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China’s Global Lawyers Forum Cancelled Speech Calling for “Independence of the Bar and the Judiciary”

China recently hosted a Global Lawyers Forum in Guangzhou, claiming that more than 400 international participants had been invited. Among them, a representative of the International Association of Lawyers (UIA), who was originally invited to give a speech at the conference, had his speech cancelled at the last minute. UIA issued a statement expressing its dissatisfaction.

In the beginning, the Chinese authorities called this event in Chinese the equivalent of the “World Lawyers Congress,” but its official English name was “Global Lawyers Forum.” China’s official mouthpiece, Xinhua News Agency reported that the participants included more than 400 international judicial professionals from 57 countries, including the International Bar Association (IBA), the International Association of Lawyers (UIA), the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), and the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA).

The French-based International Association of Lawyers (UIA) issued a press release on December 17 to shed some light on an incident that Chinese media had not covered. The release stated that UIA President Jerome Roth was originally invited to give a keynote speech at the meeting, but the scheduled speech was cancelled after the content of the speech was submitted to the organizer in advance as had been requested.

UIA’s release shared part of Roth’s speech, which emphasized, “The unique role that both individual lawyers and bar associations play as privileged guardians and defenders of citizens’ rights and of the Rule of Law.” “We advocate for the independence of the bar and of the judiciary, without which there would be no Rule of Law.”

Roth’s speech also talked about the significance of the rule of law, including, “the accountability of political authorities of a nation to its citizens, the separation of powers, and laws that are publicly promulgated, equitably enforced, independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards.”

UIA did not say in the press release whether the cancellation of Roth’s speech was because it sounded too harsh on Beijing.

At the end of the statement, UIA reiterated its concern over Chinese lawyers who had disappeared, were threatened, detained, and even physically and mentally abused during their practice of the law, and who were unable to defend their own rights through proper judicial channels.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 19, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/rc-12192019103919.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Mobile Inspector Revealed How He Monitored the Internet

A former China Mobile worker disclosed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) monitoring over its citizens’ phone conversations and text messages to Bitter Winter, a publication focused on the CCP’s human rights abuses.

The former inspector of China Mobile Online, who remained anonymous, said that China Mobile monitors its customers’ conversations and text messages using the excuse that it is managing “inappropriate messages.” Covering all territories in mainland China, its system can automatically detect messages related to politics and religion, including those messages against the CCP or those that make fun of the top leaders. All the detected messages must go through a manual inspection.

The former inspector worked with at least 500 colleagues on this duty and their work was intense.

“If you accidentally let a ‘sensitive message’ pass, your monthly salary will be reduced and your annual bonus will be impacted, too. I usually had to process over 10,000 messages each month. In a year’s time it was inevitable to make a mistake or two.”

“Almighty God,” “Falun Gong,” and other religious words are “sensitive words.” Any mention of “Party,” “Quitting the Party,” and “Quitting the Communist Youth League” in messages or discussions is also tightly monitored.

“Any information that is negative about the CCP is put in the politics category,” he explained, “For example, the information about the CCP conducting live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners is directly ‘dealt with’ (meaning deleted), to prevent it from being circulated.”

“If sensitive words were detected in conversations, Multimedia Messaging Services, test messages, or WeChat postings, the system will automatically block it. It will lock the user’s account and prohibit the user from making phone calls or sending messages. The user has to bring his ID card to China Mobile’s retail office and write a guarantee statement to promise not to send sensitive messages any more in order to get his account unlocked.”

Locking a user account or phone is still a small warning. The authorities will impose much harsher punishment for “severe cases.” A resident in Fujian Province was stopped at China’s border. The border guards destroyed his passport and prevented him from going abroad. They said that he had sent messages in the WeChat group to criticize a CCP leader, which was “insulting national leaders and disrupting the public order.”

“The monitoring standard has been updated frequently in the past few years. As it progresses, it gets stricter and stricter, with fewer and fewer loopholes.”

Source: Bitter Winter, December 4, 2019

監聽全國用戶通訊、刪對黨不利留言　前審查員揭中共控制手段

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Apple Daily: Maoming Protesters Won Their Fight against the CCP

Apple Daily reported that citizens in Maoming City, Guangdong Province forced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader to yield to their demand in four days.

The Huazhou City government, which is under the management of Maoming City, Guangdong Province, triggered the event when the Huazhou government started a land purchase program in Wenlou Town in Huazhou, claiming to build an ecological park. However, it didn’t disclose its real purpose, which was to build a funeral house and a crematorium there.

After its secret agenda was exposed, the residents of Wenlou Town held a fierce protest. Protesters planned to go to the government office on November 28, but a large group of riot police blocked the road. Clashes exploded between the police and protesters. The protesters cut trees to make road blocks to prevent the addition of police reinforcement. They then surrounded the riot police, threw bricks at them, and overturned a police car. Many residents held sticks and even forced the police to retreat to a hill.

The police kept firing tear gas and water cannons. Many protesters were injured, including old people and children.

The standoff inside the city last two days, during which the authorities arrested 200 people. The standoff outside the city continued, with many people holding banners and shouting slogans.

The government softened its position on December 1. Li Weihua, the CCP Party Secretary of Wenlou Town, promised the protesters that the ecological park and funeral house will never be built in Wenlow. In the afternoon, the arrested citizens came back in two buses, though some were said to be on bail awaiting trial.

Source: Apple Daily, December 1, 2019
https://tw.appledaily.com/new/realtime/20191201/1671268/

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Replacing Freedom of Thought, Party Control Bumps into Chinese University’s Charter

On Tuesday December 17, the Chinese Ministry of Education released a statement of its approved amendments to the school charters of Fudan University, Nanjing University, and Shaanxi Normal University. The revised charters of the three universities emphasized, “adherence to the (Chinese Communist) Party’s comprehensive leadership.” They stated that, “The School’s Party committees are the core of school leadership.” They also inserted expressions such as, “making it our mission to achieve the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” People became concerned that the CCP is further strengthening its control over universities and that academic freedom was declining again.

The amendments to the charter of Fudan University, known for its liberal arts, have attracted much attention. The BBC Chinese reporter compared the 2000 version of Fudan University’s charter with the revision that the Ministry of Education published. The new version removed expressions such as “freedom of thought,” “management of academic affairs by teachers and students,” “democratic management,” “independence,” and “the school is a community with scholarship at its core.”

The Party’s leadership stands out in the new charter. Added political expressions emphasize that the Party committee is above the school president, and that the university serves the Party. To name some specifics, it insists on “arming the minds of teachers and students with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” “cultivating and practicing the core values of socialism,” “realizing the historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” and “the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

The new charter places more emphasis on “ideological and political education.” It thus makes a change from “in undergraduate education, the school builds general education as the foundation” to “in undergraduate education, the school makes ideological and political education the key and general education as the foundation.”

The new charter strengthens the party’s leadership over universities and adds “adhering to the principle of the Party in control of cadres” and “adhering to the principle of the Party in control of talent.” Multiple texts involving the election and selection of personnel were changed to “in accordance with the principle of democratic centralism.” The Ministry of Education’s announcement attracted strong attention and concerns over cyberspace in China. Relevant content regarding the amendment of the charter of Fudan University was deleted from social network sites and accounts. On Wednesday December 18, netizens posted Fudan University’s school song on social networks as a silent protest.

In recent years, China’s disciplinary authorities have descended on university campuses to examine the “political discipline” of higher education institutions, including ideological issues and the infiltration of Western values, including democracy and freedom of speech. A Financial Times article three years ago stated that China’s president Xi Jinping called on universities to strengthen the Party’s leadership and stop using imported teaching materials that contain Western values.

Source: BBC Chinese, December 18, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-50836094

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Czech Tycoon Paid for a Campaign to Promote Communist China

The Czech media website Aktualne.cz broke a story on December 11 that there is “a network of experts, journalists, and politicians,” which has been seeking to “influence the Czech society” by spreading pro-Beijing opinions. The news caught the attention of several members of the Czech Parliament, who announced on Sunday, December 15, that they intend to ask to set up a parliamentary committee to investigate the matter.

According to Aktualne.cz, this campaign was launched in April 2019 and is funded by Home Credit, an international non-banking financial institution owned by the Czech Republic’s richest man Petr Kellner. The article said that Kellner, who was close to the Czech president, secretly funded a media public relations agency called “C&B Reputation Management” to carry out activities to improve China’s image in Czech. C&B is responsible for external communications for the Sinoskop Institute for Contemporary China, a pro-Beijing think tank that was set up in June 2019. Czech media regularly interviews the head of Sinoskop, who has ties with the Czech President and Petr Kellner.

In addition, Tomas Jirsa, who owns C&B, started to operate the Czech’s major website Info.cz in January 2019. Since then, the site has published several advertisement like pro-China articles, paid by Home Credit. Several journalists who oppose this have stopped working for the website. One of them publicly stated on Czech public television that the site “publishes less and less criticism of China, and the cooperation with an important think tank that criticizes Beijing has also been suspended.”

Under the “Belt and Road” framework, China has been interested in central Europe for years. Czech President Milos Zeman has always wanted to make his country “a gateway to Europe.”

At the same time, however, Czech’s civil society is showing strong resistance to China’s attempts to influence the Czech Republic. For example, the Mayor of Prague questioned the cooperation agreement with Beijing based on the one-China principle. In addition, at the end of November, the Czech intelligence service officially regarded China’s influence as a “threat” to the Czech Republic’s national security.

Source: Radio France International, December 17, 2019
http://rfi.my/53sg.T

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Swiss Media Launched a Column for the Chinese Ambassador

Die Weltwoche, a Swiss weekly magazine based in Zürich and founded in 1933, has invited the Chinese Ambassador to Switzerland Geng Wenbing to open a “China Perspective” column to promote China’s national policy. Geng opened the column on April 4 of this year. He published his first column titled, “Autonomy and Prosperity.” The article adopted China’s propaganda tone and said that Tibet “under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, went from serfdom to openness,” without a single word mentioning Beijing’s high-pressure policy in Tibet. Roger Köppel, the owner of Die Weltwoche, wrote an introduction for Geng Wenbing and praised China’s development saying, “China is highly questioned in the West, and the Western media has given a one-sided voice to critics and dissidents. China’s official views are absent in the Western media.” As a result, the magazine launched “the world’s first platform for the representatives from the Chinese government.”

Roger Köppel, a member of the Swiss Federal Assembly, took ownership of Die Weltwoche in 2006. Since then, assisted by the Chinese embassy in Switzerland, the newspaper has seen a surge in advertising. Its stance has also become increasingly pro-Beijing.

Later, Geng successively published articles promoting China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” defending the “Xinjiang Concentration Camps,” protesting the “U.S. Trade War,” criticizing “Hong Kong Protesters,” and chanting the “70th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Regime.” Not long ago, when China’s internal documents regarding Xinjiang were exposed, Geng, in one of his articles, said that the Beijing government was “committed to promoting and maintaining ethnic diversity and solidarity.” Two weeks later, a Chinese company Saurer ran a full-page advertisement on Die Weltwoche.

In fact, since March 28 of this year, Die Weltwoche published eight full-page advertisements, including China Construction Bank, under the name “China Week,” with each advertisement valued at over 10,000 Swiss francs (US$10, 200). Coincidentally, seven days after the Chinese advertising campaign at the end of March, Chinese Ambassador Geng Wenbing’s column officially opened. The email that the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a German-language daily newspaper, obtained showed that the commerce staff at the Chinese Embassy coordinated the advertising campaign and Die Weltwoche was aware of the arrangement.

Ralph Weber, a China expert in Switzerland, believes that the Die Weltwoche is a standard model of the Chinese Communist Party’s expansion of its influence abroad. Its not an isolated case in Europe. In October this year, a German media disclosed a joint “Dialogue” program and cooperation between Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Northern German Broadcasting), a Hamburg based German public radio and television broadcaster, and the China Global Television Network group.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 17, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/sz-degrade-12172019090424.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s November Trade Numbers Remain Challenging

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that official trade numbers showed no recovery for China’s imports and exports. In December, China’s export growth rate declined 1.1 percent, year-over-year. Exports to the U.S. in December dropped by 23 percent, year-over-year. The U.S tariff is having an effect. China’s export growth rate to the EU declined by 3.8 percent in December, the rate to Japan declined by 7.8 percent, and to Hong Kong it declined by 7.2 percent, year-over-year. The exports to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) increased by 18 percent in November.

Among all exported goods, cellphones, apparel, suitcases, and furniture saw the most significant decline. In terms of imports, the total from the U.S. had a major increase of 2.7 percent. The Chinese imports of U.S. soybeans especially, increased by 40.9 percent, year-over-year. Among all imported goods, integrated circuits (IC) and automobiles saw the most significant growth. The Chinese international trade surplus reached US$38.7 billion, which is a decline from October’s US$42.8 billion level.

Source: Sina, December 8, 2019
https://bit.ly/2PpwCnX

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Beijing News: Stable Economic Growth May Not Require Six Percent GDP Growth Rate

Famous Chinese economist Guan Tao authored a commentary which Beijing News recently published. The commentary started by advising that stabilizing economic growth should depend on reforms and adjustments, instead of stimulation. Guan’s recommendation was made in the context of the annual Central Government Economic Work Conference, which normally takes place near the end of the year, deciding the critical plans for next year. Guan proposed that the government has no need to forcibly keep the six percent GDP growth rate in order to maintain economic stability. With its great potential, the Chinese economy may continue to slow down next year. Using this year’s growth rate as next year’s “red line” is not reasonable. It is perfectly acceptable, given the size of the Chinese economy, to have a slower growth rate, as long as the investments into improving people’s living quality and job security are sufficient.

Source: Beijing News, December 11, 2019
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/finance/2019/12/11/660348.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources