Former Shanghai mayor to advise on Xiongan New Area – China politics and current affairs news from May 2, 2017

The South China Morning Post reports that Xu Kuangdi 徐匡迪, the “septuagenarian former Shanghai mayor…who played a key role in transforming that city’s riverside Pudong backwater into China’s financial hub,” has become Xi Jinping’s “key advisor” on the Xiongan New Area project. Xiongan is a brand new city planned for an area in Hebei province about 100 km (62 miles) southwest of Beijing. Xu spent much of life researching, teaching, and working in steel production.

• Staff ‘suspended’ at Voice of America after interview with fugitive tycoon Guo Wengui / SCMP
  “Broadcaster says decision based on journalistic principles – not pressure from the U.S. or China.”
• Guo Wengui is a sensitive political event / China Digital Times
  Reportedly censorship instruction prohibiting Chinese news organizations from reporting on Guo Wengui.
• Is China the world’s new colonial power? / NYT (paywall)
  Reporting from the southwest African nation of Namibia, Brook Larmer writes that “the rising superpower has built up enormous holdings in poor, resource-rich African countries — but its business partners there aren’t always thrilled.”
• Opinion: Belt and road: A symphony in need of a strong conductor / Caixin
  Jin Keyu 金刻羽 writes that it is unlikely that China’s One Belt, One Road plan was intended “to fill in the gap of a superpower as it recedes from the world stage.” Rather, “it is just that somebody has to do the job.”
• ‘Disgusting’ and ‘extraordinary’ scenes as Chinese delegation shouts down welcome ceremony / Sydney Morning Herald
• National credit system puts bike-sharing bandits in crosshairs / Sixth Tone
• Slowly, China prepares to raise retirement age / Caixin
• China demands immediate halt to THAAD missile system now ‘operational’ in South Korea / SCMP
• Falsely accused: Chinese-American physicist recounts being branded a spy / Asia Society