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Government: Shanghai Authorities – It Is All the Residential Committee’s Fault

During Shanghai’s COVID Control and Prevention news press conference on May 29, authorities said the city has never announced a “lockdown” and therefore does not need to “remove the lockdown and (reopen)” the city.

They also blamed the residential committees (居委会) for locking down the residential buildings and forcing people to stay at home. They said the two months of the Shanghai lockdown was not a government action but rather the result of the residents’ self-management .

The authorities then pointed out:

  1. The residential committee is a self-management organization for the city residents and the residential committee’s actions are based on the residents self-management, not the government’s orders.
  2. Any official order and regulation must be published by the municipal party committee or the municipal government. The residential committee’s announcement only represents the view and action of that residential committee and residents of the neighborhood. The government is not responsible for these actions.
  3. If any residential committee mentions “according to the authorities’ requirements,” if it is not based on an officially issued document with a government seal on it, it is a verbal order and the government does not recognize the claim.

People ridiculed the Shanghai authorities. According to the authorities’ logic, the government didn’t lock down Shanghai, but Shanghai residents voluntarily locked themselves down, stopped their own economy and created all their humanitarian problems for themselves.

Source: China Digital Times, June 1, 2022

民国地平线｜蔡慎坤：谁把上海人当傻瓜？

Hot Topics | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

USCC: China’s Interest in the U.S. Agriculture Industry

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) published a report that China is investing in the U.S. Agriculture industry in order to mitigate its own food shortage. These investments reduce Beijing’s reliance on imports and help China to obtain modern agricultural technologies. The report examines the main areas of Chinese investment in the United States, including land, livestock, grain, and relevant infrastructure, such as agricultural equipment and technology. It also presents considerations for lawmakers regarding further Chinese integration in the U.S. agriculture sector.

Source: USCC, May 26, 2022
https://www.uscc.gov/research/chinas-interests-us-agriculture-augmenting-food-security-through-investment-abroad

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

The United States Clarified that China Has Long Misrepresented the U.S.’ “One China” Policy

Ned Price, a Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, stated, on his official Twitter account on May 20, that the United States stated openly that China has long been misrepresenting the U.S. “One China Policy.”

“The PRC continues publicly to misrepresent U.S. policy. The United States does not subscribe to the PRC’s “one China principle,” We remain committed to our longstanding, bipartisan one China policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances.”

On its official Twitter account on May 22, the U.S. Embassy to China published  the Chinese translation of Ned Price’s statement.

Polygraph.Info, Voice of America’s lie reporting website, explained how China misrepresented the U.S. “One China” Policy:

The 1972 Shanghai Communiqué issued at the end of then U.S. President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China stated:

“[T]he United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States does not challenge that position.”

The U.S. said it “acknowledges” the Chinese position but did not endorse it. Using similar language, a 1979 normalization communiqué establishing U.S. – China diplomatic ties also did not state affirmatively that the U.S. recognized Taiwan as part of China.

However, the Chinese side used the verb “recognize” (承认) instead of “acknowledge” (认识) in the Chinese text of the 1979 joint communiqué. The Beijing has since kept saying the United States recognizes “one China.” The Chinese text did stay faithful to the verb “acknowledge” in the 1972 Shanghai communiqué.

Sources:
1. Twitter, May 22, 2022


2. VOA, October 11, 2021
https://www.polygraph.info/a/factcheck-one-china-policy-principle/31499875.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Beijing Tries to Strengthen Its Ties with the Pacific Islands

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin announced on May 24 that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay official visits to the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste.  The visits will take place from May 26 to June 4. He will pay a “cloud visit” to the Federated States of Micronesia, hold a video meeting with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Cook Islands and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Niue, and host the second China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Fiji.

China has recently disclosed that it signed a security treaty with the Solomon Islands, which includes police training,  a possible military exchange and setting up a naval base in the Solomon Islands for the People’s Liberation Army.

An intelligence officer for a U.S. ally said that Beijing is negotiating with Kiribati and at least one other Pacific island on a treaty similar to the Solomon Islands’ treaty.

Sources:
1. People’s Daily, May 26, 2022
http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2022/0526/c64094-32430646.html
2. Radio France International, May 21, 2022
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/国际/20220521-中国寻求与基里巴斯签协议-美澳担忧

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Microsoft Bing Performs Political Censorship on Chinese Content in the U.S. and Canada

The Citizen Lab of the Munk School on Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, reported they consistently found that Microsoft Bing censors politically sensitive Chinese names and that, over time, their censorship has spanned multiple Chinese political topics. It consists of at least two languages, English and Chinese and applies to different world regions, including China, the United States, and Canada.

Microsoft has censored search results on its search engine Bing in China. The lab found that even in the United States and Canada, Bing censors sensitive words in Chinese on its autocomplete feature.

In 2021, Bing was found to have censored image results for the query “tank man” in the United States and elsewhere including queries about the 1989 Tiananmen Square Movement anniversary.

Source: Citizen Lab, May 20, 2022
https://citizenlab.ca/2022/05/bada-bing-bada-boom-microsoft-bings-chinese-political-censorship-autosuggestions-north-america/

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

The Connection between the LA Shooter and the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification

In a planned shooting, David Wenwei Chou (周文伟), 68, of Las Vegas, killed one person and injured five at a Taiwanese church in Los Angeles. The Orange County police called it a politically driven hate crime against Taiwanese. Chou strongly opposed Taiwan independence.

There are a few connections between the killer and the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (中国和平统一促进会). That  was a semi-official organization under the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) control. It served as a vehicle for the CCP’s united front work. Wang Yang (汪洋), a member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee (the highest CCP decision making organ) and the Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, serves as the Chairman of that organization.

In 2019, Chou attended the opening ceremony of the Las Vegas Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful National Reunification. He was a board member and spoke at the ceremony.

Before the killing, Chao mailed out a set of audio/image packages, titled, “The Diary of the Angle to Eradicate (Taiwan) Independence.” The recipients of his packages include Wang Yang, Qin Gang (China’s Ambassador to the United States), Hu Xijin (former Chief Editor of Global Times (Huanqiu)) and Wang Feng, the publisher of China Times (a Taiwan media which switched to a pro-CCP position after being bought by Want Wang Holdings which had a big business investment in mainland China), and some Chinese media in the United States.

Source: NTDTV, May 19, 2022
https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2022/05/19/a103433096.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

The Vatican Expressed a Desire to Keep the China-Vatican Agreement after the CCP Arrested Bishop Joseph Zen

The recent Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) suppression of freedom of speech in Hong Kong was that, on May 11, it arrested the 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen and three other people in Hong Kong. Cardinal Zen is one of the most senior Catholic clerics in Asia.

However, the Vatican showed a weak response after the Cardinal’s arrest.

Cardinal Peitro Parolin, the Secretary of State of the Vatican, said they were sad about Cardinal Zen’s arrest but do not want this event to be viewed as a disavowal of the China-Vatican temporary agreement on the joint Bishop appointment.

People have been questioning the Vatican’s move in collaborating with the CCP. Who will the Bishops appointed jointly by the CCP and the Vatican be loyal to? To the CCP or to God?

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, May 14, 2022
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20220514-1272582

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

The CCP Central Office Warned Retired High-Ranking Officials

On May 15, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Office published the “Opinions on Strengthening the Party Building Work of Retired Cadres” (“Opinions”)  to request retired officials to stand on the official CCP position and Xi Jinping’s leadership and not to express negative opinions.

The “Opinions” require the regulation and discipline of retired CCP officials to “better unite the majority of retired cadres around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. The “Opinions“ require retired party member cadres, especially those who have held leading positions, to adhere strictly to the relevant disciplinary rules and further enhance their spirit of supporting the party and the awareness of party discipline.”

Xinhua also published an article titled, “The Head of the CCP Department of Organization Answered Reporters’ Questions on the Opinions.”

One question was, “What clear requirements did the Opinions have on strengthening the education and management of retired party member cadres?”

Th answer was, “… In terms of strict disciplinary rules, it required that retired party member cadres, especially those who have held leading positions, should adhere strictly to the relevant disciplinary rules, should not discuss the major policies of the Party Central Committee with their own opinions, should not spread negative political statements, should not participate in the activities of illegal social organizations, and should not use their former authority or position to seek benefits for themselves and others. (They should) resolutely oppose and resist all kinds of wrong thinking,  …”

Sources:
1. People’s Daily, May 16, 2022
http://dangjian.people.com.cn/n1/2022/0516/c117092-32422121.html
2. CCTV, May 16, 2022
https://news.cctv.com/2022/05/16/ARTIABpDUchNd46qBhZczKL5220516.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics