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Briefings - 276. page

China Blasted Open Embankment to Deal with Disastrous Flooding

A new round of heavy rain that started on July 17 is wreaking havoc on the middle and lower reaches along the Yangtze River. With torrential rainfall taking place, areas such as Chongqing, Jiangsu, and Anhui, the Yangtze River, Lake Tai, the Huai River and other waters are experiencing severe flooding.

The Hydrological and Water Resources Survey Bureau of Jingzhou City, Hubei Province issued its highest flood warning on July 19, indicating that, due to heavy rainfall, the water level of Lake Chang has reached 32.84 meters, 0.34 meters above the warning level. The water level of Lake Hong is 26.99 meters, .02 meters above the highest level. It is expected to rise and stay at a high mark for a while. The water level of 12.83 meters of Lake Chao in Anhui province exceeded the historical high of 12.80 meters, which was in 1991. The flooding in the Yangtze River on July 18 also rewrote the record books of Nanjing city’s hydrological history, bringing a water level to 10.26 meters, 0.04 meters higher than the record set in 1954.

According to the official Xinhua News Agency, at 3 a.m. on July 19, the embankment of the Chu River in Anhui province was blasted open in two gaps, and water flowed into two flood storage areas. It was a measure viewed as a last resort to handle the continuously rising water level that would possibly run over the embankments. These two areas were previously used in 1991, 2003, 2008, and 2015.

Affected by the water coming from upstream and local areas, the inflow and water level of the Three Gorges Reservoir continued to rise. On July 17, the upstream of the Qing River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, saw a peak water level of 420.68 meters. It was higher than the historic level of 420.64 meters in 1989. As the water level continued to rise, the urban district of Enshi city was almost soaked. The authorities decided to elevate the emergency response of the urban flood control to the highest level.

Source: Central News Agency, July 19, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202007190121.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Ministry of Commerce: Investment in countries along the “Belt and Road” Increased in the First Half of the Year

On July 16, the Ministry of Commerce released data that showed results for the first half of this year. Chinese domestic investors made non-financial direct investments in 159 countries and regions around the world, for a total investment of 362.14 billion yuan (US$51.79 billion), a decrease of 0.7 percent compared to the same period in 2019. Meanwhile Investment in countries along the “Belt and Road” increased. In the first half of this year. Non-financial direct investment in countries along the “Belt and Road” was US$8.12 billion, up 19.4 percent year over year. Among them, investment in ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) was US$6.23 billion, a year over year increase of 53.1 percent.

Total foreign contracted projects were 425.99 billion yuan (US$60.92 billion), a year over year decrease of 10.6 percent, and the newly signed contract value was 753.82 billion yuan (US$107.81 billion), a year over year increase of 5 percent. There were 133,000 who worked overseas on a number of labor cooperation projects, a decrease of 102,000 compared with the same period in the previous year. At the end of June, a total of 659,000 people had been dispatched overseas.

Newly signed large-scale foreign projects also increased. In the first half of the year, there were 381 new contracts each having a value of more than US$50 million, for a total value of US$89.03 billion, accounting for 83.1 percent of the total new contracts. Among them, there were 222 projects valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, an increase of 5 projects, compared with the same period of last year. The investments included leasing and business services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, mining, and construction.

Foreign investments that came from the local enterprises amounted to US$38.21 billion, a year over year increase of 12.1 percent. Among them, 81.8 percent came from10 provinces and cities in the eastern region for a total of US$31.26 billion. The foreign investments from the Yangtze River Economic Belt were US$17.8 billion, a year over year increase of 37.8 percent. Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shanghai are at the forefront of foreign investment.

Source: Guangming Daily, July 17, 2020
https://politics.gmw.cn/2020-07/17/content_34003528.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Beijing’s New Brainwashing Campaign for Students

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has once again launched a brainwashing campaign. It is requiring its members and school students to study the “Four Histories,” which refers to “the history of the CCP, the history of new China, the history of the reform and opening up, and the history of socialist development.” In one sentence, it is the history of the Chinese Communist Party. Parents of students shared some WeChat screenshots of a teacher’s message to the parents with Radio Free Asia: “Please ask each student firmly to keep in mind the contents of the ‘Four Histories.’ There will be exams when the new semester begins.”

According to official media, the “Four Histories” is a new political drive and it is a “key task” to promote the contents in classrooms at colleges and universities. East China Normal University in Shanghai has incorporated the campaign materials in the school’s seminar series so that the students will be learning and also preaching to people outside of the campus.

Source: Radio Free Asia, July 15, 2020.
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/ql-07152020062503.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Amid Domestic and International Pressure, Xi Mandates Loyalty to the Party

As China is facing intensified internal and external pressures, the head of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping published an article in the upcoming issue of Qushi magazine, the official publication of the Central Committee of the CCP, warning that one cannot afford to falter even a little bit on the issue of “adherence to the party’s leadership.”

Xinhua News Agency, the mouthpiece outlet of the CCP, reported that Xi’s article entitled, “The Leadership of the Chinese Communist Party is the most Essential Feature of Socialism with Chinese characteristics” will be published on July 16th. It emphasizes that the greatest advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics is “the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,” and that the CCP is the paramount political leading force.

Xi said that the CCP’s governance is “a great blessing for China, the Chinese people, and the Chinese nation.” “On the important principle of adhering to the Party’s leadership, which determines the future and destiny of the party and the country, the entire party and the whole country must maintain a high degree of ideological, political, and behavioral consciousness, and cannot falter even a little bit.”

Observers believe the timing of the article, a signal to compel loyalty from CCP members, as well as people in China, only shows the unprecedented challenges that Xi is now facing.

Source: Central News Agency, July 15, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202007150432.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CCP Launches Shakeups in the Political and Legal Organs and in the Party School

On July 8, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission announced that it has set up an office that, over the next three months, will launch “rectification work” [Editor’s note: a political shakeup] in a number of pilot cities nationwide. The pilot plan will then be rolled out to the entire country. The goal is to finish it prior to Party’s 20th session in 2022. On the same day, the Central Party School held a seminar specifically to mobilize party members to study the “Yan’an Rectification” in the 1940s. The Central Party School emphasized that “the Yan’an Rectification started with ideological education, focused on solving fundamental ideological problems, and then achieved unprecedented unity among the party members.” On July 9, the Ministry of Public Security announced that it will spend the next year and a half on the “rectification work” within its organs and eliminate the influence of people like Zhou Yongkang and those who engage in forming their own interest groups.

According to the quoted comments in the article that Radio Free Asia published, people are speculating that, similar to the Great Purge in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, the “rectification work” is for Xi Jinping to clean out those who hold different opinions and get ready for personnel shakeups that will occur after the party’s 20th session in 2022. Xi will then develop a political system that he can trust.

An article that Beijing Youth Daily published stated that the main task of the “educational rectification” movement in the political and legal system is to eliminate the leading bad influences. It emphasized that justice is the last line of defense for social justice and the actions of the political and legal teams have a direct impact on the public.

Source: Radio Free Asia, July 10, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/gf-07102020083122.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

After Accepting Money from Beijing, Cambridge University College Issued Report Praising Huawei

The British newspaper The Times reported on July 10 that Cambridge University’s Jesus College produced a paper accused of “reputation laundering” for Huawei and that it had received £200,000 (US $255,000) from the Chinese state and £155,000 (US $198,000) from the telecom giant, despite repeated warnings from British intelligence about Huawei’s possible espionage activities for Beijing.

In February, the UK-China Global Issues Dialogue Centre, which is under Jesus College, published a white paper on global communications reforms, which gave a favorable portrayal of Huawei. The paper also said that “transnational governance” of the technology industry “needs to consider differences in the normative standards accepted by different countries.”

The Times also revealed that, in September 2018, when the UK-China Global Issues Dialogue Centre was created, it banked £200,000 (US $255,000) from an agency of China’s State Council, the country’s administrative authority. Jesus collage also confirmed that it received £155,000 (US $198,000) from Huawei last September to “cover a two-year research co-operation.”

Zhu Rui, a doctoral student from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that Huawei, nominally a private company, is the property of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). When Jesus College turned a blind eye to the potential consequences and accepted donations from Huawei, it was subjecting its academic freedom to the influence of the CCP. On issues of religious freedom, human rights, and democracy, it cannot say what it wants to say, as if someone’s throat is being choked.

Teng Biao, a legal scholar living in exile in the United States, who has been studying the CCP’s overseas infiltration, criticized Jesus College for selling its soul for money. “Many universities around the world have kowtowed to the Chinese government for money and have conducted self-censorship. This is a typical example of China’s accelerated infiltration and expansion. With the almost unlimited financial resources that the Chinese government has plundered from its people, it is able to use economic means to buy favorable political expressions about Beijing.”

RFA found that the cooperation between Jesus College and Huawei is only the tip of the iceberg of Cambridge University’s connections with China. The Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management (CCCM), under Cambridge’s Judge Business School, has Tian Tao, a senior adviser from Huawei, and Hu Yanping, former SVP at Huawei among its directors.

The China Centre, a separate entity, is also affiliated with Jesus College and a charitable trust oversees it. It organizes a two-week training course for executives from Chinese state-owned companies. Professor Peter Nolan, 71, one of the charity’s trustees, is the director of the China Centre and a fellow at Jesus College. He became the first ever “Chong Hua” professor at Cambridge, a role founded in 2012 “to further the study of China.” According to The Times, the daughter of former Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao backed the professorship with a £3.7 million donation she made. The Times reported that the charitable trust which oversees the China Centre was sent £55,000 in November 2018 from a group linked to China’s State Council.

Huawei’s donations to British academic and scientific research institutions have attracted broad attention. At the beginning of last year, Oxford University said it would suspend accepting donations or sponsorships from Huawei. RFA also reported earlier that Huawei provided £5 million in research funding to Imperial College London and a super-fast 5G network to the university. Because the university is studying the corona virus, the incident triggered widespread public criticism; the criticisms allege that Huawei has a mission to interfere with virus research and affect the university’s objectivity in virus investigations. As early as 2017, Huawei and British Telecoms jointly announced a new round of a five-year cooperation plan, which will invest £25 million to establish a joint research team with Cambridge University.

Source: Radio Free Asia, July 13, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/uk-donate-07132020041327.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

RFA: Pope’s Speech Removed Content Related to Hong Kong

Radio Free Asia (RFA) recently reported that, according to the Italian newspapers Il Tempo and La Verite, Pope Francis’ speech on July 5 removed the content related to the Hong Kong situation from the original draft that was released. The Vatican Press Room did not explain why. The original draft included a call for social freedom, the protection of religious freedom, and sincere dialogues. The removal appeared to be an emergency decision since the Vatican distributed the original content to reporters at 11 am on the same day the Pope gave the speech. The removed contents also said the Pope will continue to pray for the Hong Kong Catholic Church and the kind people in Hong Kong. On his blog, retired Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, S.D.B questioned exactly how Chinese President Xi censored the Pope’s freedom of speech.

Source: RFA, July 7, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/va-pope-07072020124527.html?encoding=simplified

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Lianhe Zaobao: Chinese Banks Adjust Plans in Response to U.S. Sanctions

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper, Lianhe Zaobao, recently reported that, according to internal sources from five major China state-owned banks, the Chinese banking industry is updating emergency plans in order to deal with potential new U.S. regulations that may add more sanctions against China after implementing the Hong Kong National Security Law. The Bank of China as well as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China are preparing for the worst-case scenario which would be losing the source for obtaining U.S. Dollars or the potential of losing the clearing mechanism in the U.S. Dollar system. One source said that one never knows what will actually happen; it is better to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. A new U.S. regulation just passed both chambers (still pending Trump’s signature) which will allow the punishment of banks working with the individuals identified by the U.S. government as having helped destroy Hong Kong’s autonomy. The banks also considered the case of a run on the Bank of China, HK Branch, as well as the lessons that Iranian banks currently suffering from U.S. sanctions have learned. Some Chinese international equipment leasing companies are going through similar exercises.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, July 10, 2020
http://www.uzaobao.com/shiju/20200710/74557.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources US-China Relations