Skip to content

All posts by NNL - 80. page

Huanqiu: The U.S. Ambassador Is a “Wolf Warrior”

President Joe Biden nominated Nicholas Burns as the U.S. Ambassador to China. At his Senate confirmation hearing on October 20, Burns took a tough line on dealings with China. He called China the United States’ “most dangerous competitor.” Burns said, “The PRC’s genocide in Xinjiang, its abuses in Tibet, its smothering of Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms, and its bullying of Taiwan are unjust and must stop.”

In his article published on both Weibo and Huanqiu, Huanqiu’s Chief-Editor Hu Xijin Commented on Burn’s Senate hearing. He called Burns the U.S. “Wolf Warrior.”

Hu said, “President Biden’s nominee for the new U.S. Ambassador to China, Mr. Burns, delivered a vicious and systematic attack on China at a hearing on Wednesday, acting like a ‘wolf warrior.’ Instead of demonstrating his willingness to promote friendly relations between China and the United States and their peoples, he presented himself as a ‘wolf warrior ambassador’ who humiliated the original meaning of diplomatic envoy and set a terribly bad example for the global diplomatic community. …”

Hu said that the West blamed Beijing for taking a “wolf warrior” approach. “But actually it is the U.S. that pushes the diplomacy into a ‘wolf war.’” Hu then used a Chinese idiom to describe the U.S. as “the thief who cries out to catch a thief (accusing others of being a thief).”

Finally, Hu said, “Okay, Mr. Burns, we are waiting for you in Beijing.”

Source: Huanqiu, October 22, 2021
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/45HEbsjPcYk

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

A Huge Explosion in Shenyang

On the morning of October 21, there was a huge explosion on the first floor of a building in Shenyang, a northeastern city in China. Videos posted on the Internet showed a mushroom cloud rose to six stories high. Everything, including the side walls, were all blasted off from the lower floors, with only the steel and concrete remaining. A bus driving by at that moment was pushed 10 meters away. Only the bus frame was left. National Business Daily reported this explosion impacted and ruined a total of 99 buildings.

The Latest official report said 5 people died and 47 were injured. The authorities said it was caused by a gap in a pipeline involved in pipeline work.

People questioned whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hid the actual number of injuries and the amount of the damage, given the miserable scenes of the aftermath.

Epoch Times also pointed out that, whether it is a coincidence or there are some reasons, there have been three explosions in China so far this year. All of them happened within the month before a major political event took place. The first one was on February 23. A restaurant in Beijing exploded. It was within one kilometer (0.6 miles) of Zhongnanhai which is where the top officials live. The explosion caused the building to collapse and seven people were injured. It was a month before the National People’s Congress conference in Beijing.

The second one was at Shiyan City, Hubei Province, in June. The CCP reported 25 deaths and 138 injuries. It was right before the CCP’s anniversary on July 1.

The Shenyang explosion is the third of the three explosions. It occurred within 20 days of the CCP’s 19th Congress Sixth Plenary meeting on November 8.

Right after the second explosion, the authorities reported the case of the rape of Wu Yifan (Kris Wu), a famous movie star and singer. For the third explosion, the authorities immediately reported Li Yundi for hiring a prostitute. Li is a pianist and in China, he is as famous as Lang Lang. These entertainment stars’ news became the hot topics that distracted people from focusing on the explosions.

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, October 22, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/10/22/n13323071.htm
2. National Business Daily, October 24, 2021
https://m.nbd.com.cn/articles/2021-10-24/1958549.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Military: CCP Scholar: Ten Benefits for the CCP to Take Back Taiwan

Jin Canrong is a Professor and Vice Dean of the School of International Relations of Renmin University of China. He is a vocal political speaker to promote and justify the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) strategies and policies.

His speech that the there will be ten benefits for the CCP to take back Taiwan was posted on YouTube on September 23, 2021. The following are the points he made:

First, China’s national strategic position will be improved. The first island chain surrounding China will collapse.

Second, China will be able to wipe out the hundred-year national shame. Chinese people have a healthy mentality.

Third, it will completely establish the connotation of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

Fourth, the status of our military will be improved with a great step. This would be the Chinese military taking the initiative to go out for a war.

Fifth, it will resolve the TSMC problem. The CCP can nationalize (take over) TSMC; together with Micron and the mainland’s SMIC, China’s (chip) technology will make a dramatic jump.

Sixth, It will help the CCP’s political security. Jin thinks Taiwan is the main source of “color revolutions” in mainland China and one of the biggest threats to the CCP’s political life in China.

Seventh, it will make social stability better. Jin blames the Taiwanese for 90 percent of the telecom fraud in mainland China.

Eighth, it will provide a new wave of revitalization for the economy at China’s coast. China can put more resources into economic development, and the economy at China’s eastern coast will take off.

Ninth, it will eliminate China’s diplomatic weakness. The United States uses Taiwan as a weapon against China. Many countries ask China for financial aid in exchange or in trade for supporting the “One China” policy.

Tenth, it will establish China’s international prestige and change the world landscape overnight.

Related postings on Chinascope:

Source: YouTube, “Jin Canrong: Top Ten Gains from Attacking Taiwan,” Oct 2, 2021

Hot Topics | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

Military: People’s War against U.S. Spies

Amidst the U.S. CIA recruiting staff members who know Chinese, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), via its online account “Jun Zheng Ping” called for a people’s war against the U.S. spies. In Chinese, Jun Zheng Ping (“钧正平”) is the homonym of “军政评” (an abbreviation for “PLA Political Commentary”).

The post is titled, “What should we do when the CIA is on a recruiting spree for Chinese-speaking spies?” It said that, “The CIA’s requirements for recruiting agents were exposed: candidates should understand Mandarin, Shanghainese, Cantonese, or Hakka.”

Then the posting continued, “A few days ago, the CIA announced that it would set up a ‘China Mission Center’ to deal with the so-called ‘China threat.’ The CIA agent recruitment requirements included knowing Mandarin and some Chinese dialects. Hostile forces outside the country have been ‘working hard.’ (We can) never slacken on national security work. The U.S. intelligence services that recruit agents so blatantly must have more sinister and unpleasant means behind the scenes. Still, however cunning the fox is, it cannot fight a good hunter. The only way to maintain national security is to trust the people and rely on the people. (We) need ‘Chaoyang Ladies’ (volunteers to watch for any suspicious people and report them to the authorities); we also need ‘fishing copper fishermen’ (Chinese fishermen taking out U.S. military equipment from the international waters), to fight a ‘people’s war’ against spies, to make it so the spies have no move to take and nowhere to hide!”

Related postings on Chinascope:

Source: Sina, October 17, 2021
https://news.sina.com.cn/s/2021-10-17/doc-iktzqtyu1903245.shtml

Hot Topics | | |   Defense/Military US-China Relations

Leadership: CCP’s Third Decision on Historical Issues

On October 18, Xi Jinping led the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Political Bureau to review the draft resolution of “The CCP Central Committee’s Decision on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s 100 Years of Efforts.” It decided to submit the draft resolution to the Sixth Plenary Session of the CCP’s Nineteenth National Congress.

China News published an article, commenting on the significance of this decision. This is the third of the CCP’s decisions on “historical issues” during its entire one hundred year history. The article mentioned that the media Duowei reported on it and mentioned that the previous two decisions went through brutal in-fighting within the CCP. Duowei is tied to former CCP head Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong (Jiang’s Right-hand man). Jiang and Zeng’s group had been fighting against Xi for many years. The China News article then commented that Duowei’s reporting on this decision and the history of the CCP in-fighting indicates that the current CCP in-fighting is intense.

The first decision, taking four years (1941 to 1945) from drafting to passage, established Mao Zedong’s superior leadership within the CCP. The second one, taking a year and half (November 1979 to June 1981) from drafting to passage, established Deng Xiaoping’s superior leadership. Duowei said Xi wants to use the third one to secure his superior leadership.

The new decision draft described Xi’s achievements vs. the previous CCP leaders’ achievements as the following: “In the course of the Party’s long-term struggle, the Chinese Communists, mainly represented by Comrades Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao, have united and led the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups to promote the revolution, construction, and reform. They realized significant achievements and accumulated valuable experience. Since the 18th Party National Congress, the Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, has united and led the whole Party and the people of all nationalities to accomplish new major achievements and accumulate new valuable experience …”

{Editor’s Notes: The CCP officially recognizes five leaders since it ruled the mainland China in 1949: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. The first two, Mao and Deng, are the paramount leaders; while the third and fourth, Jiang and Hu, didn’t have the “super leader” status. Jiang and Hu served their two full terms and retired. Xi has modified the CCP’s Constitution to allow a person to serve beyond two terms. If Xi seeks his third term, a justification that he has surpassed his two predecessors in achievements will come in handy. However, this important “decision” draft didn’t give him that. It bundles all the four previous leaders together to compare to Xi. As politically it is hard to say that Xi beats Mao and Deng, the leadership comparison ends up as Xi’s achievement being the same as that of his predecessors, including Jiang and Hu. This statement may be the result of a fierce in-fight between Xi and other fictions.}

Related postings on Chinascope:

Sources:
1. Chinese Government Site, October 18, 2021
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2021-10/18/content_5643328.htm
2. China News, October 18, 2021
https://news.creaders.net/china/2021/10/18/2410122.html

Hot Topics | | |   Government/Politics

Government: People’s Daily Reported Fantasia Holdings Missed Its U.S. Debt Payment

Fantasia Holdings announced that it was unable to make a U.S. debt payment of $206 million on its due date of October 4. The company was owned by Zeng Baobao, the niece of Zeng Qinghong, a former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) top official and the right-hand man of former CCP head Jiang Zemin. Many media have reported that Zeng heads the Jiang faction since Jiang has been in poor health and their group has taken many actions against Xi Jinping.

People’s Daily reported on Fantasia’s missing the $206 million debt payment. It also reported that Fantasia raised 3.3 billion yuan (US$ 512 million) by selling a core business Li Li Le (邻里乐) from Color Life, a property management company that Fantasia owns, to Country Garden Services Holdings, another real estate giant in China.

The fact that People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the CCP Central Committee, reported the negative news about Fantasia, may convey a strong political message.

Also, an article analyzing Fantasia has appeared in many Chinese media. The article said that Fantasia appeared to have plenty of money when it reported its bank balance and its cash of 27.1 billion yuan (US$ 4.21 billion) on June 30, 2021. Actually, however, for real estate companies, the cash they hold may be the cash deposits from different house buyers, so banks will freeze that. Also, Fantasia may not have mentioned other debts that it has hidden from its report.

The article commented that Fantasia might have been blocked from issuing bonds and it therefore had no choice but to borrow money on the capital market. By June 30, 2021, its capital debt was 67 percent of its total debt, with the U.S. dollar debt accounting for 53 percent of the total debt. Among the 12 U.S. dollar debts that it has, only one has an interest rate lower than 8 percent; the other 11 all have rates of around 10 percent or higher, way above the average 7.5 percent interest rate on Renminbi debt.

Related postings on Chinascope:

Sources:
1. People’s Daily, October 11, 2021
http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2021/1011/c1004-32249384.html
2. 163.com, October 9, 2021
https://www.163.com/dy/article/GLT66O960515VS38.html

Hot Topics | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Fu Zhenghua, Recently Taken Down, Was against Xi Jinping

Fu Zhenghua is a key official in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) law enforcement system. From 2013 to 2018, he served as the Deputy Minister of Public Security . In 2015. He became the head of the “610 Office” (an organization that the CCP set up to persecute Falun Gong) He was the Minister of Justice from 2018 to 2020. Afterward, he was moved to a semi-retired post in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

On October 2, 2021, the CCP’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that it was investigating Fu for “serious violations of discipline and national laws.”

Epoch Times reported two cases in which Fu was against Xi:

The first case was the handling of the death of Lei Yang. Lei Yang was a Chinese environmentalist who died while in police custody in Changping District, Beijing. An independent autopsy confirmed that his death resulted from police brutality. The police said Lei was soliciting a prostitute in a convenience store and thus they arrested him. Lei’s family rejected the accusation.

When the case was reported, the general public overwhelmingly demanded that the police officers who abused their power be punished. Xi Jinping even gave an order, requesting to “address the case fairly and with justice.” However, over 4,000 Beijing police officers wrote a joint letter to Xi, to protest the arrest of their “comrades” and threatened to quit. Xi was furious for the threat and ordered an investigation. It turned out that Fu was behind the letter. Xi was afraid that if those police officers quit, the gangsters in Beijing might then be out of control, so, in the end, he yielded. The government let those police officers go.

The second case was reported by a wealthy businessman, Xu Chongyang from Wuhan, Hubei Province. He wrote an 18,000-word letter on how the officials stole his assets worth over 100 million yuan (US $16 million). His letter also revealed that Fu was involved in Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai’s anti-Xi work.

In Xu’s account, the Beijing police officers said to him during an interrogation, “You mailed a letter to Xi Jinping’s cousin, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Hu Jintao, and to Xi Jinping. Do you know, Hu Jintao is just a fool? If our boss Fu gave us an order, we could kill him right away. Xi Jinping’s cousin was also under our monitoring.” (Editor’s Note: Hu Jintao was the General Secretary of the CCP at that time, but he did not have full power. Former CCP head Jiang Zemin, though retired, held more power via his followers including Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai.)

During the same interrogation, a staff member pointed to another person, “See him? He is the younger brother of Fu Zhenghua. Don’t say we monitor you, we even dare to monitor Wang Qishan and Xi Jinping. We asked you to stop (Xi’s) car but you didn’t do it. We want to announce to the outside world that it was Xi who ordered us to arrest you and to kill you. (We will) ruin him!”

Source: Epoch Times, October 2, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/10/2/n13276888.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Real Estate Company Huaxia Xingfu Offered Debt Restructure Plan

China’s real estate companies are fighting for their survival. While the world’s focus was on how the Evergrande Group (恒大集团) will resolve its debt problem, another real estate company, Huaxia Xingfu (华夏幸福), became the first company to offer a debt restructuring plan.

Huaxia Xingfu has debts valued at 219 billion yuan (US$34 billion). On September 30, it held a conference with financial institute debt holders. After the meeting, it announced a plan to pay off or defer its debts. The announcement included the following:

  1. Sell high-quality assets to recoup about 75 billion yuan in cash (Editor’s note: This action is not a direct debt payment; all the items below are.)
  2. Sell assets, which will deal with associated debts of 50 billion yuan.
  3. Extend or settle high-priority financial debts of about 35.2 billion yuan.
  4. Pay back debts of 57 billion yuan with cash.
  5. Set up a trust with the company’s own property holdings to offset 22 billion yuan.
  6. For the remaining 55 billion yuan in debt, the company will extend, reduce interest rates, and gradually settle them through subsequent business development.

Though Huaxia Xingfu claimed that it will not run away from any debt, a senior debt restructure expert believes that the loss to the debt holders will be inevitable and the loss could be huge.

For the first item, he estimated that Huaxia Xingfu may have to sell assets worth 150 to 250 billion yuan to get back 75 billion cash (court auctions usually result in sales at 30  to 50 percent of the original values). Huaxia Xingfu will use its properties for the second item and the debt holders may recover 50 to 70 percent of their money. The third item might refer to loans not secured by properties, which on average will result in a recovery rate of 10 to 30 percent. The debt holder may get 10 to 20 percent back from the fourth item. The fifth item may have a 60 to 80 percent loan recovery. The recovery rate on the last item, the sixth, may be just 5 to 10 percent.

Source: Sina, October 1, 2021
https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-10-01/doc-iktzqtyt9175683.shtmlto

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources