BEIJING (Caixin Online) — Several miscarriages of justice have made the news in China in recent decades. These included cases of wrongful imprisonment and even execution.

In 1995, Nie Shubin, 20, was executed for raping and murdering a woman. Ten years later, another man confessed to the crime.

Three years later, She Xianglin, 47, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for murdering his wife. After spending 11 years in prison, he was declared innocent and released because his wife was found living in a neighboring province.

Zhao Zuohai, 58, was convicted in 2002 of murdering a man and given the death penalty. Ten years later, the “victim” turned up and Zhao was freed.
 
In the wake of these high-profile cases, the public and scholars have held an increasing number of discussions over abolishing the death penalty. Recently, Zhao Bingzhi, a professor of criminal law at Beijing Normal University, said China should gradually limit use of the death penalty before abolishing it.

Zhao is the director of the university’s College of Criminal Law Science and serves as “distinguished counselor” to the Supreme People’s Court.

During a recent debate at the French Embassy in Beijing, Zhao argued that China should strictly limit use of the death penalty and gradually reduce the number of times capital punishment is used. He suggested abolishing the death penalty before 2049, for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Zhao said that when China embarked on a tough anti-crime campaign in 1982, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee approved use of the death penalty for 24 criminal offences and economic crimes. In addition, the procedure for reviewing death penalty cases was delegated to high courts in the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

In 2007, to prevent unjustified and wrongful executions and to control the total number of death penalty cases in the country, the power of review was returned to the Supreme People’s Court.

Four years later, the country revised its Criminal Law to remove 13 crimes from the list of those punishable by death. Non-violent offenses such as financial and tax fraud; smuggling relics, precious metals and rare animals; and looting cultural ruins were stricken from the list.

However, China still holds the world record for the most capital offenses — 55. Also, China considers the number of executions a state secret and has never publicized it.

Some people argue that keeping capital punishment will help to curb corruption. However, He Jiahong, a professor at Renmin University, disagrees.

He says that while current anti-corruption laws rely on severe punishment, effective investigation is a better approach. The professor points out that even though punishment for corruption in China is very harsh, graft is still very common. The best way to curb corruption is democracy and the rule of law, he says.

Professor Qin Hui of Tsinghua University says when the system shows progress, it will guide and change public opinion. He said judicial reform involving abolition of the death penalty will transform public opinion.

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2013-04-07/economy/38346904_1_death-penalty-nie-shubin-capital-punishment

China's major property developers are grabbing bigger market shares, and higher revenues from the market reshuffle brought about by tightening policies, according to the latest real estate industry statistics.

In the first quarter, the nation's top 10 property developers by sales revenue had a 14.88 percent market share, up from 14.28 percent a year ago, according to a report released on Tuesday by China Real Estate Information Corporation.

Expanding market shares have resulted from the rising sales revenue of these heavyweight developers. Each of the top 10 generated more than 11 billion yuan ($1.77 billion) in the first quarter, with China Vanke Co Ltd taking the lead.

The rising market shares and sales revenue are mainly due to the market pickup since May 2012 as well as the market reaction toward the latest government tightening policy, said Ding Zuyu, executive president of E-House (China) Holdings Ltd.

Data from Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate services company, showed that even in the traditional off-season for home sales, in January and February, market transaction volumes in gross floor area for residential property remain bullish, surging 142 percent year-on-year in Shanghai.

More noticeably, home prices began to creep up and many home buyers started to anticipate further growth in the coming months.

According to Ding, sales soared in March after the central government unveiled the policy of levying a 20 percent capital gains tax on sales of pre-owned homes.

"In order to avoid the tax, homebuyers sped up their purchases, and some residential projects were sold out within a day or even a few hours," said Ding.

Centaline Property Agency, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based real estate agency Centaline Group, generated as much as 790 million yuan in commission fees in March amid the sales boom, which was five to six times the amount in March 2012, added Ding.

"There was a significant rise in secondary market sales in March as buyers and sellers looked to complete transactions before the implementation of the new guidelines in Shanghai," said Joe Zhou, head of research for Jones Lang LaSalle Shanghai.
According to Zhou, primary market sales remained strong.

In the first quarter, sales volume amounted to more than 3 million sq m in Shanghai, up 115 percent year-on-year.

Chen Xiaotian, marketing committee deputy secretary-general of the China Real Estate Association, cautioned that the upbeat sales may not last long.

"After local governments announce detailed measures to implement the central government's guidelines, the market may experience a slump," Chen said.

According to Chen, there is a basic law in China's property market: the worse the market performance is, the greater the market share held by major developers.

A total of 270 billion yuan was generated by the nation's top 14 property developers, each of which saw their sales revenue exceed 10 billion yuan in the first quarter. Their average revenue growth rate in the first quarter was 91 percent year-on-year.

Major developers have more land reserves, more financing channels and more mature experience to adapt to changing market conditions, Chen added.

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2013-04/10/content_28498463.htm

The offshore renminbi bond market in its current form is nearly three years old. This has not been a period of unalloyed financial stability in the world and this fledgling market has had to endure something of a baptism of fire. However, it has negotiated the various obstacles in its path to become an interesting investment opportunity which has caught the attention of an increasing number of global investors. Here we discuss some of the current themes in the market and discuss how renminbi bond markets may develop in the coming months and years.

Investors in China should not be disappointed by the lower growth rates we are likely to see this year. We believe that China’s nascent recovery which began in the third quarter of 2012 will be sustained in 2013, driven by the momentum of infrastructure spending as the implementation of new projects is accelerated. We do not believe that the recovery in Chinese growth on this occasion will be as spectacular as that witnessed in the years following the last fiscal stimulus of 2008-2009, but that is probably a good thing and will put growth on a more sustainable path. Nevertheless, we still expect a growth rate above 8% for 2013.

This is good news for investors in offshore renminbi bonds for three reasons. The first is that the Chinese corporate credits in the market should improve in quality and enjoy the benefits of participating in a high growth environment. The second is that the diminishing concerns about the Chinese economy in general should generate the continuing interest of foreign investors in China, some of whom will choose the renminbi bond market as their means of funding their Chinese activities. This implies continued growth in the market and a deepening and broadening of diversification.

The third is that the renminbi is likely to continue to appreciate against the US dollar.

Keen observers will have noticed that the offshore renminbi rate suffered a slightly weaker second half to January. This is interesting in a number of ways. It coincided with a period of weakness for a number of other Asian currencies (the Korean won, the Malaysian ringgit and the Japanese yen), which reminds us that Asia is behaving more as a currency bloc, and this now includes China. It also proves once again that the appreciation of the renminbi is likely to be modest, gradual and susceptible to mild bouts of volatility, although for the meantime nothing like the swings we see in fully convertible currencies.
The lack of correlation to other credit markets is also noteworthy. This is mostly due to higher yields and lower duration, which to an extent protects investors from market volatility. It may also explain why ‘dim sum’ bonds have outperformed virtually any other credit market this year with a lower volatility. The ‘V’ shaped return profile of other markets in January and February was not replicated in this market, which has steadily increased in value over the early weeks of 2013.

The value in the offshore renminbi bond market is beginning to be recognized. Many investors who may not have been comfortable with the size, depth and liquidity of the market before, are now able to participate in what has become a very interesting niche credit opportunity. This has pushed the yield on the whole market down from over 4% at the end of the third quarter of 2012, to just over 3.5% at the end of February.

Does this mean that the value of the asset class is now in question? We definitely believe not. The same alluring qualities of higher yields, decent credit quality, low duration and geographical diversification are now enhanced by a larger, more liquid and even further diversified opportunity. Over time, the offshore renminbi market may well have greater correlation to the other truly global credit markets, but in the interim, it is likely to continue to outperform.

But we have to remember that the offshore renminbi bond market is not an end in itself, but a route towards a much more concrete objective- the internationalization of the Chinese financial markets. As such, the offshore market is only half the story.
The other half concerns the increasing access international investors are being granted to the onshore Chinese bond markets.
These are very large and liquid, amounting to well over US$3.5 trillion in size, but so far have only been available outside China to specific large institutional investors and some very specialist investment funds in Hong Kong.

However, recent announcements from the Chinese authorities should make some access to this market possible for retail investors very soon, at least on a limited basis (at the time of writing, we are still waiting for the full details of the new arrangements). This marks the next step along the path to the Chinese bond markets becoming one of the most important capital markets in the world.