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Several Countries Are Taking Action against China’s Police Stations on Their Land

After a report revealed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has established police service stations and conducted police operations in foreign countries, some  of these countries started conducting investigations. In some other countries politicians have put on pressure for action to be taken.

Safeguard Defenders, a human rights organization in Spain, reported in September that the CCP has extended its police operations overseas. It has set up at least 54 police service stations in 30 countries, including the U.S. (New York), France (Paris), Canada (Toronto), Spain (Madrid), and elsewhere. Their main mission is to hunt for those Chinese who stole money and went overseas. “Rather than using legal forms of international cooperation, they have resorted to pressuring targets to return. In fact some 230,000 people have been involved for a little over year.”

These police service stations have physical locations and phone numbers so that people can call and provide information. Beijing claimed that its purpose was to provide ID services or China’s driver’s license renewal to Chinese citizens overseas.

However, some countries where Beijing has conducted these police operations, feel this is a violation of their sovereignty.

Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Ministry officials have expressed concern to the Chinese Embassy and are consulting within the entire government as to how to resolve this issue.

The Ministry of Interior in Spain started its investigation.

In the U.S., Jim Bank (R), Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Michael Waltz (R), Mike Gallagher (R), along with 18 other House Representatives, wrote a letter to Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Justice Garland, stating, “There should be no room for the Chinese government to exercise extraterritorial law enforcement unilaterally on U.S. soil.”

On October 4, the Canadian House of Commons committee on relations between Canada and the People’s Republic of China held a hearing on this issue. Weldon Epp, a China lead with Global Affairs Canada, stated at the hearing, “The activity that’s being alleged (about the police service stations) would be entirely illegal, totally inappropriate and would be the subject of very serious representations.”

Sources:
1. Scribd.com
https://www.scribd.com/document/599145539/Banks-Waltz-Gallagher-letter-to-Austin-Blinken-about-CCP-police-arm-in-NYC?secret_password=Rnjt1JQ6WoEg4gW1d91F
2. Epoch Times, October 10, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/10/n13842597.htm
3. Epoch Times, October 9, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/9/n13841856.htm
4. Epoch Times, October 11, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/11/n13843260.htm

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

The CCP Uses Celebrities to Promote Its Messages

Epoch Times reported that two professors at the University of Richmond, Dan Chen and Gengsong Gao, published an article to expose the CCP’s tactic in sending its official messages via celebrities, including some Taiwanese entertainment stars.

Their study found that 85 percent of the top 218 celebrities in China re-posted the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) official messages on their social media account at least once over a six-month period in the second half of 2021.

On August 2, the day when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan, the CCP’s mouthpiece CCTV sent out a post on Weibo, a Chinese-owned Twitter-like social media platform, with the message “There is only one China in the World” statement. Within hours, Chinese celebrities re-posted this message on their extensive networks of followers, including Xie Na (谢娜), a 41-year-old popular TV host and actress who posted it for her 128 million followers on Weibo, and Jackson Yee (易烊千玺), a 22-year-old singer, dancer and actor ranked the No.1 celebrity in Forbes’ 2021 Chinese Celebrity List.  He posted it for Taiwan celebrities conducting business in mainland China, such as Chen Qiaoen (陈乔恩) and Wu Qilong (吴奇隆), and also re-tweeted this message, about a day later.

One celebrity news outlet listed more than 20 Taiwan celebrities who reposted the “Only one China in the World and he praised them for “fulfilling their responsibility to voice political support.” It also listed 11 Taiwan celebrities who did not retweet the message and suggested that fans will judge them accordingly.

Fans and media in China harassed and criticized those Taiwan celebrities who did not express that they lined up with the CCP’s position, including a well-known Taiwan singer Hebe Tien (田馥甄) who has 13 million followers on Weibo.

In addition to using the fans to “teach” the celebrities, the CCP can also directly punish the celebrities. In 2014, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued a notice to require all broadcasting platforms to block “tainted artists” – celebrities who engage in illegal behavior or actions that are illegal, indecent, or politically incorrect.

This practice forced many celebrities to endorse the official lines to make themselves safe. Also, the state-endorsed celebrities have better opportunities to perform on state televisions or in state-sponsored films and TV shows.

Source: Epoch Times, October 1, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/1/n13836744.htm

Reports | | |   Government/Politics

Xinjiang Is Locked Down Due to 97 Infection Cases

The communist regime in China has been taking a strict “zero-COVID” policy and locks down any city where there are some infection cases. Last week it locked down Xinjiang. The authorities forced the 22 million people living there to stay at home – if they had not yet been put in “reeducation camps.” It also stopped running public transportation. It cancelled 97 percent of out-bound flights and 95 percent of in-bound flights at Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital city and largest city. It also cancelled all out-bound flights except two to Urumqi at Kashgar, Xinjiang’s second largest city.

On October 5, the authorities reported that it has only 97 infected cases.

Many analyses have pointed  out that the communist party’s COVID control and lockdown allows it to control the general public and practice precision control over its targeted people.

Source: VOA, October 6, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-s-vast-xinjiang-hit-with-covid-19-travel-restrictions-20221006/6778421.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Biden Said U.S. Will Defend Taiwan In the Event of a China Invasion

The 60 Minutes TV program that aired on Sunday, September 18, showed an interview with U.S. President Biden on September 15, in which Biden clearly stated that the U.S. will defend Taiwan.

The 60 Minutes correspondent, Scott Pelley, asked President Biden,”What should Chinese President Xi know about your commitment to Taiwan?”

Biden answered, “We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago,” “that there’s one China policy, and that Taiwan makes its own judgments about their independence. We are not moving– we’re not encouraging their being independent. We’re not– that– that’s their decision.”

“But would U.S. forces defend the island?” Pelley asked.

“Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack,” Biden said.

“So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir,” Pelley continued, “U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?”

“Yes,” Biden replied.

Many observers felt this would shift the U.S. policy on defending Taiwan from “strategic ambiguity” to “strategic clarity.”

This is the fourth time that President Biden said the U.S. will defend Taiwan if China invades the island. He made similar statements last October and also in May this year.

Each time afterward, including the recent 60 Minutes interview, the White House spokesperson said the U.S. position on Taiwan has not changed.

Robert Tsao, a Taiwanese tech tycoon, told Financial Times in an interview that Taiwan’s stand-off with China is not about unification or independence. “These are fake issues,” he said. “China’s nationalism is anti-civilizational. Taiwan, on the other hand, stands on the side of civilization, which values reason, science, progress, peace, human rights, the rule of law and democracy. That is why we cannot be together with them.(ie. with China)”

Sources:
1. VOA, September 20, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/us-taiwan-china-2022-09-19/6754043.html
2. CBS, September 18, 2022
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-joe-biden-taiwan-60-minutes-2022-09-18/
3. Financial Times, September 20, 2022
https://www.ft.com/content/e72d62af-7f01-40d4-83dc-b15612cf9764

Briefings | | |   @CS Defense/Military US-China Relations

The China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) Is Delinquent in Malaysia

More than 50 subcontractors and local suppliers for the Light Rail Transit 3 (LRT3) packages GS05 and GS06 in Malaysia protested to China’s Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) because they have been delinquent on payments for over a year.

The peaceful demonstration took place at Seksyen 1, Shah Alam, on September 14.

The protesters said that the China Railway 17th Bureau Group, or CRCC 17, owed them payments coming to a total of 25 million MYR (Malaysian Ringgit), or US $5.5 million. CRCC 17 has promised to make the payment several times in the past, but has never done so.

In the past couple of years, China’s real estate companies have struggled to pay their debts on time, but those were mostly private companies and related to construction projects within China. This case involves a state-owned enterprise that is delinquent on an overseas project.

Source: eNanYang.my, September 14, 2022
https://www.enanyang.my/财经新闻/抗议拖欠2500万-承包商要中铁17局还钱

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

China Builds More Nuclear Power Plants

The standing Committee of China’s State Council recently approved the Zhangzhou (Fujian Province) Nuclear Power Plant Phase Two project and the Lianjiang (Guangdong Province) Nuclear Power Plant Phase One project. Guangdong province will have ten nuclear plants which will range 30 to 250 miles away from Hong Kong.

So far this year, China has approved the new construction for 10 nuclear power generation units. This is the highest in quantity since the year 2008. In that year China approved 14 units.

As of June of this year, China had 54 nuclear power generation units in operation, ranking third in the world. It also has 23 units under construction or in the pipeline, which would give it the top ranking in the world.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 15, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/nuke-09152022093318.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Lhasa, Tibet Suffered a Severe COVID Outbreak

Recently, Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, suffered a severe COVID outbreak. The Epoch Times interviewed residents there. One interviewee said that people were telling each other that a quarter of the total 800,000 residents have already been infected. When a city reported COVID cases, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imposed a strict “Zero-COVID” policy and took drastic measures to quarantine people including even many who were not infected. On the other hand, the authorities reported low infection counts to make things look good and to hide the real situation.

The numbers released by the authorities are at a low one hundred or even lower. There were 86 cases on September 14, 95 cases on September 13, 137 cases on September 12, and 122 cases on September 11.

The interviewee said that authorities conducted PCR tests every three or four days and each time an additional person in the community would be reported as positive. Then the authorities sent loads of buses at night to take all the people in the same building to quarantine them in a centralized location.

Another interviewee mentioned that Lhasa has three big modular hospitals, each of which can hold 10,000 people and a dozen smaller ones, each with a capacity of one or two thousand. All of them have been filled. The authorities are building new modular centers in suburban areas, but that’s not fast enough. So they started to take buildings from schools and construction sites, most of which were not completely finished yet, as quarantine sites.

Source: Epoch Times, September 18, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/9/18/n13827559.htm

 

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Boston University: How Much African Debt Did China Forgive?

On August 19, 2022, China announced it would waive 23 interest-free loans (IFLs) for 17 African countries. The loans  had been due by the end of 2021 . Beijing didn’t specify the details. The Global Development Policy Center of Boston University estimated that each of the forgiven debts might be between $45 million and $610 million, with a possible total of $2.2 billionl, or around 1 percent of the $159.98 billion that China committed to lend to African countries from 2000 to 2020.

The research also pointed out that,  from 2005-2022, Beijing did ten debt cancellations for African countries including the most recently announced one. IFL provisions and cancelations are important diplomatic and symbolic tools in China’s lending practices and are likely to continue to be in the future.

Source: Boston University, September 9, 2022

China’s Interest-Free Loans to Africa: Uses and Cancellations

 

 

Briefings | | |   @CS Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend