NNL – Page 82 – Chinascope

U.S.-China Relations: Huanqiu’s Editorial on the U.S.-Taiwan Connection

Huanqiu published an editorial regarding two developments in U.S.-Taiwan relations. The first was a report that the U.S. is considering Taiwan’s proposal to rename Taiwan’s representative office in Washington from the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” to the “Taiwan Representative Office.” The second development was that senior U.S. officials had an in-person meeting with the Taiwan Foreign Minister in Annapolis, MD, which is a one hour drive away from Washington, DC.

Huanqiu’s editorial said,

“The U.S. side is well aware that this is not a trivial matter, and they are now in the stage of releasing information and testing the reaction of mainland China.

What is there to test? They want to push the matter to the tipping point of a showdown. Mainland China has no choice but to meet the challenge and prepare for a showdown with them.

If the U.S. changes the name of the Taiwan Representative Office, the mainland’s diplomatic response will not be lower than our response to Lithuania at all. It can fully expected that China will recall its Ambassador from the U.S.

Having only a diplomatic response is obviously not enough. If the U.S. and Taiwan rename Taiwan’s office, they have violated the red line of (China’s) Anti-Secession Law. Mainland China needs to take severe economic and military measures to combat the arrogance of the U.S. and Taiwan. The mainland should apply severe economic sanctions against Taiwan or even impose an economic blockade, depending on the situation.

Militarily, mainland warplanes should fly over the sky of the Taiwan island and include Taiwan’s airspace as part of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) cruising patrol. This is a step that mainland China must take sooner or later, and the office renaming will provide a sufficient reason for the mainland to assert its sovereignty over Taiwan. We expect that the Taiwanese military will dare not stop the PLA warplanes from flying over Taiwan. If they dare to open fire, let us deliver a decisive and devastating blow to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces without hesitation.

Actually, the Taiwan issue is a willpower contest. Since Beijing has declared that Taiwan is China’s core interest, we will act resolutely to guard this bottom line of our national interest and pay any price for it.

It seems that sooner or later, a big, earth-shaking storm will come to the Taiwan Strait. Even if the U.S. and Taiwan retreat their foot this time, their foot will cross the line the next time. Now we need to get ready to ‘break their legs’ in the Taiwan Strait at any time.”

Source: Huanqiu, September 12, 2021
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/44k3twGoFQh

Hot Topics | | September 15, 2021 | Defense/Military US-China Relations

Diplomacy: CCP’s Domestic Report on “Xi Jinping’s Talk with Biden”

China Central Television (CCTV) reported that Xi Jinping talked to Biden on September 10. It reported that Xi Jinping criticized the U.S. for bringing difficulties to the U.S.-China relationship and that Biden expressed that the U.S. is willing to bring the relationship back so it is on the ‘right track.’

“Xi pointed out that for a period of time, the U.S. policy towards China has brought serious difficulties to the Sino-U.S. relationship and that this does not meet the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries nor the common interests of the world. China and the United States are the largest developing country and the largest developed country, respectively. Whether China and the United States can handle their relations is critical to the future of the world, (and thus it) is the question of the century that both sides must answer well. If China and the U.S. cooperate, the two countries and the whole world will benefit; if China and the U.S. confront each other, then the two countries and the whole world will suffer. The relationship between China and the U.S. is not a multiple-choice question of whether it should be good, but rather a must-answer question on how to make it good.

“Biden said there is no reason for the two countries to get into conflict due to competition. He added that the U.S. has no intention of changing its ‘one-China’ policy. The U.S. is willing to engage in more frank exchanges and constructive dialogue with China, identify key and priority areas where the two sides can cooperate, avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations and accidental conflicts, and push the U.S.-China relations back to the right track.”

Source: CCTV, September 10, 2021
http://m.news.cctv.com/2021/09/10/ARTITj2vcOtfhgl4kNyB7T7d210910.shtml?prefer_safari=1&prefer_reader_view=1

Hot Topics | | September 12, 2021 | US-China Relations

EU Supports Lithuania Which Is under Beijing’s Sanction

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was angered when Lithuania let Taiwan set up the “Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania.” It was the first office in Europe to be called “Taiwanese.” In the past, all of them were called “Taipei.” Beijing recalled its Ambassador to Lithuania and requested Lithuania to do the same. On September 3, Lithuania’s Ambassador Diana Mickeviciene left Beijing after finishing her 21-day forced quarantine there. Diplomats from other European Union (EU) countries gathered to see her off and to express their support for Lithuania.

China Railway Container Corporation stopped railway shipping to Lithuania. Lithuanian exports of agricultural, forestry, and livestock products to China, as well as imports of raw materials and components from China, are all facing obstacles from Beijing.

On September 1, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee expressed its support for Lithuania in multiple ways: the Committee passed a bill to recommend that Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, should change the name of the “European Economic and Trade Office in Taipei” to the “EU Office in Taiwan.” The Committee also adopted the “EU-Taiwan Political Relations and Cooperation” report, calling for elevating EU-Taiwan “political relations.” It also passed a resolution to support and welcome Lithuania’s establishing the Taiwanese Representative Office and to condemn the CCP’s economic sanctions against Lithuania.

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, September 3, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/9/3/n13208170.htm
2. Epoch Times, September 7, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/9/7/n13217892.htm

Briefings | | September 11, 2021 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Pandemic – Many Learned of the COVID-19 Virus in China Weeks before the CCP’s Report

The Daily Mail, a British newspaper, reported that Ian Lipkin, one of the world’s top epidemiologists and a professor at Columbia University, said on numerous occasions that he learned about the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China on December 15, 2019. He repeated the date in a documentary film by the director Spike Lee. He also told Columbia University Medical Center that he first heard about the outbreak “in the middle of December 2019” from his friends at the China’s Center for Disease Control.

Beijing hid the outbreak news for quite a while. Dr. Li Wenliang revealed the information in a Wechat discussion group on December 27, after which the police admonished him. That was the first occurrence in which the Chinese talked about the virus.

The report also listed other sources that indicated the outbreak was earlier:

The academic in charge of collating official data told a Chinese health journal of a suspected fatality of a patient who fell ill in late September in 2019, followed by two more cases on November 14 and 21.

Connor Reed, a 25-year-old Briton teaching in Wuhan, said he fell ill on November 25. Two months later, a hospital confirmed that his debilitating sickness was the new coronavirus.

Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law in Washington, said he learned of the disease in mid-December, telling the Los Angeles Times he heard “from a friend in Wuhan that there is a novel coronavirus and it looks very serious.”

Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier told a documentary that he discussed the outbreak in the first week of December with his colleague Marion Koopmans, a member of the WHO inquiry team.

Source: Daily Mail, September 4, 2021
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9958207/Scientist-reveals-heard-Covid-Wuhan-TWO-WEEKS-Beijing-warned-world.html

Hot Topics | | September 9, 2021 | Social Stability

China Set up the Beijing Stock Exchange

On September 2, at the Global Trade in Services Summit of the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services , Xi Jinping gave a video speech and announced that China would set up its third national stock exchange: The Beijing Stock Exchange.

The exchange was then registered on September 3, with registered capital of 1 billion yuan (US $150 million) and a location on the Financial Street in Beijing. The official position is that while the Shanghai Stock Exchange focuses on established companies and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange focuses on high-tech companies, the Beijing Stock Exchange will serve the small companies.

China started a National Small and Medium Enterprise Stock Transfer System (NSMESTS) in 2013, to let investors trade different small companies. The system enlisted over 7,000 companies in three classifications: basic, innovative, and selective. The selective class is the elite class, with 66 companies and 3.8 billion yuan in trading volume – 65 percent of the total NSMESTS trading volume. China’s Securities and Futures Commission stated that the selective class companies will serve as the foundation for the Beijing Stock Exchange.

An Epoch Times report stated that though the majority of companies on the NSMESTS are privately owned, many of the elite companies (those in the selective class) have state money. One report indicated that out of what was then 52 selective class companies, 33 had state-owned investments among their top ten shareholders. So it is yet to be seen whether the Beijing Stock Exchange is to help raise money for the privately owned small companies or the state-invested small companies.

The article also suggested that Beijing’s current policy is to squeeze money out of its already-too-dangerous real estate bubble and channel it into other capital investments. The Beijing Stock Exchange serves as one option. Beijing wants to make this capital move before the U.S. ends its quantitative easing policy. Afterward, if the Federal Reserve increases the interest rate, money may flow back to the U.S.

Sources:
1. SINA, September 5, 2021
https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2021-09-05/doc-iktzqtyt4241201.shtml
2. Epoch Times, September 7, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/9/7/n13217782.htm

Briefings | | September 9, 2021 | Economy/Resources

Xi Jinping’s Speech at the Central Party School: Have a Fighting Spirit in the Current Situation

Xinhua reported that, on September 1, 2021, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Party School started its Fall Training Class for Young and Middle-Aged Cadres. Xi Jinping gave a speech at the opening ceremony.

Xi recommended that cadres have a fighting spirit in the current situation. He stressed that, at the current moment, the world’s unprecedented changes have been accelerating and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has arrived at a critical period. The risks and challenges that the CCP faces have increased significantly. It is impractical to dream of always living in a peaceful environment without taking on any struggles. (The CCP cadres) should be realistic, dare to fight, and not yield on any principle issues. Thus they can safeguard our national sovereignty, security, and development interests with unprecedented determination. Communists, at any time, should have the bones and courage not to believe in any spirits, not to be afraid of anything, and not to yield to anyone.

Xi also stressed that the party cadres must have high ideals and firm beliefs. These ideals and beliefs are from Marxism, Communism, and Socialism with China’s Characteristics. Having a firm belief is tightly linked to being loyal to the party.

Source: Xinhua, September 1, 2021
http://www.news.cn/politics/leaders/2021-09/01/c_1127818076.htm

Briefings | | September 2, 2021 | Government/Politics

All posts by NNL - 82. page

U.S.-China Relations: Huanqiu’s Editorial on the U.S.-Taiwan Connection

Diplomacy: CCP’s Domestic Report on “Xi Jinping’s Talk with Biden”

EU Supports Lithuania Which Is under Beijing’s Sanction

China Set up the Beijing Stock Exchange

Xi Jinping’s Speech at the Central Party School: Have a Fighting Spirit in the Current Situation

Articles

Topics