Skip to content

Briefings - 118. page

Chinese City Announced Stoppage of Public Transit Operations

An Internet picture showed a notice from the Public Transit Company at Mohe City, Heilongjiang Province, announcing it would stop its public transit operations due to heavy financial losses. The notice said that it had not been able to make payments on its bus purchase loans, employee salaries, and electric fees on charging poles. Usually public transit companies rely on government funding to subsidize their low fare. The financial problem showed the local government had a severe shortage of money.

After the announcement, the city government contacted the company and settled the issue. The public transit operation did not stop.

Source: Guancha, February 13, 2023
https://www.guancha.cn/economy/2023_02_13_679622.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

China’s Migrant Workers Return to Their Hometowns

China’s economic situation has continued to deteriorate. After the Chinese New Year, many migrant workers (peasants who go to work in the cities) came back to the cities. Surprisingly, they found that there were no jobs waiting for them. Even if there were jobs, the pay would have been too low. Thus many of them decided to return to their hometowns.

However, these migrant workers no longer have the traditional sense of peasants. They are used to an urban life and are not accustomed to farmland work anymore. The urban experiences gave them the knowledge and courage to defend their rights. Thus they could stand up when facing unfair treatment in the villages and potentially shake the CCP’s grassroots level control.

Source: Creaders.net, February 26, 2023
https://news.creaders.net/china/2023/02/26/2581647.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability

EU Parliament, Japan and Canada Banned Government Use of TikTok

Popular Hong Kong online media HK01 Network recently reported that, following the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament is expected to announce a ban on government use of TikTok. In addition to prohibiting Parliament employees from installing TikTok on their work smartphones, private devices having access to the Parliament’s emails and the Parliament’s networks are also included. The Parliament is worried about TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and that the Chinese government may use the app to collect personal data and other information. In Denmark, one of the EU member states, its parliament also strongly recommended that parliamentarians and employees delete TikTok.

According to major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN), almost at the same time, Japanese government spokesman and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroichi Matsuno stated at a press conference that, for network security reasons, government employees are prohibited from using TikTok and other social media services that require connection to external networks on mobile phones and other terminal devices that may be involved in processing confidential information. Also in the meantime, the Canadian government announced that the use of TikTok on government devices and equipment is prohibited, citing information security risks. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this could be the first step. With the government banning TikTok, many Canadians and businesses will reflect on their online security and may choose to do so too.

Sources:
(1) HK01, March 1, 2023
https://bit.ly/3kLq05A
(2) LTN, February 28, 2023
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/paper/1569473
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/4224212

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

China Times: Foxconn Plans $700 Million New Investment in India

Major Taiwanese newspaper China Times recently reported that top Apple supplier Foxconn, after setting up a foundry in India, developed recent plans to invest an additional US$700 million to build a new factory in India. The new production line is expected to be used to take over the iPhone production capacity transferred from Mainland China. Indian officials said that Apple wants to shift 25 percent of its iPhone production capacity to India due to concerns over the Chinese supply chain risks. The factory covers an area of about 1.2 square kilometers. In addition to the production of iPhones, the factory may also be used for electric vehicle parts. The new factory is expected to employ 100,000 workers. This investment is one of Foxconn’s largest single investments in India so far. In the future, China may face the risk of losing its status as the world’s largest producer of consumer electronics . Foxconn’s Zhengzhou (China) factory output dropped sharply due to the Chinese government Zero Covid lockdown at the end of last year, making Apple re-examine its supply chain in China. Foxconn’s investment in India may be a move to stay in line with Apple’s policies. Some reports indicated that the Apple iPhone 14 series 2022 production slipped by nearly 6 million units.

Source: China Times, March 3, 2023
https://www.chinatimes.com/cn/realtimenews/20230303005016-260409?chdtv

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

The U.S. Added More Chinese Tech Companies to the Entity List

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDQ: SINA) recently reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce has included an additional 28 Chinese companies and research institutions in the so-called Entity List on the grounds of national security and foreign policy interests. The Chinese companies added this time include Inspur Group (a Server hardware supplier), Loongson Technology (a leader in the CPU design field), 4Paradigm Technology (an artificial intelligence provider), BGI Research (genetic research), Suzhou Centec Communications (an Ethernet exchange chip designer), and a number of others. According to the regulations of the U.S. Department of Commerce, companies included in the Entity List must obtain authorization from the U.S. government to obtain U.S. products and technologies. Inspur Group, is a major player in China’s cloud computing, big data, hosting, and the artificial intelligence market. It depends heavily on Intel’s technology for its services. When contacted by reporters for comment, several companies said they were still assessing the situation and impact . A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson commented earlier that the United States has repeatedly generalized the concept of national security, abused export control measures, adopted discriminatory and unfair practices against companies from other countries, and politicized and weaponized economic, trade and technological issues.

Source: Sina, March 3, 2023
https://news.sina.cn/2023-03-03/detail-imyiqnky4786782.d.htmlW

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

China’s Development and Reform Commission Manages National Defense Mobilization

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), a macroeconomic management agency under the State Council, is managing the country’s defense mobilization efforts. Several Chinese provinces and cities have listed their defense mobilization offices under the NDRC’s management, including Shanghai and Fujian.

According to scholars, military operations require economic mobilization and resource dispatch, which is one of the main responsibilities of the NDRC. In addition to managing economic construction, the NDRC works with relevant authorities to formulate strategies to promote the coordinated development of economic and national defense construction and undertakes specific work related to the National Defense Mobilization Commission.

Chen Shimin, an associate professor of the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University, explained that national defense mobilization involves the overall economy, resource allocation, and scheduling. For example, in the event of a military operation, it is necessary to get manpower to the battlefield, which requires the coordination of the production of materials by the NDRC and other related operations.

China Defense News, the official outlet for the People’s Liberation Army, notes that the new round of national defense mobilization system reform is characterized by the establishment of national defense mobilization offices in a number of places and transferring the functions of coordination and management from the provincial military districts to the local governments. This change aims to address the situation of military organs doing everything and to organize and deploy resources in a better manner so as to form an overall joint force to deal with war or emergencies.

Overall, the management of national defense mobilization by the NDRC highlights the importance of coordination between economic and defense efforts in China. With the establishment of national defense mobilization offices in various places, the country can better prepare for potential emergencies and respond more effectively to military operations.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), February 28, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202302280193.aspx

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Global Times: European Commission Asked Staff to Uninstall TikTok

Global Times recently reported that, due to so-called data protection considerations, the European Commission has asked the agency’s staff to uninstall TikTok from work devices and personal devices using work applications. The Commission’s staff members were asked to delete TikTok no later than March 15. For those who do not comply by the deadline, work applications will no longer be available on the relevant device. This is the first time the agency has suspended its staff from using an app. A spokesman for the European Commission said it was the result of a “careful analysis,” but declined to disclose the information that led them to conclude that the app posed a significant cybersecurity and data risk to the Commission. The European Parliament also said that it was monitoring and evaluating all possible data breaches related to the app and would consider the European Commission’s assessment before making recommendations. A TikTok spokesperson expressed disappointment in this decision. For some time, the United States has been at the forefront of suppressing TikTok. Politicians in the U.S. frequently use “national security” as an excuse to request restrictions on the use of the app. In December last year, the United States banned the use of TikTok on all federal government devices. Although no EU government has followed the example of the United States, yet some countries, including the Netherlands, are evaluating whether to impose restrictions on the use of TikTok by government staff.

Source: Global Times, February 23, 2023
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/4BpFVNteESh

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

RTI: Zero-Covid Government PR Content Disappeared from Chinese Search Engine

Radio Taiwan International (RTI) recently reported that Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping set the tone at the Politburo Standing Committee held recently, when he pointed out, “China has achieved a decisive victory in the three-year fight against Covid-19, creating a miracle in the history of human civilization.” During the pandemic period, the Chinese government vigorously promoted slogans such as “Insist on the unshakable Zero-Covid policy.” However, some Chinese netizens discovered that, those pictures of the slogans have mysteriously and swiftly disappeared in Baidu search results. The official celebration of the success performed in the Standing Committee meeting kept silent about the “master policy” of Zero-Covid as well. If the Communist Party has achieved a miracle in fighting the pandemic, how could this miracle be achieved without the guidance of the master policy? The fact is that, Zero-Covid caused a huge humanitarian disaster in China, because its basic means are isolation, blockade, city closure, district closure, and even province closure. People also found that, the shelter hospitals and countless Covid testing stations that played an important role in creating these “miracles” were also instantly abandoned. Baidu is China’s largest search engine and Google is banned in China. Without political intervention or orders “from above,” do tech companies like Baidu have the guts to remove the traces of government’s master policy which led to a major success? What is the reason for clearing these government promotional images from China’s domestic Internet?

Source: RTI, February 20, 2023
https://www.rti.org.tw/news/view/id/2159664

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability