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Briefings - 191. page

China’s Leading AI Company Bypassed U.S. Restrictions

SenseTime is a prominent Chinese tech company and an industrial leader in artificial intelligence and facial recognition. In October 2019, the U.S. Commerce Department added SenseTime to its Entity List, which effectively prevents listed entities from obtaining many U.S. tech items. The Department states SenseTime was among a list of Chinese companies that were “implicated in human rights violations and abuses in China’s campaign targeting Uighurs and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.”

In 2020, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security made a subtle tweak to the designation. The company on the Entity List was changed from SenseTime generally to Beijing SenseTime, one of its subsidiaries. As a result, the firm says it can “continue to source” items as long as it doesn’t use its Beijing SenseTime subsidiary.

According to the company, the designation “has not had any material adverse impact on the [parent company’s] business.” It recently told this to potential investors.

Prior to the sanctions, SenseTime was widely referred to as “Beijing SenseTime” and most of the firm’s key patents and trademarks are still owned by Beijing SenseTime while Beijing has the most SenseTime workers listed on LinkedIn.

However, SenseTime’s current ownership chart shows Beijing SenseTime to be an isolated subsidiary. SenseTime’s website no longer lists Beijing SenseTime in its footer, but now lists Shanghai SenseTime.

In April 2019, the New York Times reported  that the company had provided facial recognition software to Chinese authorities who then used the software to monitor Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Source: IPVM, September 28, 2021
https://ipvm.com/reports/sensetime-sanctions
Axios, September 29, 2021
https://www.axios.com/chinese-tech-firm-sidesteps-sanctions-de43feaf-7df5-46ad-85bd-8a37ab468e2e.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Xinhua: China Started to Have 24-Hour Training Capabilities for Carrier Fighter Pilots

Xinhua recently reported that, according to the head of the Training Group of the Naval Aviation University, China has successfully completed the day-and-night carrier landing qualification certifications for carrier-based fighter pilots. The Chinese Navy also achieved multi-batch takeoffs and landings of carrier-based fighter jets. China has now started to have 24-hour full-time training capabilities for carrier-based fighter pilots. Since China’s second aircraft carrier completed its first maritime trial mission in April 2018, it has since trained carrier fighter pilots on a large scale. However, the training work faced “five challenges: a lack of instructors, a lack of teaching materials, a lack of supporting materials, a lack of standards and specifications, and a lack of experience. There was an urgent need for a complete, professional, large-scale, and standardized training system. In less than a year, the Naval Aviation University of China had its first group of carrier fighter pilots independently trained and they obtained the aircraft carrier flight qualification. Starting in 2019, China began to train carrier fighter pilots recruited directly from high schools, and the first group of pilots trained under this model became qualified in November 2020.

Source: Xinhua, October 2, 2021
http://m.news.cn/2021-10/02/c_1127926161.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

RFA Chinese: RTHK Issued New Editorial Policies to Staff

Radio Free Asia (RFA) Chinese Edition recently reported that the Hong Kong government-owned public broadcasting service Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) just released its hundred-page new editorial policies to its staff. These new rules include the following: Editors must consider Hong Kong to be a part of China; Taiwan should not be regarded as a country under any circumstance; and crimes should not be portrayed as a glorious heroic deed. The new policies are applicable to all employees in Hong Kong and Taiwan, including Type II service providers, contractors, and outsourced service providers. The new RTHK guidelines involve 13 editorial policies and guiding principles. The Guidelines also mentioned the HK National Security Law, stating that RTHK is responsible for fulfilling Hong Kong’s constitutional and legal responsibilities for safeguarding national security and must not provide a platform to encourage, instigate, promote, beautify, recognize or sympathize with anything that endangers national security. The document also indirectly accused some past RTHK shows of having “political satires” that portrayed the police maliciously. Ronson Chan, Chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, commented that these new guidelines have the purpose of controlling the middle and upper management of RTHK, so that some sensitive issues or information cannot be released.

Source: RFA Chinese, September 30, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/htm/hk-rthk-09302021081809.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Social Stability

Xi Jinping’s Latest Power Purge: Two Former Security and Justice Officers Ousted

Within a two day period, two high ranking officials in the public security sector in China were ousted. This move indicates Xi Jinping is continuing to purge his political opponents prior to the Chinese communist party’s 20th Congress in 2022. Xi has determined that, by 2022, he must completely secure the power of his leadership.

On October 2, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection issued a short statement that Fu Zhenghua, the former Minister of Justice, is being investigated. The Commission didn’t provide further details. Just two days earlier, on September 30, the Commission issued a separate notice announcing Sun Lijun, the former vice-minister of Public Security, would be prosecuted for fraud, being too politically ambitious, and damaging the party’s unity.

Between 2013 and 2018, both Fu and Sun held several official positions. One was the head of the 610 Office—an extralegal secret police force akin to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo, which has been implementing Beijing’s persecution policies against Chinese citizens who practice Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that involves meditation exercises and moral teachings.

In 2012, Xi Jinping began a relentless “anti-corruption campaign” to eliminate his political opponents. Since then, more than 100 “tigers and flies”— high- and low-ranking officials — have been purged for crimes of corruption such as bribery and embezzlement. There has been some speculation that, following the removal of Fu and Sun, another bigger “tiger” could be ousted next.

Source: Epoch Times, October 2, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/10/2/n13277204.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Electricity Prices Increase Following Recent Power Cuts

Since August, over 20 provinces in China have issued notices to limit electricity usage. This has caused blackouts in certain regions. The power plants are faced with increased electricity demand while there is a coal shortage and thus coal prices are higher. They are operating at a loss because the electricity price is set according to State Council guidelines.

Starting in July, over eight provinces have increased the price of electricity, but they are still within the 10 percent ceiling previously required by the State Council. Several provinces introduced peak demand pricing to normalize the usage. Currently the electricity price increase is aimed at business electricity consumption rather than at residential use.

On September 29, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice calling for increased coal production while enabling the coal power plants to set a price that is market driven and reflects the changes in demand and cost.

The central authorities said it is expected that this wave of price increases will continue to expand.

Source: Central News Agency, October 1, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202110010291.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Cost of Ocean Freight from China to U.S. Up Tenfold Due to Container Shortage

Because of a container shortage, the cost of ocean freight from China to the U.S. has soared tenfold since August and reached a record high.

The price of a 40-foot container from China to the U.S. used to cost between US$1,000 and US$2,000, but since August it has risen to a record US$20,000. COVID shutdowns in ports in certain cities in China and other countries as well as a shortage of drivers at the port are the main culprits. It has a domino effect on the downstream supply chain, particularly in September and October when most of the goods entering the North American and European markets are for the upcoming Christmas shopping season.

Even though Chinese container manufacturers have increased their capacity to build more containers, it will still take some time to ease the constraint. Therefore, the container shortage will last for a while.

Source: Epoch Times, September 28, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/9/28/n13265311.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Global Times Editorial: Mainland Military Aircraft Flying over Taiwan Is an Unmistakable declaration of China’s Sovereignty over Taiwan

China’s state-run media Global Times published an editorial stating that mainland China will have a showdown with Taiwan if the DPP authorities continue to make trouble colluding with the U.S. and Japan. Below is an excerpt from the article:

“The Taiwan issue continues to ferment. More than half of China’s diplomatic troubles are related to this issue. In the long run, maintaining the current form of peace in the Taiwan Strait means higher and higher costs for the mainland. The U.S.-Taiwan collusion and the Japan-Taiwan collusion can happen for numerous reasons, which will continue to consume the mainland’s diplomatic resources and energy.”

“In view of the fact that the DPP authorities (of Taiwan) are determined to work with the U.S. and Japan against the mainland and that the United States is also making more and more frequent strategic manipulations of the Taiwan issue, while the mainland only takes fundamental measures and launches a resolute fight, can this situation be stopped, the DPP authorities and their supporters completely suppressed, and the strategic initiative of the situation across the Taiwan Strait brought under firm control.”

“The PLA fighter planes flew over the island of Taiwan. This is a step we must take. That will constitute a fundamental warning to the DPP authorities and bring about the reconstruction of the situation across the Taiwan Strait. It will be a clear and unmistakable declaration of China’s sovereignty over Taiwan, and will create unprecedented conditions for us to further implement this sovereignty.”

“The mainland military aircraft flying over the island of Taiwan must be backed by a large-scale and overwhelming military action. The military aircraft flying over is only part of the mainland’s strong determination to reset the Taiwan Strait structure. This is the showdown, giving the DPP authorities a choice between two alternatives: either accept that the mainland aircraft are to cruise through Taiwan, and step back its extreme anti-mainland path of colluding with the United States and Japan, or provoke a war by firing against the mainland military aircraft and be destroyed and eliminated by the People’s Liberation Army.”

Source: Global Times, September 13, 2021
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/44kv8MlneoQ

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

A Young Man Who Fled to the U.S. Received a Threatening Call from His Village Chief in China

Ding Yiduo, a young man born in the 1980s in mainland China, fled to the United States and accepted an interview with the Epoch Times. Newspaper. After a year, He told his story about posting a message supporting “Hong Kong’s anti-extradition bill movement” on the WeChat group on the eve of the Chinese Communist Party’s Anniversary (October 1) in 2019. His act alarmed the local CCP public security agencies, incurring a series of acts of intimidation and compulsory requests. For example, he was summoned, interrogated, detained, forced to write guarantees, physically examined, had his blood drawn and more.

What he didn’t expect was that on September 27, when he was in the U.S., he received a threatening call from mainland China. “I was so scared at the moment because it was my first domestic call, and it was from our village chief. He told me, ‘The Ministry of Public Security of the Communist Party of China has listed you as a key surveillance target.’ When I finally settled down, I recorded our conversation, and he spoke for more than 8 minutes.”

“I’ll be on the road to death when I go back.” Ding Yiduo said. That was the main message of the village chief’s call to him. The village chief also emphasized, “What if the United States does not take you and sends you back to China? Did you think about the consequences the moment you landed (the United States)?”

At the end of the long-distance call, the village chief warned him that if he fails to handle the report (by the Epoch times) properly as soon as possible and erase the “negative” impact (on the CCP), he will be treated as a traitor and his name will be removed from the genealogy.

Source: Epoch Times, September 29, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/9/29/n13269831.htmt

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics