SOCIAL WATCH
Risk Watch: Atypical Influenza Data Hints at Earlier Transmission of Coronavirus in China
◎ An unusually large number of influenza cases reported in the winter of 2019 and 2020 coincides with the appearance of the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen in central China, possibly masking a coronavirus epidemic far more severe than suggested by official data.
Risk Watch: Rising Business Failure and Unemployment Heighten Political Risk in China
◎ The CCP’s claim that migrants workers are returning home to partake in “entrepreneurship” is likely an attempt to put a positive spin on rising unemployment.
Risk Watch: Hunan’s Financial Troubles Spark Mass Social Unrest
◎ The fresh social tensions in Leiyang are the result of local government-business corruption and dwindling government coffers.
Risk Watch: Skyrocketing Rents Signal a Deepening of China’s Economic Woes
◎ Whenever the central bank releases liquidity, the funds usually flow to the property markets.
Social Watch: CCP Faces Severe Backlash from Self-inflicted Vaccine Scandal
◎ We expect China’s economic situation to worsen further in the second half of 2018.
Social Watch: In China, the CCP is Losing Control Over the Trade War Narrative
◎ The Sino-U.S. trade war is proving to be a quagmire for the CCP propaganda apparatus.
Social Watch: Army Veterans’ Protest Reflects China’s Financial Woes
◎ The rights and welfare of PLA veterans are often disregarded.
Society Watch: Truck Drivers Go on Strike as Social Tensions Mount in China
◎ The trucker strikes are the latest instance of mass social unrest that has broken out in China in recent months.
Risk Watch: Tax Probe of China’s Entertainment Industry Could See Shakeup of Film Stars
◎ Xi now appears to be closing in on the entertainment industry.
Society Watch: Fan Bingbing Tax Evasion Probe and China’s Political Situation
◎ Fan Bingbing’s alleged “yin-yang contracts” have stirred a huge uproar in China.
Risk Watch: China’s Banking Regulator Plans to Supervise Financial Data
◎ On March 16, the CBRC issued a document soliciting views on guidelines for its governance of financial institution data.
Focus Watch: Decoding Mainland Chinese Media’s Unusual Reporting on Military Veteran Murder Case
◎ Social anger towards the authorities has resulted in fatalities.
Risk Watch: China’s Social Security Ministry in Deficit, Has Less than a Year of Pension Funds in 13 Regions
◎ The HRSS pension fund deficit is a ticking time bomb for the Chinese authorities.
Political Risk Watch: Xi Slams Bureaucratism After Beijing Residents Protest
◎ Over a hundred residents of Beijing Chaoyang District’s Feijia Village marched in the streets on Dec. 10 to protest the Beijing municipal government’s forced eviction of the “low-end population” from the city.
Political Risk Watch: Chinese Netizens Liken Beijing Migrant Eviction to ‘Anti-Chinese’ Discrimination Abroad
◎ Eviction campaigns like the one in Beijing will exacerbate the already very intense social conflicts and heighten political risk across China’s provinces.