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Briefings - 287. page

The U.S. Proposes New Restrictions on Visa Conditions for Chinese Reporters

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu recently reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security posted a new proposed regulation in the Federal Register which plans to apply further restrictions to the visa duration for reporters from China to 90 days. Extensions will be allowed. The plan is currently in the process of public review. If the plan is implemented, Chinese reporters will have to leave the United States after 90 days unless the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approves an extension. The new proposal does not apply to those with Hong Kong or Macau passports. The new plan was reportedly to enhance U.S. national security. In the recent years, the U.S. government has been “creating trouble” for Chinese media reporters. In 2018, the U.S. government asked the Chinese media branches in the U.S. to register as proxies of a foreign government. In February of this year, five Chinese media companies in the U.S. were classified as “foreign missions.” Later the U.S. government restricted the number of staff members for these five companies. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented that, maybe the U.S. government does not want the world to know how poorly they handled the pandemic.

Source: Sohu, May 9, 2020
https://www.sohu.com/a/393986216_115479

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

The U.S. Is Looking at Tightening OPT Policies for International Students

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that, right after President Trump suspended legal immigration for 60 days, the U.S. government looked at considering tightening up the policies for the international students to apply for OPT (Optional Practical Training) after graduation. According to a recent Forbes article, the Trump administration may further restrict or entirely eliminate the temporary work opportunities offered by the OPT programs. It is possible that this new development may only apply to Chinese students. This report is not baseless. Acting U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said on the radio on April 27 that the OPT qualification for Chinese students will be the new target of the Trump administration. Restricting OPT for STEM majors has always been on the table.

Source: Sina, May 7, 2020
https://k.sina.com.cn/article_2817931122_a7f6377200100vany.html?from=news

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

CNA: Hu Xijin Called for Adding Nuclear Warheads

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that Hu Xijin, Chief Editor of the Chinese hawkish CCP newspaper Global Times, called for a short term increase to 1,000 in the number of China’s nuclear warheads. This includes the need for at least 100 Dongfeng-41 intercontinental strategic missiles. The purpose of this proposal, according to Hu, is to suppress the U.S. strategic ambitions and impulses toward China. Based on the estimate made by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in June 2019, China has 290 nuclear warheads, thereby ranking number four globally. Hu said that China needs to reach the new level in a very short period of time. He predicted that, in the near future, China will need a very strong will to face the upcoming challenges. It must be backed by the Dongfeng and Julang (Giant Wave) families of missiles. The Julang family of missiles are China’s intercontinental submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). Hu said that people should not dismiss the usefulness of the warheads just because they are merely sitting there. He further explained, “These warheads are shaping the attitude of the American elites towards China, on a daily basis,”

Source: CNA, May 8, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202005080206.aspx

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military US-China Relations

WeChat Users outside China Are under Political Surveillance

Evidence shows that communications among users with WeChat accounts registered outside China are under political surveillance. Moreover, according to a Citizen Lab report published on May 7, 2020, they are also being used to train the algorithms WeChat uses to censor and monitor China-registered users.

WeChat is a communication application released by China’s Tencent in 2011.  It is used by more than 1 billion people worldwide, and ranks the third-largest in the world, after Whatsapp and Facebook.

As with all social media in China, WeChat actively censors on its platform, including around politically sensitive topics and discussions related to the coronavirus pandemic. The censorship of users appears to be for accounts registered to mainland China’s phone numbers.

WeChat is required by law to share user data with the State government. Tests at the Citizen Lab showed that, for the first time, communications among non-mainland-China users are subject to surveillance.

Further, it has been demonstrated that such communications are also being used to train the algorithms WeChat uses to censor and monitor China-registered users. After documents and images containing politically sensitive content were sent solely among non-China-registered accounts, it was observed that, shortly thereafter, those files were censored for China-registered users.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 7, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/jt-05072020101223.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Information/Technology

International Journal Retracted 30+ Academic Papers from China

In April, a journal under the international academic publisher Springer retracted 33 papers from China all at once. With eight papers withdrawn earlier in the past two years, the total number arrived at 41. The authors of 39 papers came from China.

The mainland Chinese media The Paper, Multimedia Tools and Applications is the journal that issued the decision. The incident involved dozens of Chinese universities, state entities and companies, including Zhejiang University, the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, and China Jiliang University. Many papers had received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The top three institutions in terms of the number of papers retracted were Zhejiang Electric Power Company under the State Grid, the School of Electrical and Optoelectronic Engineering at the Changzhou Institute of Technology, and Hefei University of Technology. One corresponding author from the Changzhou Institute of Technology had seven papers retracted. State Grid and Hefei University of Technology each had a corresponding author with four papers retracted.

Reasons for withdrawal included plagiarism of unpublished manuscripts, attempts to subvert the peer review process, content plagiarism, and improper copying of images without permission. More than half of the authors agreed to withdraw.

This is not the first incident of collective withdrawals involving Chinese scholars. In August 2015, Springer withdrew 64 papers published in its 10 academic journals, most of which were from China. In April 2017, Springer’s Tumor Biology journal withdrew 107 papers that were from Chinese scholars, all at one time, because of peer review fraud. It was hailed as a major earthquake in Chinese academic circles.

Source: Central News Agency, May 7, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202005070283.aspx

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

China’s Thousand Talents Plan Goes Low Profile

The Thousand Talents Plan (TTP), once a high-profile Chinese government project to attract overseas talent, is now on total radio silence. Ever since the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started to pursue the scholars involved in TTP, Chinese authorities have mentioned little of the project in public. It is now even difficult to search relevant information on the Internet.

It was rumored that, as early as late September 2018, the Chinese authorities had ordered the official media to suspend the coverage of TTP. A document circulated on the Internet; the “Thousand Talents Plan Youth Project Review Working Group” authored it. It was affixed with the seal of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, which clearly ordained that “the wording of ‘Thousand Talents Plan’ should not appear in written notifications.”

China’s effort to keep a lid on the project is believed to be a response to the FBI’s probe into the TTP scholars that started in September 2018. The Thousand Talents Plan is a short name for “China’s Overseas High-Level Talent Recruitment Program.” In December 2008, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decided to implement the program. In January 2009, the Talent Work Coordination Group, a task force underneath the CCP’s Central Organization Department, formulated the “Opinions on the Implementation of the Overseas High-level Talent Recruitment Program.” Over the next ten years, about 8,000 overseas experts were hired with high pay, most of them ethnic Chinese.

Searching the characters “千人計畫” (Chinese characters for TTP) on Baidu, China’s largest search engine, turns out very few results. If the search is done using simplified Chinese character, nothing can be found. The keyword is unsearchable on China’s social platforms such as Weibo. It is rumored that, since April this year, China’s cyber police has been filtering the keyword for TTP. However, searching with characters “中國海外高層次人才引進計畫” (Chinese characters for “China’s Overseas High-Level Talent Recruit Program”) will give some information. Sometimes one has to combine different words so as to find piecemeal data.

Source: Central News Agency, May 6, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202005060336.aspx

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Beijing Forces Hong Kong and Taiwan Entertainers to Hold Correct Political Views in Order to Work on the Mainland

Beijing has once again tightened its ideological control over the film and television circles in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Recently, it has been reported that the China Film Administration, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and other movie and television authorities have verbally ordered major film and television companies, including Tencent, iQiyi and other audio-visual companies, to try not to use those Hong Kong or Taiwanese entertainers or behind-the-scenes personnel who have an unknown political view. For those who are hired, they must sign a statement claiming that they will hold the correct political views for the next 10 years, which means that they must show they are patriotic towards the mainland and the party with their word and actions. Otherwise they must be responsible for the financial loss if they are banned from performing because of their political views.

People in Taiwan’s film and television industry have determined that it is likely that the film and television industry is actively cooperating with the party’s political censorship. It is too early to know how the policy will be carried out, but it may put pressure on those celebrities who have depended on the mainland market for a long period of time. If forced to make a political statement, they could become a puppet for the CCP’s propaganda which suppresses personal conscience and freedom of speech.

Taiwan ’s Mainland Affairs Council called on Beijing to respect creative freedom, and not impose the party’s motivation on performing arts and cultural works. The Taiwan Ministry of Culture pointed out that China’s political review system runs against the universal values of respecting freedom of artistic expression and also suppresses creative content, which the world will not accept.

The CCP mouthpiece Global Time reported that the spokesperson for the China State Taiwan Affairs Office had previously clarified that the 10-year political review order was “pure fabrication,” but she also pointed out that China “does not allow a few people to make money on the mainland while supporting the separatist activities of Taiwan independence and it does not want cross-strait exchanges in the movie and film industry be tainted by Taiwan independence forces.”

Source: Voice of America, May 6, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/beijing-tightens-thoughts-control-20200506/5407959.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: U.S. Military Repeatedly Visited the South China Sea Region

Global Times recently reported that, not long ago, the U.S. Navy ship, the USS Barry DDG-52 destroyer “freely navigated” through the Paracel (Xisha) Islands without the permission of the Chinese government, which was considered illegal. Then the U.S. Navy USS Bunker Hill CG-52 missile cruiser again “freely navigated” the Spratly (Nansha) Islands. On April 30, once again the U.S. Air Force two B-1B strategic bombers flew from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota over the South China Sea region for a 32-hour long distance training mission. The U.S. military has, very recently, been entering Chinese territories repeatedly and even performed a joint exercise with the Australian Navy in the South China Sea. These moves are not making a positive contribution to regional stability and are proof that the United States is the one militarizing the South China Sea. The Chinese Military has been monitoring and issuing warnings to the U.S. operators.

Source: Global Times, May 2, 2020
https://mil.huanqiu.com/article/3y3je7LuuHw

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military US-China Relations