ROTTERDAM, January 25 -- Welcome to “Catching Tigers and Flies,” China’s new interactive tool for tracking and, we hope, better understanding the massive campaign against corruption that China’s President, Xi Jinping, launched shortly after he came to power in late 2012.

Corruption is a long festering canker on both the work and popular reputation of China’s Communist Party, and one that Xi’s predecessors also sought to combat. But Xi has undertaken the task with unprecedented zeal and acumen. Scything through the Chinese Communist Party’s cadre ranks, Xi’s deputies—most prominent among them the Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Qishan and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) which he commands—have felled officials of both high and low rank, or as Xi himself put it in a memorable phrase, both “tigers and flies.”

To date, tens of thousands have been swept out of office. Whether their fortunes have suffered primarily because of their corrupt acts or rather—as many both inside and outside of China argue—as a direct or indirect result of Xi’s consolidation of power remains, nearly three years into Xi’s tenure, an open and hotly debated question. Information about targets of the campaign abounds, but so too do speculation and rumor.

Meanwhile, the campaign continues. Just last week, the CCDI released a communiqué promising to maintain “unabated forces and unchanging rhythm” in pursuing the goal of a China where, as Xi put it, officials are “unable and unwilling to be corrupt.”
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“Catching Tigers and Flies” is designed to give users a sense of the scope and character of the anti-corruption campaign by graphically rendering information about nearly 1,500 of its targets whose cases have been publicly announced either by the CCDI, its official media partners, or related Chinese government organs.

For the time being, we have confined this database to figures whose cases have been announced by official Chinese sources. Given the flood of available information on the campaign, this struck us as the best way to impose limits on the data we are presenting. It does mean, though, that the tool does not include some highly probable targets of the campaign whose cases have been reported widely by reputable media organizations both inside and outside of China.

At ChinaFile, we have only begun to explore the data we have collected ourselves. Our hope is that by making it available to you and to the journalists and scholars who follow the campaign most closely, we’ll help produce new insights on the ways it has been pursued thus far, and the direction it will take going forward. Below, you will find a form for submitting comments and corrections. Please make use of it.
In the meantime, a few preliminary observations drawn from our data as it stood the day we published. We update our database daily:

• The cases we have tracked span the period from January 1, 2010 to the present. A couple dozen individuals in the database were under investigation for corruption before Xi’s rise to power, but the vast majority have fallen as a result of the campaign.
• Of the more than 1,460 targets included in the database, the vast majority are officials at the local and provincial level. Our tool allows you to break out individuals in the fields of Mining, Petroleum, Law (and law enforcement), Media, Military, Real Estate, and Rail. But there are also sizeable groups in the fields of higher education (78) and public security (36, including Zhou Yongkang and the recently sentenced Li Dongsheng). 175 of the people in our database worked for state-owned enterprises.
• Like Chinese officialdom itself, our database skews heavily male, with only 69 females in total. Just three women, in a pool of 146, are Tigers (those whose rank is above or equivalent to that of Deputy Provincial or Deputy Ministerial level officials).
• One mind-boggling task our tool accomplishes is to tally up the total ill-gotten gains of people in the database convicted of corruption. We pull these figures from sentencing documents—which, in most cases, are easily accessible on the websites of Chinese courts and in the official Chinese media. To date, the sentenced individuals in our database, just 231 people, are responsible for having embezzled, stolen, taken as gifts, or otherwise misused more than 6 billion yuan, close to a billion U.S. dollars.
• Sentencing documents often include other lurid details. Yang Yueguo, a relatively minor Yunnan official, purchased 200,000 RMB’s worth of jade jewelry using public funds. Quan Xiaohui, a municipal official in Henan, kept three mistresses. And Yan Yongxi, who once presided over Beijing’s rural Mentougou district, tried to hide his embezzled millions in his mistress’ gardening company.
• Geographically, the cases in our database are spread throughout the whole country, but certain provinces, including Guangdong, Henan, and Shanxi (the stronghold of Hu Jintao’s former top aide, Ling Jihua) have seen the highest numbers, after Beijing, of individuals targeted. Fujian and Zhejiang, both provinces Xi Jinping once led, have now seen high-level officials toppled, but they appear to be among the provinces dealt with more leniently.
• So far this year, the CCDI has announced 17 new investigations, including probes into several local officials, the head of the “clean and honest governance” unit of the prominent Fosun group, and a deputy director of the Beijing office in charge of Taiwan affairs, whose investigation was announced just days after Taiwan elected a new president whose party favors greater independence from the mainland.

“Catching Tigers and Flies” was built for ChinaFile by Schema, a Seattle-based design firm, and conceived by its Creative Director, Christian Marc Schmidt, and ChinaFile’s Visuals Editor, David Barreda. It is built off of a database compiled by a tireless group of ChinaFile interns and editors and we continue to update daily. We have also collected much more data than we are currently able to display, and we look forward to upgrading our tool to be able to better capture it in the coming months. We expect to continue offering insights as we update and refine the tool in the weeks and months ahead. In the meantime, we invite you to explore for yourself

HANOI, January 25 -- Indian officials say their country will set up a satellite tracking and imaging centre in southern Vietnam that will give Hanoi access to pictures from Indian earth observation satellites that cover the region -  including China and the South China Sea.

The move could heighten tensions between the two countries and Beijing. Both states have long-running territorial disputes with China.

India also extended a $100m credit line for Hanoi to buy patrol boats and is training Vietnamese submariners in India, while Hanoi has granted oil exploration blocks to India in waters off Vietnam that are disputed with China.

The facility will be equipped to receive images from India's Earth observation satellites that Vietnam can use in return for granting India the tracking site, said an Indian government official connected with the space programme.

"This is a sort of quid pro quo which will enable Vietnam to receive IRS [Indian remote sensing] pictures directly - that is, without asking India," said the official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media. "Obviously it will include parts of China of interest to Vietnam."
Earth observation satellites have agricultural, scientific and environmental applications, but can also provide military intelligence. Indian media put the cost of the station at about $23m.

India - whose 54-year-old space programme is accelerating with one satellite launch scheduled every month - has ground stations in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Brunei, Biak in eastern Indonesia and Mauritius that track its satellites in the initial stages of flight. The Vietnam facility will bolster those capabilities, said Deviprasad Karnik, an Indian Space Research Organisation spokesman, according to Reuters news agency.

Long-running disputes
India has 11 earth observation satellites in orbit, offering pictures with differing resolutions and areas, the ISRO said. Vietnam is one of several Southeast Asian nations involved in a territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea.

Beijing has accelerated its construction of man-made islands in the disputed waters to assert its claim to the sea, which is believed to hold vast oil and natural gas reserves. Earlier in January, Vietnam accused China of violating its sovereignty when it landed a plane on an airstrip built on an artificial island in the Spratly archipelago.
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China's foreign ministry rejected the complaint, arguing that the flight was a matter "completely within China's sovereignty".

While China’s UAVs are getting better, if not bigger, little is known about one of its latest models.
Photos of China’s mysterious UAV appeared in May and June while a concept of operations along with payload specs was released earlier in February.

The Divine Eagle (or Shen Diao) is built by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation’s601 Institute and will operate as a high altitude long endurance surveillance drone helping defend China’s airspace against would-be adversaries.

China’s concept of operations suggests the drone will provide early warning against enemy aircraft and support the battle management mission directing friendly targeting of enemy carrier groups. A recent space snapshot acquired by DigitalGlobe shows the twin-fuselage, single-engine drone parked on the south end of Shenyang’s runway, possibly indicative of pre-post flight activity. Although, the activity could also suggest taxi trials, it was rumored that the aircraft’s first test flight occurred sometime in December, according to Chinese internet sources.

Imagery also confirmed details about the drone’s specific characteristics. Measurements taken in Google Earth would indicate a wingspan and length of approximately 40 and 15 meters, respectively. With its large size and aft-mounted high aspect ratio wings, it’s suspected to have a take off weight over 15 tons, which would be larger than the Global Hawk, just over 14.5 tons.

KUALA LUMPUR, August 5 -- US Secretary of State John Kerry voiced concern to China on Wednesday over its land reclamation in the South China Sea and the "militarisation" of its disputed waters.

Mr Kerry raised the issues during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of a regional diplomatic gathering in Malaysia that has been dominated by tensions over China's moves to shore up its territorial claims.

"Secretary Kerry reiterated his concern about rising tensions over disputed claims in the South China Sea and China's large-scale reclamation, construction, and militarisation of features there," a senior State Department official told reporters. "He encouraged China, along with the other claimants, to halt problematic actions in order to create space for diplomacy."

China has sparked alarm in the region by expanding tiny reefs in the flashpoint sea and constructing military posts on them.The United States and Southeast Asian countries have called for a halt to such activities, but China has refused.A day earlier, Southeast Asian foreign ministers warned after they met in Kuala Lumpur that China's moves were raising regional tensions, with the Philippines slamming Beijing's "unilateral and aggressive activities".

The annual gathering is hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and includes countries from across Asia, the United States, Russia and elsewhere. It continues until Thursday. Beijing claims control over nearly the entire South China Sea, a key shipping route thought to hold rich oil and gas reserves. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei -- all Asean members -- also have various claims, as does Taiwan, many of which overlap.

China's neighbours have increasingly chafed at what is seen as mounting violations by Beijing of a regional pledge not to take actions that could stoke conflict. Before their meeting, Mr Kerry had said he and Mr Wang were also to discuss a range of bilateral issues including plans for a September US visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping and China's "great cooperation" on the recent Iran nuclear deal.

A US diplomat also said Mr Kerry would meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov later Wednesday to "discuss a range of issues of mutual concern". They last met in Doha on Monday alongside Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, where the ongoing civil war in Syria topped the agenda. After that meeting, Mr Lavrov hit out at an announcement by Washington that it was willing to take extra measures to defend US-allied fighters in Syria, describing the plan as "counterproductive".

Mr Kerry, in a meeting Wednesday with Asean foreign ministers, said Washington shared their desire "to preserve peace and stability in the South China Sea". He stressed the need to maintain the security of sea lanes and fishing grounds and to settled disputes peacefully.

Beijing has insisted it will not discuss the South China Sea during formal meetings at the forum, saying disagreements must be handled on a bilateral basis between rival claimants. Diplomats and analysts say this stance is aimed at preventing ASEAN from presenting a more united front.

A Washington-based think-tank said this week Beijing could be preparing to build a second airstrip on an artificial island. China is already building a 3,000-metre runway on Fiery Cross reef, which could ultimately be used for combat operations, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

HONG KONG, February 1 -- Thousands of demonstrators march through the city's main financial district, but turnout is lower than expected.

Thousands of protesters carrying yellow umbrellas have marched through Hong Kong's main financial district - the scene of the long-running "Occupy Central" sit-in last year.

As demonstrators reached their final destination in one of the richest parts of Hong Kong on Sunday, founder of the Occupy movement Benny Tai spoke to the crowd, quoting the John Lennon lyrics "you may think that I'm a dreamer, but I am not the only one".

Student leaders of the movement said there were no plans to mirror the months-long protests of 2014 and that the sit-in would not extend beyond midnight. Police were out in force as the crowds slowly made their way along the 4km route from Victoria Park to Central chanting "we want democracy and the right to choose our own leader".

Approximately 10,000 people had turned out by the end of the protest, although no official figures had been announced. The turnout was just a fraction of the 50,000 expected demonstrators, but the range in ages was greater than the original "occupy" protest, an Al Jazeera reporter at the scene said.

The march marks the first major gathering since protest sites and a tent city blocking Hong Kong island's main highway were cleared in December. Protesters had been calling for more say in how the city's leaders were chosen and for more free elections. 

At the peak of the demonstrations, 100,000 people took to the streets amid violent clashes with the police which drew the world's attention.

BEIJING, January 1 -- China's official manufacturing purchasing manager's index (PMI), a key measure of factory activity in China, fell 0.2 percentage points to 50.1 in December. 

Workers assemble LED lights at a factory in Zouping, in eastern China's Shandong province on Dec 31. China’s manufacturing activity contracted in December, HSBC's closely watched purchasing managers' index showed. (AFP photo)

The manufacturing PMI fell from 50.3 in November compared with 50.8 in October, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

A figure above 50 generally means a positive outlook in the manufacturing sector, while below 50 is taken as a negative reading.

China's central bank cut interest rates on Nov 22 after growth in China dropped to 7.3% year-on-year in the third quarter, the lowest in five years.

Prime Minister Li Keqiang told the World Economic Forum in September that the official target remained only "about" 7.5%, marking the weakest potential expansion for 24 years.

BEIJING, November 12 -- China and the United States, which together produce around 45 percent of the world's carbon dioxide, have set ambitious greenhouse gas emission targets, with Beijing setting a goal for its emissions to peak "around 2030". 

It is the first time China, the world's biggest polluter, has set a date, even approximate, for its emissions to stop increasing, and the White House said China would "try to peak early". At the same time the US set a goal to cut its own emissions of the gases blamed for climate change by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.

The declaration came as President Barack Obama met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing.

Reports from Beijing, said the deal had been in the works for nine months. "It's a landmark deal and this is new territory for China to actually set out some goals" for tackling greenhouse gas emissions, said our correspondent.

China will look to "increase the non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around 20 percent by 2030", the White House said in a statement. The proportion stood at 10 percent last year, Chinese officials have previously said. Scientists argue that drastic measures must be taken if the world is to limit global warming to the UN's target of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels, and failing to do so could have disastrous results.

China and the US will be key to ensuring that a global deal on reducing emissions after 2020 is reached in Paris next year. The two countries have long been at loggerheads over global targets, with each saying the other should bear more responsibility for cutting emissions of gases blamed for heating up the atmosphere.


'Huge difference'

Blaire Palese, CEO of 350.org, a movement that promotes awareness about climate change, welcomed the announcement, saying it "will bring a huge difference, and we will be watching their progress. We hope it will set the momentum for other countries to follow."

Noting that it is "unrealistic to expect an end to the fossil fuel addiction," Palese told Al Jazeera that announcing such goals "sends a message, especially right before the G20 summit, that this will not just be a change for and in the environment, but also in the business sector. It means that energy and fuel will now be looked at differently."

Australia will be hosting world leaders participating in the G20 summit this week. However, Wednesday's promises are equally fraught with challenges. While the US, which never ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, has pledged to cut emissions in the past, goals have shifted or been missed altogether.

Its greenhouse gas emissions increased last year, despite Washington setting emissions reduction goals during a climate summit in 2009. The deadline for Obama's new pledge is in more than a decade's time but he only has two years left in his presidency and faces a Congress controlled by opposition Republicans in both houses, which will make passing crucial environmental legislation more difficult.

While it was the first time China agreed to a target date for emissions to peak, officials have previously only spoken of doing so "as soon as possible". The commitment was qualified, leaving considerable room for manoeuvre.

China has trumpeted its efforts to reduce dependence on coal and oil in the past, and is the world's largest hydropower producer, with a growing nuclear sector.