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CNA: EU Launches Investigation into Chinese E-Commerce Company Temu

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that the European Commission has announced it will investigate Temu, a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, under the EU Digital Services Act. The online shopping platform is suspected of selling illegal goods and has designs that make consumers addicted. According to Temu’s declaration, as of September, there were 92 million monthly active users in the European Union, which complies with the definition of Very Large Online Platform (VLOP), which requires more stringent regulation.

The focus of the EU investigation is, first, whether the Temu system can effectively prevent illegal commodity transactions, including preventing the products of low-quality sellers that have been suspended from being relisted. The EU also wants to investigate whether Temu’s design to make users addictive, such as providing rewards in a game-like manner, and whether its system includes risk prevention measures to avoid the negative impact of addiction on users’ physical and mental health.

Temu’s cheap dumping strategy and inferior product quality have caused much controversy internationally. In addition to EU, the governments of the United States, South Korea, and Thailand have also announced that they will launch investigations.

Source: CNA, October 31, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202410310305.aspx

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Doctor Mysteriously Dies After Exposing Alleged Organ Harvesting at Xiangya Second Hospital

On May 8, Luo Shuaiyu, an intern doctor in the transplant department at Xiangya Second Hospital of Central South University, in Changsha City, Hunan Province, mysteriously fell to his death. Before his death, Luo had reported the hospital’s director and others for allegedly harvesting and selling human organs. Luo’s parents suspect that he was murdered. The Epoch Times obtained some of the evidence Luo had collected before his death, which indicates that the hospital was seeking child donors for transplants and research.

In one audio recording made by Luo, someone at the hospital assigned Luo the task of finding child donors, specifying requirements: “Children aged 3-9, divided into 3-5 and 6-9 age groups, with three boys and three girls in each group, totaling six per group.” The individual, identified as a “liaison,” mentioned on the phone that the project was led by the hospital director and was intended to be a long-term project.

Another recording captured an on-site conversation when Luo was sent to a hospital to procure organs. Luo specified that he needed only the kidneys, not the liver. Then, the surgeon asked others if they wanted liver, suggesting that representatives from other hospitals were present to collect organs as well.

An insider mentioned that Luo was killed because he reported the misconduct of doctor Liu Xiangfeng and other doctors in the transplant department. Luo refused to find 12 child donors; the day before the incident, they pressured him again, and he became upset and threatened to report them. The next day, the doctors conspired to have him killed. Luo also mentioned (in one recording) that mysterious deaths had been occurring at the hospital.

Source: Epoch Times, October 31, 2024
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/24/10/31/n14361508.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability

Chinese Coast Guard Intensifies Patrols Near Taiwanese Kinmen Islands

Xinhua News Agency reported that the Fujian Coast Guard conducted “routine law enforcement patrols” in waters near the Kinmen Islands on October 30. It said that since the beginning of October, Fujian Coast Guard has organized ship formations to intensify patrols in the area, “further strengthening control over the relevant waters.” This effort is aimed at “effectively safeguarding the legitimate rights, interests, and safety of Chinese fishermen, including those from Taiwan, and ensuring the orderly navigation and operations in the Xiamen-Kinmen waters.”

According to Wikipedia, Kinmen is “a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only 10 km east” from mainland China’s Xiamen City, Fujian Province, and 187 km west of Taiwan island.

Sources:

Xinhua, October 30, 2024
http://www.news.cn/legal/20241030/1670d57f2aa94d4ca7f8f5f29d6ccd09/c.html

Wikipedia, Retrieved November 4, 2024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinmen

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Zurich University of the Arts Ends Partnership with Military-Affiliated Chinese University

After years of controversy and reevaluation, Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK) terminated its collaboration with the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) on a joint education program in China, the Shenzhen Institute of Design (SISD). The been partnership had been planned to continue for 30-years. In early 2023, ZHDK conducted a risk analysis of this partnership project, which led to the termination decision. The two main reasons cited were barriers arising from differences in degree standards and “operational risks.”

The decisive factors in ending the collaboration were not related to faculty or degree quality, but rather to HIT’s ties to the Chinese military. HIT is one of China’s “seven defense universities” with close ties to the military. Much of its research funding comes from China’s Ministry of National Defense.

Thomas D. Meier, the former president of ZHDK and a proponent of the partnership, acknowledged HIT’s ties to the military in a 2019 interview with Neue Zürcher Zeitung, but he argued that this connection should not hinder cooperation.

However, some ZHDK faculty and students criticized the project from the start, expressing concerns that the partnership would restrict artistic and academic freedom. They feared that foreign faculty teaching in Shenzhen could face risks if they voiced criticism of China and whether Chinese military will use the products developed on the Shenzhen campus. ZHDK has also received scrutiny from the state government and multiple parties in parliament.

Source: Deutsche Welle, October 29, 2024
https://www.dw.com/zh/风险太高-苏黎世艺术大学终止与哈工大合作办学/a-70632329

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Economy/Resources

RFI Chinese: TSMC Stops Supplying China’s SOPHGO

Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition recently reported that TechInsights, a technology research company, discovered TSMC chips when disassembling Huawei’s Ascend 910B processor (which contains multiple chips). TSMC notified the United States after learning of the news. The chips ordered from TSMC by Chinese company SOPHGO are consistent with the chips found in Huawei’s Ascend 910B multi-chip processor. To protect U.S. national security, Huawei was banned from purchasing this technology. TSMC decided to stop supply after discovering that the chips supplied to this customer were ultimately used in Huawei products.

The U.S. Department of Commerce said it was aware of reports of possible violations of U.S. export control regulations but did not comment on whether there were related investigations underway. SOPHGO, which is affiliated with cryptocurrency mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain, did not respond to a request for comment. Huawei did not respond to a request for comment either. TSMC declined to comment.

Source: RFI Chinese, October 26, 2024
https://tinyurl.com/2uwaw84r

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

China Intensifies Rural Anti-Corruption Drive: Over 77,000 Village Officials Under Investigation in 2024

China’s anti-corruption campaign has intensified at the grassroots level, with 77,000 current or former village party branch secretaries and village committee chiefs investigated for corruption between January and September 2024. This marks a significant increase of over 30,000 cases compared to the same period last year, according to official reports from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In total, Chinese disciplinary authorities investigated 642,000 corruption cases during this nine-month period. The investigations spanned all levels of government, from 58 high-ranking provincial officials to thousands of local administrators. The crackdown has been particularly notable at the village level, where the number of cases in the first three quarters of 2024 has already exceeded the full-year total of 61,000 cases in 2023.

Common corruption practices among village officials include accepting kickbacks from local construction projects and fraudulently obtaining rural compensation funds. With China having more than 600,000 administrative villages, the scale of the corruption has sparked public debate. On social media, many netizens suggest that while the number of investigated officials is already substantial, it likely represents only a fraction of actual corruption cases, with many instances going unreported. The persistent revelation of corruption cases has led to public cynicism, with some commenting that the system is “rotten from top to bottom.”

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 28, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202410280309.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China’s Book Ban Crackdown: Officials Face Punishment for Reading ‘Political’ Materials

Chinese authorities have significantly intensified their crackdown on Communist Party officials found reading or possessing banned books, with at least 15 high-ranking officials charged in 2024 alone — nearly double the number from 2023.

The most recent case emerged on September 25, when Li Bin, the former deputy director of Mudanjiang’s People’s Congress Standing Committee, was expelled from the party and referred for judicial processing. While Li faced various corruption charges, including accepting bribes and illegal financial gains, the authorities notably listed his primary offense as “violating political discipline by privately reading illegal publications containing content that undermines party unity.”

This trend of charging officials for possessing or reading “publications with serious political problems” has become increasingly prevalent in China’s anti-corruption campaign. Several prominent figures have fallen under similar charges, including Wang Xiaoguang, former deputy governor of Guizhou Province, who was accused of “being keen on reading overseas publications with serious political problems,” and Liu Liange, former chairman of Bank of China, who was charged with “privately bringing banned publications into the country.”

An investigation by Caixin Media revealed 29 additional cases of officials facing book-related charges, with the most common accusations being unauthorized possession of politically sensitive materials and illegal importation of banned publications. The crackdown has extended beyond traditional printed materials to include digital content. In response, the Communist Party’s revised Disciplinary Regulations, which took effect on January 1, 2024, expanded Article 52 to specifically include penalties for accessing problematic content across various media formats, including electronic materials, online texts, images, audio, and video resources.

Source: Deutsche Welle, October 25, 2024
https://p.dw.com/p/4mEam

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Eyes Exporting High-end Medical Equipment Overseas

China held its 90th China International Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF) at Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province recently. Nearly 4,000 companies from China and abroad showcased tens of thousands of medical device products.

People’s Daily reported that China has made significant strides in the high-end medical equipment area, such as ventilators, sleep apnea machines, AI-based medical imaging processing, and surgical robots. In recent years, Chinese medical device companies have been advancing steadily into the global markets. According to data from China’s General Administration of Customs, China’s total exports of medical devices reached 484 billion yuan (US$ 68 billion) in 2023, among which, medical equipment exports grew 5.4 percent year-over-year and were up 54.8 percent compared to 2019.

The CMEF event organizer, Reed Sinopharm Exhibitions, signed a cooperation agreement with the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM). Next year, the two parties will jointly host an exhibition in Malaysia, aiming to bring more Chinese medical device products to the international markets.

Source: People’s Daily, October 22, 2024
http://health.people.com.cn/n1/2024/1022/c14739-40344083.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources