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FCC Proposes Rules to Require Disclosure of Programs that Foreign Government Sponsor

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed to adopt a new rule that will require that, if a foreign government sponsors any content in a TV or radio station, the station must make a public disclosure.

The decision was announced on Monday October 26. The Commission’s statement said, “the American people deserve to know when a foreign government has paid for programming, or furnished it for free, so that viewers and listeners can better evaluate the value and accuracy of such programming.”

The new rule “requires a specific disclosure at the time of broadcast if a foreign governmental entity has paid a radio or television station, directly or indirectly, to air material, or if such an entity has provided the programming to the station free of charge as an inducement to broadcast the material.” While the Commission’s current rules require a sponsorship identification when a station has been compensated for airing particular material, the rules require disclosure of the sponsor’s name and usually do not require that a station determine whether the source of the programming is in fact a foreign government or mandate that the connection to a foreign government is disclosed to the public at the time of broadcast.

Jessica Rosenworcel, an FCC commissioner, said in her written statement, “Right now, we are awash in reports that foreign actors are attempting to influence our political process and democratic elections in the United States. We also know that foreign entities are purchasing time on broadcast stations in markets across the country, including Russian government-sponsored programming right here in our nation’s capital. But it’s mindboggling that the FCC has yet to update its policies … to ensure that the public knows when foreign actors who may wish to do us harm are paying to access our airwaves and influence our citizens.”

In September, the FCC’s chair Ajit Pai proposed rules to ensure transparency of foreign government sponsored broadcast content. He said, “with some station content coming from the likes of China and Russia, it is time to update our rules and shed more sunlight on these practices.”

“Today we begin to fix this situation. We propose to adopt specific disclosure requirements for broadcast programming that is paid for or provided by a foreign government or its representative. This is about basic transparency and it frankly shouldn’t have taken us so long.” said Rosenworcel.

Source: FCC, October 26, 2020
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-seeks-require-id-foreign-government-sponsored-programming

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China to Discipline Mobile Browsers

On October 26, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s top Internet censorship authority, made an announcement on its Wechat account that a campaign is underway to shake up the mobile browsers, that is, the web browsers designed for use on mobile phones. The first batch of targets includes eight popular mobile browsers in mainland China: UC, QQ, Huawei, 360, Sogou, Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO.

The announcement vowed to focus on three prominent problems. “The first is about online news and information that the ‘self-media’ illegally edited and published. The second is sensational headlines that feature malicious exaggeration, smear campaigns, and publicity stunts. The third is harmful information that violates ‘socialist core values.’”

Between October 27 and November 9, those who operate the browsers are required to “conduct in-depth self-inspection and rectification according to the list of issues and submit a rectification report and standard of contents to the cybersecurity authorities by 5:00 pm November 9.”

The cybersecurity regulators will inspect and reevaluate the self-inspections by the operators. For the mobile browsers that have outstanding problems after the inspection, there will be punishment as serious as the suspension of business.

Source: Cyberspace Administration of China, October 26, 2020
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2020-10/26/c_1605276242092309.htm

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

LTN: China Was Pleased with Pope’s Refusal to See Pompeo

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that, according to Italy’s largest newspaper, Corriere della Sera, the Vatican is renewing its two-year agreement with the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops. Both sides refused to comment on this matter. The content of the agreement remains secret. The Vatican’s internal evaluations did not really conclude that this agreement was a good one. However, the attitude was, a bad agreement is better than nothing. The Vatican has been keeping largely silent on China’s human rights violations in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and in the religious communities in China. Some said there is a possibility that Vatican and China may establish a formal relationship in two years. Sources in the Vatican also revealed that China was pleased with the fact that the Pope refused to see U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Source: LTN, October 19, 2020
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3326104

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

U.S. Communication Giants Establish 6G Alliance Bypassing 5G

Well-known Chinese news site Tencent News recently reported that it is widely acknowledged that the United States is behind in the global 5G competition and is not able to dominate the technological standards. Those in the U.S. have come up with a new strategy. They are skipping 5G and going straight to 6G. The top three American communications companies, together with Qualcomm, Microsoft, Samsung and Nokia have initiated a new 6G alliance to develop the next generation telecommunications technology. The intent of the alliance is to maintain U.S. leadership in the field. Apparently, Chinese companies like Huawei are excluded from the club. It is unclear at this point what the new 6G alliance will do and what exactly its goals will be. Professor Lu Tinjie, Standing Director of the International Telecommunication Union, said space Internet is not the true direction of the future. Instead, people should focus on computing-everywhere. The Americans can’t just bypass things.

Source: Tencent News, October 19, 2020
https://xw.qq.com/cmsid/20201019A0FS2B00

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

HKET: Huawei Asked Chinese Government to Block Nvidia-ARM Merger

Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET), the leading financial daily in Hong Kong, recently reported that anonymous sources revealed that Huawei is leading several large Chinese technology companies in lobbying the Chinese government to block Nvidia’s acquisition of ARM. Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is one of the world’s largest chip makers headquartered in Silicon Valley. ARM is the British company whose chip architecture is the basis for nearly all commercial mobile CPUs (Central Processing Units). Along with other Chinese smart device manufacturers, ARM has also licensed Huawei’s mobile CPU chip design. If Nvidia, an American chip maker, acquires ARM, the U.S. government may require Nvidia to cut off supplying (and licensing) to its Chinese customers. Around 20 percent of ARM’s income comes from the Chinese market and around 95 percent (over 200 companies) of Chinese SoC (system on a chip) providers are based on ARM architecture. Huawei is urging the Chinese government to block this merger under the Chinese antitrust laws.

Source: HKET, October 22, 2020
https://bit.ly/2HzebMd

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Internal Log Shows How Authorities in Zhanjiang City Deal with over 100 Mass Incidents Each Year

The Epoch Times obtained a large number of internal documents which contain the weekly logs of social incidents that authorities in Zhanjiang city of Guangdong province track. The city also has direct orders that the city level officials provided on how to monitor incidents and guide public opinion. Zhanjiang city is a city with a population of 7.36 million in Guangdong province. According to the log, in the year and a half from January 2, 2019 to June 28, 2020, there were a total of 293 incidents including 117 mass incidents and 176 petitions submitted when the petitioners went to the municipal government and Beijing to appeal.

Below is a partial list from the activity log:
On November 1, 2019, a group of teachers from Leizhou city demanded transparency on the pension plan from the local social security bureau. A note from the head of the publicity department stated that the cyberspace administration needs to monitor the online clicks and be prepared to respond.

On June 8, 2019, a student from Zhenjiang Nongken Experimental Middle School died after falling off of a building. Notes from the Deputy Mayor of Zhenjiang City said that public opinion should be monitored to ensure stability.

The week of February 25 – March 3, 2019 was the week when the Two Sessions were taking place in Beijing. Close to 30 petitioners went to Beijing. Notes from the party secretary of Zhanjiang stated, “Take this as a political task and fight it as a tough battle. Punish the key personnel who are involved.”

In the morning of September 13, 2019, over 60 villagers from Su village of the town of Changqi, Wuchuan gathered to protest against the government acquiring their land. Notes from the city mayor said, “Do well in stability control and keep the incident from escalating.”

On October 2, 2019, a student from the Guangdong Institute of Arts and Sciences was arrested for posting a video with footage that insulted CCP leaders. Notes from the authorities said, “Conduct a thorough investigation. Control the dissemination of videos immediately. Increase surveillance on the Internet.”

In the week of December 2, 2019, one resident was spreading a video on Wechat showing conflicts between the police and the civilians at the Huazhou Funeral Home, Maoming City. The resident was forced to close his Wechat account and sign a guarantee statement. Notes from Deputy Mayor of Zhanjiang city stated that the public security bureau was to continue to follow up and make daily updates.

In the week of Feb 10 – 16, 2020, one Netizen accessed COVID information from Voice of America and Radio Free Asia through a VPN and posted the information on twitter and Wechat. The Netizen was detained for seven days for “spreading” a rumor. Notes from a city official stated that a severe punishment should be imposed.

On March 11, 2020, over 70 store owners in the Yifu International Plaza, Xiashan District, asked the plaza management to waive their rental payment for two months because of the spread of COVID. Notes from a city official stated, “Assess the risk to prevent it from growing into to a mass petition.”

Source: Epoch Times, October 22, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/10/22/n12493565.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

RFA: Xi Jinping’s Warning to the Western World Meant to Ensure Domestic Stability

On Friday, October 23, Xi Jinping spoke at a meeting commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War [Editor’s note: The CCP calls the Korean War the war in which China resisted U.S. aggression and aided Korea (抗美援朝)]. Xi warned that “any bullying actions will come to a dead end.” He advised that if China’s national security, sovereignty, territory, and development interests are threatened, China will “take it head-on.” This is seen as the strongest political statement that the CCP has made in the past 40 years. Chinese Scholars believe that stabilizing internal affairs still remains as Xi Jinping’s first priority.

In his speech, Xi Jinping said that the Korean War shattered the myth of the invincibility of the U.S. military and demonstrated with solid facts that, no matter how powerful any country or military is, if one stands on the opposite side of the world’s development trend, bullies the weak and aggressively expands, one will definitely be crushed. He also said, “In today’s world, any unilateralism, protectionism, and extreme egoism will not work. Any extortion, blockade, or extreme pressure will not work. Any way of doing things on their own and acting on their own will not work. Any act of hegemony or bullying will never work at all. Not only will it not work at all, it will eventually be a dead end.” It is believed that Xi was referring to the U.S. in his speech. Xi Jinping also said, “Now that the Chinese people are mobilized, don’t provoke them or make them angry. Otherwise the situation will be difficult to handle. We will never stand by and watch the country’s sovereignty, security, and development interests suffer, and we will never allow anyone or any forces to invade and split the sacred territory of the motherland. Once such a serious situation occurs, the Chinese people will definitely attack it head-on.”

A former lecturer from Tsinghua University told Radio Free Asia that Xi gave the strongest speech in the past 40 years, but the fact that Beijing remains confrontational with a sense of uncertainty, just as it did during the Korean War, shows that it still lacks a reflection on history. It is dangerous for Beijing constantly to incite nationalism, xenophobia and confrontation among the Chinese people and to exaggerate the possibility that China could be on the edge of a war in the future. One dissident said that China didn’t win the Korean War. In fact, it paid a costly price and suffered a disastrous defeat. One scholar said that Xi Jinping wants to win a war with the U.S. to establish himself in China, but other scholars believe that the statement is a complete bluff. It was only for the need to incite populism and nationalism inside China. China is falling behind the U.S. in military power and it is not prepared to go to a war with the U.S.

In June 1950, when the Korean War broke out, the United Nations, led by the United States, sent troops to support South Korea to resist the invasion from North Korean. Starting in October 1950, China sent more than one million soldiers to the war to support the Kim Il Sung regime of North Korea. According to official Chinese statistics, nearly 200,000 soldiers were eventually killed in battle.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 23, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/QL-10232020030617.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Wang Qishan Warned against Risk of Financial Bubbles

According to Hong Kong Economic Times, China’s Vice president Wang Qishan gave a video speech at the Bund Summit 2020 held in Shanghai on October 24. Wang said, “The Financial sector, when separated from the real economy, is ‘water without a source and a tree without roots.’ The financial sector cannot take the crooked path of speculation and gambling, the wrong path of the self-circulation of financial bubbles, and the evil path of Ponzi schemes.”

Wang also emphasized that, among the three principles of safety, liquidity, and efficiency that the financial industry must follow, “safety always comes first.” He also maintained that the bottom line is that no systemic risks should be taken.

He added that, as new financial technologies have been widely used and new business models have emerged, financial risks are on the upsurge. It is necessary to strike a balance between encouraging financial innovation, expanding financial openness, and strengthening supervision over the industry.

Source: Hong Kong Economic Times, October 25, 2020
https://china.hket.com/article/2785682

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources