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Russian Media: Russia Assisted with China’s Chang’e 4 Moon Landing

The China National Space Administration announced on January 3 that its spacecraft, Chang’e 4, successfully achieved a soft landing on the far side of the moon and sent back the first close-up image. The news caught the attention of those in Russia. A Russian expert revealed that China successfully completed the mission with the help of Russia.

The Russian state television reported on January 4 that, for the Chang’e 4 lunar probe to land and complete a number of its tasks of long duration, its power system and battery were the key. The detector relied on a radioisotope battery to provide power, but China cannot manufacture such a battery. Russia provided the heat source battery for Chang’e 4. Alexey Likhachev, director general of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM), said, “At that time, the Chinese partners asked us to provide radioisotope thermoelectric generator batteries within the shortest time. This time it was used on Chang’e 4. In fact, the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities is also using these products.”

In addition, Russian state television reported that, as early as the 1990s, the United States and the Soviet Union had already developed plans for the detector to land on the far side of the moon. The landing point almost coincided with the location of the Chinese Chang’e 4. China’s first generation of lunar exploration programs was also developed with the help of Russian experts.

The Russian Pravda website published a review article which said that this moon landing has great political significance for Beijing. It is now clear that the space race between big powers is not about to start, but is already white-hot. Beijing’s landing of the lunar probe will further intensify the space race. Even India is planning to send three astronauts into space in 2022. Moscow, which has been training astronauts for Beijing and providing space technology, is reluctantly watching Beijing surpass it.

However, after China’s moon landing plan became known to the outside world, the Russian space community also announced an ambitious moon landing plan. Evgeny Mikrin, general designer of the manned programs for Russia, said in a speech in November 2018 that the Russian astronauts will land on the moon for the first time after 2030, and the mission will last for 14 days.

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 8, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/lxy-01082019120809.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Suspected of Leaking Secrets to China, Six BASF Employees Arrested in Taiwan

An official of the Taiwan Criminal Investigation Bureau, headquartered in Taipei, said on Monday, January 7, that Taiwan is investigating allegations that six current and former employees of the German chemical company BASF allegedly leaked trade secrets. BASF headquarters said it has taken steps to support the law enforcement investigations in Taiwan.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau said in a statement that one of the executives was suspected of stealing electronic processing technology, among other trade secrets, and leaking and selling it at a high price to a Chinese competitor.

BASF said that, among those under investigation, only one person is a current employee. All contacts with the suspects have now been cut. According to BASF, steps have been taken to support local law enforcement officials immediately in their investigations and to protect important information. Both BASF and Taiwan authorities refused to provide data on possible economic losses.

The incident came at a time when German political and industrial circles are showing deep concern about industrial espionage.

In November last year, Reuters reported that the German prosecutor pressed a charge against a former employee of the German chemical company Lanxess, accusing him of stealing trade secrets and replicating a chemical reactor in China.

Authorities in Taiwan and the United States have accused Chinese companies of stealing intellectual property, including chip secrets, for their semiconductor industry. Taiwan is determined to defend the chip industry as one of its economic pillars; it has set strict regulations and penalty measures for industrial espionage.

Source: Deutsche Welle Chinese Channel, January 7, 2019
https://p.dw.com/p/3B9A8

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Aid for Pakistan’s Foreign Exchange Reserves

China has pledged to provide Pakistan with a total of $2 billion in financial aid to increase its foreign exchange reserves. Russian experts pointed out that there is a high possibility that China will respond to Pakistan’s request to provide financial support for its all-weather strategic partners.

In the year 2018, the value of the rupee shrank by more than 20 percent with respect to the dollar. Repayment of foreign debts, including $8 billion paid in December 2018, almost emptied Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.

The ongoing three-month negotiation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has not generated any tangible results. The two sides will resume negotiations on January 15 for a loan of $7 to 8 billion. It is very likely that Pakistan will satisfy the conditions that the IMF has set and will make transparent all terms to international lenders of Chinese loans and infrastructure projects under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. However, due to the budget gap, the Pakistani side has been in arrears in paying for the amount of work and services that the Chinese companies have completed. Therefore, it is very likely that the future loans received from the IMF will be used to pay to Chinese companies. The United States, which plays a major role within the IMF, has warned the IMF that the U.S. membership fee at the IMF is taxpayer’s money and should not be used to pay the Chinese lenders or Pakistani bond holders.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell to a critically low amount of only $7.3 billion, which cannot even cover imports in recent months. The international rating agency Fitch has listed Islamabad’s debt rating as junk. Against this backdrop, China’s commitment of $2 billion will strengthen the Pakistani economy, improve the overall foreign exchange reserves, and, more importantly, will help increase the confidence of foreign investors.

The current promised $2 billion is the second allocation within six months. In July 2018, Beijing already pledged $2 billion to Pakistan to deal with the economic crisis. Earlier, according to Pakistan’s newspaper The Express Tribune, quoting from a Chinese Ministry of Finance’s anonymous source, China will give additional financial support. However, this information has not been corroborated; nor has any other source denied it.

In view of this, Russian experts pointed out in an interview with the Russian Sputnik News that China and Pakistan have reached a consensus and will not disclose information on the specific amount and conditions of the financial assistance. Pakistan’s Minister of Finance, Asad Umar, did not answer inquiries from foreign media about China’s new financial assistance. Zhao Lijian, representative of the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, insisted that he did not have the information regarding the amount of loans and investments under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. However, he pointed out that China will continue to provide assistance for Pakistan’s economic development.

Source: Sputnik News, January 4, 2019
http://sputniknews.cn/opinion/201901041027279641/

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Population Sees Negative Growth; First Time in 70 Years

China, as the world’s most populous country, has nearly 1.4 billion people. For decades, in order to control population growth, it implemented a one-child policy. However, in response to concerns about an aging society and a shrinking labor force, in 2016, the Chinese government allowed couples to have a second child.

Yi Fuxian, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, pointed out that despite the second child policy, the number of safely born infants in China in 2018 was 2.5 million less than the previous year, compared with the forecast of an increase of 790,000.

Based on the publicly available birth information of villages and towns across China, Yi believes that last year was a “historical turning point for the Chinese population” and its negative growth may have become an irreversible trend. The causes include the decline of women of reproductive age, as well as the high expenses of education, health care, and housing, making newly married couples reluctant to raise children.

Year 2018 was the first year of negative population growth since the establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949. Yi’s observation is that the aging of the population has accelerated while China’s economic vitality has declined.

Source: Central News Agency, January 3, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201901030410.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Officials Held Accountable for African Swine Fever Outbreak

Although African swine fever continues to spread in China, the authorities emphasized that the epidemic is “overall controllable.” However, according to a local government website, 223 people in Liaoning and other places have been held accountable for deliberately hiding the epidemic information and have been slack in performing their duties of monitoring and investigation.

On December 30, 2018, Inner Mongolia’s Chinese Communist Party’s website published a release from the Information Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, titled, “The General Office of the State Council seeks accountability for the prevention and control of African swine fever in Liaoning, Anhui, and Hunan.”

The above news was not widely picked up by mainland Chinese media. According to the release, the General Office of the State Council issued letters to Liaoning, Anhui, and Hunan, demanding serious investigation for responsibilities. These three provinces have seen intensive outbreaks of cases and even a small-scale epidemic.

According to the report, some county and township government officials in Liaoning Province passed the buck around, some deliberately hid the outbreak information and failed to implement the monitoring and investigation. In some cities and counties in Anhui and Hunan Provinces, the prevention and control work was not in place and there was a lack of efficacy in performing their duties. A total of 223 officials in the three provinces were punished.

The report also reminded the government officials that they must understand the difficulty and complexity of the prevention and control of the epidemic.

Source: Central News Agency, January 2, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201901020056.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s Supreme Court Denied Then Admitted Loss of Multibillion Dollar Case Document

Cui Yongyuan is a former Chinese television host and producer. He is known for leaking information regarding the Chinese film industry’s yin-yang contracts leading to movie star Fan Bingbing’s removal from the spotlight in 2018.

A number of Chinese media reports that Cui broke involved another story that there is a mole inside China’s Supreme Court that stole the appeal documents of a multibillion case in Shaanxi Province. The bizarre thing is that the Supreme Court first denied the loss of the document. As soon as Cui released the evidence, the Court withdrew its previous statement and, on December 29, announced it would “launch an investigation.”

The lost documents involve a lawsuit that Kechley Energy Investment initiated in 2006. In 2003, Kechley signed a contract with state-owned Xi’an Institute of Geological and Mineral Exploration (XIGME) to form a join coal-mining project in Yulin city of Shaanxi Province. In 2006, XIGME signed another contract with a third party – a company in Hong Kong – regarding the same coal-mining project without Kechley’s consent and without legally dismissing the previous contract.

In September 2010, Shaanxi’s high court ruled in favor of XIGME and suspended the license of Kechley. The plaintiff took the case to the Supreme Court. In August 2011, Zhao Faqi, general manager and corporate representative of Kechley, was illegally arrested by police in Yulin city and detained for 133 days.

In November 2016, when Supreme Court judge Wang Linqing prepared to hand down a verdict in favour of Kechley, all of the documents disappeared from his office. According to Wang, when he immediately told the presiding judge Cheng Xinwen, Cheng appeared unconcerned about the loss. Wang requested the video footage from closed circuit TV camera installed in his office. To Wang’s surprise, Cheng checked the video footage himself and told Wang that both closed circuit TV cameras had been broken on the day that the documents disappeared. Wang later reported to Supreme Court Chief Justice Zhou Qiang, who also appeared unconcerned and didn’t pursue an investigation.

Coincidentally, just 20 days before the loss, Kechley’s Zhao Faqi, reported with his real name over the Internet that Zhao Zhengyong, the former secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, and others intervened in the case.

In 2017, a year later, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Kechley’s favour, awarding it 13.7 million yuan for breach of contract. “According to the South China Morning Post, the court has been unable to implement the verdict because of the missing documents and has not explained how the ruling could be made without those documents.”

Hong Kong based Apple Daily quoted media from China that the case files were “lost” because they contained the instructions from the Chief Justice and the President of the Supreme People’s Court Zhou Qiang, and the then Vice President Xi Xiaoming. Now, Xi has been removed from office, but Zhou is still there. Clearly someone wanted to have these particular instructions disappeared from the court records.

On December 26, on his Weibo account, Cui Yongyuan pointed out that the Supreme Court has a mole, stealing the files of the multi-billion-dollar case.

The next day, the Supreme Court issued a statement that what Cui said, “has no factual evidence, and is a rumor.” Cui immediately rebutted that the Supreme Court was lying and hinted that he had more evidence. Cui also quoted the insider’s description of the story and revealed that the judge’s name was Wang Linqing.

On December 29, after Cui Yongyuan posted two screenshots of the above-mentioned files on Weibo, the Supreme Court admitted that the file was missing, and said that it has initiated the investigation procedure. That night, another Chinese media Huaxia Times broadcast a selfie video of Supreme Court judge Wang Linqing. Wang said in the video that “the video is for myself, to protect myself from unpredictable events and leave some evidence.”

As the story began to spread across the Internet, all mainland based Chinese media reports were deleted.

Source: Radio France International, December 31, 2018
http://disq.us/t/3a1dcdl
South China Morning Post, December 30, 2018
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2180042/chinas-supreme-court-forced-admit-it-lost-documents-long-running

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

First Flight of Wing Loong I-D Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The Chengdu Pterodactyl I, also known as Wing Loong, is a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in the People’s Republic of China.

Wing Loong I-D is an upgraded variant of the Wing Loong I, built with all-composite materials, with improved aerodynamics and an engine enabling greater takeoff weight, service ceiling, and endurance. Other upgrades include both internal and external stores, as well as communications equipment. On December 23, Wing Loong I-D made its first flight at an airport in the west of China.

According to Xinhua, the Pterosaur drone series has undergone various rigorous environmental tests to achieve high-intensity normal use. The “Pterosaur” brand name has 100 percent ownership of intellectual property rights. The successful first flight of the Wing Loong I-D drone further enhanced the competitiveness of the Pterosaur series of drones.

Source: Xinhua, December 23, 2018
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2018-12/23/c_1210022500.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Smart Uniforms and Technologies in Schools

The smart school uniform that Guizhou Guanyu Technology (贵州冠宇科技) developed was first launched in July 2017. According to its official website (http://www.guanyukj.com), ten elementary and middle schools have been using the smart school uniforms from the company. The schools are located in Guizhou, Fujian, Guangxi, and other provinces in China.

According to a Chinese media report, when the smart school uniform is put on, the school’s large screen monitor will automatically identify the student, display the student’s avatar, and record the accurate time of entering and exiting the school. The parents and teachers receive detailed information about the student’s activities. As soon as the student leaves the school, there is a voice broadcast to identify the student.

The smart school uniform, in combination with human facial recognition and fingerprint recognition technologies, will automatically calculate and settle a student’s different expenditures at school. The parents will know every item of their child’s expenditures in school.

This product is said to integrate big data, digitization of the Internet of Things (IoT), satellite technology, such as RFID, NFC, Beidou (the Chinese counterpart of GPS system), GPS, RS, and clothing.

The smart school uniform also comes with an app. In the app, the teacher can approve the student’s leave request and upload school notices and the time-stamped video of the students entering and leaving the school. Parent teachers can receive such information through the mobile app. Teachers can use the app to hand out course materials through voice, text, and pictures. The chip-embedded school uniform, with facial and fingerprint recognition, has established a closed-loop AI environment for the school. The students’ every move is in the hands of teachers and parents.

Qinjia (钦家), a Shanghai based company, also developed a smart school uniform, with the main function of preventing children from getting lost or being trafficked. Another company Seeworld launched another school uniform, mainly used when a student encounters an accident. The student can tap a specific part of the uniform to send out an S.O.S. signal.

In December 2015, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission set up a “Beijing Elementary and Middle School Uniform R&D Center” at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. According to the official press release, the smart school uniforms will combine the motion sensor with the school uniform to track and analyze the student’s physical activity, analyze and compare the student’s physical functions and exercise volume, and ensure that the underage students receive proper physical exercises.

The People’s Daily also reported that a middle school in Hangzhou introduced an intelligent classroom behavior management system, which can monitor the students’ classroom behavior at a glance. The system can also analyze the students’ classroom behavior and the expressions during class and can also check attendance through facial recognition.

The smart school uniforms and similar technologies have received a lot of attention on cyberspace.

One netizen said, “Children have no human rights; they are just the possessions of their parents.”

Another put it this way, “A child is not a parent’s possession and the parents cannot completely control him. There is no longer any privacy.”

Source: Sina.com, December 24, 2018
https://t.cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/6502104867/1838e3f2300100ywix

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology