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Report: U.S. Leads in Global AI Race while China Is Closing the Gap

On January 25, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a Washington DC based think tank on technological innovation and public policy, issued a report titled, “Who Is Winning the AI Race: China, the EU, or the United States? — 2021 Update”

“This report examines the progress that China, the European Union, and the United States have made in AI relative to each other in recent years and provides an update on a report released on their comparative rankings from 2019. It found that the United States still holds a substantial overall lead, but that China has continued to reduce the gap in some important areas. In addition, the EU continues to fall behind.”

“This report measures the progress each region has since made in AI by using new data to update 15 of the metrics and it adds 1 new metric. It finds that the United States still leads, with 44.6 points, followed by China with 32.0 and the European Union with 23.3.”

The U.S. “has an unmatched number of AI start-ups, which received $8 billion more in venture capital and private equity funding than did China in 2019.” “In 2019, U.S. software and computer services firms still spent three times more on R&D than did China and the European Union combined. Furthermore, average U.S. research quality is still higher than that of China and the European Union. Lastly, despite China’s growing attempts to reduce its reliance on U.S. semiconductors, the United States is still the world leader in designing chips for AI systems.”

“China’s AI capabilities relative to the European Union and the United States have improved in several ways. First, China has surpassed the EU as the world leader in AI publication. Second, the quality of its AI research has generally trended upward year to year. Third, its software and computer services firms have increased their R&D spending. Fourth, China now has nearly twice as many supercomputers ranked in the top 500 for performance as the United States. The United States led in this indicator as recently as 2017. Finally, China likely continues to lead in the amount of data generated. Overall, however, China has not significantly reduced the gap in AI between itself and the United States, but its trend of consistent progress could eventually evaporate the U.S. lead.”

“The European Union has fallen further behind the United States in terms of the number of funding deals, the acquisition of AI firms, and AI firms that have raised at least $1 million in funding since our last report. In addition, EU software and computer services firms have failed to close the gap between themselves and U.S. firms in R&D spending. The United Kingdom’s departure from the bloc will also diminish EU AI capabilities, both in absolute terms and on a per-capita basis.”

Source: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
https://itif.org/publications/2021/01/25/who-winning-ai-race-china-eu-or-united-states-2021-update

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

In Open Letter More Than a Hundred Experts Call for Withdrawal from EU-China Deal

In an open letter, more than 100 renowned China experts, researchers and human-rights activists across the globe have called for a suspension of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI).

Prior to publication, the open letter to the EU institutions was provided to DER SPIEGEL, the German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. The open letter stated, “Despite evidence of ethnic cleansing, forced labor, and other gross human rights violations, the leadership of the European institutions have chosen to sign an agreement which exacts no meaningful commitments from the Chinese government to guarantee an end to crimes against humanity or to slavery.”

The letter continued, stating that the deal is “based on a naive set of assumptions about the character of the Chinese Communist Party,” and “entrenches Europe’s existing strategic dependency on China and runs counter to Europe’s core values.”

Even the current degree of dependency, the authors write, is “alarming.” The letter argues that Chinese state-owned companies took advantage of the period following the 2008 financial crisis “to buy substantial stakes in key European infrastructure.”

“Furthermore,” the letter continues, “it is delusional to imagine that China will keep promises on these issues of investment and trade when it has broken its promises so regularly in recent years.” As examples, the authors cite the suppression of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, forced labor camps for the Muslim Uighur minority, the most recent sanctions Beijing has imposed on Australia and sabre rattling in the direction of Taiwan.

Among the signatories are researchers from the London School of Economics and from Princeton University in addition to Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, who lives in Germany. The former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata and Harriet Evans, a professor at the University of Westminster and an expert in gender and human rights issues in China, have also joined the effort.

Source: Deutsche Welle, January 25, 2021
https://p.dw.com/p/3oNk4

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Pharmaceutical Companies Gaze on China’s Medical Data

In order to take advantage of China’s medical data, global pharmaceutical giants are pursuing cooperation with local Chinese companies. The Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi has established a joint venture with China’s Ping An Insurance, including a research base in Shanghai.

Ping An Insurance has a focus on life insurance and a related financial business that utilizes the latest technology, and is involved in online diagnosis and treatment. Shionogi hopes to use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the big data obtained through cooperation to facilitate drug research.

China is burdened with a rapidly aging population, leading to an excessive waiting time in hospitals and high medical expenses. Pharmaceutical giants hope to gain a foothold by working with local companies that have an established customer base.

Eisai, another Japanese pharmaceutical giant, also announced in October last year that it had established a joint venture with JD.com, a top Chinese e-commerce company. In 2021, it plans to launch online diagnosis and treatment for patients with dementia. German pharmaceutical giant Merck has also decided to cooperate with Alibaba Health Information Technology (AliHealth), a subsidiary of the Alibaba Group, in the field of artificial intelligence.

Source: Kyodo News, January 22, 2021
https://china.kyodonews.net/news/2021/01/86bac79d2244.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Sichuan Professor Fell to Death, in Protest of Forced Demolitions

Tuo Jiguang, a professor at Sichuan Normal University, fell from a campus building around 8 o’clock on the morning of Monday January 18 2021. His friends said that Tuo, after experiencing 10 years of forced eviction and different forms of suppression, finally chose to fight with death.

Professor Tuo Jiguang was a doctor of literature, a postdoc in journalism and communication, and a postdoc in law. Before teaching at Sichuan Normal University, Tuo worked as a reporter and editor at the two largest local newspapers, West China Metropolis Daily and Chengdu Economic Daily.

In October 2020, Tuo Jiguang, filed a public complaint against Pu Fayou, head of Chengdu’s Chenghua District, for abusing power and violently demolishing citizens’ legally owned property. Tuo mentioned in the complaint letter that, since 2011, his two residences in Chenghua District had been subjected to the immediate danger of demolition. During the process, the demolition staff resorted to a number of means such as threats, pressure from his workplace and online defamation to force him into an agreement. “But the family finally withstood the pressure and did not succumb.” In the end, Pu Fayou presided over an executive meeting of the district government and ordered the two houses to undergo “violent demolition.”

Mr. Chen, one of Tuo’s friends, told Radio Free Asia that the reason for his suicide was because the Chenghua District government demolished his two houses. These two houses were his legal residences. He has been defending his rights since 2011. Mr. Chen also pointed out that even with dual post-doctoral degrees and qualifications as a lawyer and journalist, under the suppression of government agencies, social elites like Tuo Jiguang can only be forced to fight with death.

In 2009, Li Chuncheng, then head of Chinese Communist Party committee of Chengdu city, carried out massive demolition and triggered intense government-civilian confrontation. A woman named Tang Fu-zhen burned herself to death in protest of the forced demolition, drawing widespread attention. Tuo is another tragic case of human death due to “forced demolitions” which are rampant across China.

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 18, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/professor-01182021060434.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Falun Gong Identifies 75 Perpetrators among Leaked List of 1.95 Million CCP Members

Sky News of Australia reported on December 13, 2020, about a leaked register with the details of nearly 2 million Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members in organizations around the world. “Along with the personal identifying details of 1.95 million communist party members, mostly from Shanghai, there are also the details of 79,000 communist party branches, many of them inside companies.”

Falun Gong’s official Minghui.ca website reported that, among the 1,957,239 mostly Shanghai CCP members exposed, there are 75 “610” members, most of whom can be found on the List of Villains, a compilation of the people who have actively participated in the persecution against Falun Gong.

The “610” office is an extra-legal apparatus set up by then head of the CCP Jiang Zemin when he launched the campaign to eradicate Falun Gong in 1999. Its sole responsibility is to carry out the persecution of Falun Gong throughout the whole country. The “610” offices are subordinate to the CCP committees at different levels of the Chinese government. The Central “610” Office was once able to mobilize the entire state apparatus and almost all social resources, using the police, military, armed police, intelligent agents, diplomats, and even the medical system, to implement its persecutory policy. According to Minghui, over the past two decades, the “610” office has been responsible for at least 4,595 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in Mainland China.

Cui Tiejun, head of the “610” Office in the Xuhui District of Shanghai city, was among the 1.95 million leaked CCP members. Since June 2004 when Cui took the position, he has personally given hate speeches in order to incite hatred against Falun Gong. The “610” Office in Shanghai has branches spread all over the districts and counties, and all the way down to townships, villages, and neighborhoods.

On December 10, the U.S. announced sanctions against 17 officials of foreign governments for violations of human rights or for corruption. Among them was Huang Yuanxiong of Xiamen Public Security Bureau Wucun Police Station for his involvement in the detention and interrogation of Falun Gong practitioners.

On December 10, 2020, Falun Gong practitioners from 29 Western countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, submitted a latest list of persecutors to the local governments, requesting that the authorities prohibit the entry of persecutors and their families and freeze their assets.

The list includes a few high level CCP officials: Politburo Standing Committee Member Han Zheng, head of the CCP’s Political and Legal Affairs Committee Guo Shengkun, Supreme Court Chief Justice Zhou Qiang, deputy secretary of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Liu Jinguo, and the deputy director of The National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Deputy Director Fu Zhenghua. Almost all of these top officials once served as 610 cadres.

Source: Minghui, January 16, 2021
https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2021/1/16/418642.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

“Big-head” Baby Reappears in China; Antibacterial Cream Had Hormones

In the past, China has seen multiple cases of children developing “big-head” disease after drinking inferior milk powder. A more recent case of a child with a “big-head” was reported after the parent used an antibacterial cream, which caused abnormal head development of the baby. The government of Zhangzhou City of Fujian Province, where the incident occurred, has ordered manufacturers to recall the product and launched an investigation.

On January 7, Wei Wenfeng, a Chinese consumer product safety expert, broke the story via Bilibili, a Chinese video sharing platform. The video indicated that in 2020, a parent bought the Aiyingshu (嗳婴树) brand “Multi-effect Special Antibacterial Cream” and applied it to his 5-month-old child.

The parent found that after applying the cream, the child experienced a swollen face, hairy forehead, and even stunted growth, which are typical “big-head” disease symptoms. After the incident, the parent took the child to seek a medical examination. It was not until the doctor asked whether the child had used hormone ointment that the parent suspected that there was a problem with this antibacterial cream and stopped using it.

The manufacturer of this antibacterial cream, Fujian Ouai Baby Health Care Products Co. LTD, was registered in Zhangzhou in April 2017. The company also has another “Happy Forest” baby cream. These two products, after being tested at professional institutions, both contained hormones that should not have been added to these products.

However, Fujian Ouai had published a statement claiming that, according to the reports conducted by a local government medical technical center on March 6, 2019, the test results on its antibacterial cream showed “normal” and showed that the product “contained neither hormones not antibiotics.”

Source: Central News Agency, January 8, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202101080281.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Canberra Prohibits China’s Acquisition of Australian Builders

Canberra has prohibited China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), a PRC state construction company, from taking over an Australian company, as tensions between the two countries show no signs of abating.

On January 11, South Africa-based building and civil engineering contractors Wilson Bayly Holmes Ovcon (WBHO), the largest shareholder of Melbourne-headquartered Probuild, told the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that, upon learning that Canberra’s Foreign Investment Review Board would reject the deal “on the grounds of national security,” China State Construction Engineering Corporation, has abandoned its bid.

The Australian Financial Review reported Tuesday (January 12) that CSCEC planned to spend 300 million Australian dollars (US$ 231 million) to acquire WBHO’s 88 percent stake in Probuild.

Source: Voice of America, January 12, 2021
https://www.voachinese.com/a/australia-blocks-chinese-buyout-20210112/5734816.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Australian Intelligence Agency Considers Chinese Businessman a Risk to National Security

A Melbourne Chinese businessman who supports well-known members of the Liberal Party is facing deportation. He was previously assessed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) as a risk to national security. The Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce under ASIO is conducting an investigation. Earlier, because of security concerns, the federal government rejected his application for permanent residency.

The businessman is Liu Huifeng, a political donor of the Liberal Party and former soldier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. He established a personal relationship with the Federal Liberal Party MP Gladys Liu and Assistant Minister to the Treasurer Michael Sukkar. Since June 2016, Liu has participated in a series of pre-election fundraising activities and has been a frequent guest at events involving Liu and Sukkar. For example, Liu posted on his social media account on April 27, 2017, “Tonight I was invited to attend the private dinner of Michael Sukkar, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia … He kept telling others that I was his old friend.”

He co-founded a community aid organization that agreed to accept funding from the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne and share information with them. The association, the Australian Emergency Assistance Association Incorporated (AEAAI), acts as an intermediary in policing incidents and legal cases that involve Chinese speakers. On the Chinese social media WeChat, the association promoted itself as a grassroots community platform to its 55,000 members, mainly ethnic Chinese living in Australia.

Liu Huifeng signed a letter of intent with the Chinese Consulate General in Melbourne in 2017. In the agreement announcement, Mr. Liu promised “close communication” with the Chinese Consulate General in Melbourne. According to a secret document that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) obtained, AEAAI agreed to accept instructions from the consulate, report incidents involving Chinese citizens to the consulate, and provide “information involving security risks.” The letter of appointment signed by AEAAI and the consulate stipulates that, “The association will appoint volunteers in accordance with the authorization and specific requirements from the consulate on a case-by-case basis.” The document stated that volunteers should “assist the Consulate General to go to the scene of the incident to understand the situation of the case, provide assistance to Chinese citizens in need of assistance, and promptly report the situation to the Consulate General.”

Source: ABC, January 4, 2020
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-04/asio-red-flags-liberal-donor-over-foreign-interference-risks/13018938

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend