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Embassy Returns Former Mongolian President’s Letter to Xi Jinping on Replacing Mongolian Language

Former Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj recently wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping to protest against the authorities’ push for the use of Chinese teaching materials in Inner Mongolia. Elbegdorj tweeted on September 25th that the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia returned the letter. Elbegdorj also posted a message on Facebook saying that he will not retract this letter to the Chinese leader and that this letter will attract more and more attention.

In the content of the letter that Elbegdorj posted on his Twitter account, he mentioned that China’s Constitution stipulates that “all nationalities have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written language.” He pointed out that this is now flagrantly infringed upon with respect to the Mongolian children in Inner Mongolia.

He also said, “I write to you (Xi Jinping) as I could not sit idle hearing that the tens and hundreds of thousands of Mongolians and their children that wish to exercise their rights that the Constitution has granted are experiencing indescribable anguish.”

The Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Chai Wenrui said that he noticed that Elbegdorj recently made remarks on the issue of bilingual education reform in Inner Mongolia. Chai added that the views in his letter to the Chinese leader are completely wrong, and China does not accept them.

The Chinese authorities are accused of suppressing the Mongolian mother tongue and culture in Inner Mongolia, triggering a backlash in public opinion in Mongolia. When Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Mongolia a few days ago, more than one hundred demonstrators gathered in Sukhbaatar Square in front of the Mongolian Government Palace, shouting, “Defend our mother tongue” and “Wang Yi go away.”

Source: Central News Agency, September 26, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202009260207.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xi Jinping’s Name Written into the “Work Regulations” of the CCCCP

A recent politburo meeting in China decided to include General Secretary Xi Jinping’s name in the “Work Regulations” of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP), an important document of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), alongside its Constitution. It is believed that as long as the “Work Regulations” remain in effect, Xi Jinping will remain as the core of the party.

On Monday September 28, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP) held a meeting to study and formulate the 14th Five-Year Plan for the nation’s socioeconomic development, and goals to be achieved by the year 2035. General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the meeting, which also discussed the “Work Regulations” of the CCCCP. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the formulation and issuance of the “Work Regulations” is an “inevitable requirement for firmly safeguarding the authority and centralized leadership of the CCP Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core. It is also a major move for upholding and improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and for promoting the modernization of the national governance system. It therefore carries great and far-reaching significance for winning the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.”

Bao Tong was the political secretary of former CCP general secretary Zhao Ziyang, who lost power because he showed sympathy for the students in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Bao told Radio Free Asia, “If Xi Jinping must be maintained as the core in the ‘Work Regulations,’ it is the official party document stating that he will always be the core of the Central Committee, unless this document is abolished. As long as this document stands, he is the core.”

Bao added that it was Deng Xiaoping, the former CCP leader, who first put forward the idea of “core.” “His (Deng’s) definition of the ‘core’ is ‘having the final say.’ …  In the past, Mao Zedong was the core, and Mao had the final say. … Therefore, the ‘core’ is connected with the words ‘final say.’ I think the ‘core’ can only be explained this way, and there is no other explanation.”

This is the second time that Xi Jinping’s name has been written into an official document of the Central Committee of the CCP, after it appeared in the CCP Constitution in 2017.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 29, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/ql2-09292020061358.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chinese Fishing Fleet Leaves Galapagos and Heads for Peru

In June of this year, about 300 Chinese fishing boats arrived near the Galapagos Islands, one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, to fish for giant squid in international waters.

Ecuador’s naval operations commander, Daniel Ginez, said this week that the size of the Chinese fleet is larger than in previous years. He said these fishing boats can be classified as vessels that are preying on fishing resources. “With such a large number of fishing boats we have the risk that certain species will be diminished,” Ginez explained.

At present, the Chinese fishing fleet is heading south to the waters near Peru.

With large fishing fleets, both Peru and Ecuador are highly dependent on seafood for their livelihoods and foreign exchange. World Bank data shows that in 2018, the two countries caught 4.5 million tons of fish, but that was only 25 percent of China’s ocean catches.

According to the statistics of Oceana, an organization that tracks fishing activities, the fishing time of Chinese fishing vessels between July 13 and August 13 totaled more than 73,000 hours, accounting for 99 percent of the fishing activities around the reserve.

The excessive fishing that Chinese ocean vessels conduct in international waters has spurred accusations from coastal countries and opposition from the international community. U.S. President Trump specifically mentioned in his speech at the United Nations on Tuesday September 22 that “China dumps millions and millions of tons of plastic and trash into the oceans, and fishes excessively in other countries’ waters.”

Soon afterwards, the US Embassy in Peru sent a tweet accusing the Chinese fleet of changing the name of the vessel and turning off GPS tracking, so as to restrict surveillance of its activities. The tweet said, “Overfishing can cause huge ecological and economic damage. Peru cannot afford such a loss.”

Last month, the U.S. Coast Guard coordinated with the Ecuadorian Navy to send ships to the area to patrol more than 3,000 miles in international and Ecuadorian waters to monitor this huge Chinese fishing fleet. Ecuador is also reportedly cooperating with neighboring countries such as Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia to establish a corridor of marine reserves to restrict commercial fishing.

China’s global fishing fleet is enormous. Estimates suggest it has 17,000 vessels, far exceeding other countries in the world. It is almost impossible to be thorough in monitoring these vessels. Now that it has nearly depleted the waters near China, China’s ocean fleet has been sailing further and further around the globe. Many underdeveloped countries that rely on fishery resources lack the ability to protect their maritime sovereignty.

Source: Voice of America, September 24, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-fishing-iuu-security-20200924/5596670.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Beijing Issues Notice to Speed up Development of New Media

On September 26, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Media’s In-depth Development.” They then issued a notice requesting that all authorities conscientiously implement it.

The “Opinions” asked, with all speed, to develop new mainstream media that is highly competitive and exerts a strong influence.

It also pointed out that “high-quality content, advanced technology, professional talent, and funding should be geared toward the Internet media and mobile platforms, effectively becoming the basis for emerging communication.”

The “Opinions” considers that it is necessary to “drive the development with advanced technology, make good use of the achievements of information technology such as 5G, big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, strengthen research on new technologies in the news communication, and promote the innovation of key technologies.”

The “Opinions” also mandates to make efforts to “tell Chinese stories well, and to spread Chinese culture.”

Source: People’s Daily, September 27, 2020
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-09/27/nw.D110000renmrb_20200927_2-01.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chinese People Required to Report their Taiwan-related Family Relations

Recently, as the situation across the Taiwan Strait has intensified, Chinese authorities have strengthened control over people related to Taiwan. Those with immediate family members who have worked or resided in Taiwan for a long time are required to register.

A community notice that spread in the coastal city of Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, showed that the Chinese government recently launched an investigation and requires the registration of those with immediate family members who have long-term working or residence status in Taiwan. The notice requires that, between September 22 and October 20, people with Taiwan-related relatives must go to the community Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee office to register. The notice did not mention the purpose of the registration.

An official from the Taiwan Affairs Office in Zhejiang province confirmed with Radio Free Asia (RFA) that it was the government that required such registration. The Taiwan Affairs Office did not issue the order. He denied that the matter is a routine practice instead of a response to the recent tension across the Taiwan Strait. “If you are immediate family members of people in Taiwan, you must first tell the community.”

Mr. Wu, a legal professional, told RFA that the control of overseas relations actually became the normal state after the CCP took over China. The difference is that when the bilateral relationship is relaxed, this kind of control is loose; when the relationship is tense, the government exerts stricter control. The CCP attempts to make use of these family relations to blackmail people overseas.

Often, since 1949, the Chinese people who have immediate family members overseas have  been subjected to brutal suppression in the name of “illicit (traitorous) relations with a foreign country.” After 1979, overseas family relations were, at times, the focus and target of the CCP’s united front work. Since Xi Jinping took office, overseas relations have again become sensitive.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 24, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/htm/china-taiwan-09242020073820.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China’s C919 Aircraft Repeatedly Delayed amid Doubts about U.S. Sanctions

The Comac C919, which aerospace manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) developed is China’s first domestically-made large passenger aircraft. It now has 815 orders from 28 customers. As the delivery date of the aircraft has been repeatedly delayed, doubts have emerged as to whether China’s aircraft industry will come under U.S. sanctions, following in the footsteps of Huawei.

Aiming to compete against the Airbus A320neo and the Boeing 737MAX, the C919 was originally scheduled to roll out its first aircraft by the end of 2015. However, it did not make its maiden flight until May 2017.

Voice of America quoted an internal document from COMAC that the company’s goal was to produce 150 C919’s annually after 2019, but did not provide a detailed schedule. Its first customer, China Eastern Airlines, is scheduled to receive the first C919 in 2021.

Shukor Yusof, founder of the aviation consulting firm Endau Analytics, has reservations about whether COMAC can deliver on time. He believes that although the aircraft is almost completed, it may not deliver until 2022 because China depends greatly on third-party suppliers from Europe and the United States. The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic is another factor.

Although China’s state media claimed that the C919 has achieved a localization rate of nearly 60 percent, the aircraft relies, to a large extent, on Western technology. Its propeller systems, flight control system, fuel system, power supply system and landing gear either use foreign products directly or come from joint ventures with foreign companies. China is mainly responsible for the design of the fuselage, wings, tail and interior.

Scott Kennedy, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), considers that China’s dependency on the West for China’s aircraft parts and assembly is far greater than Huawei’s dependence. Due to China’s strategic path in recent years and the tension between the U.S. and China, it is very likely that the U.S. will sanction China’s aviation industry in the future.

Source: Central News Agency, September 22, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202009220343.aspx

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

CSIS Warns of CCP Use of “Thousand Talents Program” in Top Canadian Universities

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) investigation shows that at least 15 Canadian scholars participated in Beijing’s “Thousand Talents Program.” They included experts in quantum computing, electronic engineering, vaccines, chemistry and artificial intelligence.

Professor Margaret McCuaig-Johnston of the University of Ottawa believes that this number is substantially underestimated. She said that all major Canadian universities have many research projects in which they are collaborating with China, including artificial intelligence, robotics, and quantum optics. These are areas of great interest to the Chinese military. China will pass the Canadian academic research results to the military whether in the open or privately through these collaborating scholars.

Gu Ming (a pseudonym), who once served for years as a senior executive in the Canada-China Society of Science and Technology (CCSST), told Radio Free Asia that more than two decades ago, the Chinese government established overseas bases and deployed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organizations to learn or steal Western technology. There are CCP branches in well-known Canadian universities such as the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia. CCSST is one of the liaison organizations. “These people (in CCSST) are here to do research and study for a Ph.D. They were paid by the state, and there are CCP branches there. China uses these associations to contact foreign research institutions and senior research scholars. Then they either invite the scientific and technologically talented to do research in China or they buy the scholar’s knowledge. If they can’t buy the knowledge they need, they try to steal it. To put it bluntly, China started employing this strategy more than 20 years ago.”

The Canadian authorities are well aware of the situation. For example, the Conference Board of Canada published a report in 2016, claiming that the “Thousand Talents Program” provides salary, research funding and other incentives to participants, who the carry out research and other activities in Chinese and overseas universities. In recent years, after discovering evidence of technology transfers, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has discussed (this issue) with universities and other research institutions, expressing its concerns about the “Thousand Talents Program” and other foreign recruitment plans.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 21, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/lf-09212020161552.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

On Twitter: UK Ambassador Holds a Book Promoting Xi Jinping

Caroline Wilson, the newly appointed British ambassador to China, will take office this month. Before leaving for Beijing, the senior diplomat posted a photo on her Twitter account. In the photo, she and the Chinese ambassador to the UK held a book that glorifies the head of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping. The tweet raised questions about whether she could promote and safeguard British values and interests.

Wilson said on her twitter account: “Valuable meeting with @AmbLiuXiaoMing before heading to Beijing. We can and must work for ambitious UK-China collaboration, on climate, health, trade, and also engaging on trickier topics too. I look forward to supporting a mature, positive UK-China relationship, in line with UK values.” The book The Governance of China, which Xi Jinping authored, presents the official party line for the Chinese government.

Wilson’s tweet and photo soon attracted hundreds of comments. Only a few comments praised her as “the best candidate for this absolutely critical position.” The vast majority of netizens believed that this tweet was extremely untimely.

“UK values in this particular book? Good luck …”

“Ah, the little book of Chairman Xi. Just the perfect analogy to the little red book of Chairman Mao.”

“Some individuals still don’t understand the CCP; good luck trusting the CCP.”

“British values and Xi Jing Ping Thought. Round peg in a square hole.”

“Hardly imagine this can happen to the new ambassador when the whole world is condemning #CCP for its move in suppressing human rights in #HongKong and #Xinjiang. #TakeDownTheCCP”

“Why not change with George Orwell’s “1984” with it? it’s a completely forbidden No entry sign in mainland china now.”

Nathan Law, one of the student leaders during the 79-day Umbrella Movement in 2014 in Hong Kong, now living in London following the National Security Law that Beijing enacted, commented, “This looks terrible. Accepting ‘Xi’s speech’ from this awful ambassador — I see it as an insult to the democratic values that we all share. Stop helping the CCP to spread its propaganda and infiltrate the democracies. This is an extremely bad move from the new British Ambassador.”

Roger Garside, a former British diplomat and author of Coming Alive: China After Mao“ said, “As a former British diplomat myself, who served twice in Beijing, I am appalled by this behavior of our Ambassador-designate to the PRC… It goes beyond anything I have witnessed from a British diplomat.”

Garside summed up the reaction to Wilson’s tweet as a “stream of well-deserved outrage.”

Source: Voice of America, September 18, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/uk-ambassador-china-stirs-uproar-photo-promoting-xi-jinping-20200918/5589689.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend