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CCP’s United Front Minister Meets Future Elite Thai Leaders Trained by China

On November 23rd, a high-level Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official met with representatives of the “Thailand-China New Era Leadership Elite Training Program” in Beijing. The official, Shi Taifeng, is a CCP Politburo member and Minister of the CCP’s United Front Work Department. Shi promoted China’s ideology of the “China-Thailand Community for a Shared Future for Mankind” and the CCP’s “Belt and Road Initiative.” On the same day, Wan Lijun, Chairman of the CCP’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, also met with the visiting Thai delegation. Sahathai Maneechot, former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, expressed intention to strengthen close ties with the CCP’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office and to collaborate on the CCP’s “Community of Shared Future for Mankind.”

The “Thailand-China New Era Leadership Training Program” started as early as 2018, initiated by the Chinese Association in Thailand. It is held several times a year, with high-ranking figures from Thailand’s political, military, business, and academic sectors participating.

At the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China in September of this year, China’s Premier Li Qiang announced the “Ten Thousand People Training and Seminar Program,” in which China will train 10,000 talents for ASEAN countries in the fields of governance, anti-corruption, and green development.

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, November 25, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/11/25/n14123929.htm
2. Chinascope, September 15, 2023

Li Qiang Announced China’s Leadership Training Programs for ASEAN Countries

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

Unknown Virus Spreading in China

There is a virus spreading widely in China. Beijing said it is mycoplasma pneumonia, while some other commentators have suggested that it is likely something else. The Chinese Communist Party has a track record of withholding information about pandemics unfolding in China, including the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak and the 2019 COVID outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) has requested that China provide details about viruses currently circulating and any increased burden on Chinese hospitals.

China’s hospitals are currently full of patients, including children. The Pediatric Department at Beijing Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital is used to receiving 300 cases daily, but numbers have now risen to 800. The Deputy Director of the pediatric department called it “the most significant pressure for the hospital’s pediatric department since its establishment.” Meanwhile, the internal medicine department of the Beijing Children’s Hospital has been receiving over 7,000 patients each day, and its infusion center is packed with children and their family members. Tianjin Children’s Hospital is receiving 13,000 patients each day, with some nurses feeling dizzy due to the overload of work. Shanghai’s Renji Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, reported that its pediatric outpatient visits exceeded 8,000 people between November 1 and November 13, a 175% increase from the same period last year.

Source: Epoch Times, November 23, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/11/23/n14122818.htm

Source: Nature, November 27, 2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03732-w

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Taiwan Investigates CCP Spy Network Targeting Retired Military Generals

Taiwanese authorities are investigating a case involving retired military generals implicated in espionage on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The investigation centers around suspect Zhu Kangming, who served as the secretary to Taiwanese Lieutenant General Jiang Weiguo (the brother of former Taiwanese President Jiang Jingguo). Zhu is accused of trying to help the CCP entice over 20 retired military generals to visit mainland China and accept the CCP’s hospitality.

It is reported that Zhu is a Hong Kong resident. Though he is not a retired military officer, he has connections with many important military leaders in Taiwan. From 2017 to 2023, he has continuously identified and introduced high-ranking military officers with certain specific ranks and/or in certain specific military branches, trying to persuade them to visit China or the United States for hospitality. These trips provided opportunities for the CCP’s United Front organs to contact, influence, and possibly recruit those officers, potentially convincing them to support the CCP’s “peaceful reunification” and “one country, two systems” ideologies.

Source: United Daily News, November 11, 2023
https://udn.com/news/story/7321/7567270

Briefings | | |   @CS Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s New Head of Culture and Tourism is Also Key Official in Central Propaganda Department

On November 14th, the official website of China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism reported that Sun Yeli (孙业礼) became the Party Secretary of China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Sun is expected to become the head of the Ministry as well. Sun also serves as the Deputy Minister of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Propaganda Department.

The CCP’s decision to give Sun this joint appointment will help ensure that China’s cultural and tourism work serves the party’s needs. The Ministry’s primary responsibility is to “implement the party’s policy on cultural work,” and its secondary responsibilities include “coordinating the development of cultural and tourism industries.”

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism was formed through the integration of the Ministry of Culture and the National Tourism Administration in 2018.  Before Sun Yeli, the two prior Ministers of Culture and Tourism – -Luo Shugang (雒树刚) and Hu Heping (胡和平) — also served as high-ranking officials in the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department.

Source: Epoch Times, November 14, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/11/14/n14116083.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CCP Trials State-Owned Cafeterias

Back in late 1950s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rolled out community-owned cafeterias, providing free food to the populace at a massive scale. This quickly depleted the country’s food stock and led to hunger and famine. It seems that now the CCP is bringing this infamous practice back.

A recent article in China Digital Times criticized a CCP pilot program for state-owned cafeterias, discussing the cafeteria that recently opened in the Yanshi Community of Shijiazhuang city, Hebei Province. Since the start of the cafeteria’s trial operation in early October this year, the cafeteria has served more than 20,000 customers. It targets thousands of residents in the Yanshi community and surrounding areas, aiming to ensure that customers can “eat to a full stomach with 5 yuan (US$ 0.70) and eat well with 9 yuan (US$ 1.25).” Given current market conditions, it is impossible to sustain those prices without continual subsidies from the government.

The article’s author criticized state-owned cafeterias as follows: The government is using tax revenue collected from the populace at large to subsidize food for specific groups of people (i.e. people living in certain communities) — it is not fair to those who are not served. Meanwhile, if the government builds cafeterias to serve the whole populace then it is just taking people’s money (as tax) and giving it back (as subsidy to cafeteria), adding on top the inefficiency (financial waste) resulting from bureaucratic operations.

Source: China Digital Times, November 7, 2023
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/701932.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

CCP Hires “Fans” to Stage Warm Welcome for Xi Jinping in San Francisco

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known for faking things. Whenever its leader visits a country, the Chinese embassies or consulates arrange for Chinese students and other people to stage “voluntary” welcome scenes at the airport or on the street, meant to look like “grassroots” support for the VIP.

Online information shows that such a welcome was put on when Xi Jinping came to San Francisco for the APEC meeting on November 15. An online screenshot revealed that the leader of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) at the University of Southern California (USC) notified the association’s cadres:

“[I] Just received a notice from the Chinese Consulate at Los Angeles, next week from the 13th to the 17th, Xi Jinping will visit the United States. Students from USC CSSA are invited to go to San Francisco to welcome him. Since it is inappropriate to publicize the schedule, we currently only know the following:

  • Students who sign up will all ride a bus to SF.
  • For everyone’s safety, you are not allowed to arrange your own trip or engage in independent activities.
  • All travel expenses and accommodation for food and board are covered.
  • If you want to participate, please contact me before 4:00! Once you sign up, you cannot withdraw.”

On November 16th, a posting on social media platform X showed that some students complained about not getting what the CCP promised earlier (Note: the Chinese consulate usually brings people from multiple places, so this may not come from the USC CSSA):

“1. The Chinese embassy claimed there would be free meals, but only some people received them, and most ordinary students did not.
2. There was a promise of a $400 subsidy per person, but in the end the CSSA told students it will be only $100.
3. Students who expressed desire to withdraw from the participation were directly warned that it would be recorded in their files in China, making them unable to join the communist party or take civil service exams in the future.”

Source: Epoch Times, November 16, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/11/16/n14117681.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics US-China Relations

German Media: CCP’s Harassing Dissidents in Germany

German Media outlet Der Tagesspiegel (Daily Mirror) reported that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has extended its psychological terror tactics into Germany, targeting overseas dissidents. The report says that the CCP employs tactics such as tracking, hacking email accounts, silencing with hush money, and sending threatening emails with “bloody corpse photos.” For example, two Chinese state actors followed a Hong Kong activist when he went to have lunch with some German congresspeople, taking pictures of them openly so that they would know they were being followed. Another dissident reported that someone opened a porn account with her name on the social media platform X, leading male strangers to ring her doorbell almost every day; she also received rape threats and death threats. Another dissident received several dozen threatening calls in one day, and a scholar received threatening emails with photos of blood-stained corpses.

Source: Epoch Times, November 10, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/11/10/n14114056.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

China Bullies Japan into Joining Ping Pong Tournament

A recent dispute within the China-Japan Table Tennis Association highlighted that the Chinese Communist Party can bully other countries over any matter. China plans to host the 2023 Mixed Team Table Tennis World Cup in Chengdu in December. Initially, Japan’s Table Tennis Association refused to participate in it, citing reasons including the absence of world ranking points and short notice (notice came out in August). Beijing responded by recalling Chinese players (a total of 14) who are playing in the Japanese Table Tennis League back to China. In the end, the Japan Table Tennis Association gathered enough players to participate in China’s competition. Soon after, the Chinese players resumed their playing in the Japanese league.

Source: Epoch Times, November 13, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/11/13/n14115239.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend