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This Black Friday, you can save 95% off of a 1-year membership to Brad Thomas’s Intelligent Income Investor. [Golden Gate Marketers]( Sometimes, colleagues of Golden Gate Marketers share special offers with us that we think our readers should be made aware of. Below is one such special opportunity that we believe deserves your attention. Dear Reader, This Black Friday, you can save 95% off of a 1-year membership to Brad Thomas’s Intelligent Income Investor. This service is geared toward helping you collect the safest dividend income in the market. It all starts with Brad’s “SWAN” portfolio, of the 10 best companies to own through any market. [Click here now to claim this 95% discount.]( It’s obvious that something big is changing in the markets… The big tech stock darlings that led the way during Covid are all down massively. Twitter, Meta, Zoom — even Amazon are all getting crushed. The market is cycling back to value… and income. If you want to put your money into defensive, income-gushing stocks — now is the time to get Brad’s full insights. But this Black Friday deal won’t last: [Claim your 95% Discount now.]( All the best, Frances Popp Managing Editor, Intelligent Income Investor Environment Main articles: Environment of China and Environmental issues in China See also: Renewable energy in China, Water resources of China, Energy policy of China, and Climate change in China The Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. In the early 2000s, China has suffered from environmental deterioration and pollution due to its rapid pace of industrialization.[170][171] While regulations such as the 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, they are poorly enforced, as they are frequently disregarded by local communities and government officials in favor of rapid economic development.[172] China is the country with the second highest death toll because of air pollution, after India. There are approximately 1 million deaths caused by exposure to ambient air pollution.[173][174] Although China ranks as the highest CO2 emitting country in the world,[175] it only emits 8 tons of CO2 per capita, significantly lower than developed countries such as the United States (16.1), Australia (16.8) and South Korea (13.6).[176] In recent years, China has clamped down on pollution. In March 2014, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping "declared war" on pollution during the opening of the National People's Congress.[177] After extensive debate lasting nearly two years, the parliament approved a new environmental law in April. The new law empowers environmental enforcement agencies with great punitive power and large fines for offenders, defines areas which require extra protection, and gives independent environmental groups more ability to operate in the country.[citation needed] In 2020, Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping announced that China aims to peak emissions before 2030 and go carbon-neutral by 2060 in accordance with the Paris climate accord.[178] According to Climate Action Tracker, if accomplished it would lower the expected rise in global temperature by 0.2 – 0.3 degrees – "the biggest single reduction ever estimated by the Climate Action Tracker".[179] In September 2021 Xi Jinping announced that China will not build "coal-fired power projects abroad". The decision can be "pivotal" in reducing emissions. The Belt and Road Initiative did not include financing such projects already in the first half of 2021.[180] The country also had significant water pollution problems: 8.2% of China's rivers had been polluted by industrial and agricultural waste in 2019.[181][182] China had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.14/10, ranking it 53rd globally out of 172 countries.[183] In 2020, a sweeping law was passed by the Chinese government to protect the ecology of the Yangtze River. The new laws include strengthening ecological protection rules for hydropower projects along the river, banning chemical plants within 1 kilometer of the river, relocating polluting industries, severely restricting sand mining as well as a complete fishing ban on all the natural waterways of the river, including all its major tributaries and lakes.[184] China is also the world's leading investor in renewable energy and its commercialization, with $52 billion invested in 2011 alone;[185][186][187] it is a major manufacturer of renewable energy technologies and invests heavily in local-scale renewable energy projects.[188][189][190] By 2015, over 24% of China's energy was derived from renewable sources, while most notably from hydroelectric power: a total installed capacity of 197 GW makes China the largest hydroelectric power producer in the world.[191][192] China also has the largest power capacity of installed solar photovoltaics system and wind power system in the world.[193][194] Greenhouse gas emissions by China are the world's largest,[176] as is renewable energy in China.[195] Despite its emphasis on renewables, China remains deeply connected to global oil markets and next to India, has been the largest importer of Russian crude oil in 2022.[196][197] Political geography Main articles: Borders of China, Coastline of China, and Territorial changes of the People's Republic of China Map showing the territorial claims of the PRC. The People's Republic of China is the second-largest country in the world by land area after Russia.[aa][ab] China's total area is generally stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km2 (3,700,000 sq mi).[198] Specific area figures range from 9,572,900 km2 (3,696,100 sq mi) according to the Encyclopædia Britannica,[199] to 9,596,961 km2 (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the UN Demographic Yearbook,[3] and the CIA World Factbook.[6] China has the longest combined land border in the world, measuring 22,117 km (13,743 mi) and its coastline covers approximately 14,500 km (9,000 mi) from the mouth of the Yalu River (Amnok River) to the Gulf of Tonkin.[6] China borders 14 nations and covers the bulk of East Asia, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar in Southeast Asia; India, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Pakistan[ac] in South Asia; Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia; and Russia, Mongolia, and North Korea in Inner Asia and Northeast Asia. Additionally, China shares maritime boundaries with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. It is narrowly separated from Bangladesh and Thailand to the southwest and south.[200] Politics Main article: Politics of China See also: List of current Chinese provincial leaders The Great Hall of the People where the National People's Congress convenes The Zhongnanhai, headquarters of the Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese constitution states that the People's Republic of China "is a socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants," and that the state institutions "shall practice the principle of democratic centralism."[201] The PRC is one of the world's only socialist states governed by a communist party. The Chinese government has been variously described as communist and socialist, but also as authoritarian[202] and corporatist,[203] with heavy restrictions in many areas, most notably against free access to the Internet, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, the right to have children, free formation of social organizations and freedom of religion.[204] Although the Chinese Communist Party describes China as a "socialist consultative democracy",[205] the country is commonly described as an authoritarian one-party surveillance state and a dictatorship.[206][207] Its current political, ideological and economic system has been termed by its leaders as a "consultative democracy" "people's democratic dictatorship", "socialism with Chinese characteristics" (which is Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances) and the "socialist market economy" respectively.[208][209] Political concerns in China include the growing gap between rich and poor and government corruption.[210] Nonetheless, the level of public support for the government and its management of the nation is high, with 80–95% of Chinese citizens expressing satisfaction with the central government, according to a 2011 survey.[211] A 2020 survey from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research also had most Chinese expressing satisfaction with the government on information dissemination and delivery of daily necessities during the COVID-19 pandemic.[212][213] Chinese Communist Party Main article: Chinese Communist Party See also: United Front (China) and Generations of Chinese leadership The Chinese Communist Party is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China. The main body of the Chinese constitution declares that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)."[214] China is a one-party Marxist–Leninist state,[215] wherein the CCP general secretary (party leader) holds ultimate power and authority over state and government and serves as the informal paramount leader.[216] The current general secretary is Xi Jinping, who took office on 15 November 2012, and was re-elected on 25 October 2017.[217] According to the CCP constitution, its highest body is the National Congress held every five years.[218] The National Congress elects the Central Committee, who then elects the party's Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee and general secretary, the top leadership of the country.[218] Since both the CCP and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) promote according to seniority, it is possible to discern distinct generations of Chinese leadership.[219] In official discourse, each group of leadership is identified with a distinct extension of the ideology of the party. Historians have studied various periods in the development of the government of the People's Republic of China by reference to these "generations". Generations of Chinese leadership Generation Paramount Leader Start End Ideology First Mao Zedong Hua Guofeng 1949 1978 Mao Zedong Thought Second Deng Xiaoping 1978 1989 Deng Xiaoping Theory Third Jiang Zemin 1989 2002 Three Represents Fourth Hu Jintao 2002 2012 Scientific Outlook on Development Fifth Xi Jinping 2012 Xi Jinping Thought Government Main article: Government of China See also: List of national leaders of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping CCP General Secretary and President Li Keqiang Premier Li Zhanshu Congress Chairman The National People's Congress in 2018 altered the country's constitution to remove the two-term limit on holding the Presidency of China, permitting the current leader, Xi Jinping, to remain president of China (and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party) for an unlimited time, earning criticism for creating dictatorial governance.[220][221] The president is the ceremonial head of state, elected by the National People's Congress. The premier is the head of government, presiding over the State Council composed of four vice premiers and the heads of ministries and commissions. The incumbent president is Xi Jinping, who is also the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the chairman of the Central Military Commission, making him China's paramount leader. The incumbent premier is Li Keqiang, who is also a senior member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top decision-making body.[222][223] The electoral system is pyramidal. Local People's Congresses are directly elected, and higher levels of People's Congresses up to the National People's Congress (NPC) are indirectly elected by the People's Congress of the level immediately below.[201] Another eight political parties, have representatives in the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).[224] China supports the Leninist principle of "democratic centralism",[201] but critics describe the elected National People's Congress as a "rubber stamp" body.[225] Administrative divisions Main articles: Administrative divisions of China, Districts of Hong Kong, and Municipalities and parishes of Macau The People's Republic of China is officially a unitary state divided into 23 provinces,[citation needed] five autonomous regions (each with a designated minority group), and four municipalities—collectively referred to as "mainland China"—as well as the special administrative regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macau. Geographically, all 31 provincial divisions of mainland China can be grouped into six regions: North China, Northeast China, East China, South Central China, Southwest China, and Northwest China.[226] China considers Taiwan to be its 23rd province,[227] although Taiwan is governed by the Republic of China (ROC), which rejects the PRC's claim. Conversely, the ROC constitution claims sovereignty over all divisions governed by the PRC.[228] China administrative claimed included.svg About this image Provinces (省) Claimed Province Anhui (安徽省) Fujian (福建省) Gansu (甘肃省) Guangdong (广东省) Guizhou (贵州省) Hainan (海南省) Hebei (河北省) Heilongjiang (黑龙江省) Henan (河南省) Hubei (湖北省) Hunan (湖南省) Jiangsu (江苏省) Jiangxi (江西省) Jilin (吉林省) Liaoning (辽宁省) Qinghai (青海省) Shaanxi (陕西省) Shandong (山东省) Shanxi (山西省) Sichuan (四川省) Yunnan (云南省) Zhejiang (浙江省) Taiwan (台湾省) governed by R.O.China Autonomous regions (自治区) Municipalities (直辖市) Special administrative regions (特别行政区) Guangxi (广西壮族自治区) Inner Mongolia / Nei Menggu (内蒙古自治区) Ningxia (宁夏回族自治区) Xinjiang (新疆维吾尔自治区) Tibet / Xizang (西藏自治区) Beijing (北京市) Chongqing (重庆市) Shanghai (上海市) Tianjin (天津市) Hong Kong / Xianggang (香港特别行政区) Macau / Aomen (澳门特别行政区) Foreign relations Main article: Foreign relations of China Diplomatic relations of China The PRC has diplomatic relations with 175 countries and maintains embassies in 162. In 2019, China had the largest diplomatic network in the world.[229][230] Its legitimacy is disputed by the Republic of China and a few other countries; it is thus the largest and most populous state with limited recognition, with a population of more than 1.4 billion.[231] In 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the United Nations and as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.[232] China was also a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and still considers itself an advocate for developing countries.[233] Along with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, China is a member of the BRICS group of emerging major economies and hosted the group's third official summit at Sanya, Hainan in April 2011.[234] Under the One-China principle, Beijing has made it a precondition to establishing diplomatic relations that the other country acknowledges its claim to Taiwan and severs official ties with the government of the Republic of China.[citation needed] Chinese officials have protested on numerous occasions when foreign countries have made diplomatic overtures to Taiwan,[235] especially in the matter of armament sales.[236] Much of current Chinese foreign policy is reportedly based on Premier Zhou Enlai's Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and is also driven by the concept of "harmony without uniformity", which encourages diplomatic relations between states despite ideological differences.[237] This policy may have led China to support states that are regarded as dangerous or repressive by Western nations, such as Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran.[238] China has a close economic and military relationship with Russia,[239] and the two states often vote in unison in the United Nations Security Council.[240][241][242] Trade relations On 21 May 2014, China and Russia signed a $400 billion gas deal. Currently, Russia is supplying natural gas to China. China became the world's largest trading nation in 2013 as measured by the sum of imports and exports, as well as the world's largest commodity importer. comprising roughly 45% of maritime's dry-bulk market.[243][244] By 2016, China was the largest trading partner of 124 other countries.[245] China is the largest trading partner for the ASEAN nations, with a total trade value of $345.8 billion in 2015 accounting for 15.2% of ASEAN's total trade.[246] ASEAN is also China's largest trading partner.[247] In 2020, China became the largest trading partner of the European Union for goods, with the total value of goods trade reaching nearly $700 billion.[248] China, along with ASEAN, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, is a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world's largest free-trade area covering 30% of the world's population and economic output.[249] China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. In 2004, it proposed an entirely new East Asia Summit (EAS) framework as a forum for regional security issues.[250] The EAS, which includes ASEAN Plus Three, India, Australia and New Zealand, held its inaugural summit in 2005.[251] China has had a long and complex trade relationship with the United States. In 2000, the United States Congress approved "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) with China, allowing Chinese exports in at the same low tariffs as goods from most other countries.[252] China has a significant trade surplus with the United States, its most important export market.[253] Economists have argued that the renminbi is undervalued, due to currency intervention from the Chinese government, giving China an unfair trade advantage.[254] In August 2019, the United States Department of the Treasury designated China as a "currency manipulator",[255] later reversing the decision in January 2020.[256] Since the turn of the century, China has followed a policy of engaging with African nations for trade and bilateral co-operation;[257][258][259] in 2019, Sino-African trade totalled $208 billion, having grown 20 times over two decades.[260] According to Madison Condon "China finances more infrastructure projects in Africa than the World Bank and provides billions of dollars in low-interest loans to the continent's emerging economies."[261] China maintains extensive and highly diversified trade links with the European Union.[248] China has furthermore strengthened its trade ties with major South American economies,[262] and is the largest trading partner of Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, and several others.[263] China's Belt and Road Initiative has expanded significantly over the last six years and, as of April 2020, includes 138 countries and 30 international organizations. In addition to intensifying foreign policy relations, the focus here is particularly on building efficient transport routes. The focus is particularly on the maritime Silk Road with its connections to East Africa and Europe and there are Chinese investments or related declarations of intent at numerous ports such as Gwadar, Kuantan, Hambantota, Piraeus and Trieste. However many of these loans made under the Belt and Road program are unsustainable and China has faced a number of calls for debt relief from debtor nations.[264][265] Territorial disputes Main article: Territorial disputes of the People's Republic of China See also: List of wars involving the People's Republic of China and Cross-Strait relations Taiwan Map depicting territorial disputes between the PRC and neighboring states. For a larger map, see here. Ever since its establishment after the Chinese Civil War, the PRC has claimed the territories governed by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity today commonly known as Taiwan, as a part of its territory. It regards the island of Taiwan as its Taiwan Province, Kinmen and Matsu as a part of Fujian Province and islands the ROC controls in the South China Sea as a part of Hainan Province and Guangdong Province. These claims are controversial because of the complicated Cross-Strait relations, with the PRC treating the One-China Principle as one of its most important diplomatic principles.[266][better source needed] Land border disputes Further information: Sino-Indian border dispute China has resolved its land borders with 12 out of 14 neighboring countries, having pursued substantial compromises in most of them.[267][268][269] As of 2022, China currently has a disputed land border with India and Bhutan.[citation needed] Maritime border disputes Main articles: Territorial disputes in the South China Sea and Senkaku Islands dispute China is additionally involved in maritime disputes with multiple countries over the ownership of several small islands in the East and South China Seas, such as Socotra Rock, the Senkaku Islands and the entirety of South China Sea Islands,[270][271] along with the EEZ disputes over East China Sea. Sociopolitical issues and human rights See also: Human rights in China, Hukou, Social welfare in China, Elections in China, Censorship in China, and Uyghur genocide March in memory of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo who died of organ failure while in government custody in 2017 China uses a massive espionage network of cameras, facial recognition software, sensors, and surveillance of personal technology as a means of social control of persons living in the country.[272] The Chinese democracy movement, social activists, and some members of the Chinese Communist Party believe in the need for social and political reform. While economic and social controls have been significantly relaxed in China since the 1970s, political freedom is still tightly restricted. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China states that the "fundamental rights" of citizens include freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, universal suffrage, and property rights. However, in practice, these provisions do not afford significant protection against criminal prosecution by the state.[273][274] Although some criticisms of government policies and the ruling Communist Party are tolerated, censorship of political speech and information, most notably on the Internet,[275][276] are routinely used to prevent collective action.[277] A number of foreign governments, foreign press agencies, and NGOs have criticized China's human rights record, alleging widespread civil rights violations such as detention without trial, forced abortions,[278] forced confessions, torture, restrictions of fundamental rights,[204][279] and excessive use of the death penalty.[280][281] The government suppresses popular protests and demonstrations that it considers a potential threat to "social stability", as was the case with the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.[282] Western governments accused China of committing genocide against Uyghurs and detaining more than one million Uyghurs and other Xinjiang minorities in camps.[283] China is regularly accused of large-scale repression and human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang,[284][285][286] including violent police crackdowns and religious suppression.[287][288] In Xinjiang, At least one million Uyghurs and other ethnic and religion minorities have been detained in mass detention camps, officially termed "Vocational Education and Training Centers", aimed at changing the political thinking of detainees, their identities, and their religious beliefs.[135] According to the U.S. Department of State, actions including political indoctrination, torture, physical and psychological abuse, forced sterilization, sexual abuse, and forced labor are common in these facilities.[289] The state has also sought to control offshore reporting of tensions in Xinjiang, intimidating foreign-based reporters by detaining their family members.[290] According to a 2020 report, China's treatment of Uyghurs meets the UN definition of genocide,[291] and several groups called for a UN investigation.[292] On 19 January 2021, the United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced that the United States Department of State had determined that "genocide and crimes against humanity" had been perpetrated by China against the Uyghurs.[293] 2019–20 Hong Kong protests Global studies from Pew Research Center in 2014 and 2017 ranked the Chinese government's restrictions on religion as among the highest in the world, despite low to moderate rankings for religious-related social hostilities in the country.[294][295] The Global Slavery Index estimated that in 2016 more than 3.8 million people were living in "conditions of modern slavery", or 0.25% of the population, including victims of human trafficking, forced labor, forced marriage, child labor, and state-imposed forced labor. The state-imposed forced system was formally abolished in 2013, but it is not clear to which extent its various practices have stopped.[296] The Chinese penal system includes labor prison factories, detention centers, and re-education camps, collectively known as laogai ("reform through labor"). The Laogai Research Foundation in the United States estimated that there were over a thousand slave labor prisons and camps in China.[297] In 2019, a study called for the mass retraction of more than 400 scientific papers on organ transplantation, because of fears the organs were obtained unethically from Chinese prisoners. While the government says 10,000 transplants occur each year, a report by the Falun Gong-linked IETAC alleged that between 60,000 and 100,000 organs are transplanted each year and claimed that this gap was being made up by executed prisoners of conscience.[298] Military Main articles: People's Liberation Army and Paramilitary forces of China Chengdu J-20 5th generation stealth fighter With nearly 2.2 million active troops, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the largest standing military force in the world, commanded by the Central Military Commission (CMC).[299] China has the second-largest military reserve force, only behind North Korea.[300] The PLA is considered one of the world's most powerful militaries, and has rapidly modernized in the recent decades.[301] The PLA consists of the Ground Force (PLAGF), the Navy (PLAN), the Air Force (PLAAF), the Rocket Force (PLARF) and the Strategic Support Force (PLASSF). According to the Chinese government, military budget for 2022 totalled US$230 billion (1.45 trillion Yuan), constituting the world's second-largest military budget, although the military expenditures-GDP ratio with 1.3% of GDP is below world average.[302][303] However, many authorities – including SIPRI and the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense claim that China hides its real level of military spending, which is allegedly much higher than the official budget.[303][304] The PLA additionally holds the world's third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons,[305][306][307] and the world's second-largest navy by tonnage.[308] Economy Main articles: Economy of China, Agriculture in China, and List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP China and other major developing economies by GDP per capita at purchasing-power parity, 1990–2013. The rapid economic growth of China (blue) is readily apparent.[309] [golden secrets] From time to time, we send special emails or offers from 3rd party websites to readers who chose to opt-in. We hope you find them useful. It’s a good idea to [whitelist us]( make sure you get every email. This offer is brought to you by Golden Gate Marketers. 16192 Coastal Hwy Lewes, DE 19958 USA. If for any reason you believe you received this email from Golden Gate Marketers in error [unsubscribe here](. Email sent by Finance and Investing Traffic, LLC, owner and operator of Golden Gate Marketers. © 2022 All Rights Reserved[.Â]( [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms & Conditions]( Thinking about unsubscribing? We hope not! But, if you must, the link is below. [Unsubscribe]( [Golden Gate Marketers](