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Briefings - 290. page

Apple Daily: U.S.-Taiwan Submarine Fiber Cable Approved

Apple Daily (headquartered in Hong Kong) Taiwan Branch recently reported that, with the coronavirus crisis deepening, the remote working model introduced a major increase of network bandwidth demand. The FCC just approved Google’s application to open the PLCN (Pacific Light Cable Network) fiber segment between California and Taiwan. This newly approved connection will allow fast communication between Google’s U.S. and Asian data centers. The PLCN segment between California and Hong Kong was not approved due to strong opposition from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). This decision ends the priority status of the Hong Kong fiber station. DOJ explained that the Hong Kong fiber channel may significantly threaten U.S. national security and law enforcement interests, since Hong Kong is getting heavier and heavier intervention from Mainland China. The DOJ position received strong support from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD). Since 2016, Google and Facebook have jointly funded the PLCN network. Taiwan has Google’s largest Asian data center (the other two are in India and Singapore).

Source: Apple Daily Taiwan, April 10, 2020
https://tw.appledaily.com/international/20200410/CX3GHUKXM7BUKYKSDUL3UCVVGI/

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Global Times: U.S. DOJ Recommended Shutting Down China Telecom in the U.S.

Global Times recently reported that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended ending the authorization granted to China Telecom (Americas). The authorization permits China Telecom to operate in the U.S. for international communications. DOJ’s recommendation to the FCC cited national security and law enforcement risks. The DOJ’s recommendation was based on an investigation that proved China Telecom violated conditions in a 2007 signed agreement, which required transparency on the location where U.S. customer information is stored as well as network security details. The DOJ expressed the concern that, under Chinese laws, China Telecom may spy on U.S. communications traffic and provide sensitive information to the Chinese government. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented in a press conference that China is strongly against this recommendation. China asked the U.S. government to stop politicizing normal market-based commercial operations and to provide Chinese companies a fair environment for doing business.

Source: Global Times, April 10, 2020
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/3xmLcpPXDT8

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Publication of “Wuhan Diary” Outside of China Faces Serious Attacks from Mainland

On Wednesday April 8, the day that Wuhan was lifted from the lockdown, the English and German versions of Wuhan Diary, written by Fang Fang, went on pre-sale online. Fang Fang, a writer who lives in Wuhan, started to publish her diary on Weibo at the end of January documenting people’s lives in Wuhan during the 62-days of lockdown. Her work, however was criticized and attacked on the mainland for “spreading negative energy.” As the publication of the diary in the overseas market got closer, there were mounting condemnations from the left wing in China. One person claimed that publishing the diary around the world was just like “a butcher’s knife from the West (aiming towards China).” Another person complained that the overseas Chinese are likely to become targets of the venting. The Chief Editor of China’s mouthpiece Global Times wrote in his Weibo account that the diary is not a documentary work … It will catch the attention of the international media. Very likely, Chinese people including those who supported Fang Fang in the past, will pay for the fame that Fang Fang is gaining in the West. On the same day, Fang Fang also wrote in her Weibo account saying that this time she has truly experienced what Internet violence is like and said that those who attacked her were just ;oke the “COVID 19 virus” that spreads and strikes other people. A writer from Guangdong province told RFA that, even though Fang Fang’s diary only touches on superficial issues and the fact that this type of “progressive voice” is being severely suppressed suggests that there is no freedom of expression on the mainland.

Fang Fang, 54, whose real name is Wang Fang, graduated from the Department of Chinese Language of Wuhan University and served as the Chairman of the Hubei Writers Association from 2007 to 2018.

Source: Radio Free Asia, April 9, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/huanjing/hc-04092020100438.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CNA: China Auto Industry Faces Parts and Order Shortages

Affected by COVID 19, the Chinese auto industry is facing parts and order shortages. Despite the fact that the Chinese government recently introduced a stimulus plan for electric vehicles and used cars, it is believed that the fate of the Chinese auto industry is dependent on the recovery of the supply chain outside of China. The Central News Agency reported that, due to uncertain future orders, once they are caught up making the existing safety stock orders, many auto manufacturing plants may have to shut down. To reduce their costs, some factories have started to give workers three days off a week from their work shift. Meanwhile the auto market demand is weak as well. Auto sales revenue in the last week of March was down 24 percent compared to the same period in 2019. Airtex in Tianjing is predicting a 30 percent order reduction once the U.S. can get out of its COVID 19 lockdown. As most countries in Europe and the US are dealing with COVID 19, auto makers in China, especially electric auto manufacturers who rely on imports of key components and parts, will face a parts shortage. It is expected that the risk to the auto industry will come in the second half the year.

Source: Central News Agency, April 11, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202004110162.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Epoch Times: Mainland Deployed Liaoning Carrier to Taiwan Strait Region

On April 10, China sent an H-6 jet bomber, KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft and a J-11 jet fighter into the Southwest ocean region of Taiwan and conducted training. On April 11, the China Liaoning Carrier also reached the eastern ocean region outside of Taiwan together with four battleships and one replenishment oiler. On both days, the US RC-135U reconnaissance aircraft was spotted in Bashi Channel south of Taiwan along with the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer passing through the Taiwan Strait in international waters. This marks the 6th time this year that the mainland aircraft came close to Taiwan.

Source: Epoch Times, April 12, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/4/12/n12024504.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Internet Censorship at Local Levels

Based on internal documents Epoch Times obtained from Fangzheng County, Heilongjiang Province, it reported that the local Political and Legal Affairs Commissions of the CCP are actively involved in Internet censorship.

These documents show that, in 2019, the CCP Political and Legal Affairs Commission at Fangzheng County formally established a cyber force for Internet censorship which is composed of a “professional team” and a “local team.” The the County Public Security Bureau leads the professional team and is composed of relevant staff from the County Public Security Bureaus Office of Procuratorates, County Courts, and the County Judicial Bureau, all under the CCP Political and Legal Commission of Fangzheng County. The “local team” is composed of relevant staff from the townships.

The cyber force receives regular training based on the online hot topics, to ensure they master the language of Internet users and the CCP’s official language. On major online topics, the cyber force engages in “positive propaganda and guides public opinion” on WeChat, Weibo, news posts, and forums. For controversial topics, the members of the cyber force collaboratively repost CCP official messages onto their respective blogs, forums, and community platforms, in order to further spread the CCP propaganda on the controversy.

According to the internal documents, the County’s CCP Political and Legal Commission will incentivize members of the cyber force with “rewards or encouragement of both a material and political nature.”

Source: Epoch Times, April 9, 2020

https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/4/7/n12010892.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Global Times: If the U.S. Hikes Sanction on Computer Chips, China Has Counter Measures

Global Times recently published a commentary written by Ni Guangnan, one of the founding members of the China Engineering Academy and the former Chief Engineer of the Legend Group. Ni said that the United States seems to be preparing to mount more sanctions on computer chip exports to China. The new plan may cut off chips manufactured by China’s primary overseas chip supplier TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company). Though this plan can significantly damage China’s high-tech industry, yet China does have some counter measures. One example is to ban U.S. 5G chips or products with U.S. 5G chips from the Chinese market. The potential damage on just Apple and Qualcomm alone will be around US$70 billion. China can also set limitations on government procurement of U.S. IT products, which will severely damage the U.S. Wintel ecosystem. Apparently, the U.S. is not just aiming at Huawei, but at the entire Chinese high-tech industry.

Source: Global Times, April 3, 2020
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/9CaKrnKqfUu

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Beijing News: Multiple Countries Called Off Food Exports; Is China Safe?

Beijing News recently reported that, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), food safety may become an issue in some countries and regions due to the lack of labor and to supply chain disruptions. The FAO expects the worst case may occur in April or May. Multiple food exporters are limiting or even banning the export of food. For example, Kazakhstan has banned exports of wheat, carrots, sugar and potatoes. Serbia has stopped exporting sunflower oil. Vietnam has also restricted rice exports and Russia has stopped exporting finished grains. China is seeing high volume of food purchases in many cities. China imports around 100 million tons of food every year, which is a quarter of the world’s food trade volume. China has enough wheat, rice and corn stock as well as the capacity to produce domestically. However, soybeans, which hold an 80 percent share of the 100 million annual food imports, may be impacted. However, the impact is not obvious at the moment. In the future, the bottleneck could be on the transportation side, since the United States and Brazil are China’s primary suppliers. A temporary halt could happen, yet it is expected to be a very short one.

Source: Beijing News, April 1, 2020
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/feature/2020/04/01/711816.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources