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China and Argentina sign MoU on Belt & Road Initiative

According to a joint statement issued Sunday after a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernandez, China and Argentina have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Belt & Road Initiative,.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that Fernandez is paying a visit to China, during which he attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

The MoU is on jointly promoting the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It is between the government of the People’s Republic of China and the government of the Argentine Republic. It was signed as the two countries marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties this year.

The statement said that they also studied bilateral trade cooperation and agreed to continue to expand trade, enhance financial support for China’s export settlement to Argentina and actively encourage trade diversification,.

The two sides agreed actively to advance bilateral investment and to expand how they complement each other in economic activity and seek new economic opportunities. The statement added that they agreed to boost green sustainable development, and investment and cooperation in the digital economy.

According to the statement, the meeting outlined the framework of major projects for investment in infrastructure construction in Argentina, discussed the possibility of expanding localized participation in infrastructure investment projects, and identified key areas for investment cooperation to expand Argentina’s exports.

Source: Xinhua News Agency, February 6, 2022
http://english.news.cn/20220206/931db89ad713488e8e1aeece22bff660/c.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Survey of Nearly 2,000 Female Teachers: Less than 4 Percent Are Willing to Have Three Children

A recent scholastic paper studied the responses of 1,907 female teachers regarding a questionnaire survey on the status of female teachers regarding work, life, marriage and childbirth.  According to The Paper, a Chinese news portal, two scholars at Beijing Normal University conducted the research,

The survey found that unmarried female teachers showed a lower willingness to have children, with 32.41 percent not wanting to have any children, 36.73 percent wanting only one child, 29.63 percent willing to have two children, and only 1.23 percent willing to have three children. Among the overall female teachers, including both married and unmarried, 18.77 percent do not want to have children, 38.96 percent are willing to have only one child, 38.91 percent are willing to have two children, and only 3.36 percent are willing to have three children.

The study concluded that for the average female teacher who did not want to have children, the most significant factors that would have changed her willingness to have children were having a higher income levels, a reduced workload and lower education costs for the children.

The questionnaire was distributed to female teachers in 13 provinces in China. 78.55 percent of the female teachers surveyed were married, 16.99 percent were unmarried, and 4.46 percent were divorced or widowed.

Source: The Paper, February 4, 2022
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1676229

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

“Privileged Internet Freedom” during the Beijing Winter Olympics

On February 4, a Chinese netizen posted a picture taken at the “Beijing Winter Olympics reception lobby.”

The picture was of a notice board with a blue background, with a large Wifi logo above and six smaller icons, each representing YouTube, Google Chrome, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram. The six applications are banned in China and ordinary Chinese Internet users cannot access them .

This posting was deleted two hours after it had been posted. At present, a number of netizens have also been blocked from resending the picture.

According to Beijing News, a newspaper based in Beijing, there are 82 “official reception hotels” for the Beijing Winter Olympics, located in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. These official hotels are responsible for hosting the International Olympics Committee and the International Paralympic Committee families, international sports federations, national and regional Olympic and Paralympic committees, the press and other media, and other stakeholders.

Yu Debin, the head of the Games Service Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee, told Beijing News that these officially designated hotels will “launch overseas satellite channels in accordance with the law, with a good 5G network and barrier-free network transformation.”

Source: China Digital Times, February 4, 2022

【图说天朝】依法翻墙：北京冬奥会的“特供网络”

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

German Media: IOC Supports China’s Violation of Human Rights

As the Beijing Winter Olympics are approaching, the German media is paying more attention to China and is becoming more critical of China.

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), a public radio company based in Hamburg, criticized the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for playing dirty games and turning a blind eye to forced labor in China. The radio station reported that thousands of ethnic Uyghurs are being held in Xinjiang and the cotton used by the Olympic Committee’s sponsor, Anta sports, also comes from Xinjiang. The IOC has turned a blind eye to this fact. The Beijing Winter Olympics are controversial for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it hardly ever snows where this event is held. Ski areas and related construction projects are built in nature reserves. The second is the widespread concern about human rights in China, especially for the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. According to a months-long investigation by NDR and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the IOC plays a dual role here. On the one hand, IOC officials present themselves as supposedly politically neutral. On the other hand, they are in cahoots with the Chinese government and support China’s actions that undermine human rights.

Business Insider in Germany found multiple security vulnerabilities in China’s “My2022” application for the upcoming Olympics. The German Olympic Sports Federation is also concerned about the Chinese government’s surveillance. The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab reported that all games participants and visitors are required to use the My2022 application. Users are expected to enter personal data, such as health forms and passport data. However, the Lab found major security vulnerabilities in its analysis, including access to sensitive data, such as travel itineraries and medical information. Voice messages and shared files were also not adequately encrypted.

Source: Radio France International, January 25, 2022
https://rfi.my/86zz

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Who Will and Won’t Attend the Beijing Winter Olympics?

As Beijing prepares for its Winter Olympics, countries including the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia have said they will not send government representatives, citing concerns about China’s human rights record, including allegations of the government’s abuses against the Uighurs and other minorities. Different countries reacted differently to the boycott. Some countries joined with diplomatic boycotts, while others quietly downgraded their Winter Olympics delegations. Russia and other countries, on the other hand, have explicitly expressed support for China.

Some countries have clearly declared a diplomatic boycott. They are the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Lithuania, and Denmark.

Some countries decide not to send a delegation for other reasons. Austria, Belgium, Holland, New Zealand, Latvia, and Sweden announced that they will not send ministerial level officials out of concerns about Covid-19. Estonia’s president Alar Karis said he is not attending the games for “political reasons.” Japan will only send a small non-official delegation and refused to call it a diplomatic boycott.

At the same time, some heads of state and some heads of international organizations decided to show up at the event. They include United National General Secretary António Guterres, and the presidents of Russia, Poland, Argentina, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.

Unlike the leaders mentioned above, North Korea, China’s traditional ally, has expressed strong support for Beijing, but Pyongyang (North Korea) says it will not be able to participate in the Winter Olympics amid a “conspiracy of hostile forces” and the epidemic. That means North Korean athletes will also miss the games.

Source: BBC Chinese, January 25, 2022
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-60035694

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Scholar: Chinese College Students Born in the 2000’s Hold Dichotomous World View

Yan Xuetong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of Tsinghua University, recently pointed to the intergenerational differences between college students born in the 2000’s and the previous generations. Yan highlighted their idiosyncrasies in terms of ideology, aesthetic standards, values and moral concepts.

Yan observed that Chinese college students born in the 2000’s often look at the world with a dichotomous view, treating countries other than China as the same group, and regarding universal values such as peace, morality, fairness and justice as unique Chinese traditions. They tend to believe that only China is righteous and innocent, while all other countries, especially those in the West, are “evil,” and that Westerners have a natural hatred toward China. In addition, Yan believed that this generation is deeply influenced by the Internet and they take what they have learned from cyberspace, such as economic determinism and conspiracy theory as common sense.

Yan pointed out at a conference that contemporary students often have a strong sense of superiority and self-confidence, and they are easily influenced by the Internet. He suggested that teachers should help students understand the twists and turns of history and the diversity of the world; they should also help them enhance their ability to think logically and critically.

Source: Mingpao, January 14, 2022
https://news.mingpao.com/pns/%e4%b8%ad%e5%9c%8b/article/20220114/s00013/1642097061362

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Former Armed Police Chief of Xinjiang Named the New Military Commander of Hong Kong

For the first time, Peng Jingtang, who comes from the Armed Police Force and has experience in Xinjiang, replaced the commander of the Chinese military forces in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong media analyzed this as a signal that Beijing believes that, after the implementation of the national security law, it is still necessary to prevent the Hong Kong version of a color revolution.

On January 10, the Hong Kong media Hong Kong 01 cited public information that Peng Jingtang served as a brigade commander of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Jinan Military Region, and was a director of the military training division of the PLA Jinan Military Region Command, chief of staff of the Armed Police Force in Xinjiang, and deputy chief of staff of the national Armed Police Force

. In July 2018, Peng was promoted to the rank of Major General.

Hong Kong 01 commented that Peng’s appointment indicates that the dust has not settled in Hong Kong with the passage of the National Security Law. For Beijing, it is still necessary to prevent Hong Kong from becoming a base for opposition to the Chinese regime, and to avert a Hong Kong version of the color revolution. The appointment of Peng Jingtang, a veteran counter-terrorism leader, as the commander of the PLA in Hong Kong is both a deterrent and a precautionary measure.

Source: Hong Kong 01, January 11, 2022
https://www.hk01.com/深度報道/722361/反恐幹將接掌駐港解放軍-傳遞三大信號

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military