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People’s Daily Attacks Pompeo, Again

On August 25, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece newspaper People’s Daily, in three full pages out of a total of 20, published an extremely lengthy opinion that runs through a barrage of criticisms against U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as a response to his speech on July 23, 2020, at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in California.

The first two paragraphs read:

“A few days ago, U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo delivered a speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in California. He totally negated China-U.S. relations, maliciously attacked the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and China’s political system, drove a wedge between the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people, and made groundless accusations on China’s domestic and foreign policies. Pompeo spread the ‘China Threat Theory’ in an attempt to provoke and piece together an international anti-China alliance and contain China’s development.”

“Pompeo’s remarks, ignoring history and reality, are full of strong ideological prejudice and a Cold War mentality. Not only did the Chinese people condemn Pompeo’s remarks, but also rational people in the United States and the international community criticized and opposed them.”

It then dug out 26 statements from Pompeo’s speech and ran a point-by-point rebuttal. The 34,000-Chinese-character-long article, if put into Word with a font size of 12 and normal margins, would be 30 pages long.

Source: People’s Daily, August 25, 2020
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-08/25/nw.D110000renmrb_20200825_1-10.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Global Times: Hong Kong Is Changing Textbooks

Global Times recently reported that seven Hong Kong publishers have submitted changes to their General Studies Textbooks. General Studies is a core course in Hong Kong high schools. Traditionally, Hong Kong has allowed private sector publishers to design textbooks and high schools have been allowed to pick textbooks from approved publishers. According to the Hong Kong Education Bureau, the publishers are making adjustments to the textbooks based on new “guidelines” that the government has offered. So far, the media has discovered that the changes are mainly on political topics. For example, “separation of powers” was removed; the mention of “fighting for social justice via social movements like demonstrations and protests” was also removed. Pictures of protesters asking for a “true general election” disappeared as well. The publishers that do not follow the guidelines that the the Education Bureau “recommended” will not be allowed to upload textbooks to the approved list.

Source: Global Times, August 19, 2020
https://china.huanqiu.com/article/3zWhfBksORA

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Social Stability

LTN: Huawei Came up with New Method to Avoid U.S. Sanctions

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that, with the United Stated continuously tightening up sanctions against Huawei in order to cut off its chip-making capabilities, leading U.S. Electronic Design Automation (EDA) vendor Synopsys saw strong growth. The source of the growth came mainly from China. Many integrated Circuit (IC) companies in China suddenly started purchasing chip design software on a large scale. This type of software is on the Huawei sanction list, so Huawei can no long purchase licenses. Synopsys, along with two other U.S. companies Cadence and ANSYS, plus the German vendor Siemens, control over ninety percent of the global chip design software market. Chinese local governments were also found to be purchasing U.S. EDA software. IT Experts from Japan expressed the belief that it is highly likely Huawei can use Chinese chip design firms to perform the design work previously done by its own branch named HiSilicon. All it takes is for HiSilicon to send a group of semiconductor engineers to a small local firm to bypass U.S. sanctions on software completely.

Source: LTN, August 21, 2020
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3267514

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

CNA: Peking University Tightens Permission to Attend Overseas Online Conferences

Primary Taiwanese news agency CNA (The Central News Agency) recently reported that China’s top university, Peking University, just announced new rules for attending online conferences held overseas. The new rules apply to all branches of the University. The leaders of all branches are required to review the applications from the faculty or from students strictly in order to tighten up attendance at conferences that organizations outside of China may host. The rules emphasized that “confidentiality requirements” must be “strictly” followed. No individual can personally decide on attending such events. Instead, each person must follow the exact same review and approval process the University had in place before for attending overseas events in person. All applications must be submitted for approval at least 15 days before the event starts and should include an invitation letter and a clear agenda. All online events hosted in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are considered “international.” The announcement mentioned that the new rules are based on the requirements that the government authorities have set. The goal is to “ensure the online international exchanges are done in an orderly fashion.”

Source: CNA, August 21, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202008210054.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

$50 Billion Worth of Cryptocurrency Left China within 12 Months

According to a report from the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, over the past 12 months, over $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency has left China. Analysts claim that the yuan’s fluctuating valuation over this year and tensions amid the ongoing U.S.–China trade war could be spurring local investors to evade capital controls. Beijing bars citizens from moving more than the equivalent of $50,000 out of the country each year.

Tether (USDT) in particular — could be playing a key role. Since Beijing’s 2017 ban on the direct conversions of the yuan to cryptocurrency, the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether has served as a popular stand-in for fiat for traders in the Chinese market. In the East Asian market, over $18 billion worth of Tether was moved to addresses based in foreign jurisdictions over the past year. How much of this reflects capital flight remains difficult to establish conclusively.

While yuan-USDT trades are, strictly speaking, also prohibited, OTC (over the counter) brokers continue to sell the stablecoin to enable traders to lock in their gains from crypto trades without worrying about price volatility. In June of this year, Tether outflanked Bitcoin to become the digital asset that East Asian addresses received the most.

The government has meanwhile cracked down on routes for offshoring capital via foreign real estate investments and other assets, leaving cryptocurrency as a possible alternative.

Other contributing factors include uncertainty as to how Beijing’s forthcoming national cryptocurrency will impact the private digital asset market. Chainalysis suggests that this may be driving China’s cryptocurrency community “to move portions of their holdings overseas.”

Source: Central News Agency, August 22, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202008220203.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Prime Minister Li Keqiang’s Visit to Flood Zone Drew Late Official Coverage

On August 20, Li Keqiang visited Chongqing, a heavily flooded area. The People’s Daily, CCTV, and Xinhua did not report any coverage of his visit until August 23, which is quite unusual. The Chinese government website (www.gov.cn) was the only site that covered Li’s visit on August 20. Meanwhile, Xi Jinping’s visit to Anhui province on August 18 through the 20th was among the top news in Chinese media.

In the videos and photos that the government website released, it showed that Li Keqiang wore rain boots and was walking in the mud. He inquired about the disaster and was concerned about the harvest and the lives of the victims. Mainland netizens highly praised Li, calling him “the prime minister of the people.”

In contrast, Xi Jinping was seen wearing leather shoes to visit the fields in Anhui that were once a heavily flooded zone but had since been recovering. People also discovered that in one picture, Xi was speaking to a woman holding a child, but the woman was suspected of being the deputy chief of the local Public Security Bureau. On Wednesday, August 19, Xi visited the Baowu Masteel Group. People said that those who Xi Jinping met were background actors who the officials had vetted, a common practice among CCP officials.

Xi’s visit to Anhui came after the floods in Anhui province had subsided. This was Xi’s first public appearance after the Beidaihe summit. Xi’s last public appearance was on July 31 when he attended the opening ceremony of the Beidou-3 global satellite navigation system. Xi was also criticized for not visiting the flood zone during the peak of the flooding time.

The rumors of infighting between Xi Jinping and his Prime Minister Li Keqiang have surfaced again. In recent months, Li Keqiang was seen to have different views and actions from Xi Jinping on a number of issues. There is speculation that Li knows that he is unable to take down Xi Jinping. Therefore, he is preparing for his departure in 2023; however, he can only use the Chinese government website to highlight his achievements so as to prevent future retaliation.

Source:
1.Radio Free Asia, August 19, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/ql1-08192020061755.html
2. Central News Agency, August 20, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202008220085.aspx
3. Secret China, August 24, 2020
https://www.secretchina.com/news/b5/2020/08/24/944016.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

European and American Alumni Associations Serve the Party

Documents that The Epoch Times recently obtained show how the CCP strictly controls the Chinese students who have returned from studying abroad. The CCP uses the “European and American Alumni Associations” in a number of cities and provinces in China and has the students serve the CCP’s Belt and Road initiatives and civil diplomacy.

The European and American Alumni Association is an organization that consists of overseas students. The Central Committee leads it and the United Front Work Department manages it. The official website shows that the European and American Alumni Association currently has 42 local organizations, 15 national and regional branches, and 220,000 members. There are seven special working committees and seven professional committees.

In the document that The Epoch Times obtained, Liu Shuhua, a member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Nanyang Municipal Party Committee and Minister of the United Front Work Department spoke at the inaugural meeting of Nanyang European and American Students Association held on October 27, 2019. Liu stated that the association should “… continue to expand its membership … further establish contacts with overseas students, experts, scholars, entrepreneurs and people from all walks of life, … attract more overseas students to return to China to start businesses in Henan province, … implement the decisions from the central, provincial, and municipal party committees, and take the work of overseas students as a new focus for united front work.”

In August 2016, the General Office of the Central Committee issued the “Opinions on Strengthening the Development of the European and American Alumni Association.” The “Opinions” show that the first major role of the European and American Alumni Association is to “establish a database of returned overseas students and receive timely updates about the returned overseas students.” Then it is to “create a think tank including the overseas students. Finally it is to use these people to carry out civil diplomacy and serve the Belt and Road initiatives.

A separate document that The Epoch Times obtained contains a list of 343 returned overseas students in Nanyang city of Henan province. They are currently working in colleges and universities, scientific research institutes, medical institutions, party and government agencies, financial institutions, and private enterprises. The list contains detailed information including their names, current employment and positions, date of birth, ethnicity, hometown, academic degree, political status, number of years on the job, countries where they have studied, institutions and majors, years of study, the year of their return to China, their social position, home address, contact information, and more. Also, among the 343 names, 129 are Communist Party Members.

Source: The Epoch Times, August 14, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/8/14/n12330248.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China State Media Says Military Exercise over Taiwan not Impossible

On August 18, 2020, the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece China Central TV reported that, at the end of U.S. Secretary of Health Azar’s visit to Taiwan, the Eastern Theater District of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced that it had organized actual combat exercises in the Taiwan Strait and on the northern and southern sides of the Taiwan Strait and made it clear that it was a necessary action for the current security situation across the Taiwan Strait and the maintenance of national sovereignty.

The state media claimed that, as a result of the China military “showing its muscles,” the United States immediately announced the withdrawal of the USS Ronald Reagan from the East China Sea.

“Today it is an exercise in the Taiwan Strait and on the north/south sides of the Strait. Tomorrow it is not impossible to carry out a large exercise around Taiwan Island or even an exercise over the Taiwan Island. The strength, confidence, and determination of the People’s Liberation Army will determine that once the ‘reunification by force’ is triggered. ‘The first battle’ will be the ‘final battle.’”

Source: The Paper Times, August 18, 2020
https://m.thepaper.cn/wap/v3/jsp/newsDetail_forward_8779848

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations