Skip to content

All posts by LLD - 119. page

Two Chinese Officials Plagiarized Speeches “Clashed” at a Meeting

According to a local government newspaper, Jiangxi Daily, on October 11, when an inspection team from the Guangchang County Party Committee was meeting with the county’s Party History Office and the Housing Management Bureau, the speech delivered by the Party chief of the Party History Office sounded almost exactly the same as that of the Party chief of the Housing Management Bureau. Both officials’ speeches were stopped on the spot.

A comparison of the wording that the two officials submitted showed that they were “perfectly identical,” except for a difference in the titles and the names of the office. As a matter of fact, the two officials’ speeches were copied from the Internet and were not original works by themselves. Unexpectedly, these two almost identical speeches “clashed” at the same meeting.

This was not an isolated case. Three officials’ speeches from another area, Zixi County in Jiangxi Province were also exposed as having been copied from the Internet.

Recently, the Zixi County government was conducting a series of interviews with county level Party officials for a performance review and anti-corruption investigation. Every official was required to make statements on their job performance. It was found that many paragraphs in the statements that the lower-level township, County Urban Management Bureau, and the County Traffic Police Brigade gave were both very similar.

Some overseas observers commented that many officials will hire other people to write their reports, and then read them in public. Even the officials do not know how much content is true and how much is fiction.

Source: Jiangxi Daily, October 11, 2018
http://www.jxnews.com.cn/jxrb/system/2018/10/11/017160395.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Rejecting Corruption from China, Maldives to Abort “Belt and Road” Projects

Maldives, a tropical nation in the Indian Ocean, has just had a presidential election. With a looming sentiment to get rid of China’s control, the new government is about to cancel the “Belt and Road” projects that China has promoted, just like the Malaysian government.

According to an October 9 report in the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, Maldives’ general election took place in September 2018. The pro-China leader Abdulla Yameen stepped down; Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, a politician in favor of cooperation with India, gained support from the opposition and won an overwhelming victory. The election shows a strong nationwide mentality of rejecting China.

In fact, the increasingly corrupt politics that was due to the close ties between Yameen and China pushed the Maldivian people to the limit.

Twice after Yameen was elected as president in 2013 and consolidated his power, he arrested former president Maumoon Gayoom in the name of a “state of emergency,” while suppressing the opposition in the country. The media criticized that Yameen while supporting the Chinese government, learned how not to allow the opposition to speak.

After the election, Yameen was found to have engaged in corruption. In many countries, this has become a common phenomenon for local ruling personnel who got involved in “Belt and Road” projects.

News also emerged that Yameen received $1.5 million in bribes before the election; those who committed the bribery are still unknown. However, the fact that China’s “Belt and Road” projects could go on unimpeded in the Maldives is closely related to Yameen’s having given a green light all the way.

In addition to corruption, being too close to the Chinese government is also a major cause of public dissatisfaction. In the years under Yameen, massive Chinese infrastructure projects were launched. For the Maldives airport expansion project alone, the investment amounted to $830 million. Another project that connects the airport to the sea crossing bridge also cost $200 million. Maldives ended up having deep financial problems.

As of the present time, the Yameen administration has brought Maldives financial liabilities of $1.4 billion, accounting for one-third of the country’s GDP. Seventy-five percent of the debt was generated from the “Belt and Road” projects.

Solih will take office in November 2018. It is widely expected that he will implement a new policy of getting rid of China’s influence, but the huge debt makes the prospect of abandoning the “Belt and Road” project unclear. Leasing individual ports to China, like what Sri Lanka did, may be the last resort.

Solih’s campaign slogan, however, was against Yameen’s China policy and won him public support. How to get rid of China’s huge influence will be a test for Maldives’ new government.

Source: Duowei News, October 9, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/global/news/2018-10-09/60089553.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Chinese Police Have Access to All Cyber User Data

The regulations that the Chinese Ministry of Public Security (MPS) issued not long ago on the supervision and monitoring of the Internet will take effect on November 1. According to this regulation, when there is a need, any network company should open its user data to the public security authorities. The new regulations have in fact added further clarity to the cybersecurity law that has caused widespread controversy in China.

The cybersecurity law came into effect last summer. It requires all Internet information disseminators, including foreign companies, to keep a copy of the data on users from mainland China. Because of this, for example, in order not to lose the Chinese market, Apple agreed to transfer the encryption key and the user data of Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Development Co., Ltd. (GCBD). Since October last year, new regulations that prevent cyber anonymity have been in effect. Some of them require information disseminators, bloggers, and social network administrators to remove all contents that belong to anonymous users. In addition, these regulations prohibit the registration of new accounts if the users do not provide personal information.

The new MPS regulations that will take effect on November 1 explain how to ensure compliance with the law. According to this regulation, the law enforcement authorities can freely enter the office and check the equipment of the Internet service provider and the network units. For example, they can inspect the contents such as whether technological measures are in place to record and retain user registration information and online log information legally and whether it can adequately monitor the content in real time to prevent the spread of negative or illegal information. In addition, law enforcement has the right to monitor Internet service providers and networked users remotely if they are potential security risks and to conduct surprise inspections.

Source: Sputnik News, October 10, 2018
http://sputniknews.cn/opinion/201810101026538194/

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Using Precision Communication to Enhance the Effectiveness of International Communication

On October 8, People’s Daily Online carried an article about China’s propaganda practice in the world. The title was “Precision Communication is the inevitable choice for International Communication.” The authors are from the Hunan University School of the Communication and Arts of Film and Television.

“In recent years, China has been taking many measures in the international field of communication and has achieved remarkable results. However, the pattern of the international public opinion landscape, that the West is strong and we are weak, has not fundamentally changed. There is still a long way to go to do well in international communication. Implementing precise communication and adopting different strategies and methods for different audiences in different countries is an inevitable choice to enhance the effect of international communication.”

“Precision communication is conducive to enhancing the effectiveness of international communication. . . . There are so many countries, nations and cultures in the world and there are great differences between countries, nations, and cultures. Even within the same country, there are big differences between different audiences. This requires us to adopt different communication methods for different audiences in different countries in international communication and to implement precision communication. By “using one key for one lock,” we can continuously improve the effect of international communication.”

“Precision communication should become an important topic in the study of international communication theory. . . . We should take the following as important research topics: the audience for international communication, the landscape of international communication and strategies, the comparative study of international communication, the influence of Chinese and foreign media, and the improvements on the effect of China’s international communication. This will provide theoretical support for telling good stories about China.

“Precision communication should rely on cyber technology to promote innovation in communication methods. At present, the development of information technology, especially big data technology, provides favorable conditions for the implementation of accurate communication. Relying on big data technology, we can analyze the characteristics, hobbies, and information needs of different audiences in different countries and analyze the misunderstandings that different countries’ audiences have about China. Based on this, we can provide targeted content for different audiences in different countries. From a technical point of view, precision communication requires the use of profiling based on information processing such as knowledge graphing, user classification, and association rules. Relying on big data technology and artificial intelligence technology, we can accurately provide personalized content to different audiences in different countries.”

Source: People’s Daily Online, October 8, 2018
http://theory.people.com.cn/n1/2018/1008/c40531-30326985.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

German Companies Exit from China

According to the German Focus weekly magazine, many German companies have exited China for a number of different reasons. One important reason is that the robot revolution has reduced the German companies’ desire for China.

China has been an ideal country for large-scale companies for many years. It has huge markets and cheap labor. However, the limitations from Chinese political institutions and the ongoing Sino-US trade war have gradually made China less attractive. The heavy debt burden of Chinese private companies has posed potential risks to the Chinese economy. In particular, a new trend has begun to change people’s minds: robots are cheaper than Chinese workers and they can stay in Germany. As a result, the number of German companies that are shifting production abroad has decreased significantly and more and more German companies have begun to withdraw from Asia or Eastern Europe. Among them, well-known German enterprises include Marklin, Adidas, Bosch, and Gigaset Communications. Enterprises that have long been actively promoting digitalization are clearly at the forefront.

The ratio of robots to employed people in Germany is 31:1000, with the density of robots ranking third in the world. Economists have found that the more robots used in industrial countries, the fewer factories move abroad, and the more likely it is to move production back to the home country. Take the United States as a comparison: the United States has a robot density of only 19:1000, ranking seventh in the world. Many fewer U.S. companies than German ones are coming back home.

Source: Radio France International, October 7, 2018
http://rfi.my/3C3G.T

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

European Astronauts Are Learning Chinese

The BBC had published a report that European astronauts received training in China, together with Chinese astronauts.

The training was conducted at the Yellow Sea Training Center, a place close to Yantai City in China’s eastern Shandong Province. For two weeks, German astronaut Matthias Maurer and another astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, both from the European Space Agency, lived and worked with their Chinese counterparts. “We received the training together, lived in the same building with the Chinese and ate the same food. Every day, the schedule was very full,” Maurer told the BBC reporter. “You feel that you are a member of this big family. It’s not like in Houston, where you had to rent a house yourself, and only spent two or three hours of training with your peers.”

Every space agency uses special training to strengthen team spirit, but the Chinese treat the issue in more fundamental way. Maurer said, “Chinese astronauts even go on vacation together. They know each other very well, just like brothers and sisters.” “When we were there, they regarded us as members of a big Chinese space family and we were like one.” Maurer started working at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany in 2012. He had a relationship with the representatives of the once-secret China manned space program. After one year, he visited the training center in Beijing. In 2016, Chinese astronauts took part in an experiment at the European Space Agency, where astronauts conducted a two-week long underground training in the caves of Sardinia. Maurer, Cristoforetti, and a French astronaut, Thomas Pesquet, are now learning Chinese. The European Space Agency still maintains relations with the United States and Russia, but at the same time it has developed a partnership with another future space power. The BBC reported that Maurer hopes to fly to the space station by 2020. Then in about 2023 he will have the opportunity to be a member of the first group of foreign astronauts to fly to the China Space Station together with Chinese astronauts.

Source: Sputnik News, July 3, 2018
http://sputniknews.cn/foreignmedia/201807031025796249/

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Beijing Tightens Control over Teachers Traveling Overseas

The Chinese government issued a notice before the October 1 National Day holiday requiring local schools to strengthen their control over elementary and middle school teachers’ travel abroad. The regulation also applied to kindergarten and retired teachers. Some provinces and municipalities have already collected the passports from the teachers and some places require teachers to go through a review and approval process by education authorities before leaving the country.

At present, at least the teachers from Fujian, Shandong, and Inner Mongolia have received notices that they require the approval from the authorities when leaving the country. Places such as Xiamen in Fujian and Tai’an in Shandong have requested teachers to submit their passports and travel permits to Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Whoever violates the regulations will be severely punished.

Teachers in Xinjiang and Tibet were already placed under intensive control years ago.

Radio Free Asia interviewed some teachers in Xiamen City, who are very unhappy about the new measure, as many Fujian residents have a number of overseas relatives.

One local education bureau official said, “We don’t understand it. I also handed in my passport. We were told to turn in our passports and we have to hand them in. We don’t dare to do anything. Sometimes we just go out to visit some relatives, and we feel very confused. This is the way the current situation is and we do not dare to disobey the leaders and the policy.”

Ever since 2012, China has gradually tightened its control over the people’s travel abroad. The scope of the civil servants and workers in public institutions who are required to submit passports has increased from the division level and above to everyone. Approval is required before leaving the country. However, the new regulation to control elementary and middle school teachers, including retired teachers, is the very first time over the past 40 years.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 1, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/teacher-10012018100715.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Zambia’s Official Newspaper Publishes Article in Chinese

Times of Zambia, a state-owned newspaper in Zambia, published an article in Chinese on Tuesday October 2, sparking widespread controversy.

Civil society groups condemned the newspaper for publishing in Chinese which is not the main local language. They suspect that the Zambian government was using the tactic to win over Chinese sponsors, who have loaned hundreds of millions of dollars to the country in the past few years.

Laura Miti, leader of the Alliance for Community Action and a human rights activist, told Voice of America, “This is very sudden. If it were April 1, it might be considered an April Fool’s Day joke.”

She said, “I think this is a very real feeling. If we are not careful, one day we will wake up and find that we have become a province of China.”

Earlier, the Zambia Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services and Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya said on Twitter, “Times of Zambia is aiming to increase revenue by targeting the Chinese market. Today’s edition has a Chinese version of the top story. They want to tap into Chinese advertising.”

But many people expressed disappointment on social media, saying that the newspaper undermined Zambia’s sovereignty.

Source: Voice of America, October 2, 2018
https://www.voachinese.com/a/zambia-china-20181002/4597024.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend