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Briefings - 282. page

People’s Daily: Chinese Ministry of Commerce Responded to New U.S. Sanctions

People’s Daily recently reported that the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce responded to the recent actions taken by the U.S. Department of Commerce to list additional Chinese individuals and agencies on the “Entity List” for sanction. The United States identified 24 Chinese agencies and individuals as doing “military procurement” and nine agencies for human rights violations in Xinjiang. China strongly opposes this new action against Chinese companies, universities, research institutes, and individuals under the names of military involvement and human rights matters. The Unites States frequently abuses its export control system to hammer other nations. This abuse of state power significantly harms the international trade order and threatens the global supply chain. It will not benefit China, the United States, or the world. China urges the U.S. to stop this wrong behavior immediately and to protect decisively the legal rights of Chinese companies.

Source: People’s Daily, June 5, 2020
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0605/c1001-31737261.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Three Major Canadian Telecommunications Companies Rejected Huawei

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that Canada’s two largest telecommunications providers, Bell Canada and Telus Corp., announced they will partner with Ericsson and Nokia for their core 5G networks. Both companies said earlier in the year that they would still use Huawei’s 5G technology. Experts expressed their beliefs that the latest development on the case of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou as well as the potential loss of U.S. government contracts changed the minds of these two companies. Another key Canadian telecommunications company Rogers Communications had already started its partnership with Ericsson in 2018. Thus all major Canadian telecommunications vendors have rejected Huawei for 5G, although the Canadian government has not finalized its decision on Huawei. Analysts agreed that these latest announcements will significantly ease the pressure the Canadian government has on combating the challenges from the Chinese government. Huawei supported Bell Canada’s latest decision and will continue to provide Bell with non-5G equipment.

Source: NetEase, June 3, 2020
https://money.163.com/20/0603/11/FE6N971S002580S6.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Bureau No. 1 Changes Name to Emphasize Priority

Hong Kong based Sing Tao Daily reported that the Domestic Security Bureau (DSB), code-named Bureau No. 1 under China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), was renamed to “Political Security Bureau (PSB).” The name change may have to do with the Ministry’s recent priority on “maintaining political security,” and carrying out “anti-penetration, anti-subversion, and anti-secession” battles.

As early as May 2019, at a National Public Security Work Conference held in Beijing, DSB director Chen Siyuan mentioned that “defending political security” is the “primary responsibility” of public security organs. Chen said that it is necessary to have a profound understanding of the severe and complex situation of the job of maintaining political security. He ordered that activities that “endanger political security,” should be strictly prevented in order to strengthen prevention and control measures, and to detect and dissolve different political security risks in a prompt and effective manner.

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) state security authorities can be traced back to the Chinese Soviet Republic, established in Jiangxi in November 1931. At the time, the CCP borrowed the name from the Soviet Union’s State Political Directorate and set up the “State Political Bureau (SPB),” which essentially performed the same function as the Soviet counterpart. After the CCP took over China in 1949, the SPB moved under the MPS. In 1957, the MPS merged the functions of “enemy reconnaissance” and “KMT spy reconnaissance” into the “political security police.” At the same time the MPS set up a “Political Security Bureau (PSB),” code-named Bureau No. 1.

In the 1980s, the anti-spy reconnaissance function in the PSB under the MPS was transferred to the newly established Ministry of State Security (MSS). Since then, the PSB was renamed several times. In 1998, it was renamed to the current Domestic Security Bureau (DSB). Sun Lijun, the former MPS deputy minister, who was sacked not long ago, once served as the director of DSB and was succeeded by Chen Siyuan in early 2019.

Source: Central News Agency, June 3, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202006030235.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CNA: CCP Strengthens Ideological and Political Education in Schools at All Levels

The CCP has been strengthening ideological work, including ideological and political education, in schools at all levels.

On June 5, the Ministry of Education announced the introduction of “Guidelines for the Ideological and Political Development of the Higher Education Curriculum,” which will modify the contents of courses around the issues of political identity and national feelings. It proposes to include the subjects of “socialism with Chinese characteristics and education about the Chinese dream.” University students who are majoring in literature, business, education, science and engineering, agronomy, medicine, and the arts must take the course. The Ministry of Education will pick select universities to develop a teaching model first and will include the course evaluation results in the assessment of the university’s rankings in the future.

In May 2019, the Ministry of Education issued the “Training Plan for Teachers of Ideological and Political Theory Courses in Colleges and Universities (2019-2023)” and clearly stated that “efforts should be made to train dozens of famous teachers in ideological and political courses that have a wide range of influence, hundreds of leaders in teaching ideology and politics, and tens of thousands of elite teachers in ideology and politics.”

In January this year, the National Textbook Committee issued the “National Textbook Development Plan for Primary and Secondary Schools (2019-2022)” and required that people who compile textbooks must have a firm political position.

Source: Central News Agency, June 5, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202006050224.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

NTDTV: Internal CCP Document Lists 20 Actions that Party Members Are “Not Allowed” to Do

Recently, a six-page internal document that the Central Committee and the State Council issued was revealed to the public. The document was dated May 20. It stipulates that there are a series of 20 political words and actions that are “not allowed” outside the working hours of the party members of the Central Committee and state organs.

Below is a partial list from the document of what is “not allowed.”

1. Expressing different opinions, especially making statements that deviate from the ‘two safeguards’ [Editor’s note: the two safeguards (两个维护) means resolutely safeguarding the core position of General Party Secretary Xi Jinping and the core position of the party; safeguarding the authority of the party and its centralized and unified leadership];
2. Making a “low level compliment or high-level praise with a manipulative or sarcastic undertone (低级红、高级黑)”;
3. Browsing reactionary websites and listening to or watching foreign reactionary radio and television programs;
4. Accepting media interviews, especially from foreign media;
5. Publishing “internal” information from work;
6. Ignoring the demands of the public using non-working hours as the excuse;
7. Forming an alumni association or a comrade’s association;
8. Disseminating speech that violates the party’s theories, guidelines, and policies;
9. Disapproving of the Central Authorities;
10. Discussing or disseminating political rumors and remarks that tarnish the image of the party and the country;
11. Forming cliques and factions within the party;
12. Becoming a two-faced person.

Source: New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), June 7, 2020
https://ntdtv.com/gb/2020/06/07/a102865262.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Ouster of Pro-China Taiwan Mayor Topped the Search Results on Mainland Internet

Following his failed bid, early in January, to be the President of Taiwan, Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) was voted out of office as the mayor of Kaohsiung city in Taiwan. The vote to recall him was held on Saturday June 6. He thus became the first Taiwanese elected official ever to be removed in a recall election. The voter turnout was 42.14 percent with over 939,090 voting Yea and 25,051 voting Nay. The number of Yea votes not only exceeded the minimum votes required, which was 574,996, but also surpassed the 890,000 votes that Han gained when he was voted into the position of mayor back in November 2018. On June 6, the news topped the search results on the Internet in the mainland. Mainland media including Phoenix, Sina, Global Times, CCTV, and The Paper broadcasted the breaking news. People started to post online comments such as, “This is the fate of two-faced person.” “It turns out that this is a democratic society. Our system is different. Although we have not experienced the election of our local leaders, after this time, we now realize what democracy is! The people can vote you in and vote you out!” “I am jealous! This is the advantage of having a vote. When an official does not rule for the people, he can be directly kicked out.”

Six months after Han became the mayor of Kaohsiung in 2018, he announced his bid to run in the presidential election. Han was criticized because he failed the people who had given him a chance to pull down the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan and because he advanced the mainland’s interest in Taiwan. Just as Zhang Boyang, deputy director of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party explained, “This is not just the people of Kaohsiung expressing their voices to politicians; it is also the people of Kaohsiung once again saying no to the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping.”

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, June 6, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/6/6/n12167052.htm
2. Radio Free Asia, June 6, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/hcm-06062020124206.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

CCP Media Slams the “Street Vendor Economy” of Premier Li Keqiang

In a visit to the city of Yantai in Shandong province on June 1 and 2, 2020, Premier Li Keqiang said street stalls and small shops “are important sources of jobs.”  “They are part of China’s vitality just like those high-end, great, and classy businesses,” said Li. This followed his previous remarks made at the press event after the May 28 adjournment of the Third Session of the Thirteenth People’s Congress, where he praised the street vendor policies back in the 1970s for effectively creating jobs. The encouragement of street vendors, backed by Premier Li Keqiang, as a way to create self-employed businesses to absorb newly unemployed, is viewed as a marked change for the government, which previously cracked down on street vendors as part of urban rejuvenation efforts.

Within days, key CCP media pushed back.

On June 6, 2020, Beijing Daily, published an article boycotting Li Keqiang’s “street vendor economy,” claiming that the “street vendor economy is not suitable for Beijing.”  It listed a series of various disadvantages to the community environment, including “dirty streets, fake and shoddy products, noise disturbing people, vendors roaming on the streets blocking traffic, etc.” Beijing Daily asserted that the resultant disadvantages damage Beijing’s image as China’s capital and China’s national image, and are “not conducive to a high-quality economy.”

On the same day, the CCP’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, published a commentary on the street vendors. It expressed that the street vendor economy should not be overheated. “With street stalls all over the city, there are also people worried about whether it will hinder traffic. How can the quality of merchandise be guaranteed? How to solve the health problem associated with food and the environment? These worries are not superfluous.”

On June 7, CCP media, China Central TV, also published a commentary, reiterating that the “street vendor economy” is not suitable for Beijing, and said that Beijing’s urban management will strengthen law-enforcement inspection and handling of the street vendors. It further stated that the “street vendor economy” is not a panacea and “blindly following the trend will be counterproductive.”

Sources:
1.The Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, June 4, 2020,
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-06/04/content_5517257.html
2.Beijing Daily, June 6, 2020
https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2020-06-06/doc-iirczymk5630045.shtml
3.People’s Daily, June 6, 2020
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0606/c1003-31737652.html
4.China Central TV, June 7, 2020
https://news.sina.cn/gn/2020-06-07/detail-iircuyvi7133828.d.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Serbia Suspected of Firing Son of Hao Haidong, a Chinese Soccer Star Calling for the End of the Communist Party

On June 4, 2020, Hao Haidong, a former Chinese soccer star and the nation’s top goalscorer, uploaded a video in which he and his wife announced a statement from the “New Federal State of China,” a movement that Guo Wengui sponsored, and which Steve Bannon (former executive chairman of Breitbart News) backed. In the video, Hao openly denounced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and called for the removal of the regime. He said in the video, “Football in China is a reflection of the country … It’s not the players that make it worse, it’s the bureaucrats that damage the whole business by ignoring the rules.” Hao’s wife, Ye Zhaoying, is a former world badminton champion. Immediately after Hao’s action, the couple’s Chinese social media accounts were deleted, as well as their online profiles on major portals in China.

Guo Wengui, a wealthy businessman in exile (now living in the United States) is the leader of the “New Federal State of China.” He told the audience in a live broadcast on June 6 that Hao Runze, son of Hao Haidong, who was playing in a Serbian soccer league, was fired.

The retaliatory move does not come as a surprise. Tang Jingyuan, an anchor on New Tang Dynasty TV, a New York based Chinese language network, tweeted: “Serbia is highly pro-communist. Its president kissed the five-star flag (China’ national flag) in public when he welcomed the CCP’s medical team in March this year. The dismissal of Hao Runze was only a reciprocal gift from Serbia.”

Public sources show Hao Runze, 23 years old, is a professional soccer player.  At the age of 16, he scored his first professional goal after joining the Spanish League. Hao joined the Serbian Radnicki Nis club in February this year. One day before Hao Haidong’s declaration, Hao Runze scored a goal in the Serbian SuperLiga, the Serbian professional league for soccer clubs.

Coincidental or not, People’s Daily, the CCP’s mouthpiece newspaper, published a translated article from a researcher from the University of Belgrade, praising the CCP and its close relationship with Serbia. It also mentioned a few “Belt and Road” projects in Serbia: the Mihajlo Pupin Bridge which the China Road and Bridge Corporation had undertaken, the Kostolac Power Plant, which China Exim Bank had financed, and the E-763 highway, that the Shandong Hi-speed Group had built.

Source: Epoch Times, June 7, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/6/7/n12168584.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend