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China Launches Access Permission and Road Drive Pilot for Intelligent Internet-Connected Vehicles

Xinhua reported that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Transport recently released the “Basic Information on Access Permission and Road Drive Pilot for Intelligent Internet-Connected Vehicles.” They identified nine consortia composed of car manufacturers and users, including NIO and Chang‘an, which will conduct intelligent Internet-connected vehicle access and road drive pilots in seven cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The pilot products cover three major categories: passenger cars, buses, and trucks. This signifies a crucial step forward for the large-scale application of high-level intelligent driving in China.

China’s standard on “Automated Driving Classification for Automobiles” divides autonomous driving into six levels from L0 to L5, corresponding to “emergency assistance, partial driving assistance, combined driving assistance, conditional automated driving, high-level automated driving, and fully automated driving.”

High-level intelligent driving has become the focus of competition among major car companies. Previously, multiple car brands, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, IM Motors, Chang’an, Arcfox, Deep Blue, Avita, Seres, and BYD, announced they had obtained L3 autonomous driving test licenses. As of the end of April 2024, China has opened over 29,000 kilometers of intelligent connected vehicle test roads, issued more than 6,800 test and demonstration licenses, and the total road test mileage has exceeded 88 million kilometers.

The new pilot program is the next step, after the vehicle research and testing, to promote mass-produced intelligent models on road drive.

Source: Xinhua, June 25, 2024 http://www.news.cn/tech/20240625/d21252e6ec504019b5a65472192e578f/c.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

CCP Muted Li Qiang’s Statement That China’s Economy Cannot Take Strong Medicine

On June 25, Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered a speech at the 2024 World Economic Forum regarding China’s economy. According to Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao, Li Qiang emphasized the importance of addressing both immediate and fundamental issues in China’s economy, drawing an analogy from traditional Chinese medicine. He likened the Chinese economy to a patient recovering from a serious illness, stating that “according to Chinese medicine theory, this is not the time to apply strong medicine; instead, precise and gradual treatment is needed to slowly restore the foundation.”

Chinese state media, including Xinhua News Agency, only quoted Li’s phrase “restore the foundation” without mentioning the critical point about not “applying strong medicine.” The economic platform Gelonghui briefly published a report titled “Li Qiang: The Chinese Economy Cannot Apply Strong Medicine Now,” but it was quickly deleted.

Commentators noted that Li Qiang’s remarks indirectly acknowledged that the Chinese economy is in a severe and desperate condition and that Beijing may not have the ability to fix it.

Source: VOA, June 28, 2024
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-s-censors-appear-to-delete-premier-s-strong-treatment-theory-20240628/7677019.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Two Incidents of Foreigners Being Stabbed in China Occurred in June

In June, two incidents of foreigners being stabbed in mainland China occurred. Chinese authorities claimed both were “isolated incidents,” but some analysts believe this is due to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fostering and encouraging anti-foreign sentiment among the public.

On June 10, four teachers from Cornell College in Iowa, USA, were stabbed by a 55-year-old local man named Cui while at Beishan Park in Jilin City, Jilin Province. The attacker has been arrested, and the four teachers have returned to the United States. On June 24, at a school bus station in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, a Japanese woman in her thirties and her son were stabbed by a 52-year-old unemployed man named Zhou while waiting for another child to return home from school. A Chinese woman, Hu Youping, who tried to stop the attack, was stabbed multiple times by the assailant and unfortunately died later.

At the time of the Suzhou incident, numerous anti-Japanese comments appeared online, with some even praising the assailant’s actions as patriotic. To preserve its international image, the CCP removed the anti-Japanese comments and shifted the media narrative from “Chinese person stabs Japanese mother and child” to “Chinese person bravely saves Japanese mother and child.”

Source:
1. Epoch Times, June 26, 2024
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/24/6/26/n14277745.htm
2. Radio Free Asia, June 28, 2024
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/hx-06282024045244.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics Social Stability

Foreign Assistant Professor Fired for Commenting on China’s Top Leader

Dr. Björn Alexander Düben, a German assistant professor at Jilin University in China, was dismissed and asked to leave the country within two weeks after an interview with Voice of America. His comments in the interview on China’s foreign policy, particularly regarding Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe. This lead to his sudden dismissal immediately after the interview. Düben, who holds advanced degrees from LSE and Oxford, has worked at the Jilin Univerity for 9 years. He was given the choice to resign or face disciplinary action. After resigning, he was told to leave China in two weeks (by May 30) and warned that he would be denied re-entry in the future. This incident highlights concerns about strict speech control and the arbitrary nature of legal contracts in China.

Source: VOA, June 28, 2024
https://www.voachinese.com/a/dr-d%C3%BCben-s-expulsion-for-engaging-with-foreign-media-06282024/7677656.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xi Jinping Warned CCP Members Not to Touch the “High Voltage Line”

CCTV published an article titled “The General Secretary Warns Party Cadres Not to Touch This ‘High Voltage Line’.” It quotes Xi Jinping from 2015 to 2024 to warn the Chinese Communist Party cadres to be loyal. On January 1, 2024, the newly revised ” Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the CCP Members” came into effect, outlining 37 “high voltage lines” across seven aspects for the Party organizations and members. On January 8, Xi stated the “Nine Musts,” which are also considered the “high voltage lines.” Observers have analyzed that the first three “musts,” which are to adhere to the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, to lead the great social revolution, and to follow the ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics of the new era, refer to absolutely safeguard Xi’s leadership and absolutely be loyalty to him.

Echoing the CCTV article, the South China Morning Post reported on June 16th that the Central Committee on Disciplinary Inspection issued a special report on June 12th, warning, “Do not openly speak ill of the Party on major issues,” and that “publicly expressing opinions that contradict the decisions of the Central Committee is absolutely not allowed.” The report also warned that “irresponsible discussions” of the Party’s major policies, “disrupting thoughts,” publicly criticizing party unity, and obstructing policy implementation will be “severely dealt with.”

Radio France International commented that these articles showed the politicla atmosphere in China is tense as the CCP’s Third Plenary Session of the 20th National Congress approaches.

Source:
1. Radio France International, June 17, 2024
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20240617-勿碰高压线-习近平在警告谁
2. CCTV, June 17, 2024
https://news.cctv.com/2024/06/17/ARTICfAGfDCWB1wWgoN7oCyI240422.shtml

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics

Guangming Daily: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Security Governance

Guangming Daily published an article on Artificial intelligence (AI)’s impact on governance over national culture and security. It stated that AI exhibits a series of prominent characteristics, such as deep learning, cross-domain integration, human-machine collaboration, open collective intelligence, and autonomous control. These features are having a profound impact on national cultural security and governance systems.

The data-driven intelligent analysis capability makes AI an effective tool for in-depth analysis and mining of massive amounts of data, providing extensive data support for security governance. The latest generation of AI technology, by integrating diverse types of information and relying on big data models and powerful computing capabilities, can process and analyze data in real-time and quickly produce and publish results. This efficient and timely information processing greatly facilitates the convenience of cultural dissemination and the timeliness of security governance.

AI can also be used for real-time monitoring and risk identification of cultural security, effectively enhancing the foresight and precision of governance. By deploying advanced algorithms and machine learning models, AI systems can continuously collect information from the internet, social media, and other data sources, analyzing the trends and patterns of cultural dissemination. Statistics show that by the end of 2023, AI systems in China were able to monitor and analyze about 100,000 pieces of sensitive information related to cultural security every day, with approximately 80% of the information being processed in a timely manner.

Source: Guangming Daily, June 23, 2024
https://theory.gmw.cn/2024-06/23/content_37394566.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Information/Technology

China Held a Propaganda Campaign over International Media Reporters on Xinjiang

To shape the views of some international media reporters, Beijing organized a themed interview group, “Exploring the Core Area of the Silk Road Economic Belt,” to visit Xinjiang for interviews and filming. Nearly 20 media professionals from different countries participated, most of them visiting Xinjiang for the first time. During the nine-day trip, the group will visit cities such as Yining, Urumqi, and Kuqa to gain an in-depth understanding of Xinjiang’s “real situation in terms of high-quality development, ecological protection, cultural heritage, and opening up to the outside world.” Canadian journalist Aiden Jonah said, “My initial impression of Xinjiang came from negative reports in Western media. But as I gradually learned more, many of the accusations and lies in those reports fell apart. I always keep an open mind about Xinjiang and believe in seeing things with my own eyes.”

Source: China News Agency, June 20, 2024
https://www.xj.chinanews.com.cn/xinjiang/2024-06-20/detail-ihecnkzk2010641.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Discrepancies in China’s Trade Surplus Data with the U.S.

On June 20, the U.S. Treasury Department asked China to explain the discrepancy in its two sets of trade surplus data with the U.S.

Data reported by the Chinese customs office shows China’s trade surplus for 2023 being nearly $230 billion higher than the surplus reported by China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). In prior years (going back to 2000), the average discrepancy between these two sources of trade surplus data was only $7 billion. The U.S. Treasury Department called on China to provide further quantitative evidence clarifying the issue.

One commentator on China affairs gave three possible explanations for the large discrepancy in 2023 trade surplus data:

  1. The Chinese customs office may have exaggerated the country’s export trade figures.
  2. A large number of export enterprises may have, in preparation for potential exit from China, kept their dollars overseas instead of taking them back to China (i.e. instead of converting them to RMB). This could have resulted in those businesses’ trade numbers being counted by the customs but not by SAFE.
  3. There may be an acceleration in people withdrawing money to flee China.

Sources:
1. Radio France Internationale, June 21, 2024
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/美国/20240621-美财政部吁中国提高汇率透明度-并澄清贸易顺差数据出现巨额落差
2. Epoch Times, June 22, 2024
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/24/6/22/n14275135.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources US-China Relations