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Zhou Yongkang’s Daughter-in-law Complained about the CCP’s Human Rights Violations

Zhou Yongkang is China’s former  security Czar. He ruled the country using a brutal police control system. During his time, many human rights violations and many tragedies occurred. In 2014, Xi Jinping took him down on corruption charges because of his failed plot to overthrow Xi. His son, Zhou Bin, was also arrested on corruption charges.

Recently, Zhou Bin’s wife, Huang Wan, sent two tweets stating that she had not seen her husband for two months and reflected on the harm that Zhou and the communist regime inflicted on the Chinese people.

On January 31, Huang tweeted, “I have not seen my husband for two months. Here (in China), there are too many women who cannot see their husbands: human rights defenders, attorneys, businessmen, or officials. … The Chinese New Year is coming, but I cannot see my husband. Is he safe? Is he still alive? I don’t know. Some people have threatened me that it will not be good for me if I speak out. Ha-ha! My husband is Zhou Bin. His father is Zhou Yongkang.”

On February 2, Huang tweeted again, “As a family member of Zhou Yongkang, I want to apologize to all of the people who received unjust treatment during his time. Your journey to defend your rights is very tough (in China). Now I am on a similar journey. I ask all Chinese officials to think: Are your positions higher than Zhou Yongkang? He couldn’t even protect his family. When it is your time (to be purged), will you be able to protect your family? Only the full rule of law can protest every citizen’s rights!”

Source: Radio Free Asia, February 2, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/5-02022019125423.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Duowei News: The Political Danger of Pushing Companies to Establish Communist Party Branches

Duowei News, a pro-Beijing media, published an article commenting on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) push for all companies in China to establish party branches. Recently, the CCP published “The Regulations on the Party Branch Work of the CCP (Trial Version).” It required that all businesses (including privately owned and foreign companies), executive offices, social organizations, neighborhood communities, schools, research institutions, and military units must establish party branches.

The article commented that, last year, there was some talk of “eliminating private ownership” in China. Also, China’s economy is sliding downhill, creating a tough environment for mid-level and small privately-owned companies. The South China Morning Post suggested that, for recent private companies, establishing a party branch and company owners’ joining the CCP do not reflect political loyalty but rather the companies’ attempt at self-protection by reducing political risk and showing good will to the authorities.

The article also mentioned that, since 2012, Beijing has carried out a campaign to establish party branches (in all companies in China). Many foreign companies, such as Nokia, Carrefour, Wal-Mart, Standard Chartered Bank (China), PricewaterhouseCoopers, Beijing Hyundai, and Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Co., all established a party branch. According to the CCP Central Organization Department, by end of 2016, 70 percent of foreign companies in China had a party branch.

The article pointed out that, since the start of the Sino-U.S. trade war, Beijing has faced an extremely challenging task trying to attract foreign investment and restore private companies’ economic vitality. Imposing party branch requirements may have caused more negative publicity and resulted in reduced confidence in doing business in China.

Source: Duowei News, January 28, 2019
http://news.dwnews.com/china/news/2019-01-28/60115317_all.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Faces Pension Deficit

National Business Daily reported that, according to China’s Social Security Annual Report for 2016, several provinces in China had a negative cash flow in their pension fund accounts (they received lower pension contributions than the amount of pension distributions). Heilongjiang Province not only had a negative cash flow for 2016; it also depleted all of its previous pension fund savings. Its pension fund has a debt of 23.2 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion).

The number of provinces with net negative cash flow increased from six in 2015 to seven in 2016, including Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Hebei, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Hubei, and Qinghai.

According to the China Pension Actuarial Report 2018-2022, without counting the government’s subsidy, the total of pension contributions for all employees working in companies would be short of 256.2 billion yuan (US$38.4 billion) in 2018 and will be short of 533.6 billion yuan (US$80 billion) in 2022.

Some southern provinces, such as Guangdong Province, still have a huge surplus. Thus, some scholars have suggested using the southern provinces’ surplus to cover the northern provinces’ deficit.

China’s pension system is a pay-as-you-go system, requiring employers to contribute a maximum of 20 percent of employees’ earnings to cover the basic pension while the employees contribute eight percent of their earnings for a second-tier pension.

Source: National Business Daily, January 21, 2019
http://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2019-01-21/1293179.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

A Researcher: Search Engine Baidu Has Died

Fang Kecheng, a PhD candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, and former news reporter for Southern Weekend (a relatively liberal media in Guangzhou), published an article in which he stated that Baidu is no longer a search engine for the public but rather a media promoting its own contents.

According to an experiment that Fang conducted, the first page of Baidu’s search results lists links to Bai Jiahao, Baidu’s own content platform. For example, when searching “British Brexit,” there were seven results on the first page. The first one was Baidu Baike (Encyclopedia), the second, fourth, fifth, and seventh were all Bai Jiahao articles. Searching “U.S. government shutdown,” half of the 8 links on the first page, including the first and second, were Bai Jiahao links. In a search for “Trump,” the links on the first page were: Baidu Baike, Baidu Tieba (Forum), Bai Jiahao, Bai Jiahao, Bai Jiahao, Bai Jiahao, Sina, Bai Jiahao, and Baidu Baike.

The quality of Bai Jiahao’s articles is questionable. For example, it published an article claiming that the CIA admitted that Bin Laden was not related to the “9-11” attack and apologized to his family. That article had been read 400,000 times.

Fang gave his analysis on why Baidu has become so “off the mark”:

One, China’s Internet has fierce competition and those mega companies, such as WeChat, Microblog, and Taobao, do not let Baidu search their contents, so, Baidu’s results are narrow.

Two, Baidu does not want to be a search engine anymore. It just wants to be a marketing platform, so it converts all people using its searches into traffic intended for its own site and then it will make money.

Fang argued that it is not a sustainable business model. Once people discover that they can’t find what they need, they will use it less and less. Baidu’s strategy was equivalent to spending all its money before doomsday.

Baidu’s Counter and Fang’s Rebuttal

Baidu responded to the article and claimed that contents from Bai Jiahao represent less than 10 percent of Baidu’s total search results.

Fang rebutted, “It is meaningless to use the total research results as a measure (and also, aren’t Bai Jiahao’s contents at 10 percent already too big a share of the total result)? People normally just look at the first and second page. It would be more meaningful if Baidu released the percentage data on the first page.”

Sources:

1. Aboluo, January 24, 2019
https://www.aboluowang.com/2019/0124/1236625.html
2. Kejilie.com
http://www.kejilie.com/qq/article/imaYrm.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

CNA: Hong Kong Working on Law with Potential Three Years in Prison for Insulting China’s National Anthem

Central News Agency (CNA) of Taiwan reported that the Hong Kong government is working on a draft law for the National Anthem. A person will face a maximum of three years in prison and a HK$50,000 (US$6,500) fine if he shows disrespect  for China’s national anthem.

The new law also requires that all students in Hong Kong must learn the Chinese national anthem, its history, and its spirit.

The Economists reported that, though Hong Kong was handed over to Beijing in 1997, Hong Kong soccer fans have maintained a tradition of making noises when China’s national anthem is played in the field. Some fans wave the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (instead of China’s flag), and some even wave the Hong Kong flag from the era when it was under the U.K.’s control.

Currently, Beijing influences the Hong Kong government. Beijing is happy to see that the Hong Kong government is working on this law.

CNA warned that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) promise cannot be trusted. Its “one country, two systems” policy means “one country under one party’s rule and two systems with one system dominating the other one.” “Hong Kong’s national anthem law is a warning to Taiwan of its possible future (if Taiwan chooses to unite under the CCP).”

Source: CNA, January 24, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201901240132.aspx

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

Why Huawei and Beijing Are Singing Different Tunes

Epoch Times reported that Huawei has taken a low-key approach because of the restrictions the Western countries have placed on its products due to their fear that Huawei is spying for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Founder Ren Zhengfei said, “If they don’t want Huawei to stay in certain markets, we can reduce our scale.” Huawei Chairman Liang Hua said at the Davos Economic Forum that, if the restrictions continue, Huawei might have to exit from Western countries.

However, Beijing has taken a strong stance against Canada. After Canada arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, It arrested at least 10 Canadian citizens  and modified one Canadian’s sentence to the death penalty. China’s Ambassador Lu Shaye threatened Canada saying that there will be severe consequences if Canada restricts Huawei from supplying 5G network equipment to its market.

Epoch Times collected opinions from several newspapers and commentators on why Huawei and Beijing are taking different stances.

Hong Kong Economic Times thinks that Huawei is taking a soft approach in order to try to resolve its crisis or minimize its impact. Having a strong position would create more conflict between Huawei and the Western countries. Also a strong position will not help Ren Zhengfei save his daughter since the judicial systems of the U.S. and Canada are independent and will not yield to Huawei.

Hu Ping, Honorary Chief Editor of Beijing Spring suggested that Beijing is worried about Huawei being targeted. Huawei is related to the CCP’s future economy and high-tech development plans, so Beijing is taking a tough stance to protect its interests.

Source: Epoch Times, January 23, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/1/23/n10996914.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources US-China Relations

Huawei Warns to “Prepare for Bitter Days”

Recently, Ren Zhifei, the founder of Huawei, issued two letters to Huawei employees. He warned not to be too optimistic about the prospects for Huawei and that people should prepare for bitter days.

Ren stated that, if they make an assessment that certain business units are not providing much value, they should be cut or the work reduced so as to focus on (more valuable portions). He also said that Huawei should give up some mediocre employees so as to reduce the cost of human resources.

“In the next few years, the whole environment (for Huawei) will not be as promising as we imagined. We should prepare for bitter days.”

He said that, unlike the 4G business that flourished for Huawei, the 5G business may just bloom in some spots, but not on a widespread scale. However, Huawei has 180,000 employees and it pays over US$30 billion in salaries and stock distributions each year. “If we can’t produce as much, how can we get the money to share?”

Source: Sina, January 21, 2019
https://news.sina.com.cn/o/2019-01-21/doc-ihqfskcn9133229.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources US-China Relations

Chinese Ambassador Admitted Personal Involvement in Cancelling Shen Yun Performance

Epoch Times reported that, according to a recent investigation, Lu Fan, China’s Ambassador to Spain, admitted that he pressured a Spanish theater into cancelling a performance that Shen Yun Performing Arts had booked with the theater.

“Lu admitted in a phone call, that he personally put pressure on the Royal Theater in Madrid to cancel its contract with Shen Yun Performing Arts. By using the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) control of the large Chinese market as an enticement, Lu and the theater’s director jointly planned to cancel the Shen Yun performances under the pretext of “technical difficulties.” After the case was reported, Lu and the theater continued planning on how to respond.”

Shen Yun Performing Arts is a New York-based independent performance troupe specializing in classical Chinese dance. Its many companies have tours around the world every year in as many as 130 major cities. It has, for years, been the target of the CCP, which uses Chinese embassies and consulates to try to disrupt the performances. The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), a non-profit organization that investigates human-rights abuses perpetrated against Falun Gong adherents, has been following such incidents.

A WOIPFG investigator, who, posed as a high-level Chinese government official, called Lu Fan directly and got him to reveal the details of how he intervened in Spain. Lu Fan directly called the Royal Theater and requested that it cancel the Shen Yun performance that had been scheduled for January 31 to February 2 this year.

In the investigator’s phone call, Lu admitted that the theater’s general manager was initially reluctant to carry out the embassy’s request because the theater had already sold nearly 900 tickets. “I directly talked to him,” said Lu, “On this issue, you cannot think only about the economic gains, but you also need to consider the politics. You are working with China and have signed the ‘International League of Theaters of the Silk Road.’ There is a great market potential for you to collaborate with China. You should not lose the Chinese market because of (the Shen Yun performance).” China has been promoting the “International League of Theaters of the Silk Road” agreement for exchanges in the field of performing arts as part of its “One Belt and One Road” initiative.

Lu also stated in the call that he worked closely with the theater’s general manager to come up with a good reason (claiming technical difficulty and a time shortage) for cancelling the show. The theater then used that excuse to cancel the performance.

Lu also stated that, after Shen Yun reported the cancellation in a local newspaper, he worked with the theater to come up with responses. “Our initial thought was to avoid making it a hot issue. Stay with the technical reason.”

The recorded phone conversation with Lu Fan is available on the Epoch Times’ website.

Source: Epoch Times, January 28, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/19/1/28/n11008988.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics