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China’s Anti-Tank Missiles Will Set NATO Tanks on Fire

In the Russia-Ukraine war, many anti-tank missiles provided by the West have caused heavy losses to the Russian armored forces. However, Russia’s “Free Press” website reported on July 21 that China has developed the most advanced anti-tank weapons. They will set NATO tanks on fire.

The Russian media said Chinese weapons manufacturers are pushing the United States and other NATO members out of the international arms market with similar weapons. “Soon, China will conquer the world market for anti-tank weapons. Many countries, including Iran, Algeria, Nigeria  and others … are already buying Chinese anti-tank missiles.

The report refers to the latest model of China’s famous, “Red Arrow” series of anti-tank missiles. The “Red Arrow 12,” which in Chinese is Hongjian-12 (HJ-12) is a third generation, man-portable, fire-and-forget infrared homing anti-tank missile and was developed by China North Industries Corporation (Norinco).

According to the report, China’s ‘HJ-12’ has proven to be more effective than both the U.S. ‘Javelin’ and the Israeli ‘Long Nail’ anti-tank missiles.” Compared to its NATO counterpart, the Chinese HJ-12 has a much longer effective range. It can hit moving targets such as tanks from 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away during the day and up to 2 kilometers at night.

In addition, the “HJ-12” can be launched in a closed space. It is first propelled by a takeoff engine, with a small initial speed out of the tube, and with less tail jet gas. After a certain distance, the main engine starts to speed up and climbs. This “cold launch” technology means that it can even be launched from an ordinary apartment, making it easier to conduct urban warfare. In contrast, the U.S. Javelin anti-tank missile has many limitations when used in urban alley warfare. The tail flame is likely to burn the firer.

In addition, the report also mentions that the “HJ-12” has a powerful strike capability. The operator can choose between different combat modes: direct attack or top-attack mode, where the missile will hit the target from above at an almost vertical angle.

Meanwhile, China has been improving its anti-tank technology. China’s Poly Defense Corporation unveiled its next-generation GAM-10X anti-tank missile at the recent Defense Services Asia exhibition in Kuala Lumpur. This missile is capable of penetrating reactive armor up to one meter thick and can also be used as a man-portable weapon. It can also be fired from an enclosed space. The missile uses uncooled components that significantly reduce the missile’s launch preparation time. “That means that it can lock onto a tank’s infrared signature and fire as soon as it appears.” In addition, another major advantage is its modular design. This makes it easy to be integrated and mounted on a variety of platforms such as light all-terrain vehicles or tracked infantry fighting vehicles. It can also be mounted on a heavy tripod and used as a static defense or assault weapon.”

Source: China.com, July 22, 2022.
https://military.china.com/news/13004177/20220722/42889756.html

Many Stores Are Deserted or Closed in Guangzhou & Shanghai; nearly Sixty Percent of Chinese Are Trying to Save Money

In China, more and more businesses are finding it increasingly difficulty to survive and have had to close their doors. The reason is the COVID-19 epidemic coupled with the government’s tough “Zero-COVID” policy. On July 21, China’s Guyu Data reported that the vacancy rate of shops in Shanghai and Guangzhou reached 9.8 percent and 14.1 percent, respectively, (data for most cities are not yet available). In 2019, the vacancy rates in China’s first- and second-tier cities were around 6.1 percent. That rate increased to 11.0 percent and 9.0 percent in 2020 and 2021. Generally speaking, a store vacancy rate of 6 percent is cause for alarm.

From January to April, the total daily shopping mall traffic in China decreased by 19 percent compared to the same period last year. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the total retail sales of consumer goods in April was down by 11.1 percent year-over-year.

In the first quarter of 2022 in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the store opening/closing ratios were 0.85, 0.88 and 0.76, respectively, showing more store closures than store openings.

In the second quarter of 2022, the People’s Bank of China conducted a questionnaire survey of 20,000 urban depositors in 50 cities nationwide. The results showed that 23.8 percent of residents tended to “consume more,” while 58.3 percent of residents tended to “save more.” This is 3.6 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.

Source: Creaders.net, July 21, 2022.                                                                                                                                                             https://news.creaders.net/china/2022/07/21/2507106.html percent

China’s “Foreclosed Houses” Surge; Local Government’s Finances Are in Danger

Because of the impact of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s’) zero-COVID policy, many cities in China have been locked down. This has resulted in an economic recession, corporate layoffs, falling housing prices and an Increase in foreclosed houses and properties for residents and for business owners.

Recently, Chinese netizens revealed that, according to the bank’s financial system risk control meeting, there are nearly 40 million houses nationwide for which the mortgages have not been paid. More than 10 million foreclosed homes have been or are being auctioned off.

According to a report that the China’s National Finance and Development Laboratory released on June 29, the number of foreclosures increased from 500,000 units in 2019 to more than 1.6 million units in 2021.

In China, it takes about two years from the time a house’s mortgage is not paid until the house is sold at an auction. There will be more and more houses auctioned off in the future.

Real estate itself accounts for about 8 percent of China’s annual GDP growth. Incorporating the related industries, this results in an addition of up to 20 to 30 percent of China’s GDP. About 1/3 of the local government’s fiscal revenue comes from the sale of its land. Due to the downturn in the real estate market, land sales will certainly not do well. The local government’s finances are facing a dangerous situation.

Source: Newtalk, June 28, 2022.                                                                                                                                                                     https://tw.news.yahoo.com/斷供潮來了-中國-法拍房-暴增-房市面臨崩盤危機-053638657.html

Xi Jinping Praises ‘One Country, Two Systems’ while Hong Kong People Flee Faster

On June 30, Xi Jinping, general secretary of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) arrived in Hong Kong to attend a meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of its return to China and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Hong Kong. Xi highly praised “one country, two systems” as a good system. However, Hong Kong people refute that Hong Kong no longer has two systems and do not trust CCP. Hong Kong’s economic outlook has become bleak, and a new wave of emigration has begun.

“One country, two systems” means that Hong Kong and mainland China have two different systems. In the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984, it is stated that after Hong Kong’s handover in 1997, China shall, under the principle of “one country, two systems”, ensure that Hong Kong’s own capitalist system and way of life shall remain “unchanged for 50 years”, and will protect Hong Kong people’s rights and freedoms of person, speech, publication, assembly, association and religious belief.

But today, 25 years later, former Hong Kong legislator Raymond Hui told Free Asia that the freedoms that Hong Kong people used to enjoy have been completely taken away under high-handed governance, and that “one country, two systems” has disappeared.

A poll conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong last year showed that nearly 60 percent of the 800 respondents aged 15 to 30 want to leave Hong Kong once they have chances.

Hong Kong’s economic outlook has become bleak over the past 25 years since the handover, the Wall Street Journal reported on the 30th, especially for the younger generation, their life has become much more difficult.

Since 1997, Hong Kong’s real estate prices have risen sharply. Many people cannot afford to buy a house. Young people’s monthly salary is also much less than that in the past. According to official data, the average monthly salary of Hong Kong people aged 20 to 24 in 2019 (the most recent year for which annual data are available) is 25 percent less than that of the same age group in 1994 after adjusting for inflation.

In 2021, the latest year for which full-year data are available, the unemployment rate for people aged 20 to 29 in Hong Kong is 8.1 percent, compared with 5.2 percent for the total population; In 1997, the difference between the two was only 0.6 percentage points.

Some young people in Hong Kong also believe that jobs are being taken away by mainlanders. In 2020, according to recruiting firm Robert Walters Group, about 30 percent of investment banking jobs in Hong Kong were filled by local staff, that was down from 40 percent of two years ago. While 60 percent of the jobs were filled by mainland staff and 10 percent by overseas staff.

Hong Kong resident immigration figures show a net outflow of over 140,000 Hong Kong people in the first three months of this year. And a cumulative net departure of 329,808 people as of April 3 this year, calculated from July 1, 2020 (20 months). In 2022, in February and March alone, the net outflow has reached 99,018 people, in contrast to 11,829 people in the same period last year.

One of the immigration hot spots for Hong Kong people is the United Kingdom, where authorities opened British National Overseas (BNO) visa applications at the end of January last year, allowing BNO passport holders and their families to apply for visas to work, study and live in UK. The British Home Office announced last month the latest data, 2021, a total of 103,900 people applied for BNO visas, of which more than 93% have been approved.

Sources:

1. Epoch Times, June 30, 2022.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/22/6/30/n13770900.htm

2. Capitalwatch, April 6, 2022.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      https://www.163.com/dy/article/H49579MR0519ANON.html

The CCP’s Confucius Institutes that Infiltrate U.S. College Operations Just Rebranded

During a June 21 press conference, the National Association of Scholars (NAS) announced that the Chinese government-backed Confucius Institute (CI) program that infiltrates U.S. colleges has been rebranded as a purported Chinese language learning center in order to circumvent U.S. policy. The previous CI’s parent organizaton, Hanban under the Chinese Ministry of Education, was also rebranded as the Center for Language Exchange and Cooperation (CLEC).

In the past four years, 104 of the 118 Confucius Institutes at American universities have closed. Yet many of the colleges’ CIs have shifted to become Chinese language learning centers in universities. In reality, however, nothing has changed except the name.

Rachelle Peterson, senior research fellow at NAS, told reporters during a press conference, “We looked at all 118 Confucius Institutes that have ever existed in the United States. At least 28 that closed as CIs were replaced with something similar, usually operated in partnership with CLEC.”

Peterson told reporters that, under the guidance of the CLEC, at least 58 schools maintained a relationship with their Chinese sister universities and at least five schools recruited a new host location for their CI program in order to maintain the relationship.

As an example, the report cites Northern State University in South Dakota, which signed an agreement with the CLEC after closing the CI in 2019. Peterson said The center sends Chinese language teachers and pays their salaries and travel expenses, while Northern State University provides classrooms, teacher housing and health insurance, exactly the same arrangement as for the CI program. “Nothing has changed except the name.”

The CCP has said that Confucius Institutes were established to promote Chinese language and culture. The official website of Hanban published a report on Nov 28, 2012, when Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee, visited the CI headquarters. Li said that the Confucius Institute is a brand that, “has an affinity in itself” and is a “pure culture.” In an earlier official Xinhua report, Li also indicated that the CI is “an important part of the CCP’s grand foreign propaganda pattern.”

CIs have a lot of requirements for their host Western universities. For example, they require the host university to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose the amount of funding, and to follow the Chinese version of the supplied textbook. The CI  basically conducts self-censorship. Increasingly, critics see it as an overseas political propaganda machine for the CCP, and a tool to monitor and interfere with overseas campus speech and activities. For example, in 2009 North Carolina State University canceled a plan to invite the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to speak at the university because the CI protested this action.

The 2020 U.S, Department of State designation of CI as a “foreign mission” was bolstered by the passage of the Confucius Act in March 2021. The act stipulated that schools which maintain CI programs were ineligible to receive most Department of Education funds.

U.S. Republican Congressman Jim Banks (R-IN) said in a recent report released on the CIs that although most of the CIs in American universities have been closed, the CCP’s United Front Work Department continues to promote influence on U.S. college campuses, and he called on Congress and the Administration to take the China threat seriously.

“The mission of the CCP’s United Front Work Department is to influence foreigners and foreign institutions, especially those in the United States, whose work is visible on college campuses across the United States. CIs and Chinese universities establish partnerships with U.S. universities to receive research funding from (Chinese) government agencies. Rep. Banks said that most of the partnerships are not random, and China’s United Front Work Department has specifically targeted university institutions with strong STEM programs, and in recent years, there have been many espionage operations.”

China has always insisted that CIs and similar cultural exchange programs should not be politicized. The CCP’s media Global Times said in an editorial that CIs and similar institutions are a “platform for a comprehensive and objective understanding of China, and China firmly opposes the politicization of academic and cultural exchange activities.”

Sources:
1. Creaders.net, June 23, 2022.
https://news.creaders.net/china/2022/06/23/2497297.html
2. Daily Caller, June 22, 2022.
https://dailycaller.com/2022/06/22/confucius-institute-national-association-of-scholars-rachelle-peterson-ian-oxnevad-jim-banks/

 

 

The CCP Will Strictly Control High Officials’ Spouses and Children Who Run a Business

According to Xinhua News Agency, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently issued “Regulations on the business activities of high officials’ spouses, their children and their spouses.” The regulation offers clear and specific provisions on the applicable objects and circumstances, working measures and disciplinary requirements concerning officials’ spouses, their children and their spouses who run businesses or enterprises. The higher the level of an officials’ position, the stricter the requirements, and the integrated departments are stricter than other departments.

The “regulations” apply mainly to the officials of the CCP’s and the government’s organs, groups and organizations, enterprises and institutions at the level of department and bureau and above including the equivalent level of any position.

As for what is called “running a business or an enterprise,” it mainly refers to investing in the start of a business, holding senior positions in private or foreign-funded enterprises, investing in and engaging in private equity funds, and engaging in paid social intermediary and legal services.

According to the regulation, officials are required to report on the business activities of their relatives every year. False reporting will lead to severe punishment.

For those who are “to be promoted or further employed ” if they do not meet the regulations on the prohibition of employment for the proposed post, they should quit the business and enterprises, or will not be appointed.

Source: Creaders.net, June 19, 2022.
https://news.creaders.net/china/2022/06/19/2495931.html

China Upgrades Ream Naval Base in Cambodia to Expand Its Influence

On June 8 in Cambodia, a ceremony marked the start of the new China-funded construction at Ream Naval Base. The senior Cambodian military and defense officials as well as China’s ambassador to Cambodia attended the ceremony.

According to Gen. Chau Phirun, director-general of the Cambodian Defense Ministry’s material and technical-services department, over the next two years, Chinese firms and technical experts from China’s military will build or renovate a number of structures including a maintenance workshop, a slipway and dry dock for repairing vessels, a warehouse, two new piers, and electrical, water and sewage infrastructures,

Cambodian Defense Minister Gen. Tea Banh said in a speech that the funding for the upgrades will be  from a Chinese grant. He denied that the Chinese forces will use the facility as a naval base.

The Wall Street Journal revealed in 2019 that Beijing had signed a clandestine agreement allowing its armed forces to have exclusive use of a part of Ream Naval Base, which is located on Cambodia’s southern coast facing the Gulf of Thailand.

China is helping Cambodia expand and upgrade Ream naval base in the Southeast Asian country, heightening concerns U.S. officials have expressed for years that Beijing plans to establish a naval outpost there. Experts say Chinese forces would be able to use the Cambodian facility to further assert Beijing’s expansive territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea.

China’s ambassador to Cambodia, Wang Wentian, said at the ceremony, “The Chinese military shall, as always and within its means, provide assistance to the Cambodian military.” Anyone who claims that China is using the facility to expand its influence is “using the yardsticks of knaves to judge a gentleman’s intentions.”

Sources:
1. WSJ, June 8, 2022.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-to-upgrade-ream-naval-base-in-cambodia-fueling-u-s-concerns-11654674382

2. Epoch times, June9, 2022.                                                                                                                                         https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/6/8/n13755167.htm

China’s Shenzhen and Many Other Wealthy Cities and Provinces Will Cut Salaries While Foreclosures on Houses Soar

According to several mainland media reports in May, Shenzhen, the richest city of China, is facing a second wave of significant salary cuts for civil servants. The annual salaries will be reduced to less than 160,000 yuan a 36 percent drop (6.65 Chinese yuan = 1.0 US $). Last year, (2021) the salary was down to 250.000 yuan from the original amount of 300,000 yuan. Many foreclosed house will instantly appear in the Shenzhen property market.

On May 26, a netizen who is a first-level Chinese teacher in Shenzhen Middle School posted,  “Our company asked each of us to fill out a form this morning that we would, in principle, voluntarily reduce our wages.”

Not only Shenzhen, but many other of China’s wealthiest cities and Provinces in China also had already implemented a salary cut plan for civil service positions in 2021. The hearts of government officials have begun to fluctuate. Especially since last December, civil servants in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, Shanghai and other provinces and cities have successively received notices of salary reductions, with a drop of about 20 to 30 percent.

The current wave of salary cuts is not only for civil servants, but also for teachers and other positions within the system. In addition, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Qingdao and other coastal cities within the system have also reduced salaries. This wave of pay cuts are universal, and the higher the income, the greater the reduction.

Due to the extreme COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control measures, China’s economy has suffered a sharp downturn and the finances are tight. The epidemic prevention has lasted for several years and most enterprises have stopped production. Therefore, they will report the loss of production, and they will not pay taxes. Real estate is also all but dead.

The COVID-19 epidemic has caused sluggish consumption, disrupted supply chains, and has had a huge impact on both production and demand, which has been reflected in finances. In April 2022, the national fiscal revenue was about 1.2 trillion yuan, a sharp drop of 41.3 percent from the same period last year. Among them, tax revenue fell sharply by 47.3 percent year-on-year.

The fiscal revenue has decreased by a large amount, and the epidemic prevention funds have increased by a large amount, so the government must reduce expenditures. The massive pay cuts have not only caused turmoil in the hearts of the people, but also highlighted the sluggishness of China’s economy. The closely related effect of salary reductions suggests a wave of mortgage breaks is coming! At the beginning of 2022, 200,000 homeowners abandoned their houses and stopped paying their mortgages.

There were 9,000 foreclosed homes in 2017. By the end of 2021, the total number of foreclosed homes has soared to 1.68 million.

Real estate is deeply tied to the economy and household wealth, and the resulting financial risks are growing. A downturn in the economy, lower personal incomes or job losses make it a desperate choice for those who have a mortgage. Should they abandon a home and cut off mortgage payments?

The massive wave of salary cuts in Shenzhen and Shanghai, the regions with the highest fiscal revenues in China, as well as in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta has made it possible for the outside world to conclude that both the central and local finances of the CCP regime are in serious trouble, with revenues falling short of expenditures, (i.e., People are running out of money).

From the published fiscal revenue in April this year, only 6 out of 21 provinces and municipalities had increased revenue year-on-year. Most of them are mineral resource-rich areas. 14 provinces and municipalities, mostly economically developed manufacturing and service industries, had decreased revenue; and only one province Fujian had remained flat.

The precipitous economic decline caused by the CCP’s harsh COVID-19 control has resulted in the finances of both the central and local governments of the CCP to fall short of their budgets, which has forced them to introduce salary cuts, although that may likely to spark public anger.

The authorities and institutions that have been increasing their salaries and benefits for more than two decades and have had years of living a good life are now preparing for hard times. The first step is to reduce salaries and benefits and compress the administrative expenses. If they still can’t break even, the second step will be to lay off employees just like many enterprises have done in recent years.

Source: Aboluowang, June 4, 2022.
https://www.aboluowang.com/2022/0604/1757327.html