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Briefings - 270. page

Lianhe Zaobao: Mainland Banks in HK Complied with U.S. Sanctions

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that large Chinese state-owned banks operating in Hong Kong have taken actions to comply to the latest U.S. sanctions of the top Hong Kong government officials, including the top Mainland official dispatched to Hong Kong to oversee the implementation of the new Hong Kong National Security Law. Those large Chinese banks which conduct a good amount of U.S. business stayed very conservative on allowing the opening of accounts by those who were sanctioned, including even the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam – at least one bank completely stopped such service. Foreign banks in Hong Kong also tightened up reviews on their customers’ accounts. Experts expressed the belief that these cautions were taken to safeguard the channels to obtain U.S. dollars and the banks’ international network. According to data that Bloomberg released, by the end of 2019, the four largest Chinese state-owned banks had a total U.S. dollar-based financing volume of $1.1 trillion. The banks and the Hong Kong government declined to comment on this matter.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, August 14, 2020
http://http//www.uzaobao.com/bolg/20200814/76481.html

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

China’s Public Security Controls its Health Code Data

Recently, Epoch Times has obtained several internal Chinese Communist Party documents showing that, in the CCP virus pandemic, China’s Ministry of Public Security controls the digital QR code or “health code” data people provide through WeChat. There are concerns about people’s privacy and their personal information. Such data includes those foreigners who visit China by flying there on Chinese airlines.

At present, people in mainland China must scan and register their local “health code” when entering major shopping malls, hospitals, and other public places. The “health code” is a QR code that mainland Chinese generally apply for through Tencent’s WeChat or Alibaba’s Alipay. The “health code” has three colors, green, yellow, or red, which indicates the person’s health status. A green code enables its holder to move about unrestricted. Someone with a yellow code will be asked to stay home for seven days. The red code means a two-week quarantine.

Epoch Times has obtained government pandemic control documents from the Baoding City, Hebei Province; Anxin County, Hebei Province; and Heilongjiang Province Health Commissions. These documents raise concerns about privacy and the security of personal data.

These documents show that WeChat is used for the designated application for the “Health Code” in Hebei Province. China’s Ministry of Public Security and its local departments control WeChat’s “Health Code” data. The government document obtained for Anxin County states that, while the local Pandemic Prevention and Control Team is responsible for organizing and coordinating related work and work promotion, the Public Security Bureau is responsible for big data analysis, mining, and the in-depth application of the “health code.”

Heilongjiang Province launched the international version on March 17. This version requires users to enter data through the WeChat program, and then tie the health code that is given to the mobile phone number which performs real-name authentication. Tencent stated that “the international version brings foreigners into the unified health management system.” The Heilongjiang Provincial Health Commission’s document issued on March 23 reveals that when using the health code system, it is necessary to communicate actively with the Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Department and Tencent.

The state media China News Weekly reported on April 27, 2020, that, according to a Hangzhou City Health Code official, “The moment you open the health code, the big data in the background has undergone countless calculations and comparisons.”

Source: Epoch Times, August 13, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/8/14/n12329397.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

HKET: U.S. Reconnaissance Aircraft Challenged China’s Bottom Line

Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET), the leading financial daily in Hong Kong, recently reported that U.S.-China tensions just intensified in the South China Sea, right after the trade meeting got postponed for one month. According to the surveillance data that Beijing University’s South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) released, on August 15, the U.S. Navy EP-3E Reconnaissance Aircraft reached the closest point of 50.19 nautical miles (around 93 kilometers or 58 miles) from China’s Canton Province. SCSPI also identified that another EP-3E “potentially” entered Taiwan’s airspace. The SCSPI platform summarized that, in three days, the U.S. dispatched seven P-8A, P-3C, RC-135 or EP-3E aircraft to the region. Taiwanese media described this as “testing China’s bottom line.” In the meantime, according to an announcement from the U.S. Navy, the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier returned to the South China Sea for exercises, joined by the USS Antietam, the USS Mustin and the USS Rafael Peralta cruisers as well as the Fifth Carrier Aircraft Wing. The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier just had two exercises with the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier last month. The Chinese military called these activities a “major threat” to the Taiwan Strait area.

Source: HKET, August 16, 2020
https://bit.ly/3h3dF5O

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military US-China Relations

Chinese Consulate in Houston Intervened in US Political Movement

Radio Free Asia (RFA) published an article explaining the reason that the U.S. closed China’s Consulate in Houston.

The article stated that the U.S. has known that the staff members at the consulate were conducting suspicious activities, but, for a while, it did not take any action. The Second Department of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is the PLA’s intelligence unit, sent staff members from a large network company, with fake IDs, to China’s Consulate in Houston. Those technicians used a large video platform’s backend data to identify people who might participate in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and ANTIFA’s protests and then created and sent them customized videos on how to organize riots and how to do promotions.

The purpose was to “weaponize” big data technology. It delivered relevant materials precisely to those people who were most likely to participate in the protests, while other people could not even find those videos.

RFA did not spell out the company names. A Twitter account said the technicians were from Huawei and the video platform they used to identify candidates and push videos to was TikTok.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, August 7, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/ear/ear-straw-08062020081345.html
2. Twitter, @Raymond999USA

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

LTN: U.S. Businesses Consider Leaving Hong Kong

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that, according to a member survey that the American Chamber of Commerce conducted in Hong Kong, around 53 percent of its members are considering leaving Hong Kong in the future, either near-term or mid-term. The survey was designed specifically to measure the impact of the Hong Kong National Security Law and the U.S. sanctions that followed. The survey sampled a total of 154 member companies of the Chamber. Most (55.84 percent) of the members recognized the long-term competitiveness of the Hong Kong based U.S. companies to be the top priority to evaluate. According to undisclosed sources, after the new law and the new U.S. sanctions, most of the “high net-worth individuals” in Hong Kong have not yet moved their money out of the city. They are still observing and evaluating the changes on local asset prices and the potential long-term business environment under the Mainland’s control. However, many of the wealthy people have completed the preparation work for a swift money move, such as opening off-shore bank accounts, obtaining overseas passports, and other means.

Source: LTN, August 13, 2020
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3259577

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

China’s Summer Grain Acquisitions Fell, but State Reported Grain Harvest Was “Highest in History”

A government report showing the progress of summer grain acquisitions, released on Wednesday August 12, showed that wheat purchases in regions including Hebei, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, and Henan dropped by 18 percent. However, the state media in Jiangsu and Henan announced “good news.” The media claimed that the summer grain harvest “stayed at the highest level in history.”

In the past few months, disastrous events have occurred in major agriculturally productive regions in China and crops have seen severe damage. However, Zhou Xuewen, the deputy Minister of Emergency Management and deputy Minister of Water Resources, boldly predicted at a recent press conference that the year 2020 will be a great year of harvest. He stated, “The year of flooding is often the year of harvest and will be the harvest of (double-crops and) late rice. Why? The water conditions are better, and the soil is fertile. Our disaster relief measures and our post-disaster recovery and reconstruction, along with our strengthened restoration and planting management, as well as some technologies being used, mean that I don’t think food will be affected this year.”

The website of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration published the progress of the summer grain purchases. As of August 5, the total purchase of wheat in the main producing areas was about 42.85 million tons, a drop of about 9.38 million tons, or 18 percent, on a year-on-year basis.

Between January and July, China suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic and severe flooding. Hubei, Anhui, and parts of Jiangsu were flooded. However, state media in those regions claimed that there was a grain harvest. The Jiangsu survey team of the National Bureau of Statistics released data on July 14 showing that the total output of summer grain was 25.2 billion jin (12.6 million tons), an increase of 3.6 percent over the previous year. The Henan team released data on July 17, showing that the total output of summer grains in the province reached 75.1 billion jin (37.5 million tons), around the highest level in history.

He Huiling, a farmer in Luoyang, Henan, told RFA that the drop in the purchase of summer grains is related to the reduction in grain production and the over-exploitation of arable land. “Excessive (real estate) development and excessive land acquisition have left many people with little land to grow crops. Farmers make a living by purchasing food. Many of our local lands have been confiscated.”

Another villager in Nanyang, Henan, told RFA that he does not have any residual food at all. The central government is advocating food conservation because it is worried about a food shortage, “Recently the central government has spoken out about saving food. In our hometown, there is no food in the house. The main reason is that there are fewer farmers. Another reason is the reduction in arable land.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 13, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/ql1-08132020062337.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Secret Document about Hiding Party Building in Overseas Offices

The Epoch Times obtained exclusive information from a secret document that the China National Petroleum Corporation (PetroChina) issued. The document addresses how the Chinese consulates have been playing active leadership roles in managing the development of the party in all of the company’s overseas offices. Petro China recently asked that all work of this type go underground.

Below is a translation of the notice:

Notice on Further Implementation of Requirements for Overseas Party Building.

With the recent U.S. and other western countries containment of the CCP, there have been incidents in Australia in which the Chinese personnel’s mobile phones, computers and other personal items were searched and taken away under the claim that they could contain materials about how to develop the CCP. The CCP has therefore asked the respective overseas agencies to destroy or transfer sensitive documents immediately. Based on the directives from senior management, a translation of the notice regarding the execution of the party’s development work in foreign offices is below.
1. Party cells in foreign offices are required to be active in their acceptance of the leadership of the party committee at the consulate, particularly for the Malaysia and Singapore offices in Southeast Asia and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. They need to report their work to the consulate at least once a year. They also need to report major changes in contracts and personnel, and major events.
2. Foreign offices should sort out potential risks, study and develop emergency response plans, and establish emergency contact channels with the consulate and the company headquarters back in China. Offices in Australia and Canada must inform their consulate of their handling of urgent documents. Party members and cadres must strictly guard party secrets when a foreign country is doing an investigation of their work. This is an iron-clad rule.
3. The overseas party development work must be strictly safeguarded along with information about the party’s organizational structure, membership, member’s responsibilities, activities and internal documents. They must understand the distinction between internal and external information and must be flexible while maintaining confidentiality.
4. Overseas party cells need to plan party activities effectively based on the conditions in each situation. They should also establish flexible ways for the members to pay party membership fees and determine their meeting frequencies.
5. Overseas party cells should not publish their activities in social media including Weibo and Wechat. They should not publish talks and articles about party development work and shouldn’t accept media interviews. They should not transmit information that contains information about party membership, organizational structure and party development work using unsecure channels such as Wechat or email. They should not display the party flag, wear the party emblem, or have a bulletin board displaying party development work at their company location.
6. They must temporarily suspend the requirement for record keeping of overseas party development activities including performance assessments and inspections.
7. They must strengthen the management of highly confidential party development documents in their offices in countries such as the U.S., U.K, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. All the relevant electronic records stored in devices such as computers, cell phones, external hard drives, flash drives, and CDs must be deleted. Paper documents need to be destroyed. For any important records that can’t be destroyed, they must be sorted and stored in a safe place or turned over to their home office in China or the local consulate for storage.
8. All related personnel must delete PetroChina party development apps from their phones. A separate communication will be sent out in regard to the collection of the party membership fee.

Source: Epoch Times, August 14, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/8/14/n12332073.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CCP Controlled Media Attacked Zuckerberg

The U.S. Congress held a hearing on the how the Chinese government steals U.S. Technology. Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, was the only CEO among the four at the hearing who stated firmly that China definitely steals U.S. technology.

As a result, an article criticizing Zuckerberg was published widely on Chinese media. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controls all media in China. The article was titled, “This ‘TikTok Slaughter Battle’ completely tore off Zuckerberg’s mask as the ‘Chinese people’s good son-in-law.’” Since the parents of Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan were Chinese refugees who fled Vietnam, Beijing had been calling Zuckerberg “the Chinese people’s good son-in-law.”

The article said that Mark Zuckerberg (of Facebook), Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Google, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon participated in the hearing remotely.

A congressman asked, “Do you think that the Chinese government steals U.S. technologies?”

Cook, “No.”

Pichai, “No.”

Bezos, “I only heard it on newspaper, but it didn’t happen to Amazon.”

Zuckerberg, “I believe that China’s stealing technology from U.S. tech companies is well-documented.”

The article then said that Zuckerberg had tried many things for several years to get Beijing to let Facebook enter China, but after he could not do it, he revealed his true face and, last year, became hostile towards China.

The article blamed him for having a double standard when closing several Facebook accounts, which Zuckerberg said to be connected to the Chinese government, for spreading “fake news” about Hong Kong; for using the “China threat” theory to promote his virtual currency; and for trying to destroy TikTok, his rival.

Source: 163.com, August 4, 2020
https://news.163.com/20/0804/14/FJ6NPPE60001899O.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations