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Briefings - 261. page

SMIC Stockpiling Supplies Far More Than One Year’s Needs

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is the Chinese partially state-owned publicly-listed semiconductor foundry company. The U.S. Department of Commerce has placed an export restriction on its suppliers. It is scaling up its procurement from upstream suppliers in the United States, Europe, and Japan, with a size exceeding a full-year’s demand for 2020. The procurement items include etching, lithography and wafer cleaning equipment. The purchase of consumables used to maintain the operation of the equipment is also more than one year’s need. SMIC is even cooperating with other Chinese chip manufacturers to establish a shared reserve of such parts, and has established a central warehouse to store these products.

A source from a U.S. chip equipment manufacturer said that SMIC is eager to stock up on equipment. The company ordered more equipment than needed for its current expansion plan. At the end of last year, ASML (ASML.US), Europe’s largest chip manufacturing equipment manufacturer, shipped an advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) chip production tool to SMIC. However, the transaction has been put off.

SMIC relies heavily on foreign semiconductor equipment suppliers, including U.S. based Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA, Taradyne, ASML in the Netherlands and Tokyo in Japan.

Source: Sina.com, October 4, 2020
https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2020-10-04/doc-iivhvpwz0355862.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Embassy Returns Former Mongolian President’s Letter to Xi Jinping on Replacing Mongolian Language

Former Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj recently wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping to protest against the authorities’ push for the use of Chinese teaching materials in Inner Mongolia. Elbegdorj tweeted on September 25th that the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia returned the letter. Elbegdorj also posted a message on Facebook saying that he will not retract this letter to the Chinese leader and that this letter will attract more and more attention.

In the content of the letter that Elbegdorj posted on his Twitter account, he mentioned that China’s Constitution stipulates that “all nationalities have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written language.” He pointed out that this is now flagrantly infringed upon with respect to the Mongolian children in Inner Mongolia.

He also said, “I write to you (Xi Jinping) as I could not sit idle hearing that the tens and hundreds of thousands of Mongolians and their children that wish to exercise their rights that the Constitution has granted are experiencing indescribable anguish.”

The Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Chai Wenrui said that he noticed that Elbegdorj recently made remarks on the issue of bilingual education reform in Inner Mongolia. Chai added that the views in his letter to the Chinese leader are completely wrong, and China does not accept them.

The Chinese authorities are accused of suppressing the Mongolian mother tongue and culture in Inner Mongolia, triggering a backlash in public opinion in Mongolia. When Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Mongolia a few days ago, more than one hundred demonstrators gathered in Sukhbaatar Square in front of the Mongolian Government Palace, shouting, “Defend our mother tongue” and “Wang Yi go away.”

Source: Central News Agency, September 26, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202009260207.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xi Jinping’s Name Written into the “Work Regulations” of the CCCCP

A recent politburo meeting in China decided to include General Secretary Xi Jinping’s name in the “Work Regulations” of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP), an important document of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), alongside its Constitution. It is believed that as long as the “Work Regulations” remain in effect, Xi Jinping will remain as the core of the party.

On Monday September 28, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP) held a meeting to study and formulate the 14th Five-Year Plan for the nation’s socioeconomic development, and goals to be achieved by the year 2035. General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the meeting, which also discussed the “Work Regulations” of the CCCCP. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the formulation and issuance of the “Work Regulations” is an “inevitable requirement for firmly safeguarding the authority and centralized leadership of the CCP Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core. It is also a major move for upholding and improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and for promoting the modernization of the national governance system. It therefore carries great and far-reaching significance for winning the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.”

Bao Tong was the political secretary of former CCP general secretary Zhao Ziyang, who lost power because he showed sympathy for the students in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Bao told Radio Free Asia, “If Xi Jinping must be maintained as the core in the ‘Work Regulations,’ it is the official party document stating that he will always be the core of the Central Committee, unless this document is abolished. As long as this document stands, he is the core.”

Bao added that it was Deng Xiaoping, the former CCP leader, who first put forward the idea of “core.” “His (Deng’s) definition of the ‘core’ is ‘having the final say.’ …  In the past, Mao Zedong was the core, and Mao had the final say. … Therefore, the ‘core’ is connected with the words ‘final say.’ I think the ‘core’ can only be explained this way, and there is no other explanation.”

This is the second time that Xi Jinping’s name has been written into an official document of the Central Committee of the CCP, after it appeared in the CCP Constitution in 2017.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 29, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/ql2-09292020061358.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People’s Daily: U.S. Presidential Debate Should Not Discuss China

Hours before the September 29, 2020, presidential debate, People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), published a commentary titled, “The U.S. Election Should not Manipulate the ‘China issue’ as in a Spectacle.”

 

The author of the commentary was Zhongsheng, a homophonic abbreviation of the “Voice of China” which is generally viewed as representing the opinion of the CCP leadership on international issues.

 

The commentary stated, “It must be emphasized that the U.S. election is an internal affair of the United States. China is not interested in it and has never interfered with it. Distractions and shifting conflicts cannot resolve the problems that the United States faces. The biggest ‘enemy’ of the United States is itself.”

 

The commentary further stated, “As an independent country, China has the right to safeguard its sovereignty, security, and development interests. It will not sacrifice its principles to cooperate with the U.S. election game. Some U.S. politicians should immediately stop playing tricks that drag China into American domestic politics.”

 

Source: People’s Daily, September 29, 2020

http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-09/29/nw.D110000renmrb_20200929_2-03.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics US-China Relations

Chinese Fishing Fleet Leaves Galapagos and Heads for Peru

In June of this year, about 300 Chinese fishing boats arrived near the Galapagos Islands, one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, to fish for giant squid in international waters.

Ecuador’s naval operations commander, Daniel Ginez, said this week that the size of the Chinese fleet is larger than in previous years. He said these fishing boats can be classified as vessels that are preying on fishing resources. “With such a large number of fishing boats we have the risk that certain species will be diminished,” Ginez explained.

At present, the Chinese fishing fleet is heading south to the waters near Peru.

With large fishing fleets, both Peru and Ecuador are highly dependent on seafood for their livelihoods and foreign exchange. World Bank data shows that in 2018, the two countries caught 4.5 million tons of fish, but that was only 25 percent of China’s ocean catches.

According to the statistics of Oceana, an organization that tracks fishing activities, the fishing time of Chinese fishing vessels between July 13 and August 13 totaled more than 73,000 hours, accounting for 99 percent of the fishing activities around the reserve.

The excessive fishing that Chinese ocean vessels conduct in international waters has spurred accusations from coastal countries and opposition from the international community. U.S. President Trump specifically mentioned in his speech at the United Nations on Tuesday September 22 that “China dumps millions and millions of tons of plastic and trash into the oceans, and fishes excessively in other countries’ waters.”

Soon afterwards, the US Embassy in Peru sent a tweet accusing the Chinese fleet of changing the name of the vessel and turning off GPS tracking, so as to restrict surveillance of its activities. The tweet said, “Overfishing can cause huge ecological and economic damage. Peru cannot afford such a loss.”

Last month, the U.S. Coast Guard coordinated with the Ecuadorian Navy to send ships to the area to patrol more than 3,000 miles in international and Ecuadorian waters to monitor this huge Chinese fishing fleet. Ecuador is also reportedly cooperating with neighboring countries such as Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia to establish a corridor of marine reserves to restrict commercial fishing.

China’s global fishing fleet is enormous. Estimates suggest it has 17,000 vessels, far exceeding other countries in the world. It is almost impossible to be thorough in monitoring these vessels. Now that it has nearly depleted the waters near China, China’s ocean fleet has been sailing further and further around the globe. Many underdeveloped countries that rely on fishery resources lack the ability to protect their maritime sovereignty.

Source: Voice of America, September 24, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-fishing-iuu-security-20200924/5596670.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Beijing Issues Notice to Speed up Development of New Media

On September 26, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Media’s In-depth Development.” They then issued a notice requesting that all authorities conscientiously implement it.

The “Opinions” asked, with all speed, to develop new mainstream media that is highly competitive and exerts a strong influence.

It also pointed out that “high-quality content, advanced technology, professional talent, and funding should be geared toward the Internet media and mobile platforms, effectively becoming the basis for emerging communication.”

The “Opinions” considers that it is necessary to “drive the development with advanced technology, make good use of the achievements of information technology such as 5G, big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, strengthen research on new technologies in the news communication, and promote the innovation of key technologies.”

The “Opinions” also mandates to make efforts to “tell Chinese stories well, and to spread Chinese culture.”

Source: People’s Daily, September 27, 2020
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-09/27/nw.D110000renmrb_20200927_2-01.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

LTN: U.S. Sanctions China’s Chip Maker SMIC

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that, according to an official document that the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued, the U.S. government has decided to apply export controls on goods sold to SMIC based on the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR) Section 744.21. The restriction is based on the fact that SMIC products are ultimately used for military purposes. The U.S. Department of Commerce has informed U.S. export companies about this decision. The document listed SMIC and its branches as well as directly related companies inside and outside of China. SMIC is China’s largest chip maker and Huawei’s only hope for a domestic supply of chips. However, SMIC depends heavily on U.S. technology for manufacturing equipment and software. Also, SMIC technology is generations behind leading chip-making vendors like TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company). This new U.S. sanction will place huge pressure on Huawei as well as the entire Chinese chip-making industry.

Source: LTN, September 26, 2020
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3304204

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

RFA Chinese: Swedish Company MSAB Withdrew from Hong Kong

Radio Free Asia (RFA) Chinese Edition recently reported that Swedish technology company Micro Systemation AB (MSAB) announced its plan to leave the Hong Kong market and will no longer provide technical solutions to the Hong Kong Police and other Hong Kong government agencies. MSAB made its name in Hong Kong by assisting the police department in unlocking phones. MSAB also intends to leave the entire Chinese market. The company explained that the decision was made based on the fact that the U.S. dropped Hong Kong’s special status. It would rather not risk the possibility of suffering a U.S. sanction. MSAB’s technology resulted in some recent arrests of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, so the company is facing heavy criticism. At the same time, Canadian financial asset management company BMO and the Denmark retirement fund management company Akademiker Pension also announced plans to leave the Chinese investment market, including Hong Kong.

Source: RFA Chinese, September 24, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/htm/hk-evacuate-09242020072640.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend