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Briefings - 293. page

World Journal: The U.S. Met Hong Kong Political Representatives from Both Sides

Well-known U.S. Chinese language newspaper World Journal recently reported that a Hong Kong political group attended The US-HK Dialogue that the World Affairs Council, the largest nonprofit organization for international affairs in the United States, had hosted. The group consisted of four representatives from Hong Kong’s pro-mainland parties and three from pro-democracy parties. In California, the group met Johnathan Fritz, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian & Pacific Affairs, and Hanscom Smith, Consul General representing the United States to Hong Kong and Macau, as well as people from the House Foreign Relations Committee. The event occurred right before the State Department’s annual Hong Kong Report was about to be released. The pro-mainland representatives described the conversations as frank and constructive, while the pro-democracy representatives brought detailed requests on what more the U.S. government should do on sanctioning the current Hong Kong government, especially on the human rights protection side. With the recent passage of the Taipei Act in Washington, it appears the U.S. government has a comprehensive political view on the issue of Hong Kong and Taiwan. It’s not unusual for the pro-democracy activists to visit the United States. However, pro-mainland leaders are not frequent visitors, especially not in groups. This at least made the typical label of “colluding with foreign powers” that Mainland media often gave the HK pro-democracy parties look very weak.

Source: World Journal, March 9, 2020
https://bit.ly/2IOgZlG

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

HKET: iPhone XR Ranked Best Seller; Huawei Not in Top Ten

Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET), the leading financial daily in Hong Kong, recently reported that, according to market researcher Counterpoint, the Apple iPhone XR was ranked number one in the 2019 global top ten best seller of the smartphone market. In fact, six Apple iPhone models are in the top ten list. Samsung took three spots. Oppo is the only Chinese brand that won a spot. Well-known Chinese vendors like Huawei and Xiaomi had no product on the top ten list. iPhone XR is the only smartphone model, among all smartphones, that scored a double-digit market share in all important regional markets across the globe. The top five in North America are all Apple iPhones. The top five in Europe are either Samsung or Apple iPhones. The top five in China are all Chinese brands.

Source: HKET, March 2, 2020
https://bit.ly/2TxM976

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Deutsche Welle: Internal Documents Showed Huawei Supplied Iran

Deutsche Welle Chinese Edition recently reported that newly obtained Huawei internal documents showed that the company did supply Iran with banned goods such as computer equipment that the U.S. company HP had made. The documents, dated February 2011, are packing lists of items shipped to Tehran, which were pending clearance through customs. These represent very strong hard evidence that supports the U.S. government’s charges against Huawei. The listed equipment involved millions of dollars’ worth of spending on Iranian communications projects. Also in the packing lists were details of servers and switches, as well as U.S. software products from Microsoft, Symantec, and Novell. The volume of the goods reflected in the documents reached 340 standard containers. Huawei refused to comment on this matter, citing on-going legal proceedings. However, Huawei insisted that the company had committed no wrong-doing and followed all of the requirements regarding sanctions from the UN, the EU and the United States. HP did confirm that all its contracts banned these products from being exported to Iran.

Source: DW Chinese, March 3, 2020
https://bit.ly/2VVt28K

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

RFA: Xi’s One Belt One Road Initiative Faces Major Issues

Radio Free Asia (RFA) Chinese Edition recently reported that, the symbolic China-Pakistan Corridor, which is a key piece of the One Belt One Road initiative, is now facing serious challenges. The problems lie in the Port Gwadar Project, which is a US$62 billion undertaking. Gwadar is the ending point of the China-Pakistan Corridor, which is located in Southwest Pakistan. The project planned to construct the port facilities, roads, railways, oil pipes, tens of factories and Pakistan’s largest airport. However, seven years after the project’s initiation, the airport construction hasn’t even started and the investment money has been late for three years and still counting. The industrial park south of the airport shows no sign of starting. The port now has only three berths and the only visitor to the port was the Pakistan Navy. The planned weekly cargo ships from Karachi are nowhere to be seen. Some experts think that the true objective of building the port was to establish a Chinese naval base named Jiwani. According to public records, the main challenge to the China-Pakistan Corridor is money. So far, the initiative has only completed less than one third of the project, costing US$19 billion. Pakistan has not been able to continue the construction work due to lacking further funding.

Source: RFA Chinese, March 4, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/pakistan-belt-03042020052407.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

The Government Is Taking over the HNA Group

The HNA Group, is a rapidly expanding airline and conglomerate in China. After the high-profile mysterious death of its Chairman, Wang Jian, in France in last year, the Hainan Provincial government has been leading its restructure.

The HNA Group announced on February 29 that its high liquidity risk that started at the end of 2017 continued and worsened in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus. Therefore, it requested to form the “Hainan Provincial Government HNA Joint Working Group” to coordinate and address the risk. The Hainan Provincial government has led the working group.

Key personnel in the joint work group are all from government offices or state-owned enterprises:

  • Director Gu Gang, Chairman of Hainan Development Holding Co., Ltd, which is directly owned by the Hainan Provincial government
  • Executive Deputy Director Ren Qinghua, Director of Management Committee of the Hainan Yangpu Economic Development Zone
  • Deputy Director Li Shuangchen, Deputy Director of the Central and South China Regional Administration, Civil Aviation Administration
  • Deputy Director Cheng Gong, Deputy Director of the Credit Management Bureau, China Development Bank.

The HNA Group also re-elected its seven-member board. Gu Gang and Ren Qinghua joined the board. While HNA Co-founder Chen Feng remained as the Chairman, Gu Gang became the Executive Chairman and Ren Qinghua became the joint-company CEO.

HNA Group Co., Ltd. is a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. Founded in 2000, it is involved in numerous industries including aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and more.

People have been sayings that the HNA Group is connected with Wang Qishan.

Source: Stock Times, February 29, 2020
http://news.stcn.com/2020/0229/15693694.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

The Communist Regime Started Enforcing Stringent Restrictions on Online Contents

On March 1, 2020, China started to implement officially the “Regulations on the Ecological Governance of Internet Information Content” (“Regulation”) that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued on December 15, 2019. The Regulation has 8 chapters and 42 articles.

Radio France International published an article commenting that the Regulation was intended to monitor closely and fundamentally eliminate information detrimental to the authorities. It tried to control the information creation and publishing chain, including “creation, copying, and publishing.” It also bound the Information producer, the network information service platform, and the information consumer together to make them mutually monitor each other.

The strict regulation encouraged online information producers to produce, copy, and distribute contents that promote Xi Jinping Thoughts, publicize the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) s policies, promote socialist values, and help increase the international influence of CCP culture. To a certain extent, it tried to make the content producers undertake the work of promoting the CCP’s policies and propaganda.

Information inconsistent with the party’s guidelines and policies will be controlled, removed, and even “sanctioned according to the law.” For example, Article Six states: Producers of network content may not create, copy, or publish illegal information containing content that “endangers national security, leaks state secrets, subverts state power, undermines national unity,” “damages national honor and interests,’ “vilifies heroes,” or “spreads rumors.”

[Editor’s note: The Regulation was possibly a response to Xi Jinping’s instructions given on September 16, 2019, during National Cyber Security Awareness Week. Xi emphasized the importance of security and control and called for enhancing people’s happiness and security in cyberspace.]

Sources:
1. CAC website, September 16, 2019
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2019-09/16/c_1570162524717095.htm
2. CAC website, December 20, 2019
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2019-12/20/c_1578375159509309.htm
3. Radio France International, March 1, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20200301-中国最严厉网络审查标准出台-明天只剩下好消息了

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Washington Passed the Taipei Act

Global Times recently published a commentary on the Taipei Act that just passed the House of Representatives in Washington, D. C. The commentary described the new bill as “brutal interference in China’s internal affairs.” According to James Francis Moriarty, Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, the move was to double the effort to help Taiwan step up on the world stage. Apparently, the U.S. is once again ignoring the “One China” principle it committed to. However, Taiwan is just a strategic chess piece for the U.S., and the Taipei Act is not a binding resolution. The language used in the bill is largely on the side of “should” rather than “shall.” Only hours after the House passage of the new bill, Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen went immediately to meet James Moriarty in order to thank him. Maybe, as a political gambler, she still has hope for the independence “vision” for Taiwan,.

Right after the Taipei Act passed the House, Radio France International (RFI) Chinese Edition reported on the fact that the bill went through with a sweeping 415 to zero voting result. The bill supported Taiwan to participate in more international organizations as observers. It also asked the Executive branch to punish those countries that took steps to significantly hurt Taiwan’s security and prosperity. As an example of the unfair treatment Taiwan received, Taiwan was excluded from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which caused a negative impact globally. The U.S. Senate already passed its version of the Taipei Act last year.

Sources:
(1) Global Times, March 6, 2020
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/9CaKrnKpKEK

(2) RFI Chinese, March 5, 2020
https://bit.ly/38CTjuV

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

LTN: China Responded to Bernie Sander’s Military Protection Promise on Taiwan

Well-known Taiwanese Newspaper Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders claimed that he would take military action to protect Taiwan if Mainland China took Taiwan by force. Sanders stated this position of his in a CBS 60 Minutes interview. He said he will “absolutely” take military action and he wanted to make this position clear to the world. The new spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, responded in a press conference. Zhao said that the Chinese government noticed Sander’s comments; however, Taiwan issues are Chinese domestic matters and foreign countries have no right to intervene. Zhao would like to urge American politicians to remain careful on this matter and avoid destroying regional stability. Zhao is new to the spokesperson position. He served in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 24 years and worked at the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. and in Pakistan.

Source: LTN, February 24, 2020
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/3078700

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations