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Briefings - 156. page

Beijing Planned to Build Naval Base in Solomon Islands in As Early As 2020

Recently Australia and New Zealand expressed security concerns over Communist China’s working with the Solomon Islands government on treaties having to do with economic development, police training, and a military base (see Chinascope briefing: China and the Solomon Islands Deepen their Police and Military Ties.

Sky News Australia obtained a letter from a large state-owned enterprise in China. It showed that Beijing planned to build a naval base in the Solomon Islands. It was dated back as early as 2020. The letter, dated September 29, 2020, was from China’s Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) International (AVIC-INTL) to former Governor of Isabel Province Leslie Kikolo. The first paragraph of the letter read:

“We, AVIC-INTL PROJECT ENGINEERING COMPANY, in partnership with CHINA SAM ENTERPRISE GROUP LTD, present this letter to demonstrate our intention to study the opportunity to develop naval and infrastructure projects on leased land for the People’s Liberation Army Navy in Isabel Province with exclusive right for 75 years.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, April 7, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/paper-04072022072039.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

Emerging Drug Crisis in Shanghai due to COVID-19 Lockdown

In addition to the difficulty of buying groceries during the Shanghai lockdown, people are facing a major problem in obtaining medication. According to the mainland Chinese media Caixin.com, after Shanghai was locked down for many days, the demand for medicine in the sealed zone increased. Patients who cannot  get their medicine in a timely manner are facing a drug crisis.

Wu Jinglei, director of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said that, for medications for common and chronic diseases, the community volunteers would help pick up the medication on the patients behalf from the local community health service centers. However, many people are still not able to get their medication.

According to the government’s arrangement, patients would submit their medication information and health insurance cards to the community committee, which is China’s grassroots level government body in urban areas. The community committee would then aggregate the information and go to the hospital for drug dispensing. However, many of the steps may encounter difficulties and render the process unsuccessful. The difficulties include the quota restriction for the community committee, lack of local couriers for delivery, the unavailability of medication at the hospital, and the long waiting time for dispensing.

Weibo, the Chinese microblogging platform, is flooded with Shanghainese seeking help. One poster’s family member was diagnosed with tuberculosis in December 2021 and was once hospitalized. However, because of the epidemic control, he was unable to go out to refill the prescriptions and was refused help from the local community committee. Another netizen said that an elderly family member has years of coronary heart disease. As the medication is not available from nearby pharmacies, the community committee tried and failed to get the drugs.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), April 12, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202204120170.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Taiwan Government Issues Wartime Survival Handbook

On April 12, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense released a National Defense Handbook, a wartime survival manual that provides the necessary information in the event of an impending war or other disasters. The move highlights Taiwan’s determination to improve its defense capabilities against the backdrop of continued tensions across the Taiwan Strait and growing voices inside mainland China calling for an armed attack on the island.

Liu Tai-yi, an official of the ministry’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency, said that the Handbook follows the practices of Sweden, Japan and other countries. It includes sections such as “Emergency Response QR Code,” “Air Raid Alert and Fire Evacuation,” “Building Collapse and Fire Response,” “Power Failure Response,” “Water Failure Response,”  “Medical Emergency,” “Shortage of Necessities Response,” “Disaster Prevention (War Preparedness) Materials and Rescue Preparation,” “Basic Knowledge of Survival,” “Emergency Reporting Line,” and “Reserve Military Mobilization Information.”

The handbook contains illustrations and references that suit people of different age groups. It also provides Q&A with the design of various wartime real-life scenarios, as well as the division of responsibilities of the central and local governments.

Source: Deutsche Welle (Chinese channel), April 12, 2022
https://p.dw.com/p/49pcD

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Inside Shanghai’s COVID Lockdown, Residents Resort to a Barter Economy

Shanghai, the financial center of China, is a city with a population of 25 million. Under the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown, people have found it hard to buy groceries. The barter economy is becoming the solution to the current food crisis in Shanghai.

Beef patties can be exchanged for rice, flour and oil. The price for half a bottle of rum is four egg tarts; green peppers, onions, ginger and garlic are the new currency because they won’t appear in the vegetable packets occasionally distributed by community officials. Coca-Cola is at the top of the  chain of food exchanges as it can be exchanged for anything.

The people in Shanghai  have conducted their sales through social media such as WeChat groups. Some have posted such comments as, “Who would have thought that the young people in Shanghai would have to barter to make a living.” “In 2022, thanks to the high level of governance by the municipal government, Shanghai as a financial center has degenerated into a barter economy.”

One Shanghai netizen offered to lend a cat for three oranges. The netizen said, “It’s a little hard to be alone at home, it’s much better to have a pet.”

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), April 12, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202204120227.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Mingpao: in March, Foreign Investors Cut a Record Volume of Their Holdings of Chinese Bonds

Mingpao, one of the primary Hong Kong newspapers, recently reported that, in March, foreign investors reduced their holdings of Chinese bonds by more than US$15 billion setting a record for the largest withdrawal from the world’s second-largest bond market in a single month. Market analysts expressed their belief that the possible factors for the sharp sell-off include concerns about the geopolitical risks of investing in China, broader economic uncertainty, and a weakening market yield advantage over U.S. bonds. Global investors also pulled more than US$7 billion from onshore Chinese stocks through deals with the Hong Kong market last month. Data showed that in March, foreign institutional investors reduced their holdings of Chinese inter-bank bonds for the second consecutive month with a scale of RMB 98.2 billion yuan (around US$15.4 billion), an increase of nearly 50 percent year-over-year. Among this volume, for the second month in a row, foreign institutional investors reduced their holdings of Chinese government bonds by RMB 51.8 billion yuan (around US$8.13 billion), the highest monthly outflow on record.

Source: Mingpao, April 8, 2022
https://bit.ly/38I7JA1

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Ninety Percent of South Koreans Gave Priority to the U.S.

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that, according to a survey titled, “New Government’s Economic and Foreign Security Policy Survey” that the National Economic Association of Korea released, 90 percent of South Koreans believe that the new government needs first to cooperate with the United States in the fields of the the economy, diplomacy and security. South Korea just completed its presidential election. As one of his initial activities after the election, President-elect Yoon Suk-Yeol has sent a coordination mission to the United States. In terms of South Korea-China relations, 84.9 percent of the respondents to the survey believed that even if there may be short-term difficulties, the new South Korean government should dare to speak out about the contradictions between the two countries. In the question set with a total score of 10 points on country favorability, the United States had the highest favorability score of 7 points, Japan had 3.7 points, and China had only 3.2 points. This latest poll tells us that the future of China-South Korea relations is not optimistic. Looking at the options for cooperation in the economic field, the poll showed only 4.3 percent favorability. Regarding “cooperation with North Korea, China, and Russia”, 68 percent agree “cooperation with the United States and Japan is necessary,” and 27.7 percent believe that “it is necessary to remain neutral.” Around 77.1 percent of the respondents support the new government’s policy of placing the US-Japan-Australia-India Security Dialogue (QUAD) at the top of its foreign policy and 69 percent support the phased participation of South Korea in QUAD.

Source: NetEase, April 4, 2022
https://c.m.163.com/news/a/H44QHFFA0534V2AI.html?spss=backflow-index-hotlist

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: Experts Warn against NATO’s Globalization

Global Times (a newspaper under the CCP) recently reported that, for the first time, NATO’s foreign minister’s meeting invited Japan and South Korea. Experts reminded people to be vigilant regarding NATO’s globalization. NATO’s frantic eastward expansion is considered the “bane” of the Ukraine crisis. Now, NATO seems to have China on its mind. At a news conference, NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said  that NATO’s foreign ministers will discuss NATO’s new strategic vision, which will, for the first time, “take into account China’s growing influence and coercive policies on the global stage.” According to the schedule that NATO released, NATO foreign ministers will hold talks with the foreign ministers of a series of “global partners,” including four Asia-Pacific countries: Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. Nikkei Asia reported that this is the first time for a Japanese foreign minister to attend the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting. The same is true for the foreign minister of South Korea. The foreign ministers of four non-NATO countries in Europe, namely Ukraine, Sweden, Finland and Georgia, were also invited to attend the meeting. Experts expressed the belief that NATO is a geopolitical weapon and tool of the United States. They say its development goal is very clear. It is to build a global security system based on the interests and values of the United States and the West. In other words, NATO’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis is only a transitional process. Its deeper and long-term goal is China.

Source: Global Times, April 7, 2022
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/47VCIBCbst5

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

People’s Daily: Who Is Intentionally Perpetuating the (Russian-Ukraine) Conflict?

China’s propaganda machine People’s Daily published a commentary on the Russian-Ukraine war under the title, “Who Is Intentionally Perpetuating the Conflict?” The author’s name is Zhong Sheng. This is a pen name that sounds like “The voice of China.”

The article states, “The Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out and the stock prices of U.S. military industry companies rose sharply. Who is making a fortune from this war? Who is intentionally perpetuating the conflict? It is a self-explanatory fact.”

The commentary continued, “The Ukrainian crisis has put more pressure on the already burdened world economy. However, according to a former U.S. Department of Defense official, in Washington, many lobbying companies, military enterprises and people in the Capitol are quietly popping champagne to celebrate. The U.S. stock market data showed that, from February 24 to March 28, Lockheed Martin shares rose more than 13 percent, Northrop Grumman rose more than 13.4 percent, and General Dynamics rose more than 10 percent. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out and the stock prices of U.S. military industry companies rose sharply. Who is making a fortune from the war? Who is intentionally perpetuating the conflict? The answer is self-explanatory.”

“Provoking the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and profiting from it is the desired wish of the U.S. military-industrial complex. It influences U.S. foreign policy through interest groups. It constantly challenges Russia’s bottom line. By exaggerating the “military threat from Russia.” It sells security anxiety and exaggerates the need for European countries to increase defense spending significantly and to strengthen “military deterrence.”

The article concluded, “The United States has long regarded itself as a ‘beacon of democracy.’ In recent years it has tried to exaggerate the narrative of ‘democracy against authoritarianism.’ However, a strong contrast between the lack of U.S. domestic anti-epidemic funding and the huge profits that the military industry makes, as well as the U.S. history of creating wars and conflicts all over the world, have eroded the democracy and human rights appearance it has so promoted with holes and scars everywhere. The United States, which has such  interest groups as the military-industrial complex, is a hegemonic chariot corrupted by money. What it brings to the world and its ordinary people is only turmoil and harm.”

Source: People’s Daily, April 2, 2022
http://world.people.c.om.cn/Tn1/V2022/0402/c1002-32390419.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics