has been made widely available for application in such fields as combat readiness, equipment support, medical communication in the work and life of the frontier defense units.

In recent months, 12 experts and leaders of PLA Universities and Military Units divided into six groups and went to various units to explain the 'spirit' of the 19th Party Congress and 'Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era'.

The pope has decided to recognize seven government-appointed Chinese bishops, according to a person familiar with the matter, in a major concession to Beijing in pursuit of warmer relations and—in the very long term—possible re-establishment of diplomatic ties broken in 1951.

The Washington Post reported on January 30, 2018 that Japanese retailer Muji has been ordered by Chinese authorities to destroy a catalog with a map that Beijing says mislabels Taiwan and omits disputed islands, joining a string of companies rebuked for commercial materials that fail to reflect China’s territorial claims.

China’s Commerce Ministry said on February 4, 2018 that it had initiated an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation after preliminarily finding that heavy volumes and low prices of American exports of sorghum, bolstered by U.S. government subsidies, hurt Chinese growers.

The Chinese-language Global Times on February 2, 2018 in an editorial praised British Prime Minister Theresa May f or "wisely" resisting calls to publicly challenge Beijing over Hong Kong and human rights during her three-day visit.

Spokesman for the Chinese Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office Ma Xiaoguang said Taiwan's move to cancel 176 flights over the holiday beginning February 16 is creating inconveniences and is “foolish and unpopular.”

RFA on January 31, 2018 cited official Chinese media reports saying that China will begin blocking overseas providers of virtual private networks (VPN) used to circumvent its Great Firewall of government censorship from March 31, 2018.

The Cyberspace Administration of China on January 31, 2018 announced that as of December 2017, the number of netizens in China reached 772 million with a penetration rate of 55.8%, surpassing the global average of 51.7% by 4.1% and surpassing the Asian average of 46.7% by 9.1%.

The Cyberspace Administration of China on February 2, 2018 published new regulations entitled 'Microblogging Information Service Management Regulations' to come into force from March 20, 2018.

China's Ministry of Culture (MOF) on February 2, 2018 publicised that as of January 30, all major internet culture units had 'cleaned up' 3898 videos of spoofs of classic revolutionary songs and of spoofed 165 songs.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on January 31, 2018 that Ngawang Tsomo, 51 , a Tibetan nun and former political prisoner jailed for seven years after calling for an end to Chinese rule in Tibet, has died of complications arising from a chronic ailment.

Following the issue by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CMBPA) at end October last year, of the "Proposal on Pilot Project of Reforming the National Surveillance System across the Country", all 31 provinces and Autonomous Regions have appointed heads of the Supervisory Commissions.

The Dutch media reported that the University of Groningen has cancelled plans to establish an education center in Yantai University because of concerns about academic freedom and independence.

The Yomiuri Shimbun on January 29, 2018 reported that Japan and China are likely to restart their education and training exchanges for defense officials in September, after a six-year hiatus. It said both governments are making arrangements to resume the exchanges.

The China Reform Monitor" on January 8, 2018 reported that Pakistan will now pay for imports from China in yuan rather than in U.S. dollars.

Chinese websites kept a post of the US-based Stratfor, reporting that upgrading work had been carried out at Shigatse military airfield in Tibet between September 2017 and January 2018.

The official Global Times on January 29, 2018 cited Sina Weibo microblog posts, which were subsequently deleted, as saying a mosque in the city of Baoshan opened classes during winter vacation for "left-behind" Muslim children to learn Arabic, study the Koran, Islamic culture and customs.

The Uyghur Human Rights Project reported (January 29, 2018) ) that prominent 82-year old Uyghur scholar Muhammad Salih Hajim died in Chinese police custody 40 days after he was detained in Urumqi. His daughter and other relatives were also detained.

From January 23 to January 27, 2018 the PLA Army organized a collective group study of military cadres on news and public opinion.

The eople's Daily on January 25, 2018 cited a Legal Daily report to say that 60 days after the 19th Party Congress, seven centrally managed cadres (中管干部), including National Energy Administration Deputy Head Wang Xiaolin and former Propaganda Department Deputy Head Lu Wei (鲁炜), had been put under investigation.

Wang Yajun (王亚军) was appointed Deputy Minister of the CCP International Department and Wang Xiaohui (王晓晖) was appointed Executive Deputy Head of the Propaganda Department.

The Cyberspace Administration of China on January 27, 2018 ordered Sina Weibo, one of the country's largest social media platforms, to temporarily shut down several portals for spreading content that allegedly contradicts Chinese values.

Website navy.81.cn, affiliated to PLA Daily, reported on January 25, 2018, that six landing ships were taking part in an exercise in the South China Sea on January 22, 2018.

Peole's Daily on January 24, 2018 reported that China deployed its new electronic-warfare aircraft in its recent combat maneuvers in a move which, it said, many military experts believe will help boost Chinese naval power in the disputed South China Sea.

Xinhua reported on January 28, 2018 that the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and centrally administered Tianjin Municipality revised down their 2016 GDP numbers. Inner Mongolia adjusted down its public budget revenue by 26.3 percent, or 53 billion yuan (US$8.5 billion) and industrial added value down by 40 percent, or 290 billion yuan (US$46 billion).

BBC on January 26, 2018 reported that China's smartphone market has fallen for the first time since 2009, with annual shipments down by 4% in 2017, according to data from research firm Canalys.

China News Agency on January 26, 2018 reported that since 2016, in accordance with the overall plan of the Central Government's precise poverty alleviation strategy, the Office of the Overseas Chinese Affairs of the State Council has taken advantage of its resources and solidly promoted poverty alleviation work for overseas Chinese.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, there were 17.23 million babies born in China in 2017, a drop of 630,000 from a year earlier.

The first session of the Eleventh Tibet Committee of the CPPCC (hereinafter referred to as the CPPCC National Committee) was held in Lhasa on January 23, 2018.

An article in the New York Times on January 28, 2018 said China was using the WEF meeting to further extend its influence. President Michel Temer of Brazil received an unexpected offer from Beijing for Latin American nations to work closely with a Chinese initiative, known as the Belt and Road.

On January 25, 2018, Beijing confirmed it will participate in the summer’s Rim of the Pacific Exercise off Hawaii June 27 to August 2, 2018.

The official Party paper People's Daily reported on January 10, 2018 that the US company Apple had announced that, starting on February 28, it will hand over its iCloud service for Chinese customers to the Guizhou Provincial government-owned 'Guizhou Cloud Big Data (GCBD)'. GCBD will be responsible for the iCloud operations serving customers in China and also responsible for legal and financial relations with those customers.

The official WeChat account of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Procuratorate said on January 28, 2018 that Liu Hua, People's Procurator the People's Procuratorate of Jiangsu Province, informed a People's Congressional meeting that the Suzhou Municipal Procuratorate had initiated prosecution of Ma Liangliang and Liang Xin for providing major espionage cases for military intelligence to overseas organizations.

In a three-page letter to the Interior Minister, Governor Yun Min warned that the Chinese influx had "created opportunities for Chinese mafia to come in and commit various crimes and kidnap Chinese investors, causing insecurity in the province".

Zhang Xin Source:Global Times Published: 2018/1/25 21:18:39

The Catholic News Agency on January 23, 2018, reported that 88-year-old Bishop Peter Zhuang Jianjian of Shantou in southern Guangdong province refused a request made by the Holy See in December to retire.

The Wall Street Journal reported on January 23, 2018 that last Fall a U.S. intelligence-community contest sought algorithms that could identify surveillance images of people out of a database of millions of photos.

Ex-World Health Organisation head 70-year old Dr Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, Hongkong's first Chief Executive 80-year old Tung Chee-hwa, previous Food and Health Minister Dr Ko Wing-man; ex-Security Chief Lai Tung-kwok; and former Police Commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung are among those recommended for membership to CPPCC.

The State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China published a white paper titled "China's Arctic Policy" which it released on January 26, 2018. With this China joins other non-Arctic states including Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan in presenting an Arctic policy document.

Liu He, Politburo member and Director of the General Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, told Global Times on January -- that China is prepared to "further open up in four aspects," including the financial, manufacturing and services sectors as well as strengthen intellectual property protection and expand imports.

To promote its effort to recruit Tibetans in the CCP and expand Party surveillance in the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Chamdo City Party organisation in December 2017 began utilising 'unemployed' Party members in the pastoral areas to play the role of propagandist and 'participate in the Party’s internal work.

The Tibet Daily publicised on December 23, 2017 that in order to enhance the overall capacity of volunteers in TAR and upgrade the management and systematization of volunteer service, the Tibet Autonomous Region Culture Bureau held a training class for volunteers in Lhasa that day.

A meeting on January 23, 2018 of the National Bureau of Letters and Visits disclosed that the number of online petitions in China increased in 2017 by 79.4%.

The Central Political and Legal Work Conference held its meeting in Beijing on January 22, which was addressed over by Politburo member Guo Shengkun.

59-year old Ms Tsui yi Ying, a woman of Tibetan origin, was appointed Party Secretary of Fujian province on Janary 21, 2018.

Beijing University (Beida), also known as Peking University (PKU), announced on January 23, 2018, the opening of a new department to study "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era".

China's official newsagency Xinhua reported that on January 23, 2018 Xi Jinping General Secretary and chairman of the CCP CC, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and Chairman of the Leading Group for Deepening the Reform of the Central Government, presided over the second meeting of the leading group and delivered an important speech.

Hongkong's South China Morning Post reported on January 22, 2018 that the Chinese Academy of Sciences had this month disclosed that it has planted two powerful cutting-edge acoustic sensors – some of which have a listening range of more than 1,000km – for scientific research such as studying earthquakes, typhoons and whales near Guam, America’s biggest military base in the Western Pacific.

The New York Times reported on January 22, 2018 that 53-year old Gui Minhai, a Hongkong bookseller who was one of five Hong Kong booksellers who disappeared in 2015, 'disappeared' yet again when in dramatic fashion when he was snatched from a train bound for Beijing by ten plainclothes police officers under the eyes of two Swedish diplomats.

Almost 800,000 Chinese students studying in overseas universities are not yet under the Party’s control.

According to an article published by Xinhua on January 15, 2018, only 11 Chinese companies made the Fortune Global 500 list in 2002, but, in 2017, 115 Chinese companies made the list compared to 132 U.S. companies.

On January 16, 2018, China's Ministry of Education issued directions for the further study and implementation of the spirit of the 19th Party Congress and to "further promote Xi Jinping's new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics into the classroom into the brain, and constantly improve the quality and level of ideological and political course construction."

Al Jazeera reported on January 17, 2018 that Chinese government authorities have banned Muslim children from attending religious events during winter break in Linxia county in Gansu province where there are many members of the Muslim Hui ethnic minority.

A meeting for the heads of the united front work departments nationwide was held in Beijing on January 1, 2018. United Front Work Department head and CCP Secretariat member You Quan presided over the meeting and emphasiSed the reinforcement of Party building, especially political construction, in the united front work system.

At least three article in the CDIC magazine “China Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision” made specific critical mention of the now incarcerated former Politburo member Sun Zhengcai.

The official China Daily on January 11, 2018 quoted the official news agency Xinhua as saying at the second plenary session of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that on January 5, 2018 General Secretary of the CCP Xi Jinping asked Chinese Communist Party officials to remain loyal to the Party "at any time, and under any circumstance."

Xinhua on January 8, 2018 reported that Full and Alternate members of the 19th CCP CC as well as provincial and ministerial-level officials attended a 4-day workshop at the CCP's Central Party School where they were urged to "resolutely defend General Secretary Xi Jinping's core status in the CPC Central Committee and the whole Party."

The Chinese Embassy website announced that on January 18, PRC Ambassador Luo Zhaohui met and hosted a banquet for Professor Anita Sharma, Chairperson of the Department of East Asian Studies at Delhi University, her husband and Professor Ye Shujun, to exchange views on academic exchange and cooperation.

Responding to recent observations by Indian Army Chief General Rawat and satellite photographs published by the Indian newspaper The Print, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang at the routine weekly press briefing in Beijing on January 18, 2018 asserted "China's position on the Donglang (Doklam) area is quite clear.

The state-owned Global Times on January 11, 2018, said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been fully executing military training instructions issued by President Xi Jinping on January 3 by conducting drills at home and abroad involving its ground forces, navy, air force, rocket force and armed police, as the PLA's news media cautioned the troops on January 11 of imminent threats and to avoid complacency.

Associated Press on January 17, 2018 reported Chen Xiaoping, a New York-based editor at Chinese-language Mirror Media Group, as saying that his wife has been kidnapped and held for months by Chinese security forces after he extensively interviewed New York-based exiled businessman Guo Wengui.

Reuters reported on January 18, 2018 that US Congressmen are urging AT&T Inc., the No. 2 wireless carrier in the US, to cut all commercial ties to Chinese phone maker Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. They are also opposing plans by China Mobile Ltd to enter the US market because of national security concerns.

A bipartisan group of US Senators is urging the US Justice Department to examine why Chinese state media outlets operating in the United States have not registered as foreign agents. In a letter to US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on January 16, seven senators led by Sens.

Mingpao on January 18, 2018 reported that at least two young Maoists had been detained for organising reading groups and talking about 'June Fourth'.

The official newspaper 'The Paper' on January 16, 2018 reported the decisions taken at the Ministerial Meeting of the CCP CC's United Front Work Department (UFWD) the same day.

Xinhua announced that in the communique issued after its second plenary session on January 13, 2018, the Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) listed its priorities for this year.

China's official news agency Xinhua reported that at a meeting of the Politburo in Beijing on January 12 it was agreed that the proposal to amend the country's Constitution should only include "changes to part of it, not revision on a large scale."

The CCP CC held its second plenary session on January 18-19, 2018 when, according to China's official news agency Xinhua, it passed a resolution approving amendment of China's constitution to incorporate 'Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era' in view of it having generated "national fervour".

People were not permitted to commemorate former ousted CCP CC General Secretary Zhao Ziyang on his thirteenth death anniversary at his former home in Beijing on January 18, 2018.

Southern Weekend, a Chinese media headquartered in Guangzhou of Guang Dong Province, published an article on December 7, 2017 detailing how China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) carry out the (Communist) Party’s activities in their overseas operations.

Radio Free Asia reported on January 5, 2018 that the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region authorities had after seven months disclosed the arrest in Kashi city, Kashgar of Xinjiang's four wealthiest men for acts of “religious extremism”.

According to Xinhua, China on January 9, 2018 launched a pair of 0.5-meter high-resolution remote sensing satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province.

Quoting the official news agency Xinhua, the state-owned China Daily on January 6, 2018 reported that a new 10,000- metric ton Chinese-built naval destroyer entered the water in June and is now being outfitted.

Citing Taiwan military experts, a report in China's social media said China's latest aircraft carrier 002 will conduct its first maritime navigation trial in the near future around the Spring Festival and will be delivered to the Navy in 2020.

According to Xinhua on January 9, 2018 former General Fang Fenghui, member of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) and former chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department, has been transferred to the military prosecution authority on suspicion of offering and accepting bribery.

On January 3, 2018 Xi Jinping addressed via video 7000 PLA personnel at the Baoding Training Centre in Hebei Province and PLA troops at another 4000 bases across the country. Wearing camouflage battle fatigues, Xi Jinping In his 3 minute speech, asked the PLA to prepare for war and not fear fighting.

Reuters reported on January 3, 2018 that Chinese company Ant Financial’s plan to acquire U.S. money transfer company MoneyGram was denied by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

Deng Yuwen, a researcher at China's Charhar Institute think-tank and who formerly worked in the Study Times, a newspaper of the Central Party School when Xi Jinping was its President but was removed and penalised after advocating a rethink of China’s policy towards N Korea as Xi Jinping became General Secretary, wrote in Hongkong's South China Morning Post on January 3, 2018.

Data published on January 1, 2018 by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television showed gross box office in China expanding from RMB45.7 billion in 2016 to RMB55.9 billion in 2017.

In an article published in Tibet Daily on December 20, 2017, Dawa Tsering, member of the Shannan Municipal CPPCC Standing, Vice Chairman of the Tibet Branch of the Buddhist Association of China and President of the Buddhist Association of Nan Shan, Samye Monastery monks, disclosed that 'guided by the Spirit' of the 19th Party Congress religious circles in Shannan City "organized propaganda groups to conduct propaganda activities in various temples and monasteries and monasteries, setting off a wave of studying the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the Ninth National Committee of the CPC Central Committee and the CPC Central Committee".

The International Campaign for Tibet on January 3 2018 reported that Tibetan shopkeeper Tashi Wangchuk, who has been in prison since January 2016 after giving an interview to New York Times in 2015 that was critical of Chinese cultural and educational policies on Tibetans, is due to be tried.

40-year old Shonu Palden, a former Tibetan political prisoner, was summoned by police in Gansu province’s Machu (in Chinese, Maqu) county on December 27 and was questioned for hours about a report published by the Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) earlier in the month.

China is plans for lunar exploration are proceeding rapidly and in 2018, China will launch a pair of missions known collectively as Chang’e 4. These are the fourth mission in a series named after the Chinese moon goddess.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on January 4, 2018 that online Chinese news platform Toutiao is recruiting some 2,000 editors to oversee content delivered to its smartphone app, after being admonished last week for alleged breaches of regulations and for spreading "pornographic and vulgar content."

The state-owned Global Times quoted China's official news agency Xinhua as reporting on January 4, 2018 that China's underwater glider Haiyi, which means "sea wings" in Chinese, successfully ended its mission to the Indian Ocean and South China Sea.

Pengpai News reported on January 1, 2018, that it had learned from authoritative sources that Lt General Xu Anxiang, former Deputy Commander of the Southern Theatre Command and Commander of the Theater Command Air Force, and Major General Yu Qingjiang, former Chief of the Air Command Academy, have become members of the PLA Air Force Party Standing Committee.

Addresssing 7000 PLA personnel during a parade in Hebei, Xi Jinping asked them to fear “neither hardship nor death” as they implemented the Communist party’s orders.

China's official newsagency Xinhua on December 31, 2017 front-paged CCP CC General Secretary Xi Jinping's 1161-word New Year message, which was also repeated by China Radio International, China National Radio, China Central Television, China International Television (China Globo) and the Internet published Er 〇 Yi Ba New Year address.

The New York Times reported on December 28, 2017 that China's Finance Ministry had decided that from January 1, 2018 it would temporarily exempt foreign companies from paying tax on their earnings in a bid to keep American businesses from taking their profits out of China following Washington’s overhaul of the United States tax code.

Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun on December 31, 2017, said that Shinzo Abe's government in Japan is trying to improve relations with China by cooperating on development assistance to African countries with a view to gaining African support for becoming a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

Controversy about a China-born member of New Zealand's parliament has prompted Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters on December 20, 2017, to call for an investigation of Jian Yang, a National Party MP who previously worked 10 years for Chinese Military Intelligence.

On December 21, 2017, the official Tibet Daily publicised that Jiang Jie,member of the Standing Committee of District Party Committee and Standing Vice Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), led a team to Yumai Township, Longzi County, Shannan City to conduct field research to "guide the construction of a well-off and well-to-do demonstration township at Yumei Township".

China issued a number of documents demanding that the Party, the government organs, the schools, and other organizations prohibit any participation in activities related to Western religious festivals.

Ms Tian Xiangli has been appointed as the Head of the Sichuan Provincial United Front Works Department.

The state-owned Global Times announced on December 29, 2017 that effective January 1, 2018, China will launch a website that allows members of the public to make tip-offs on information suspected of undermining national security and rumors about the military.

Xinhua reported on December 30, 2017, that responsibility for guarding China's national flag and firing salute cannons will be transferred to the PLA starting January 1, 2018.

China's official news agency Xinhua reported on December 27, 2017 that the 1.5 million strong People’s Armed Police Force (PAPF) will be brought under the direct control of the Central Military Commission with effect from January 1, 2018.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on December 28, called on China's diplomats attending the Foreign Ministry's annual meeting at the Great Hall of the People, to remain loyal to the Party and make contributions to the nation.

Addressing a press conference for foreign journalists on December 5, 2017, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Minister Chang Hsiao-Yueh declared that China would “pay a very very high price” if it invaded Taiwan.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that on December 18, 2017, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) flew two Xian H-6K long-range heavy bombers, two Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighter jets, and one Tupolev Tu-154MD electronic intelligence aircraft through the Tsushima Strait, a waterway between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

China State Television was quoted by Hongkong's South China Morning Post as showing live images of the AG600 lifting off from Zhuhai airport in Guangdong province. The official news agency Xinhua described the aircraft as the “protector spirit of the sea, islands and reefs”.

China.com on December 18, 2017 reported that Chinese lawmakers had recently passed The Regulations of The People’s Liberation Army Civilian Personnel.

The official Global Times on December 25, 2017 reported that China's Education Ministry plans to send more than 10,000 experienced teachers to the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to improve education in the regions.

The Southern Mongolia Human Rights Information Centre (SMHRIC) on December 22, 2017, reported that the Bayangol No.3 High School, the last school to provide instruction in the Mongolian language in the Bayangol Prefecture of China’s “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” was banned from using Mongolian earlier this week.

An article in the state-owned Global Times on December 25, 2017 said that a high priority item for 2018 on the agenda of China's annual central conference on rural work, which will set the tone for next year's agricultural and rural development and is expected to convene in Beijing soon, is revitalising the countryside.

Reuters quoted China's official news agency Xinhua as reporting on December 24, 2017 that China has closed more than 13,000 websites since the beginning of 2015 for breaking the law or other rules and that the vast majority of people support government efforts to clean up cyberspace.

A Spanish court on December 15, 2017, granted China's extradition request for 121 Taiwanese accused of belonging to Spain-based gangs that swindled people in China out of millions of euros by telephone. Interpol told Spain about the scam a year ago, and Spanish and Chinese authorities cooperated in an operation that nabbed a total of 269 people. The National Court ruled there was no impediment to the extradition. Spain has an extradition treaty with China and no diplomatic relations with Taipei.

South China Morning Post reported on December 16, 2017, that at a conference on the crisis in the Korean Peninsula in Beijing recently Shi Yinhong, Professor of International Relations at Renmin University who also advises the State Council, warned “Conditions on the peninsula now make for the biggest risk of a war in decades.”

During a meeting between PLA Navy Commander Shen Jinlong and the Australian Navy Chief Tim Barrett on December 14, 2017, the PLAN Commander is reported to have said “The situation in the South China Sea is positive, but a series of moves by the Australian army this year have compromised the overall trend of peace and stability in the area.

The Dalai Lama, who already has a Twitter account with more than 16 million followers, has launched a mobile app for followers to stay up to date with his travels and teachings.

On December 11, 2017, Yin Shun, a Buddhist monk and Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China and President of the Hainan Buddhist Association, said that "the Communist Party is the living Buddha of the world."

Quoting sources Radio Free Asia (RFA) on December 14, 2017, reported that authorities in Sichuan province have further tightened controls at the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, setting up checkpoints at which monks, nuns, and visitors must now show permits allowing them to enter.

A new White Paper titled "New Progress in the Legal Protection of Human Rights in China" issued by China's State Council Information Office on December 15, 2017, claimed China has put people first in its judicial system, integrated criminal punishment with human rights protection and pressed ahead with judicial system reform effectively enhancing judicial protection of human rights over the last five years.

On December 15, 2017, Eugene K Chow wrote that in a major breakthrough, China recently unveiled a formidable new high-altitude drone that could give its military a significant advantage.

Chinese President Xi Jinping inspected the PLA's 71st Group Army in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province on December 13, 2017. He urged the army to restructure and enhance its combat capability and asked officers of the Group Army to grasp the spirit of the 19th Party Congress and incorporate the principles into military practice.

Xinhua on December 15, 2017, quoted Russian President Putin as saying at his annual press conference: "I am fully convinced that the development of relations with China enjoys a national consensus in Russia, and irrespectively of the outcome of the (Russian presidential) election campaign, Russia and China will remain strategic partners for an extensive historic perspective."

PLA Major General Jin Yinan was a guest at the military forum “National Defense Space” on The Voice of China {a radio station} on December 7, 2017, talking about the recent North Korean intercontinental missile launch and the US-Korea joint military exercises.

Chinese security guards on December 14, 2017, attacked South Korean reporters travelling with South Korea President Moon Jae-in at a trade fair in Beijing.

An official document jointly issued on December 12, 2017, by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and State Oceanic Administration said China will advance construction of seawater desalination projects on about 100 islands in coastal provinces including Liaoning, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Hainan in the next 3 to 5 years.

Shen Jinke, spokesman for the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force, said at a meeting of senior air force officers that a PLAAF fighter plane took part in a regular patrol exercise on Decemer 11, 2017.

The South China Morning Post reported on December 14, 2017, that in a bid to tighten control of its borders and prepare for any future problems in the region, China is improving its military infrastructure, including new mortar and gun positions, at a site between five and 10km from the site of this summer’s stand-off on the Doklam Plateau.

The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on December 11 approved its first corporate lending — a US$ 250 million loan that will allow state-owned Beijing Gas Group to extend gas pipeline infrastructure to roughly 217,000 households around Beijing by 2021.

The Global Times on December 11, 2017, asserted that an increase in security input by Chinese enterprises is more important.

The state-owned Global Times on December 11, 2017, quoted experts as saying the PLA's ground force's top priority is actual combat readiness and that it had been selecting and deploying officers based on battle requirements.

The state-owned Global Times on December 13, 2017, reported that in a a move "to inherit traditional Chinese culture and explore core socialist values", the 7th Primary School, located in Kuqa county, Aksu prefecture invited calligraphy expert Wang Zufeng to teach students, and displayed the students' calligraphy works on campus.

China's official news agency Xinhua reported on December 14, 2017, that the CCP Central Committee on December 14, approved the founding of 10 research institutes on “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”.

The Australian Intelligence organisation ASIO has identified about 10 ­political candidates at state and local government elections whom it believes have close ties to Chinese intelligence services.

A statement by the Russian Ministry of Defence said that Russia and China have kicked-off a series of joint air defense exercises called Aerospace Security-2017, highlighting the growing strategic partnership between the two great powers.

A report in Taipei Times on December 10, 2017, quoted a senior US-based PRC diplomat as saying "Cross-strait ties are none of the US’ business and do not need to rely on the mediation of any other nation".

Xiaomi Founder and CEO Lei Jun said in November 2017 that India, the world’s second most populous market, is Xiaomi’s top priority and that the company plans to invest US$1 billion in 100 Indian start-ups over the next five years to create an ecosystem of apps for Xiaomi phones.

On December 8, 2017, the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad took the unusual step of posting on its official website a warning to Chinese nationals of plans for a series of imminent “terrorist attacks” on Chinese targets there.

An article in the state-owned Global Times on December 12, 2017, confirmed that the Sri Lanka government had last week handed over the Hambantota Port to China on a 99-year lease, which had "stirred alarm in New Delhi".

The American Enterprise Institute this summer estimated approx US$1.6 trillion of contracts in OBOR countries since 2005. However, actual investment is a mere $98 billion.

China's official news agency Xinhua reported on December 4, 2017, that a recent 4-day high-level political party conference in Beijing called 'Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting' had representatives of nearly 300 political parties and organizations from more than 120 countries.

The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center's (SMHRIC) intervention at the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues 10th Session held in Geneva from November 29 to December 1, 2017, as well as the transcripts of responses from a Chinese GONGO (government operated non-governmental organization) and the Chinese Government delegation, were publicised by SMHRIC on December 8, 2017.

In February 2017, the Xinjiang government authorised an official document called “The [Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous] Region Working Guidelines on the Accurate Registration and Verification of Population” (全区人口精准登记核实工作指南, “The Population Registration Program”) specifying that it would be carried out in stages.

China's Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) announced on its website on November 21, 2017, that Lu Wei, the former head of the Chinese Internet regulator, has been placed under corruption investigation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the Politburo's second 'collective study session' on December 8, 2017 when he outlined a strategy for the implementation of national big data.

Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland called on China to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief to visit Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.

The Saudi-founded, London-based media company Asharq Al-Awsat reported from Beirut on November 29, 2017, that China will soon its Special Forces to Syria to participate in countering terrorism of the Islamic East Turkestan Movement in the Damascus countryside.

Derek M Scissors, a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in National Interest on November 27, 2017, that estimates of China's GDP as compared to that of the US are over rated as are those of its wealth.

The PLA Navy (PLAN) inducted two Type 056/056A Jiangdao-class corvettes into service in November 2017.

A 40-day campaign to evict and remove homeless migrant workers from Beijing got seriously underway from November 18, 2017. Reports on blog sites claim that some hanged themselves on receiving the 'removal' notices. Rumours say that Beijing has a population of over 7 million and the aim is to bring it down to around 5 million.

Radio Free Asia reported that authorities of Sichuan province on October 29, 2017, disallowed a major prayer gathering called Dechen Shedrub at the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy reversing an earlier decision to allow the festival.

A 63-year old Tibetan monk, Tenga, self-immolated on November 26, 2017, in Kardze county, Sichuan province.

An article by Chen Meidong in the Renmin Wang of November 27, 2017, expanded on Xi Jinping's remarks in his Work Report to the 19th Party Congress and advanced the proposition that "socialism with Chinese characteristics has broadened the path to modernisation for developing countries".

62-year Wang Huning, PBSC member in charge of ideology and the propaganda apparatus and head of the CCP CC Secretariat, made his first major speech since joining the Politburo Standing Committee on December 3, 2017, at a conference in Wuzhen staged to show China's technological strengths.

Xinhua on November 27, 2017, publicised that major publishing houses from 16 countries have signed memorandums with the Foreign Languages Press (FLP) to translate and publish the second volume of Chinese President Xi Jinping's book on governance.

On November 28, 2017, the Yueyang Intermediate People's Court of Hunan Province sentenced Li Mingzhe, a citizen of Taiwan, and Peng Yuhua, a Chinese citizen, to "Subversion of State Power".

The United States has charged 61-year old Cheikh Gadio, a former Senegalese foreign minister and Chi Ping Patrick Ho, 68 years, of Hong Kong with bribing high-level officials in Chad and Uganda in exchange for contracts for a Chinese oil and gas company.

Wu Yingzhuo, Dong Hao and Xia Lei, all Chinese nationals and residents of China, were indicted on November 28, 2017 by a grand jury for computer hacking, theft of trade secrets, conspiracy and identity theft directed at U.S. and foreign employees and computers of three corporate victims in the financial, engineering and technology industries between 2011 and May 2017.

On November 19, 2017, the South China Morning Post reported that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had travelled to Myanmar's capital on November 19 and Naypitaw and said the international community must help Myanmar and Bangladesh tackle the problem caused by the 600,000 Rohingya muslim refugees who had fled to Bangladesh following military operations since August.

A round of friendly matches in Germany with China’s Under 20 national team was cancelled on November 24, 2017, after a group of protesters unfurled Tibetan flags at a game last week in Mainz, causing the Chinese team to walk off the pitch.

The Nepalese press recently reported that China and Nepal had completed a study on the cross-border, 100-km railway that they say will connect Kathmandu with the border town of Kyirong (Chinese: Gyirong) in the TAR.

Construction has begun on a new line to Nyingtri (Chinese: Linzhi) in the TAR, in the sensitive border area with Arunachal Pradesh, which the Chinese government flagged as “a new era in railway construction”. The Nyingtri line will be part of a new railway route linking the TAR to the capital of Sichuan, Chengdu, and beyond, running east from Lhasa.

A blog is circulating in China's social media expressing fears on safety of the Lhasa-Shigatse railway route. The author of the blog, who appears to have detailed knowledge of the railway's construction, details six problematic issues of the line which endanger its safety.

In his keynote speech on November 25, 2017,at the Centenary of Peking University Lecture Hall titled "solidly promoting the building of a network powerhouse under the guidance of the 19th CCP National Congress", Ren Xianliang, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization (Netsub Network) Office and Deputy Director of the State Internet Information Office, justified the new cyber regulations.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has ordered foreign-funded universities to establish Party units and grant decision-making powers to a Party official. This reverses an earlier promise to guarantee academic freedom.

General Zhang Yang, a former head of the powerful Central Military Commission’s (CMC) Political Work Department who was arrested on charges of corruption in May 2017, committed suicide last week.

Zimbabwe Army Chief, General Constantine Chiwenga's visit to Beijing just days before the military coup on November 15, 2017, that overthrew 93-year old Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, has sparked speculation that Beijing either had advance warning of the coup or had a hand in it.

Pakistan’s Express Tribune quoted Water and Power Development Authority Chairman Muzammil Hussain as saying on November 15, 2017, that the exclusion of the Diamer-Bhasha dam from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework, a key element to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, was because China’s hyper strict conditions for funding the project were “not doable and against our interests”.

The 10th round of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs was held in Beijing on November 17, 2017.

CCP CC ILD Minister Song Tao left Beijing for Pyongyang on November 17, 2017, on what was described as a routine briefing trip for fraternal socialist countries on the 19th Party Congress.

The China and the United States military humanitarian relief disaster reduction command postulation and military exercise started on November 16 morning.

A bipartisan Concurrent Resolution (S. Con. Res. 30) was introduced to the Senate on November 16, 2017 asking the Trump Administration to make Tibet an important factor in US-China relations.

The state-owned Global Times on November 17, 2017, reproduced a 10,000-character Xinhua report entitled: 'Xi Jinping and His Era: Top Commander Reshaping the Military'.

China's indigenously built guided-missile destroyer Zhengzhou (Hull 151) left from the naval port in Zhoushan in Zhejiang Province on November 9, 2017, to participate in the International Fleet Review 2017, to be held in Pattaya Bay, Thailand, to mark the ASEAN's 50th founding anniversary.

General Wei Fenghe, Commander of the PLA Rocket Forces was replaced in September 2017, by Zhou Yaning (周亚宁). Wei Fenghe continues as member of the CMC and member of the 19th CCP's CC.

In the week prior to November10, 2017, there were a few major deals.

The prominence of the party-state authorities in enterprises is illustrated by the unprecedented number of SoE chiefs who have been appointed to the policy-setting Central Committee. At least twenty such state entrepreneurs have attained this rare honor of joining the policy-setting Central Committee, albeit as alternate or non-voting members (Ta Kung Pao [Hong Kong], October 25; Finance.sina.com, October 24).

China's Legal Daily reported on November 15, 2017, that China's Supreme Court had since 2013 prepared a 'black list' of 8.7 million "dishonest" persons as part of the social credit management system.

Initium, recently published an article detailing the structure and functions of China's central propaganda department which was re-published by Advox, the international organisation for media rights, on November 12, 2017.

Xinhua reported that soon after the Party Congress, the CCP CC constituted a 36-member "Central Publicity team" comprising 3 Politburo members which includes Xi Jinping's protege Chen Min'er.

Chen Xi, a close confidante of Xi Jinping and member of the CCP CC's Politburo, has been appointed head of the Central Party School in Beijing.

In their second Summit Meeting on November 11, in Da Nang in Vietnam on the sidelines of the APEC leaders' meeting, President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to “normalize exchanges and cooperation in all areas”, signalling a thaw in bilateral relations following the row over the deployment of the U.S.-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) battery in Korea.

At the regular press conference of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 22, 2017, the Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang replied to a question on Kashmir.

China's official news agency Xinhua reported on November 8, 2017, that Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo delivered a 2-hour lecture on 'Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era' to about 120 students at the University of Cambodia that day.

US security researchers recently found a hacking group with suspected ties to the Chinese government engaged in what appears to be corporate espionage against multiple U.S. companies.

At a meeting of the Beijing Communist Party's United Front Work department on October 27, 2017, Qi Jing, Standing Committee Member and Minister of the United Front Work Department of Beijing City, said that 'the 19th Party Congress is a political declaration that our Party has entered a new era, opened the scientific guide for the new journey and continued writing new chapters for programme of action'.

The Chinese government reported in October 2017, that its multi-year Operation Sky Net has recovered 9.36 billion renminbi in allegedly stolen funds and returned 48 fugitives that China placed on Interpol’s red notice list.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced on November 10, 2017, that with effect from June 2017 foreign new-energy carmakers like Tesla Inc. will be able to set up their own factories in free trade zones in China without a local partner.

China on November 10, 2017, took a major step and said it will remove foreign ownership limits on banks while allowing overseas firms to take majority stakes in local securities ventures, fund managers and insurers.

China Discipline Inspection, a newspaper run by the Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) Oon November 8, 2017, reported that two members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were held accountable for bringing books with serious political issues from overseas.

Caixin reported on November 10, 2017, that Mu Huaping, Deputy Mayor in charge of the science and technology sectors of the centrally administered Chongqing Municipality had been removed for alleged financial ties with the local financial technology firm IZP Group November 9.

A Guizhou newspaper, the Qian Xi Nan Ri Bao, on November 7, 2017, referred to Xi Jinping as "Great Leader" (伟大领袖).

China's official news agency Xinhua on November 9, reported that Chinese and U.S. companies had signed trade and investment deals worth more than 250 billion U.S. dollars on November 9 in Beijing.

Well known US journalist Bill Gertz on November 8, 2017, wrote that hundreds of Chinese government analysts worked nonstop for months studying every detail on President Trump in preparation for his state visit to China this week.

On November 8, 2017, China released fresh details about a new financial regulatory body intended to calm a financial system that in recent years has endured a stock market crash, a huge exodus of money outside the country and the rapid accumulation of debt.

The Xinjiang United Front website (新疆统一战线) had a post on their website on June 19, 2017 of a list circulated earlier this year by the UFWD of “75 Signs of Religious Extremism”.

Soon after the 19th Party Congress (October 18 - 24, 2017) held in Beijing, the Chinese-appointed 11th Panchen Lama said that the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) could benefit Buddhism and called on all Buddhists to be grateful to the homeland.

At the 19th Party Congress in October 2017, Xi Jinping instead of continuing with the straw poll, dismissed it as a gimmick which could elect the wrong people.

The Chinese appointed Panchen Lama Gyaltsen Norbu, inaugurated the seventh Annual Seminar on Tibetan Buddhist Doctrine Interpretation at Tibetan Buddhism College of China in Beijing on November 06, 2017.

Xinhua reported on October 31, that Government officials from Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have started to learn Chinese language from October 31, 2017, 'to enhance their understanding about China'.

Chinese observers note that India is a main target of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wider outreach efforts.

China's Ambassador to Washington said on October 30, in Washington, that US President Donald Trump's state visit to Beijing from November 8 was a "historic opportunity" to boost cooperation, but warned against attempts to "contain" Beijing.

China accorded US President Trump a high-profile ceremonial welcome on November 8, 2017, with a red carpet, full military band, children waving flags and dinner at Zhongnanhai.

China launched its ‘magical’ island-building ship on the eve of US President Trump visit to Asia, namely the dredger The Tiankun, presently tied up in Qidong.

Family members of ethnic Uyghur security personnel in the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region, who authorities had previously considered “off limits,” are among those now being detained as part of “stability” measures the officers have been tasked with enforcing.

A Hongkong media report said on November 1, 2017, that numerous problems involving Chinese labour overseas have surfaced in countries where Chinese-funded enterprises in the field of infrastructure projects are engaged in OBOR projects.

Xinhua reported on November 5, 2017 that "As of the end of June, there were 13,554 projects nationwide with investment of 16.3 trillion yuan ($2.4 trillion), according to data from the China Public Private Partnerships Center".

In a speech on November 1, 2017, Chinese Presodent Xi Jinping vowed to fulfill the Communists’ original intent and staked his legacy on an ambitious plan to complete the eradication of rural poverty by 2020.

According to a report in the Legal Daily on October 31, after the CCP CC's Organisation Department approved the PRC Ministry of Justice proposal the Communist Party of China Lawyers Industry Committee was established on October 26, 2017.

In his first public appearance since the 19th Party Congress, Xi Jinping accompanied by the entire 7-member Politburo Standing Committee on October 31, 2017,Xi Jinping travelled to the Party’s roots to a brick house in Shanghai’s French Concession that hosted the Party’s founding congress almost a century ago.

An important development at the 19th Party Congress in October 2017 has been the dismissal by Xi Jinping of the system of the straw poll.

Immediately following the 19th Party Congress unanimously adopting 'Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for the New Era' in the Party Constitution, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has begun introducing "Xi Jinping Thought" into every aspect of public life, including as a research topic in universities.

Representatives from about 40 US companies are expected to accompany President Donald Trump on the first presidential trade mission to China from November 8-10, 2017, and sign deals for billions of dollars in U.S. investments.

An interesting Xinhua article on October 26, 2017, stated that Xi Jinping was re-elected General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee by a unanimous vote at the first plenum of the new Central Committee that was elected at the party's twice-a-decade national congress.

This is the first time in at least 15 years that SOEs have not had a representative on the Party’s Central Committee.

At its first meeting on October 27, 2017, the new CCCP CC Political Bureau reviewed two documents to safeguard the centralized, unified leadership of the CCP Central Committee and fully implement frugality rules. The meeting was presided over by Xi Jinping.

At its first meeting after the 19th Party Congress, the new Politburo formally recognised Xi Jinping as the ruling Communist Party’s lingxiu – a reverential term for “leader”.

In an article headlined '‘India culture controls China’ remarks a trick to boost national pride: experts', China's state-owned Global Times on October 25, 2017, said Chinese experts had on October 25, "slammed an Indian official's remarks that China has been culturally controlled by India, saying the official is trying to boost the country's national pride".

US Administration officials expected to travel with US President Trump during his 12-day Asia tour tat includes 2 days in China, include National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The CCP CC's United Front Work Department (UFWD) located at 135, Fuyou Street, next to the Communist Party leadership's compound, has increased its activities since xi Jinping took over. The UFWD's operations in several countries is directed towards charming, co-opting or attacking well-defined groups and individuals in order to win support for China’s political agenda, accumulate influence overseas and gather key information.

Wang Huning's ancestry is traced back to Shandong Province.

The 19th CCP CC has 39 officers representing the PLA and 2 representing the PAPF in the new 19th CC.

There are 14 CC Members in the new 19th Central Committee (CC) who have a background in academics and universities especially in aeronautical sciences indicating a focus on R&D and scientific research.

The new Politburo held its first meeting on October 27, 2017. At the meeting, the Politburo passed two regulations: one concerns the strengthening and preserving the centralized unified leading role of the central party, and the other regarding a revised and further operationalised eight-items regulations. The first regulation is most interesting.

The list of members of the new CMC of the CCP was released also on October 25 morning.

Clearly confirming Xi Jinping's loaded assurance in his Work Report to the 19th Party Congress on October 18 -- and repeated in the Communique and explanatory documents released later -- that the campaign against corruption would continue with equal vigour, the first announcement of a portfolio for a PBSC Member was that of 60-year old Zhao Leji, as head of the Central Discipline Inspection commission (CDIC).

Human Rights Watch said on October 22, 2017, that the Chinese government's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is collaborating with iFlytek, a Chinese company that produces 80 percent of all speech recognition technology in the country, to develop a pilot surveillance system that can automatically identify targeted voices in phone conversations and has begun collecting “voice pattern” samples of individuals to establish a national voice biometric database.

China's Legal Daily on October 20, 2017, said the 'Rule of Law is the Essential Requirement and Important Guarantee of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics'.

The name list of the CCP's new 19th Central Committee comprising 204 Full Members and 172 Alternate Members was released on October 24, 2017.

The new 19th Central Committee of the CCP unanimously approved an amendment to the Party Constitution placing 'Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era' in the charter's preamble as part of the guiding ideology of the Party.

Jin Liqun, President of the Beijing-based AIIB, formally presented a certificate confirming the country’s new status to Afghan Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi on October 13, 2017, on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Washington.

US President Donald Trump will pay a 2-day visit to China from November 7, 2017.

The Supreme people's Procurator General and Party Secretary Cao Jianming at a Party Group meeting held on October 16, 2017, in Beijing exhorted procuratorate organs to adhere to the "four musts", strengthen the "four consciousness" and firmly uphold the authority and concentration of the Party Central Committee Unified leadership.

The official news agency Xinhua and the official Party mouthpiece People's Daily on October 18, 2017 -- the opening day of the 19th Party Congress in Beijing -- publicised that the austerity campaign initiated by Xi Jinping had resulted in 140 central and state organisations disposing off 3868 official vehicles and that in 2016 expenditure on official entertainment had dropped by 61.8%.

The Deputy Secretary of the CDIC Yang Xiaodu said on October 19, 2017, that a large number of Party cadres and members had been "severely" punished for corruption.

China's authoritative oficial news agency Xinhua reported on October 21, 2017, that at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing 19th Party Congress on October 21, the Vice Minister of the CCP CC's United Front Work Department and its Executive Deputy Head Zhang Yijiong had reaffirmed China's opposition to the Dalai Lama's visits to foreign countries.

The Chinese IT firm Tencent came out with a new online game during the 19th Party Congress in Beijing in which Chinese netizens can compete in applauding for Xi Jinping.

There is considerable speculation in Beijing that 61-YEAR OLD Guo Shuqing, current chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, is likely to replace Zhou Xiaochuan as Governor of the People's Bank of China (PBoC).

66-year old former Finance Minister and current head of the National Council for Social Security Fund, on October 20, 2017, changed his earlier opinion and said on the sidelines of the ongoing Party congress in Beijing that the introduction of government reforms in recent years meant China would now avoid problem of the middle-income trap.

During the first two days of the Party Congress, various delegations have held discussions about Xi Jinping’s work report. Leading cadres utilised these forums to publicly show their loyalty and praise General Secretary Xi Jinping.

The South China Morning Post claimed on October 22, 2017, that Li Zhanshu, Han Zheng, Zhao Leji, Wang Yang, Wang Huning will be appointed to the new PBSC and Premier Li Keqiang will continue.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping took three hours and thirty two minutes to read out his 32,000-character Work Report to 2870 delegates to the 19th Party Congress on October 18, 2017.

Tsutomu Nishioka, a member of the Planning Committee at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and Visiting Professor at Reitaku University, recently wrote that on October 7, 2017, just before the anniversary of the Korea Workers’ Party (KWP), a KWP Central Committee meeting made some senior official appointments.

An article in Foreign Policy on October 16, 2017, said that to strengthen his base, Xi Jinping had turned his attention to the lower levels where he has overseen a massive shake-up in the provincial leadership, with 23 of the 31 party secretaries being reassigned since 2016 alone.

An article in the Hongkong Free Press on October 15, 2017, claimed that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to 'mainlandise' Hong Kong by exerting greater control over Hong Kong politically, economically, socially and culturally, to integrate it into the mainland before the end of the 50-year “one country, two systems” period in 2047.

Chinese warships, loaded with air defence missiles, anti-submarine rockets, banks of radar as well as ship-borne helicopters, sailed along the Thames and docked in Canary Wharf on October 14, 2017, at the start of a 5-day goodwill visit.

Radio Free Asia on October 16, 2017, quoted a source as reporting that Tibetan businessmen traveling to Nepal from southern Tibet’s Kyirong county are being stopped at the border for lengthy document checks, while Chinese tourists and traders are allowed to pass through without scrutiny.

An article in the state-owned Global Times on October 12, 2017, alleged that "India seems to view whatever China does as suspicious and deem it a threat, like a victim of persecutory delusion".

An official of the State Council's National Development Reform Commission (NDRC) recently disclosed that there are a total of 144,700 local government SoEs.

According to an article published by the state-owned Guangming Daily on October 13, 2017, 30 million people in China who are between the ages of 20 and 60 suffer from depression.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is reshaping political education across China’s more than 283,000 primary and secondary schools for a new era.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has criticised China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) for not granting accreditation to several Hong Kong journalists and media outlets.

The Hongkong Free Press Journal reported on October 16, 2017, that Liu Xia, wife of the Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo whio has been under house arrest since 2008, was "forced" to travel and taken away from Beijing.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that, as part of China’s increased security measures, Chinese authorities have installed facial recognition video cameras on street corners or in stores to monitor public activities.

The China Labour Bulletin announced on October 16, 2017, that shortly before the 19th Party Congress just over half of China's 31 provinces and municipalities have announced increases in the minimum wage this year, and four major cities now have a monthly minimum wage of 2,000 yuan or above, the highest being Shanghai at 2,300 yuan per month.

The Chinese Communist Party expelled the country’s former long-serving Justice Minister, 65-year Wu Aiying, for unspecified corruption charges just days before the 19th Party Congress opens in Beijing on October 18.

Qiu Shi ("Seeking Truth") wrote that the since the 18th Party Congress with Xi Jinping "as the core of the Party" and "standing at a strategic and overall height" had comprehensively and accurately implemented the principle of "one country, two systems" in dealing with "new situations, new problems and new challenges encountered in Hong Kong and Macao work" and maintained stability in Hong Kong and Macao "in the wind and waves to achieve new success"!

On October 14, 2017, China's authoritative official news agency Xinhua issued the text of the 7th CCP CC Plenum held from October 11 to 14, 2017, in Beijing. It was attended by 191 full members of the CC and 141 Alternate Members.

Japan's Maritime Self Defence Force headquarters announced on October 11, 2017, that the 100,000-ton US Navy aircraft carrier, the Ronald Reagan, is conducting drills with the Japanese destroyer Shimkaze in waters around Okinawa south-west of the Korean peninsula.

The US Navy guided missile destroyer USS Chafeee sailed near the Paracel, islands claimed by China in the South China Sea on October 10, 2017 provoking, a Chinese response.

On October 12, 2017, the Chinese Embassy in Delhi invited 70 "young politicians, businessmen, journalists and government officials" including Tarun Gogoi to a party in the Embassy premises attended by Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaogui and the Embassy's two senior diplomats Liu Jinsong and Li Bijian.

Writing in the Global Times on October 10, 2017, Long Xingchun, a senior research fellow at The Charhar Institute and Director of the Center for Indian Studies at China West Normal University, referred to EAM Sushma Swaraj's comment at the 72nd UN General Assembly, saying that Islamabad had given the world "terrorists" while New Delhi was producing top-notch doctors and engineers, and said "Swaraj's speech will only lead to deterioration in India-Pakistan relations, and is not conducive to improving the security situation in Kashmir".

A conference on strengthening Party building work in Tibet was held in ---- on May 19, 2017.

On September 14-15, 2017, the China Borderland Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences held an academic seminar on "Border issues and Political Boundary stability of Tibet" in Beijing.

Weeks before commencement of the 19th Party Congress in Beijing on October 18, 2017, China sought to publicise the progress acheived in Tibet over the past five years. Penpa Lhamo, Deputy Head of the Contemporary Studies Institute of the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, told Global Times on October 10, 2017, that the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) had seen great development and stability in the past five years and is expected to progress even further thanks to its development path with Chinese characteristics.

The CCP CC's Organization Department, China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the State Administration of Civil Service jointly issued a notification on "Opinions on Regulating the Professional Conduct of Civil Servants After Leaving Public Office". Effective from April 28, 2017.

Radio Free Asia reported on October 12, 2017, that the CCP CC and China's State Council had jointly issued a document on September 20, that devised an “environmental and resource capacity” alert system to measure “overloading” in at-risk regions. Xinhua said the colour-coded alert scheme divides regional environments into three categories, those with “overloading, near overloading and not overloading.”

A People's Daily commentary on October 12, 2017, warned Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials not to “pray to God and worship Buddha”, because communism is about atheism and superstition is at the root of many corrupt officials who fall from grace.

Isvision, a security company based in Shanghai, is developing a facial recognition system to cover 1.3 billion people.The system developed by Isvision will use an algorithm developed by SeetaTech, a start-up established by several researchers from the Institute of Computing Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

Authorities in Beijing have shut down the well-known Qingzhen Bookstore in Beijing's Haidian district.

A notice jointly issued by the CCP CC Publicity Department, the Supreme People’s Court, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), instructed authorities across the country to establish online platforms to expose debtors who fail to honor their credit obligations within two years. Municipal- and county-level authorities are encouraged to set up their own online platforms.

The Hurun Rich List on September 14 revealed that at least 74 individuals had joined the group with fortunes of at least US$300 million in this year’s list, adding to the 2,056 who made last year’s list, and bringing their combined assets to US$2.6 trillion, roughly the same size as the GDP of the UK, the world’s fifth largest economy.

In an article published in the Study Times, a journal of the CCP CC Central Party School, on October 11, 2017, PAPF commander Gen. Wang Ning said China's armed forces should stick to the leadership and show absolute loyalty to the Communist Party of China (CPC) to better accomplish its mission of safeguarding national security and stability ahead of the national Party congress.

Cheng Li of the US-based Brookings Institution, in a recent article on China's 19th Party Congress said an extraordinary 90% of the 300 military delegates will be first-time attendees.

Xinhua reported that the CCP's 18th Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) held its Eighth Plenary Session in Beijing on October 10, 2017. The meeting discussed and approved a work report to be submitted by the CDIC to the 19th Party Congress, scheduled to open on October 18.

In 2015. He Yiting, a vice-chairman of the CCP CC Central Party School, was tasked to research and define Xi Jinping’s approach to governing the country and put it in a digestible form for 90 million members of the party’s rank and file to absorb and apply.

China's Ministry of Public Security issued a press release on September 23, 2017, stating that China had provided evidence to the US government that documents, presented by US-based Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui to support some of his allegations against China, were forged.

China's official news agency Xinhua reported on October 7, 2017, that the total assets of the China Investment Corporation (CIC), China's sovereign wealth fund, had surpassed US$ 900 billion by August 2017.

On September 27, 2017, the Chinese social media mega-platform Weibo, which has more than 340 million monthly users, posted on its verified “Weibo Manager” account that it sought to recruit 1,000 new “Weibo Supervisors”.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on October 9, 2017, that authorities in Guangdong province had fined the manager of a hotel in Shenzhen's Lo Wu district for violating a ban on ethnic minority Uyghur guests imposed prior to the 19th Party Congress later this month.

Radio Free Asia reported on October 9, 2017, that Yao Lijuan, a resident of the northern port city of Tianjin was detained by security authorities after she openly challenged a group of men watching her movements and posted a video of the conversation to social media.

On October 7, 2017, Xinhua and the Liberation Army Daily jointly published an article captioned "Write a new chapter in the construction of National Defense Mobilization" quoting Xi Jinping's speeches on national defence mobilisation work.

The Beijing Daily on October 10, 2017, published the car registration numbers of vehicles of government work units that were being used for personal use.

A second article published on October 7, 2017, by 'Study Times' and authored by Han Qingxiang, Committee member,Vice President and Director of the Department of Education and Research in the Central Party School, once again highlighted salient aspects of Xi Jinping's important speeches in an apparent push for their inclusion in the Party Constitution as Xi jinping Thought at the 19th Party Congress.

China's Ministry of Propaganda, The Central Party Literature Research Office, The Central Party History Research Office, The National Development and Reform Commission, The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, The Central Military Commission Political Work Department and the state-owned CCTV have produced a new 7-episode propaganda documentary officially translated as "Be Faithful to Our Original Aspiration and Continue Marching Forward".

The 8th Plenum of the 18th CCP Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) met in Beijing on October 10, 2017. A communique and follow up notification were issued on October 11 and 12 respectively.

American journalist Bill Gertz wrote that China has drawn up secret military plans to take over the island of Taiwan by 2020, according to newly-disclosed internal Chinese military documents.

The conservative Washington-based US think-tank 'The Hudson Institute' cancelled a talk scheduled to be given by Chinese businessman Guo Wengui.

The Asahi Shimbun reported on September 29, 2017, that Japan's prime Minister Shinzo Abe started a new diplomatic offensive towards China by attending China's national Day reception at a hotel in Tokyo on September 28, hotel to celebrate China's National Day on October 1 and the 45th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-China relations on Sept. 29, 1972.

In the past two weeks, the Cyberspace Administration of China released four overlapping regulations that apply to all online interactions. They cover all internet forums, message boards, group chats, and news comment threats.

In early September, the Justice Department of Shandong province notified Zhu Shengwu, a 36-year-old lawyer in Jinan, the provincial capital, that his “anti-Communist Party, anti-socialism” expressions online had “threatened national security.”

The growth in oil demand next year is expected to be driven by OECD Europe and China. China’s oil demand rose by 690,000 BPD in July, marking a 6 percent year-over-year (YOY) increase. China’s total oil demand reached 11.67 million BPD in July. Year-to-date data indicates an average growth of 550,000 BPD, more than double the 210,000 BPD growth recorded during the same period in 2016.

The Chinese magazine Caixin on September 30, 2017, gave a breakup of the 2287 Delegates to the 19th Party Congress. It clarified that the number of Delegates had reduced to 2287 from 2300 because the Party had not approved 13 delegates from the centrally administered Chongqing municipality though they had been elected.

Xinhua reported on September 29, 2017, that 54-year old former rising political star Sun Zhengcai has been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party and will face prosecution.

Gu Liping, an editor in Xinhua, wrote in his despatch of September 30, that CCP CC General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed a group study session of the Politburo on September 29, when he called for "a profound understanding of Marxism and vigorous promotion of the sinicization of Marxism".

An article in Global Times on September 28, 2017, reacting to the visit to India of US Defence Secretary Mattis said "Washington is attempting to tie New Delhi to its chariot" but "India will have to rely on itself rather than a few weapons the US sells to it, for its ambitions".

Beijing’s General Administration of Customs disclosed on September 29, 2017, that Chinese corn exports to North Korea jumped about 100 times in July and August to 34,964 tonnes from year-earlier levels.

Despite Beijing terminating official communications with Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen government in June last year and political relations plunging to their coolest in nearly a decade, China remains Taiwan’s number-one trading partner, and the trade volumes continue to rise.

Mingpao reported on September 27, 2017, that political groups in Hongkong SAR on September 26, 2017, distributed moon-cakes with notes inside that read “say no to authoritarianism”.

Quoting official sources, RFA said there are re-education camps, called "career development centres", in Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining) county, in Ili Kazakh (Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture, and Korla (Kuerle) city, in neighboring Bayin’gholin Mongol (Bayinguoleng Menggu) Autonomous Prefecture which hold at least 3,600 inmates.

An emergency rescue center has been established in Tsechokling airport in the regional capital of Lhasa. These will be the first two air ambulances for civil use in the region.

Radio Free Asia reported on September 25, 2017, that authorities in Tsolho (in Chinese, Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture’s Trika (Guide) county, in Qinghai province, summoned the heads of local Buddhist monasteries the previous week to warn against the use of social media to view or spread “illegal content” while top-level Party meetings are held in Beijing in October.

Authorities have banned travel to Tibet from outside the politically sensitive region while the top-level meetings of the CCP are held. Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on September 29, 2017, that authorities in Sichuan province are tightening controls on undocumented driving by Tibetans ahead of major meetings of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing in October.

The Chinese magazine Caixin published the name list of all the 2287 delegates to the 19th Party Congress scheduled to be held in Beijing from October 18-28, 2017.

Addressing the first meeting of Interpol's General Assembly in Beijing on September 26, 2017, and flanked by China's top law enforcement leadership including Party security chief Meng Jianzhu and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun, Chinese President Xi Jinping said all nations have a right to be involved in regional and global security issues.

Xinhua stated on September 27, 2017, that the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Central Military Commission will conduct discipline inspection and supervision of misconduct during the eight-day holidays for celebrating the National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival starting on October 1.

The old 121st Jungle-Mountain Infantry Brigade has been disbanded and merged with the old 12th LH (Army Aviation) Regiment to form the new 121st Air-Assault Brigade (空中突击第121旅).

Xinhua on September 28, 2017, quoted Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, as saying that China's latest J-20 stealth fighter has been officially commissioned into military service.

In a rare move, five senior Chinese Communist Party officials in Chongqing who were earlier elected to represent the centrally administered Municipality at the upcoming 19th National Party Congress have been excluded from the final list of attendees of 2,287 delegates.

Xinhua reported on September 30, 2017, that according to the CCP CC's Organisation Department a total of 771 delegates, or 33.7 percent of the total, are from frontline production and manufacturing.

At a group study session of the CCP CC Politburo on September 29, 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a profound understanding of Marxism and vigorous promotion of the sinicization of Marxism.

The Asia Times quoted China's official '21st Century Business Herald' as reporting on September 25, 2017, that Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Arkady Dvorkovich formally agreed to expand energy cooperation between the two nations at the 14th annual China-Russia Energy Cooperation Committee summit.

Addressing the DPP's National Congress on September 22, 2017, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said that Taiwan must find a new way of talking about China and the issues it poses.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to Beijing September 28 – October 1 to meet with senior Chinese leaders.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was reported on September 27 as warning that the big subsidies China is giving to its approximately 400 robotics companies poses an emerging threat to the US economy.

The PRC State Council and CCP CC jointly issued guidelines on September 25, 2017, on encouraging entrepreneurial spirit and creating a favorable environment for entrepreneurship in a bid to spur market vitality.

Chinese authorities in Inner Mongolia have placed 63-year old Hada, a prominent ethnic Mongolian dissident, under closer surveillance ahead of the 19th Party Congress in Beijing.

Chinese authorities in Inner Mongolia have placed 63-year old Hada, a prominent ethnic Mongolian dissident, under closer surveillance ahead of the 19th Party Congress in Beijing.

Beijing's Party Secretary Cai Qi, who was handpicked by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the position, was quoted by Hongkong's South China Morning Post on September 27, 2017, as promising to eradicate online political rumours ahead of the Party Congress in October. Speaking to Party authorities in charge of preparations on September 26, Cai Qi asked local officials to ensure security and stability in the capital.

Moves to have Xi Jinping's writings and speeches incorporated in an amended Party Constitution at the upcoming 19th Party Congress continue.

Cyber policy and security were publicised in China in September in advance of the 19th Party Congress with the authoritative Party journal Qiu Shi (Seeking Truth) publishing an important article by the previously unknown Theoretical Studies Centre Group under the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).

After five rounds of talks, with the last in Beijing on September 15 - 16, 2017, China and Maldives signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on September 19.

On September 23, 2017, China's earthquake administration at 0830 GMT detected possible earthquake tremors of 3.4 magnitude sparking suspicion that North Korea has conducted another "explosion". 

Following the withdrawal of Indian and Chinese troops from the face-off on the Doklam Plateau, interesting are two articles published on September 12, 2017, in China's official state-owned Global Times.

Over the past couple of months Pyramids schemes have attracted the adverse notice of China's official media and security authorities. At the end of July 2017, hundreds of members of one such scheme took to the streets to protest against the arrest of their leader.

On September 20, 2017, the PRC State Council announced some appointments.

The top leaders of 10 organs under the Central Military commission (CMC) have been changed recently. The two most recent appointments are Qin Shengxiang (秦生祥), former Director of the General Office of the CMC, who was appointed as the Political Commissar of the Navy and Song Puxuan (宋普选) the former Commander of the Northern Theater, who replaced Zhao Keshi (赵克石) as the head of the CMC Logistic Support Department.

Reuters reported on September 22, 2017, that the official website of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) had posted a report that 64-year old Wang Sanyun, who was appointed Gansu Province Party Secretary in late 2011.

The PRC State Council on September 22, 2017, announced that official website and micro-blogging sites had been established by China's Anti-Cult Office to prevent and deal with the principles and policies of cults.

The official newspaper 'The Paper' reported on September 21, 2017, that the Fujian Province Public Security Bureau had arrested an individual on September 21 for inciting taxi drivers in Xiamen to create trouble and stage protests.

Reuters on September 22, 2017, reported that China’s central bank instructed Chinese banks on September 18, to strictly implement United Nations sanctions against North Korea.

The Financial Times reported on September 22, 2017, that the previous week former US White House Strategist Steve Bannon had flown to Beijing from Hong Kong, where he had gone to give a closed-door speech at a big investor conference hosted by CLSA, a Chinese state-owned investment bank.

Following the spike in global grain prices a decade ago, Chinese officials urged agribusinesses to secure farmland overseas to fill the country's growing food deficit. China's Agriculture Ministry claims China now has 1,300 companies which have made $11.7 billion in total investments in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in 85 countries and regions.

Huang Yunmin, a 58-year old former judge in the quasi-military Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp (XPCC) ) Brigade (bingtuan)'s Third Brigade People's Court in Kashgar prefecture, who was initially briefly held on administrative detention in March in the bingtuan city of Tumxuk for helping local workers protest at their treatment by the authorities, was tried on September 19, 2017, on suspicion of "incitement to racial hatred."

The South China Morning Post reported on September 22, 2017, that China’s top universities are encouraging academics and students to write online articles promoting socialist values, with some offering authors the same academic credits they would get for papers published in journals.

The People's Daily reported on September 21, 2017, that the PLA Navy had received a new nuclear submarine from the State-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), which also manufactures China's aircraft carrier. The submarine was built in the Dalian shipyard. Chinese military experts speculate that it is the type 093 or 094 Type submarine.

Cheng Li, a well known China analyst in America's Brookings Institution, published an assessment on September 18, 2017, where he stated that of the 303 Delegates selected to represent the PLA and People’s Armed Police (PAP), as many as 90 percent are first-time delegates and that most, or all, of the military members on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) new Central Committee will be selected from among these names.

The state-owned Global Times reported on September 21, 2017, that CCP committees in many cities and provinces like Fujian, Hainan, Guangdong, Sichuan and Tianjin Municipality, are studying the books of Chairman Mao Zedong,"a move hailed by experts as part of the momentum leading up to the 19th National Congress of the CCP that will help implement future Party policies".

Meanwhile, during a 5-day inspection of the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region in August 2017, Meng Jianzhu asserted that 'large-scale use of cloud computing and AI, as well as analysis of “big data”, should be used to fight terrorism'.

The People's Daily reported on September 21, 2017 that while addressing a press conference in Beijing on September 20, Meng Jianzhu, head of China's top Party body overseeing security, the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs, said "The homicide rate in China in 2016 was 0.62 per 100,000 residents, better than most countries in the world."

An interesting article published in the New Yorker on September 19, 2017, analysed China's interests in the developments concerning North Korea and the US. Relevant highlights are extracted: "At the center of the North Korean nuclear crisis is a pivotal question: How much is China really willing to pressure and punish its longtime ally in Pyongyang?"

The Dalian Daily reported on September 18, 2017, that Ken Higuchi, a Japanese national had been arrested in the port city of Dalian, Liaoning province, which borders North Korea, on suspicion of spying against China.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong began an official three-day visit to China from September 19, 2017, at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. He was accorded a formal welcome with guard of honour at the Great Hall of the People and had a meeting with Li Keqiang later that afternoon.

In an article published in the Global times on September 18, 2017, Song Guoyou, Director of the Center for Economic Diplomacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, commented on reports that India's economy is likely to catch up with China's soon. He said that measuring FDI is not only about the amount of money absorbed from foreign direct investment, but the amount of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is also important.

An article published in Global Times on September 20, 2017, quoted Bloomberg News as reporting that "China is racing to complete the Karot Hydropower Project in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) ahead of schedule" and nine months ahead of its December 2021 completion date.

Xinhua on September 18, 2017, claimed that the south-to-north water diversion project had benefited more than 11 million people. It recalled that the project was conceived by Mao Zedong in 1952 and approved by the PRC State Council in December 2002.

Zhou Tianyong, a well-known professor at the Central Party School in Beijing, recently said in an article that "there is now a large group of people who have been prevented from urbanizing by hukou restrictions, and who realistically will never be able to urbanize in the future–thereby resulting in a permanent loss of income: because cities do not provide education and other public services, or because they do not have any income from rural land while urban housing prices are too high." He argued that the existence of a large group of people who have missed out on urbanization creates economic losses in three ways.

The China Scholarship Council (CSC), a branch of the PRC government that funds overseas study for Chinese citizens, has informed the University of California San Diego (UCSD) that it would no longer process applications to study at UCSD for scholars who had not already received a visa appointment from the US embassy.

Passports held by Tibetans which were confiscated by authorities earlier this year in a bid to tighten control over travel outside China are still being held in spite of police promises that they would be quickly returned.

PLA Lieutenant General Zhou Yaning, 59, has taken over as chief of the Rocket Force, replacing General Wei Fenghe, who has retired.

A Tibetan traveling to Beijing this week was refused a room at a hotel after showing identification, and was taken by police to a special facility set up to accommodate Tibetans under supervision.

Xinhua reported that the CCP CC Politburo on September 18, 2017, deliberated a draft amendment to the constitution at a meeting which was presided over by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on September 13, 2017, that the visit of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to China may have been cancelled because some officials in the White House decided the couple were not suitable to make preparations for US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing.

A Global Times article of September 11, 2017, headline 'India sends mixed signal by denying official's China trip' said India's denial of permission to Kerala's Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran to visit China to attend the 22nd session of the General Assembly of the UN World Tourism Organization held in Chengdu, China, shows that "New Delhi still holds a grudge against its neighbor."

An article published in Global Times on September 13, 2017, said China is willing to discuss the reopening of the Nathu La Pass with India, "a mountain pass in the Himalayas which connects India's Sikkim with China's Tibet Autonomous Region, which has been closed due to the standoff in Doklam".

Li Yang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who had served as an adviser to China’s central bank, was quoted by South China Morning Post on September 13, 2017, as saying at a forum in Beijing that China made a mistake in promoting the use of the currency in trade and investment, but not in financial transactions.

On September 8, 2017, the public security authorities of Shanxi Province detained Chen Yanhua, a private kindergarten teacher for organising protests about their poor working conditions.

The Human Rights Watch in a report released on September 10, 2017, claimed that since April 2017, the authorities in the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region have forcibly detained thousands of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities at 'political re-education centres' and ben subjecting them to propaganda promoting Chinese identity. Human Rights Watch said these political re-education centres were located around Kashgar City and Bortala Prefecture in 2017.

The PRC State Council promulgated the 77-article, 2017 Religious Affairs Regulation (RAR) on August 28, 2017, which will come into force on February 1, 2018. According to a Reuters report of September 7, 2017, the new regulations “use strong and specific language about the need to protect China’s national security against threats from religious groups.”

In an article in the CCP mouthpiece People's Daily on September 12, 2017, Wang Zuoan, Head of China’s religious affairs bureau, commented on the new rules regarding religion and said “the foreign use of religion to infiltrate (China) intensifies by the day and religious extremist thought is spreading in some areas.”