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WeChat Users outside China Are under Political Surveillance

Evidence shows that communications among users with WeChat accounts registered outside China are under political surveillance. Moreover, according to a Citizen Lab report published on May 7, 2020, they are also being used to train the algorithms WeChat uses to censor and monitor China-registered users.

WeChat is a communication application released by China’s Tencent in 2011.  It is used by more than 1 billion people worldwide, and ranks the third-largest in the world, after Whatsapp and Facebook.

As with all social media in China, WeChat actively censors on its platform, including around politically sensitive topics and discussions related to the coronavirus pandemic. The censorship of users appears to be for accounts registered to mainland China’s phone numbers.

WeChat is required by law to share user data with the State government. Tests at the Citizen Lab showed that, for the first time, communications among non-mainland-China users are subject to surveillance.

Further, it has been demonstrated that such communications are also being used to train the algorithms WeChat uses to censor and monitor China-registered users. After documents and images containing politically sensitive content were sent solely among non-China-registered accounts, it was observed that, shortly thereafter, those files were censored for China-registered users.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 7, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/jt-05072020101223.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Information/Technology

China’s Central Bank Testing Digital Currency

Guangzhou Daily reported that China’s central bank, The People’s Bank of China, is testing the use of digital currency in the accounts of the Bank of Agriculture through transportation subsidies.

According to the central bank’s Digital Currency Research Institute, the digital renminbi is being used in pilot tests in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an, Chengdu, and the future Winter Olympics site.  Because these are internal, closed pilot tests, such testing does not mean that the digital RMB is officially issued or will affect commercial operations. Nor will it affect the RMB issuance and circulation system, the financial market, and the social economy beyond the testing environment.

The central bank has been studying official digital currency since 2014. At the end of 2017, with the approval of China’s State Council, the central bank organized some commercial banks and relevant institutions to research and develop a digital RMB system jointly.

It is expected that the central bank will follow a gradual promotion for its digital currency, starting with the four major banks’ payroll payment clients and public service clients, and then gradually expand to online companies and operators.

Unlike Alipay and WeChat Pay, the functions and attributes of the central bank’s digital currency are similar to paper money, except that it is digital. Third-party Internet payments such as Alipay and WeChat Pay use commercial bank deposit currency settlements.

Source: Xinhua, April 20
http://www.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2020-04/20/c_1125878094.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

CCP Suspends Anti-America Propaganda on Wuhan Virus

On April 15, 2020, Minghui reported that, according to internal sources, the CCP Central Propaganda Department recently issued an “emergency notice” to media in mainland China to suspend the official CCP propaganda on the Wuhan virus immediately. Analysts interpret the notice as an indication that the CCP Central Propaganda Department is not willing to assume responsibility for the previous CCP propaganda guidelines.  It is believed that the notice was due to the claims filed against China and to the increased advocacy from the international community to hold China accountable for the cover-up of the pandemic.

According to the emergency notice, “brakes must be applied immediately” on all propaganda that advertises how remarkable the Chinese anti-pandemic effort is and how “inferior” the anti-pandemic efforts in foreign countries are. The notice also stated that this was “a painful decision made by its senior leadership based on the current situation.”

Analysts believe that the CCP Central Propaganda Department is attempting to avoid being a scapegoat in the future. Some experts believe that this may be the result of an internal rift and that the CCP will not change.

Since the outbreak of the Wuhan virus in January this year, the CCP has engaged in a major propaganda campaign setting off another anti-America wave, while doing everything it could possibly do to cover up that which allowed the coronavirus to become a global pandemic.

Source: Minghui, April 15, 2020
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2020/4/15/ -403871.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Internet Censorship at Local Levels

Based on internal documents Epoch Times obtained from Fangzheng County, Heilongjiang Province, it reported that the local Political and Legal Affairs Commissions of the CCP are actively involved in Internet censorship.

These documents show that, in 2019, the CCP Political and Legal Affairs Commission at Fangzheng County formally established a cyber force for Internet censorship which is composed of a “professional team” and a “local team.” The the County Public Security Bureau leads the professional team and is composed of relevant staff from the County Public Security Bureaus Office of Procuratorates, County Courts, and the County Judicial Bureau, all under the CCP Political and Legal Commission of Fangzheng County. The “local team” is composed of relevant staff from the townships.

The cyber force receives regular training based on the online hot topics, to ensure they master the language of Internet users and the CCP’s official language. On major online topics, the cyber force engages in “positive propaganda and guides public opinion” on WeChat, Weibo, news posts, and forums. For controversial topics, the members of the cyber force collaboratively repost CCP official messages onto their respective blogs, forums, and community platforms, in order to further spread the CCP propaganda on the controversy.

According to the internal documents, the County’s CCP Political and Legal Commission will incentivize members of the cyber force with “rewards or encouragement of both a material and political nature.”

Source: Epoch Times, April 9, 2020

https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/4/7/n12010892.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chinese Scholar: Recession Is Inevitable

Xu Xiaonian, a professor of economics and finance at the China Europe International Business School, said that as long as the pandemic in Europe and America is not over, Chinese export companies will have no orders, and a recession is inevitable. Xu made the remarks at the CEIBS Alumni Association on the evening of March 26 when discussing the outlook for the recent pandemic and the Chinese economy.

Xu Xiaonian said in his speech that the current rate of resumption of work is actually meaningless. “Where are the orders?”  He asked.

Xu believes that many of the online discussions about an international pandemic are “foolish.” As long as the pandemic in Europe and America is not over, China has no orders; workers have no wages and there is no consumption. “We are not able to finish the rest of the course by ourselves. We have to accompany the whole world to finish the entire journey. Only when the world economy returns to normal can China be normal. ”

“We can’t close the door and play by ourselves. We are not only short of food and oil, but we are also short of markets; we are short of orders. Our per capita GDP is one-fifth of that of the United States and one-fourth that of Europe. The domestic purchasing power cannot support our enormous manufacturing capacity.”

He also said, “We still lack raw materials, especially the technology-intensive basic raw materials, which must be imported from South Korea, Japan and Germany. We lack technology, and technology cannot be developed rapidly when we close the door.”

Source: Sina, March 30, 2020

https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/2662090253/9eac460d01900lzr0?cre=tianyi&mod=pcpager_fintoutiao&loc=18&r=9&rfunc=100&tj=none&tr=9

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Chinese Foreign Minister: The United States is Threatening China

On February 14, 2020, in an interview with Reuters in Berlin, Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister since March 2013 and State Councilor since March 2018, responded to a questions about whether China poses a threat to the United States. Wang stated that the U.S. is actually threatening other countries.

Xinhua reported Wang’s remarks as follows:

“Wang Yi said that China is willing to follow the five principles of peaceful coexistence with the United States and establish and develop long-term stable friendly cooperative relations. This is China’s established policy, but the United States, on the contrary, is constantly putting pressure on China and frequently blaming and discrediting China. The facts are very clear as to who is threatening whom. For example, the National People’s Congress of China has never passed any resolution involving the domestic affairs of the United States. Nevertheless, the U.S. Congress has reviewed and passed, one after another, a number of resolutions that grossly interfere with China’s domestic affairs. Chinese warships and aircraft have never shown their strength around the United States. It is precisely the United States that has continuously dispatched warships and aircraft to China’s gate to show off its strength. China has never sanctioned any U.S. company and always welcomes U.S. companies to invest in China. It provides them with a good business environment, but the United States has done everything possible to impose so-called unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction on Chinese companies to restrict China’s rights to develop and grow. Therefore, when it comes to threats, it is not China that threatens the United States. It is exactly that the United States is threatening China. The problem to be solved is also how to eliminate this threat from the United States.

Source: Xinhua, February 15, 2020
http://www.xinhuanet.com/2020-02/15/c_1125578363.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Coronavirus Outbreak Hits Real Estate Market Hard

Sina.com reported that real estate in China has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. Expectations that people would buy real estate when returning home for the Chinese New Year did not materialize. Statistics show a difference for the period from late January to early February when compared to the same period in previous years. The new home transaction volume of most real estate developers dropped 95 percent and the market has basically fallen to the freezing point.

As a result of the coronavirus outbreak as well as the Chinese New year, in 18 major metropolitan arias, transactions for existing houses fell 38 percent compared to the previous month.

The housing market also suffered from the suspension of construction and sales. On January 26, the China Real Estate Industry Association called for “real estate development enterprises to suspend sales activities temporarily at sales offices and to resume after the epidemic is over.”

Experts believe that this will undoubtedly increase the cash flow pressure on small and medium-sized real estate companies and that some may not receive any investments.

The suspension of construction will inevitably have a direct negative impact on investments inreal estate developments. Due to the quarantine measures, residents’ enthusiasm for house purchases has dropped significantly. Sales are expected to stagnate and short-term inventory will increase. Until the outbreak is fully under control, real estate developments and sales will continue to be hit hard and the recovery will be subject to how quickly the outbreak is controlled.

Source: Sina.com, February 5, 2020
http://news.dichan.sina.com.cn/2020/02/05/1270453.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

New College Admissions Pilot Focuses on Advanced Technology

The Ministry of Education issued a directive on January 15, 2020, saying that China has launched a new college admissions pilot program involving 36 top universities. The goal is to produce talent in areas critical to China’s national defense. Analysts view it as China’s attempt to alleviate the impact of the United States’ restrictions on China’s access to the West’s advanced technology.

On January 15, China’s Ministry of Education released the “Opinion on the Pilot Work of Basic Subject Enrollment Reform in Some Universities,” which is also called the “Strong Foundation Plan.” The ministry said that the pilot program aims to enroll students who can help alleviate the talent shortages in high-end chips and software, artificial intelligence technology, new materials, advanced manufacturing, and areas critical to national security,.

According to the Opinion on the pilot, those admitted will be trained in special programs and receive preferential treatment in terms of graduate studies, doctor’s degrees, overseas training, and scholarships. Once admitted into the pilot program, students cannot change their majors.

High school graduates in China normally need to take the national college entrance examination to be admitted to a university (gaokao). In the 2003 gaokao reform, 90 universities were allowed to use independent enrollment as an alternative admissions method. The pilot program eliminates independent enrollment.

Source: China’s Ministry of Education, January 15, 2020
http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A15/moe_776/s3258/202001/t20200115_415589.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics