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22 December 2021, Wednesday | China Reader Evening Brief | Vol.1, No. 68

President Xi praises Hong Kong’s electoral system’s new democratic path

President Xi Jinping meets Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam after the Legislative Council elections. New democratic era is being ushered in Hong Kong.

IN BRIEF
By Keerthana Nambiar, Avishka Ashok and Dincy Adlakha

INTERNAL
President Xi praises Hong Kong’s electoral system’s new democratic path
On 22 December, President Xi Jinping met Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam for her annual duty report. In the meeting, he praised the new era of local governance ushered in by her. He also lauded the transformation of the city from chaos to stability. He also said that the recent elections of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong were successful in creating the democratic path through the patriot-only principle and also provided an inclusive political landscape. President Xi praised the work of Carrie Lam in the city. (Chen Qingqing, “Xi praises new electoral system, highlights HK democratic path,” Global Times, 22 December 2021)

China’s Ministry of Education notified on closing down of academic tutoring institutions
On 22 December, China Daily reported that China’s Ministry of Education announced closing down or switching to other businesses of 80 percent of academic tutoring institutions in order to reduce the burden on primary and middle school students. According to the Ministry, “the number of online academic tutoring institutions has been slashed by 84.1 percent, and the number of offline ones by 83.8 percent” and “adding that any remaining tutoring institutions should be turned into nonprofit ones or closed,” noted China Daily. (“Over 80% of tutoring firms quit business,” China Daily, 22 December 2021)

Xi’an city imposes COVID-19 lockdown
On 22 December, the historic Chinese city Xi’an imposed a lockdown bearing travel restrictions and locked down localities to fight against the increasing cases of COVID-19. More than 140 cases were detected in the last two weeks. Previously, the Shaanxi province of northwest China also locked down due to growing COVID-19 cases. (Cao Siqi and Yu Xi, “Xi'an locks down to combat growing outbreak, governance ability faces test,” Global Times, 22 December 2021)

ECONOMY
World Bank releases a report on China’s Economic Update
On 22 December, China Daily published an article on a report by the World Bank indicating the World Bank’s China Economic Update. The Bank expects China’s GDP to expand up to 8 percent in 2021 and its projection to 5.1 percent in 2022. It said: “downside risks to China’s economic outlook have increased.” The report highlights the ‘rebalancing’ in the Chinese economy and the property sector downturn, which could have “significant economy-wide reverberations.” (“China's growth likely to moderate next year, World Bank says,” China Daily, 22 December 2021)

TECHNOLOGY
China develops world’s most powerful heat Stirling engine
On 22 December, Global Times reported that China developed the world's most powerful Stirling engine useful for power generation and submarine propulsion. The engine was domestically developed by No. 711 Research Institute under China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited. This is the basic prototype of China’s first large-bore Stirling engine and it passed its recent conduction test successfully. The article reports that China’s engine industry lags behind the others by many parameters but this achievement will put China high on the map. (Liu Xuanzun, “China develops world's most powerful Stirling engine,” Global Times, 22 December 2021)

INTERNATIONAL
Chinese Foreign Ministry condemns the joint statement from ‘Five Eyes’ alliance, G7 and the EU
On 21 December, Chinese Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made comments on a joint statement issued by foreign ministers of the ‘Five Eyes’ alliance, G7, and EU high representatives on Hong Kong elections. Xinhua reported: Zhao said, “China is firmly opposed to and condemns the meddling in Hong Kong’s democracy and rule of law and their gross interference in China’s internal affairs.” He stressed that democracy in Hong Kong is moving forward and the electoral system in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region implements China’s principle of ‘one country, two systems.’ Zhao condemned the move by foreign ministers and claimed it as a “vile scheme to destabilize Hong Kong and contain China’s development.” (“Attempt to undermine HK prosperity, stability will fail: FM spokesperson,” Xinhua Net, 21 December 2021)

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