Coming up on today’s program.
重点提要
-East and central China rolled out measures to encourage childbirth;
-Tech giant went through a tough week against regulatory headwinds;
-The latest Covid-19 flare-up in Shanghai.
S: Hi, everyone. Welcome to our first edition of CBN Friday Special, I’m Stephanie LI.
R: And I’m ZHANG Ran. We’ll take a closer look at some of the news events that happened in the past week. So what’s new?
S: Well today I want to talk about the maternity leave extension in some provinces and cities. Beijing followed Shanghai to announce today to extend local extra maternity leave from 30 to 60 days, which will increase female employees’ total maternity leave to 158 days. In addition, the two cities grants paid childcare leave to parents for the first time. Couples who give birth in accordance with laws and regulations are each entitled to five days’ childcare leave per year until their child reaches the age of three.
R: That’s great news for parents. Hebei and Zhejiang province have recently announced similar measures, although maternity leaves vary in different parts of the country.
S: You’re right. For example, the longer ones are 188 day for mothers in Henan and Hainan, and the longest maternity leaves belong to Tibet mums for an entire year. Guangdong province currently allows 178 days, and it is mulling over supportive measures to lower the cost of childbirth and child raring, probably by giving subsidies to parents.
R: So it seems that several provinces and cities are taking the initiative in China’s efforts to boost childbirth.
S: According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2021, the birth rate in 2020 was 8.52 per 1,000, falling below 10 per 1,000 for the first time and hitting a new low since 1978. The natural population growth rate fell sharply to 1.45 per 1,000, also the lowest in decades.
To address the growing demographic imbalance and boost childbirth, China has adopted a third-child policy and released a series of supporting measures. Back on May 31, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo adopted the Decision on Optimizing Birth Policy to Promote Long-Term Balanced Development of the Population, allowing couples in China to have up to three children.
Soon after, on June 26, the CCP Central Committee and the State Council released supporting measures proposing to optimize the country’s maternity leave and maternity insurance systems and pilot childcare leave schemes. The measures also propose to allow nursing expenses for children below the age of three to be deductible from their parents’ taxable income when paying individual income tax.
On August 20, the state’s top legislature eventually amended the Population and Family Planning Law and legalized the third-child policy.
近日，多地密集宣布设置育儿假，延长生育假的新闻冲上热搜。北京、上海、浙江、河北等宣布延长产假，如浙江生一孩共可休158天，二孩、三孩各188天，北京和上海生育假从30天增加到60天，父母可获得每人5天育儿假等。25日，广东表示将探索对生养子女给予普惠性经济补助，提到要切实降低生育、养育子女成本。
据统计，截至当前，有近20个省份在当地的人口与计划生育条例的修改中增设了育儿假，目前安徽的条件可谓最“优厚”，在子女6周岁以前，夫妻每年可各享受10天育儿假。
2021年5月31日，中共中央政治局召开会议，听取“十四五”时期积极应对人口老龄化重大政策举措汇报，审议《关于优化生育政策促进人口长期均衡发展的决定》。会议强调，积极应对人口老龄化，进一步优化生育政策，实施一对夫妻可以生育三个子女政策及配套支持措施。三孩政策正式出台。
紧接着，国家层面上的相关政策和措施陆续出台。6月26日，党中央、国务院发布了《关于优化生育政策促进人口长期均衡发展的决定》，决定实施三孩生育政策及配套支持措施、取消社会抚养费等制约措施。7月，《中共中央 国务院关于优化生育政策促进人口长期均衡发展的决定》指出，支持有条件的地方开展父母育儿假试点，健全假期用工成本分担机制。8月20日，全国人大常委会会议表决通过了关于修改人口与计划生育法的决定，实施一对夫妻可以生育三个子女政策，并取消社会抚养费，是自全面两孩政策实施修改人口计生法以来，对这部法律的又一次重大修改。
种种鼓励生育的措施背后，是严峻的人口出生形势。《中国统计年鉴 2021》显示，2020年全国人口出生率为8.52‰，首次跌破10‰，创下了1978年来的新低。人口自然增长率大幅回落至1.45‰，也创下数十年来的新低。
R: Right. On a different note, the Chinese mainland reported 4 new local COVID-19 cases yesterday, including 3 from Shanghai and 1 from Liaoning. The three Shanghai cases had traveled together to Suzhou between November 19 and 21. Notably, all three have had both doses of vaccine.
Besides, Xuzhou city in the eastern Jiangsu province reported one locally transmitted asymptomatic carrier for Thursday, who was a close contact of a Shanghai case. Hangzhou city in the eastern Zhejiang province also detected two local asymptomatic infections for Thursday.
全国昨日新增新冠本土病例4例（上海3例，其中浦东新区2例、青浦区1例；辽宁1例，在大连市）。上海3例确诊病例为朋友关系，在19-21日曾先后至苏州共同游玩，有较长时间密切接触史，有明确流行病学关联。此外，徐州市确诊1例无症状感染者，杭州市确诊2例无症状感染者，均为上海确诊病例的密切接触者。
S: It seems that the tech giants are having a hard time.
R: Yes, it hasn’t been a good week, or you may say, a good year, for the tech companies in China.
This week, we have seen Tencent suspended from releasing new mobile applications and updating existing ones without regulators’ approval, and Alibaba and Baidu summoned by the authorities for allowing access to fraudulent websites. Also, The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) slapped a fine of 500,000 yuan on companies including Alibaba and Tencent for violating anti-monopoly rules in 43 mergers and acquisitions deals they made.
S: That’s a lot to take in. So, let’s start with Tencent, what happened to its apps?
R: Well, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued a “temporary administrative guidance” against Tencent, telling app stores and platforms to implement the order against its apps from Wednesday.
The ban influences dozens of apps the company runs, including WeChat that has 1.2 billion users. It is not known how long the suspension will last. But we do know that Tencent has been named by regulators 4 times for violating regulations in 9 of its apps during the MIIT campaign this year.
S: You just mentioned the MIIT campaign, tell us more about the regulation crackdown on tech sector this year.
R: Sure. In July, the MIIT initiated a six-month campaign targeting online practices that include blocking links to competing platforms and weak data protection measures, which torn down the infamous “walled gardens” as a part of the tech giants’ monopolistic behaviors.
In September, China enacted the Data Security Law, followed by the Personal Information Protection Law in November. As I mentioned, the authorities have summoned Alibaba and Baidu, urging them to take the responsibility for abiding the laws.
What also worth mentioning is that China has officially launched the national anti-monopoly bureau this month, which shows the country’s determination to further crackdown on market monopolies. Tech companies are obviously among the targets, considering the 500,000 yuan fines slapped on them.
本周科技大厂的日子也不好过。
周一，市场监管总局发布消息，对43起未依法申报违法实施经营者集中案作出行政处罚决定，对涉案企业分别处以50万元罚款，阿里、腾讯、京东、百度、字节跳动等均涉其中。
工信部、公安部周二消息，近日联合约谈阿里云、百度云两家企业相关负责人，通报了近期两家企业在防范治理电信网络诈骗工作中存在的接入涉诈网站数量居高不下等问题，要求两家企业切实履行网络与信息安全主体责任，严格落实《网络安全法》等法律法规要求，对相关问题限期予以整改；拒不整改或整改不到位的，将依法依规从严惩处。
24日，腾讯系App暂停更新的消息刷屏。据央视新闻11月24日报道，工信部对腾讯公司采取过渡性的行政指导措施，要求对于即将发布的新应用以及既有应用的更新版本，需经工信部组织技术检测合格后方可正常上架。也就是说，此后一段时间内，腾讯每新上架一款新App、或对既有App的版本更新，较会比以往而言会多耗时7天。
去年下半年以来，反垄断执法机构对于平台经济行业并购的竞争监管持续加码。国家重拳出击反垄断，剑指科技巨头。2021年11月18日上午，国家反垄断局正式挂牌成立，标志着我国强化反垄断监管、促进公平竞争的决心和行动力。
新一期财报季，科技巨头的表现都差强人意。两大巨头阿里巴巴和腾讯甚至都出现了净利润下滑，营收增速减慢。而京东则亏损了28亿。连如日中天的字节跳动都传出了国内广告收入停止增长的消息。中国互联网公司的黄金时代似乎已经结束。
S: Okay. Last but not least, let’s take a quite look at the stock market. Chinese stocks closed lower today despite cryptocurrency stocks skyrocketed with nearly 10 stocks surging more than 10 percent. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.56 percent, while the Shenzhen Component closed 0.34 percent lower. The Hang Seng Index lost 2.67 percent today, dragged by the plummeting tech sector. Also, the newly discovered Covid-19 variant has lead stocks of gambling, restaurants and airlines to tumble.
周五A股股市下跌，沪指跌0.56%，深成指跌0.34%。数字货币概念股集体大涨，近十股涨停或涨幅超10%。港股恒生指数大跌2.67%，科技股领衔大市下跌；又现新变种病毒，博彩股、餐饮股、航空股集体下跌。
