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China’s Spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry: The U.K. Foreign Minister Is Talking Nonsense

On July 3, after the U.K. Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, made comments about “serious consequences” if Beijing breaches the legally binding joint agreement between the U.K. and China over Hong Kong, Geng Shuang, the spokesperson for China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry countered.

Xinhua summarized Geng’s statement as follows: Hong Kong affairs have to do purely with China’s internal affairs; the hope is that the United Kingdom will stop overestimating its capabilities to violently interfere in Hong Kong affairs.

Geng made the following statements in his answer to a reporter’s question on China’s response to Hunt’s comments.

“First, after Hong Kong was returned to China, all the rights and responsibilities that the U.K. had over Hong Kong, as defined in the Joint Declaration of the U.K. and China, were completed. Since July 1, 1999, China has been executing its sovereignty over Hong Kong following its Constitution and the Basic Law of Hong Kong. The U.K. has no sovereignty, administrative rights, or monitoring rights over Hong Kong. It is the self-inflated dream that the U.K. is playing as the ‘guardian’ of Hong Kong.

“Second, it is a sheer lie that the freedom of Hong Kong residents was obtained through the U.K.’s efforts. I remind Mr. Hunt, there was no democracy in Hong Kong under the British rule. It was (China) that guaranteed Hong Kong residents their democracy rights and their freedom.

“Third, the violent rush into the Legislation Council on July 1 is a severe law-violation event that breaks the law and damages the social order. It was like claiming black is white when Mr. Hunt says the Hong Kong government is ‘suppressing.’

“Last, I want to stress that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affair. We resolutely will not allow any government, organization, or individual to brutally intervene. We hope the British government, especially Mr. Hunt, will not overestimate its own capability and violently interfere in Hong Kong affairs. It will be in vain.”

Source: Xinhua, July 3, 2019
http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2019-07/03/c_1124706383.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

The “Magical Prediction” of Hong Kong Police

A video titled “The ‘Magical Prediction’ of the Hong Kong Police” exposed several facts that indicate it was very likely that the Hong Kong police set up the Hong Kong protesters so they would enter the Legislative Council on July 1.

On the official video in which the police officer condemned the protesters for using metal material to damage the building and then rushed into the building, his watch showed the time to be 5:05. However, the protesters did not enter the Legislative Council until 9 p.m.

The video showed several middle-aged radical “protesters” who pushed a metal cart to break the glass doors, while the policemen inside the door were just calmly standing and watching. When a councilman tried to stop the action, a very radical “protester” simply pushed the councilman to ground. This protester’s face was fully covered, and he wore gloves. All these radical “protesters” later completely disappeared.

There were also some other awkward phenomena. The policemen inside the building set off a gas canister when there was no protester entering the building; then 4 minutes later, around 9 p.m., they just left. Five minutes later, the gate was broken and protesters came in.

Newsweek added other information, saying, “Pro-democracy internet users in Hong Kong are circulating a video they claim proves that Monday’s violent protests were allowed—and perhaps even encouraged—by the city’s police force in order to undermine the credibility of demonstrators.”  They also “suggested that police-directed agent provocateurs may have been active among the protesters, perhaps even leading the attack on the Legislative Council building.”

Sources:
1. Newsweek, July 2, 2019
https://www.newsweek.com/hong-kong-protesters-legco-building-break-police-set-video-officer-statement-watch-1447038
2. YouTube, July 2, 2019

 

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Taiwan Reporter Resigned from Want China Times Because of the Newspaper’s Pro-China Change

A veteran news reporter, Liao Zhaoxiang, resigned from the Want China Times, one of the largest news media in Taiwan, criticizing the media because it has changed its position, lost its stance, and become an echo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Some background about the Want China Times follows: The China Times is a daily Chinese newspaper, one of the four largest newspapers in Taiwan. In the early 2000s, it purchased China Television and Chung T’ien Television and thus became a big media group in Taiwan. In 2008, the owner of the Want Want group, a Taiwan businessman who went to mainland China and focused on the market there, bought China Times and, in 2009, created the Want China Times Group. The newspaper has become a pro-CCP newspaper. Chien-Jung Hsu of National Dong Hwa University stated, “Want China Times seems to be a representative of the Xinhua News Agency in Taiwan.”

The New Talk website published Liao’s resignation letter that he sent to the management of the Want China Times. In his letter, Liao said that the main reason he chose to leave was that the company not only does not care about the first-line reporters’ judgments; it has also severely damaged Taiwan’s freedom of the press and democracy. He has become completely heart-broken and given up.

Liao pointed out that when he interviewed people, he was frequently criticized because the media created fake news. It was hard for him to defend the company because what people said was true.

Liao further pointed out that his conscience would not allow him to continue working there anymore. “If the company is selling a ‘social drug’ using the lie that it is letting employees get rich, turning news reporting into the  splitting of Taiwan society and creating social conflicts, then as employees, can we just tell people, ‘It is not my fault because I just did what my boss told me to do’? The reality is that society will view us as an accomplice.”

“My son is a fourth-grader. He is interested in history. He knows that China is a totalitarian country, without democracy, rule of law, or freedom of the press. He asked me one day, ‘Dad, you are a reporter. Why does your company keep saying bad things about Taiwan and praise mainland China when it does not have freedom of the press and arrests news reporters and human rights attorneys at will? If someday Taiwan is taken over by the CCP, will you be put in prison? What should I do?’ I couldn’t answer him, but instead kept silent.”

“Even a fourth-grader understands this basic principle. All my managers, do you know what kind of government you are supporting and what editorial policy you are taking? Do you know what you are doing is killing the freedom of press in Taiwan?”

Liao also criticized China Times for removing all materials from its website that are related to the Tiananmen Massacre, including the news and photos that China Times’ own reporter Xu Zongmao brought back. He was actually shot and has a PLA soldier’s bullet in his head from when he was doing news reporting in Beijing at that time.

Sources:
1. New Talk website, June 21, 2019
https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2019-06-21/262746
2. Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Times

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

Xinhua: China’s Micro Leverage Ratio Hit New High

Xinhua reported that, by the end of the first quarter of this year, China’s Micro Leverage Ratio increased by 5.1 percent over last year, reaching 248.8 percent. The record that this set establishes a new high. The Micro Leverage Ratio is defined as the total government debt over the GDP.

This reason for the new high ratio is the slowdown of the increase in fiscal income. On the one hand, the fiscal income increase ratio went down to 2.9 percent in April, the lowest since 2016. On the other hand, government spending is increasing at a faster rate. The actual deficit ratio, defined as (general public fiscal spending minus general public fiscal income), when divided by GDP, has increased to 4.5 percent, the highest in the past ten years.

Therefore, local governments have resorted to issuing bonds to raise money thus hiking up the debt ratio.

Source: Xinhua, June 14, 2019
http://www.xinhuanet.com/money/2019-06/14/c_1210159511.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Falun Gong Practitioners Are Called to Submit Perpetrators Information

Minghi.org, a website devoted to news about Falun Gong in China and around the world, recently announced that the U.S. government is collecting information about human rights abusers including the perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong. It called for Falun Gong practitioners (referred to as Dafa disciples in the notice below) to submit such information.

The Minghui Editorial notice stated:

“An official from the U.S. Department of State recently told various religious groups that the U.S. government is imposing stricter visa vetting and may deny visas to human rights violators and perpetrators of religious beliefs. This applies to both immigration visas and non-immigration visas such as tourism and business visas. Those who have already been granted visas (including “green card” permanent visas) may be denied entry.

“The official specifically told Falun Gong practitioners that they can submit a list of perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong.

“We urge Dafa disciples all over the world to take immediate action to collect, compile, and submit to Minghui.org information on the perpetrators, their family members, and their assets, so as to locate and verify their identities.

“We ask that Dafa disciples in the U.S. collect and submit information of people who have aided in the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong outside of China. They include those who have attempted to interfere with Shen Yun Performing Arts, Shen Yun Symphony, Falun Dafa experience sharing conferences, and truth-clarification sites in different places such as Flushing. They also include those who spread CCP propaganda against Falun Gong on various websites.

“Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Spain, and other countries please also provide information regarding perpetrators in their regions.”

Source: Minghui, May 31, 2019
http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2019/6/1/177876.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics US-China Relations

Classic Showcase of the CCP’s Sophism in the TV Anchors’ Dialog

On May 29, Chinese Global Television Network’s (CGTN’s) TV anchor Liu Xin had a debate (or dialog as some people called it) with Fox’s Trish Regan. Epoch Times Chinese published an article suggesting that Liu Xin’s arguments were a classic demonstration of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) sophistry. The CCP is a great con artist that, despite having a clear understanding that the party itself is at fault, is able to use fallacies to make arguments from nothing, to confuse, deceive, spoil the discussion, and keep itself from falling further into a weaker position.

The article highlighted the following sophistry tricks that the CCP often uses:

1. “I’m the Same as You”

Liu Xin started out saying that she is not a CCP member. She thereby portrayed herself as if she were the same as Trish or other people in the U.S. who express their own ideas. However, the U.S. TV anchor is free to criticize her President, the Republic Party or the Democratic Party in the U.S. Can the CCTV anchor criticize the CCP or its leaders? Will it make a big difference if Liu is a CCP member or not a member? Does she have any choice but to be a party mouthpiece and speak the voice of the party?

2. “I’m Making the Mistake That Everyone Makes”

A highlight was that Liu Xin admitted that the CCP has conducted theft of intellectual property. Then she argued that this is a common practice happening all around the world, including among U.S. companies. Her logic was, “All companies, including U.S. companies have been doing this; so are we. We are bad, but everyone is bad. So why do you criticize us?”

3. “We Are Rich, but We Are Poor”

Liu Xin explained why China is the world’s second largest economy but still should enjoy being treated as a developing country. The CCP’s logic is this: when it needs to show its “muscles,” China is the second largest economy; when it is time to shoulder responsibility or to give aid, China is a developing country. Which side of the story should the CCP tell? It all depends on the need. Following the CCP’s logic, almost all of the developed countries can find some angle to justify that they also qualify as a “developing country.”

4. “Whatever President Clinton Did, We Will Do”

Throughout the questions and answers, Liu Xin did not give any positive solutions or recommendations. Actually, the CCP’s goal is not to have a clear black-and-white debate to see who is right, but rather to use gray answers to muddy the waters and create an ambiguous situation. The author linked this to a joke widely spread in China, “When facing tough questions, (Beijing) can give a straight, definitive answer. ‘Whatever President Clinton did, we will do.’” On the surface, the CCP has given a clear answer. However, on thinking it over, people are not sure what the answer is. “What exactly did President Clinton do?”

5. Change the Fight to a Chat

Another point worth mentioning is that the CCP successfully changed the debate to an interview or dialog, putting itself in a position where it would never lose. It is hard to imagine that, without the CCP’s prior manipulation, the two hostile TV anchors would switch to a friendly chat format. The CCP has done this kind of change many times before. When the European countries were about to criticize the CCP’s human rights records after the Tiananmen Massacre, the CCP, via manipulation, changed it to “discuss human rights issues privately.” It did a similar thing to the U.S. The end result was that the CCP continues its human rights violations. The U.S. and Europe criticize the CCP, but the Chinese people continue to suffer. Many years later, the Western countries came to a realization: the CCP has fooled us.

Source: Epoch Times, June 1, 2019.
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/6/1/n11294470.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

CCP Hires a Canadian Lobbyist Firm to Promote Its Viewpoints

The South China Morning Post reported that Beijing has hired a Canadian lobbyist firm and that the staff members of that firm have been promoting the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) viewpoint without identifying their association with Beijing.

The Chinese Consulate-General in Toronto hired Solstice Public Affairs as its lobbyist last August. This hiring is special because it is the first federal lobbyist that China has engaged. “No other country appears to have engaged a private firm to provide such services in Canada. Diplomats typically undertake such services.”

Karen Woods (whose Chinese name is Wen Lin), a Senior Associate at Solstice, is also a co-founder of the Canadian Chinese Political Affairs Committee (CCPAC). Since the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, she has been appearing on TV and publishing lengthy pieces in Canadian newspapers.

Her 750-word opinion piece on The Toronto Star on December 18, 2018, stated, “[The] Huawei case has generated a dark cloud which is shrouding the psyche of many Chinese-Canadians.” She warned of a “new wave of ‘Sino-phobia,’” and grimly concluded that “in a West rebuilt on Cold War ideologies and McCarthyism, there is likely to be little space for Chinese-Canadians.”

In February 2019, Karen Woods and three other representatives of her CCPAC published another Huawei-themed op-ed in the National Post and associated publications, as an open letter to “Uncle Xi” Jinping. It contended that Chinese President Xi’s anger at Meng’s arrest was understandable but misplaced, and that if China wanted to “win over the hearts and minds of the West,” it should release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who are widely believed to have been arrested in retaliation.

Some people have pointed out that Wood’s views represented those of the CCP. However, she did not disclose her lobbying firm’s connection to Beijing when she published those articles.

The South China Morning Post believed that the “behavior of Solstice and its staff blurred the lines between outright lobbying, journalism, and private activism. In ways both crude and subtle, they have attacked critics and propelled viewpoints that often uphold Beijing’s talking points and interests on a range of subjects.”

Solstice hired Woods partly on the strength of her Chinese community activism, said Brockwell, a veteran political lobbyist who is Woods’ senior at Solstice. Woods and Brockwell have appeared together at Chinese consular functions in Toronto, including the welcoming ceremony for the new Consul-General, Han Tao, last August.

During his interview with the South China Morning Post, Brockwell said repeatedly, and in multiple contexts, that Karen Woods did indeed work for the Chinese consulate, although her op-ed articles were not part of that work. He acknowledged that articles that the Solstice staff wrote in their private capacities served simultaneously as “client development.”

Source: South China Morning Post, April 18, 2019
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3006638/how-chinas-canadian-lobbyists-blurred-lines-pr-journalism-and

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

Beijing Asks the Public to Look for “Spies”

Beijing made April 15 the “State Security Education Day for All People.” On that day, the CCTV had a high-profile promotion asking the general public to look for or report “spy” activities. People can report those activities via phone, online submission, mail, or directly going to corresponding government offices. The corresponding office will give out rewards, on three levels, based on the effect of the tips. The highest reward is 500,000 yuan (US $ 74,000).

An observer of Beijing’s affairs has commented that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been looking for spies in the name of “state security” and the result has been that students have reported their teachers and friends have reported on each other. “The CCP faces three big conflicts: the conflicts between the officials and the general public; the conflicts among the ruling group, and the conflicts between the CCP and Western countries. These conflicts have led the CCP to a feeling of great insecurity. To secure its power, the CCP has been looking for ‘spies.’ First, it wants to identify the insiders in the CCP system who are not loyal to the CCP. Second, it wants to arrest members of the general public who are against the CCP. Third, (it wants to identify) the ‘infiltration forces’ from countries overseas.”

Source: Epoch Times, April 18, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/4/18/n11195737.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics