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Macao Refused to Let Some Hong Kong and Foreign Reporters Enter

Popular Hong Kong online new media HK01 Network recently reported that the government of Macao refused the entry of multiple members of the press from Hong Kong and other countries. December 20 was the 20th Anniversary of Macau’s Return and Chinese President Xi Jinping was attending the ceremony. The media organizations banned include Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK, an HK government owned, top and official broadcasting organization of Hong Kong), Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK, one of the only two commercial radio broadcasting companies in Hong Kong), the South China Morning Post (the most popular English newspaper in Hong Kong), Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB, Hong Kong’s largest TV broadcaster), Apple Daily and NowTV. The Macao government had issued official press passes to all of the reporters from these media companies. Nevertheless,  these reporters were blocked from entering, including those from the Radio and Television of Portugal, (although permitted later after diplomatic intervention). The Macao authorities refused applications from all online media companies. The Hong Kong Journalists Association issued a public statement calling on the Mainland government and the Macao government to respect freedom of the press. The statement also asked the Hong Kong government to work with the Macao border control to allow free passage for reporters with legal Macao permits.

Source: HK01, December 18, 2019
https://bit.ly/2PJFepA

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: Putin Commented on Trump’s Impeachment

Global Times reported quickly after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the impeachment articles against Trump, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments were published only one day after the result was out. Putin classified the impeachment as just part of a political fight. He mentioned that the Democrats failed to prove there was Russian collusion and they now were banking on the Ukraine excuse. To him, this was merely the continuation of the resistance delivered by the losers. Putin predicted that the Senate Republicans are very unlikely to remove a Republican president with such a weak excuse. In the meantime, President Trump said at a Michigan rally that the impeachment doesn’t feel real because the nation is in its best shape in history and he did nothing wrong. The White House official announcement also stated that the impeachment was a sham and that it was one of the most shameful political events in U.S. history. Global Times explained that the U.S. Senate is expected to look into the House impeachment articles in January and, with the Republican majority in the Senate, the articles won’t pass the Senate. China has a “Comprehensive Strategic Relationship” with Russia.

Source: Global Times, November 19, 2019
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/9CaKrnKoqvH

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

DW Chinese: China Performed Precise Blockage during Democratic Presidential Debate

Deutsche Welle Chinese Edition recently reported that the Chinese government performed a precise blockage of the online real-time streaming of the latest Television Debate of U.S. Democratic Party Presidential Candidates. At around 9:00 PM, the official online video streaming went “black-screen” in China, without warning. At that very moment, PBS moderator Judy Woodruff was asking Mayor Pete Buttigieg about whether boycotting 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was the right response to China’s detaining Uighurs in Xinjiang, China. Mayor Buttigieg responded by accusing President Trump of not doing enough about China’s human rights records. The online streaming in China was blocked for about nine minutes, during which time the debate also focused on the Hong Kong movement, the South China Sea situation, and China’s military ambitions.

Source: DW Chinese, December 20, 2019
https://p.dw.com/p/3V9Go

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China Completes its “10,000 Villages Connected” Project in Kenya

According to Xinhua, China’s official News Agency, the completion ceremony for Kenya’s “10,000 Villages Connected” project was held at the Kinyanjui Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya, on December 20, 2019. The “10,000 Villages Connected” project is an African aid project that China launched in 2019. The plan was to install satellite receiving antennas, set-top boxes, digital televisions, projection televisions, solar systems, and other facilities in 800 villages in 47 counties in Kenya.

Source: People’s Daily, December 22, 2019
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2019-12/22/nw.D110000renmrb_20191222_11-03.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Trump’s Twitter Response after Impeachment Was Widely Reported in China

Beijing News quickly reported that, after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, the U.S. President posted a picture to respond. He tweeted as soon as he completed his speech at a Michigan rally with a picture in which he pointed out to his supporters that, “In reality they’re not after me. They are after you. I’m just in the way.” Trump indicated in the Michigan speech that the impeachment was “illegal, unconstitutional, and partisan.” He called his supporters to “drive Pelosi out of office.” The Republicans have been accusing the Democrats of attempting to overturn the Trump administration because they could not accept the 2016 presidential election result. However, the Democrats said they were just defending the Constitution. {Editor’s comment: The Trump pictorial twitter response was widely reported and republished in Chinese official media, including in Beijing News, Beijing Daily, Global Times, iFeng, China.com, Tencent News, Sohu, Sina, and others.}

Source: Beijing News, December 19, 2019
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/world/2019/12/19/663954.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China’s Cyber Regulation Bans Information Endangering National Security

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) recently issued the “Regulations on the Ecological Governance of Cyber Information Content,” which states that online content producers must not produce, copy, or publish contents that “endanger national security, leak state secrets, subvert state power, or disrupt national unity.” The regulation is to be implemented starting March 1, 2020.

The regulation encourages Internet content producers to generate, copy, and publish information that “promotes Xi Jinping thoughts, accurately and vividly interpret socialist roads, theories, systems, and culture with Chinese characteristics, and positive contents that “promote socialist core values, excellent moral culture and the spirit of the times, and fully display the Chinese nation’s upward spirit.”

In addition, the regulation states that online content producers must not produce, copy, or publish illegal information that contains contents that “endanger national security, leak state secrets, subvert state power, and disrupt national unity” and information that “damages national honor and interests.” They should take measures to prevent and resist the production, copying, and release of bad messages containing content that “uses exaggerated titles, is seriously inconsistent with the title” and contains information that “hypes scandals, love affairs, and misdeeds.”

Source: Central News Agency, December 20, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201912200233.aspx

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Chinese Communist Party Releases Document Vowing to Protect Legal Property of Private Enterprises

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Committee and the State Council of the Chinese government issued the “Opinions on Supporting the Reform and Development of Private Enterprises.” In the contents, the CCP vows to “protect the legal property of private enterprises and entrepreneurs” and to “implement larger scale tax and fee cuts” to “substantially reduce the burden on private enterprises.”

This opinion claims to improve the fair and competitive market environment, improve a precise and effective policy environment, enhance the legal environment for equal protection, encourage and guide the reforms and innovations of private enterprises, and promote the normal and healthy development of private enterprises.

On the “protect the legal property of private enterprises and entrepreneurs,” the opinion claims to adopt measures such as seizure and freezing in strict accordance with legal procedures, strictly to distinguish illegal income in other case-related property and legal property, strictly to distinguish corporate legal personal property from shareholders’ personal property, and strictly to distinguish between the personal property of the persons involved and the property of family members.

As China’s economic policy has turned left in recent years, private enterprises are projecting a gloomier future. In the second half of 2019, the founders of a few large private enterprises in China retired one by one. Following the announcements, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Ma Huateng from Tencent, Li Yanhong from Baidu, and Liu Qiangdong from JD.com, Inc. all resigned as chairman one after the other. In December, Wang Wei, chairman of SF Express Group, and Liu Chuanzhi, founder of the Lenovo Group announced their resignations. In response, Beijing’s recent move is suspected to boost the low economic sentiments, especially among the private sector.

Source: Central News Agency, December 22, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201912220192.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Taiwan Legislator: Ten Ways the CCP Is Interfering in Taiwan’s Elections

The Presidential Election of the Republic of China (ROC) will be held in Taiwan on January 11, 2020. Recently a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator, Li Junyi, drew attention to the severity of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) interference in the Taiwan’s election. He thinks that Taiwan needs an “Anti-Infiltration Law” to prevent the CCP from using Taiwan’s democratic system to defeat its democracy.

He listed ten ways in which the CCP is interfering:

1. Hacker Attacks – the CCP attacks the government and other websites so it can access and steal information.

2. Establishing Organizations and Communication Tools – CCP spy Zhou Hongxu was suspected of using Wang Bingzhou, a key member of the New Party (a political party in Taiwan), to create Fire News media in order to spread the CCP’s United Front message.

3. Information Control – the CCP controlled social media calls Hong Kong protesters “violent activists.” They are now applying the same method of control in Taiwan.

4. Fake News – the University of Gothenburg, Sweden found that Taiwan has received the largest number of foreign fake news attacks.

5. Buying Social Sites – A group of fans who supported Han Guoyu (the Kuomintang’s Presidential candidate whom the CCP likes and is spending money to support) recently changed its position to support Tsai Ing-wen (the ROC President seeking re-election, as the DPP candidate). The fans group said that a rich businessman from mainland China promised them money (if they supported Han), but after the CCP’s spy Wang Liqiang defected to Australia, that businessman disappeared.

6. Using Civil Organizations – President Zhou Qingjun and member Zhang Xiuye of the Patriot Alliance Association (a pro-CCP organization in the ROC) have been sued for receiving the CCP’s money for Zhang to bid for Taipei’s Council member position.

7. Using an Interfering Party – The Chinese Unification Promotion Party (a Party in the ROC that has been criticized for its connection to the CCP and to gangsters) recently held a ceremony for the CCP’s 70th anniversary of taking over the mainland from the ROC. This party openly advocates that Taiwan re-unites with the CCP.

8. Drawing in Retired Generals – Retired General Wu Sz-huai went to mainland China and saluted the CCP’s flag. Retired General Luo Wen-shan received a political donation from the CCP’s contacts.

9. Connecting with the Media – The CCP invited Taiwan media executives to visit the mainland and to promote the “One Country, Two Systems” concept, which is the CCP’s offer to re-unite Taiwan under its control.

10. Illegal Money Exchanges – Taiwan authorities have found 80 billion New Taiwan Dollars (US $2.64 billion) that came to Taiwan through underground channels.

Source: Epoch Times, December 4, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/12/4/n11700590.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics