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Briefings - 289. page

Tech News: Satellite Analysis Showed Chinese Economy Did Not Rebound

Taiwanese technology news site Tech News recently reported that, despite China’s global propaganda, a new scientific study showed that the Chinese economy did not rebound. According to the Broad Activity Index (BAI), provided by U.S economic analysis vendor SpaceKnow, Chinese supply chain industrial activities continued to shrink. As of early April, the Chinese BAI was -0.2 percent. The company deployed cutting-edge technology which uses three satellites to monitor over 5,000 supply chain checkpoints in China. Satellite based methane and ozone studies also showed Chinese economic activities remain on a very low level compared to “normal” times. However, the night-time lighting level did not change much. It was discovered that factory closures were replaced by hospital openings. The study concluded that the Chinese economy didn’t even start to rebound.

Source: Tech News, April 13, 2020
https://finance.technews.tw/2020/04/13/spaceknow-survey-china-economy/

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Beijing News: We Must Stay Alert on Post-Pandemic Desinicization

Beijing News recently published an important interview with Cao Dewang, Chairman of the Fuyao Group, which is the world’s largest automobile glass manufacturer. According to Cao, the de-globalization trend will be unavoidable after the pandemic concludes. The countries will seek to establish a more independent, complete, and safe industrial chain. The current situation fully exposed the high risk of having a long global industrial chain. It will introduce more distrust among nations, which will justify policy adjustments to simplify the industrial chain structure. China must stay vigilant to the fact that most nations may start to reduce their dependency on China. However, it will be very hard for countries like the U.S. and those in the EU to re-establish a fully self-sufficient industrial chain due to a lack of investors, the lack of low-cost labor, the lack of qualified managers in manufacturing, and the lack of money. Additionally, labor unions will add to the difficulties. In regions like Southeast Asia, infrastructure challenges will make building a new factory take two to three years. So, in the short term, China is irreplaceable. However, it is time to do some introspection on China’s long-term risks.

Source: Beijing News, April 13, 2020
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/finance/2020/04/13/716271.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

The Pandemic Exposed the U.S. Broadband Issues

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that around one-third of the U.S. farmers don’t have broadband Internet at home. The stay-home requirements now in place for most of the Americans exposed the difficulties on internet performance issues for a large number of people. According FCC 2019 data, the United States still has around 21 million people who have no broadband connections. Some experts expressed the belief that the actual number may even be double that figure. Before the pandemic, a lot of people lacking broadband could work around the problem by visiting a friend’s home, local libraries, or fast food restaurants. Now having to stay home without broadband is causing kids to miss online teaching, patients are losing touch with their doctors, and business owners are having trouble connecting with customers. It appears the broadband problem in the U.S. is now becoming a life or death choice. An immediate and fundamental challenge right now is that no one truly knows who doesn’t have broadband.

Source: Sina, April 13, 2020
https://finance.sina.com/gb/economy/economy_global/cankaoxiaoxi/2020-04-13/doc-ifzvhyfh6200585.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

NTDTV: Vice Minister of National Security Office is Probed for Disciplinary Violation

The official website of the National Commission for Discipline Inspection issued an announcement on April 19, saying that Sun Lijun, a member of the party committee and deputy minister of the National Security Office, was “suspected of serious violation of discipline and law” and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervision investigation by the National Commission for Discipline Inspection. Sun has held the position since 2013. The National Security Office is under the ministry of Public Security. Since 1999, it has quickly expanded and consists of large number of secrete policy who are responsible for crackdown on rights activists movements, dissidents and religious members. In February this year, Sun was sent to Wuhan to “supervise” local public security work.

According to public information, Sun Lijun is 51 years old and was born in Qingdao, Shandong. He studied public health and urban management at the State University of New South Wales, Australia. During his tenure as the deputy minister of National Security Office, Sun Lijun also served as the deputy director of the notorious “610 Office”, the extra-legal police task force responsible for carrying out the mission of eliminating Falun Gong. Sun Lijun was reported to have worked as the deputy director of the General Office of the Ministry of Public Security in the past and was the secretary for Meng Jianzhu who was the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee.

According to NTDTV, as COVID-19 broke out in Wuhan and spread rapidly around the world, Western countries have strongly criticized Chinese authorities for covering up the truth of the epidemic at the beginning of the virus outbreak, the timing to probe the deputy minister of Public Security who holds master’s degree in public health is puzzling.

Source: NTDTV (New Tang Dynasty Television), April 19, 2020
https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/04/19/a102826758.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

RFA: Beijing Escalates Control over Tibet; Tibetan Tourist Guides must Pass Political Ideology Tests

The Chinese authorities continue to escalate their control over the Tibet region. Recently, it became mandatory for all Tibetan tour guides to pass a “political ideology exam” in order to obtain a tour guide qualification certificate. In addition, in sensitive areas such as Biru County, the authorities have also taken control measures against Han tourists.

According to Radio Free Asia, in Tibet, whether the applicant for the tour guide task is Tibetan or Han, he must take the training course first and then pass the “Tibet Ideology and Politics” exam. The specific exam content includes the “Four Prospects of Marxism” and the “Fundamental Characteristics of the Dalai Group.” It consists of subjects such as “Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times” and “The Party’s National and Religious policy.” In sensitive regions where there have been self-immolation protests in the past, Han tourists are under strict control. They must file tourist application requests, specify the duration of their stay, and agree that they will strictly follow the tour guidelines. Han tourists are only allowed to tour in designated regions and they are not allowed to purchase religious publications sold by the locals. In addition, the authorities have also forced the temples in Tibet to hang the portraits of the party leaders in the lobby and they have demanded that the nuns and monks express their “appreciation to the party” and their “opposition to the Dalai Lama” in front of the tour groups.

Source: Radio Free Asia, April 17, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/dz-04172020125536.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Sina: Two Conglomerate Giants Face Financial Crisis

Recently two conglomerate giants the HNA Group and the Founders Group found themselves to be in a deep financial crisis. On April 14, during a creditor’s meeting, the HNA Group’s request for a one-year debt extension was turned down. On February 29, the heavily indebted HNA announced that it has entered into the takeover process and is working with a task team that the Hainan Provincial Government formed during the transition. Meanwhile the Founders Group announced that it will be unable to meet its debit payment and has entered into a bankruptcy procedure. It is currently working with the bank, the department of Education, and other financial institutions on the restructuring process.

According to Sina, both companies were expanding rapidly in recent years through a large numbers of mergers and acquisitions, using capital operations to inflate their assets. The source of the funds was that they were incurring debts from the banks and from strategic investors. The risk to this model was that, as soon as it received the profit from the subsequent investment, it was unable to cover the interest from its previous debt and the company faced a cash flow risk. In 2018, the HNA group started to have cash flow and liquidity issues. Despite the fact that it sold more than 300 billion of its assets in 2018, it was still unable to improve its capital structure. {Editor’s note: According to sources from overseas media, HNA’s expansion could also be partially related to unspecified private cash investments that top party officials in China made in order to transfer their assets overseas.}

Source: Sina, April 15, 2020
https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/s/2020-04-15/doc-iircuyvh7999067.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

CCP Suspends Anti-America Propaganda on Wuhan Virus

On April 15, 2020, Minghui reported that, according to internal sources, the CCP Central Propaganda Department recently issued an “emergency notice” to media in mainland China to suspend the official CCP propaganda on the Wuhan virus immediately. Analysts interpret the notice as an indication that the CCP Central Propaganda Department is not willing to assume responsibility for the previous CCP propaganda guidelines.  It is believed that the notice was due to the claims filed against China and to the increased advocacy from the international community to hold China accountable for the cover-up of the pandemic.

According to the emergency notice, “brakes must be applied immediately” on all propaganda that advertises how remarkable the Chinese anti-pandemic effort is and how “inferior” the anti-pandemic efforts in foreign countries are. The notice also stated that this was “a painful decision made by its senior leadership based on the current situation.”

Analysts believe that the CCP Central Propaganda Department is attempting to avoid being a scapegoat in the future. Some experts believe that this may be the result of an internal rift and that the CCP will not change.

Since the outbreak of the Wuhan virus in January this year, the CCP has engaged in a major propaganda campaign setting off another anti-America wave, while doing everything it could possibly do to cover up that which allowed the coronavirus to become a global pandemic.

Source: Minghui, April 15, 2020
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2020/4/15/ -403871.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Xinhua: Chinese Long March Rocket Failed Again

Xinhua recently reported that, on April 9, China’s Long March III-B carrier rocket failed its satellite mission for the Indonesian satellite PALAPA-N1. The first and second launch stages succeeded but the third stage failed and the satellite was destroyed too. The failure occurred at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Less than a month ago, on March 16, the Long March VII Modified Rocket failed its mission at the Wenchang Space Launch Site.

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA) Chinese Edition, military analysts expressed the belief that the U.S. blockage of providing critical computer chips to China resulted in the slowdown of the Chinese technology development plans. This is also the reason for the failures seen in the recent Dongfeng Nuclear Missile tests. China had to replace certain chips with those developed domestically.

Sources:
(1) Xinhua, April 9, 2020 http://www.xinhuanet.com/2020-04/09/c_1125834989.htm
(2) Xinhua, March 16, 2020 http://www.xinhuanet.com/tech/2020-03/16/c_1125721734.htm
(3) RFA Chinese, April 10, 2020 https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/rocket-04102020081337.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology