Briefings – Page 345

Thai Government Sues Taiwanese Businessman for Assisting Radio Broadcast to China

Jiang Yongxin, a Taiwanese business executive working in Thailand, was accused of illegally engaging in telecommunications broadcasting. The Thai police sued him earlier this year and the second trial will start next week. Jiang denied that he was engaged in telecommunications broadcasting. The U.S. based Sound of Hope Radio said that the case was an example of how the Thai government has lost its judicial sovereignty because of China’s pressure.

In 2018, Jiang, who was working in Bangkok, rented a vacation home in Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand. He loaned the house to a Taiwanese friend from Taiwan. The Taiwanese friend, a volunteer working for the hope of the U.S. based Chinese-language radio network Sound of Hope Radio, set up a short-wave device to broadcast Chinese language programs.

In January last year, the Thai police arrested Jiang. The first trial was held in February of this year. The second trial will start next week. Jiang has denied the charge of alleged illegal telecommunication broadcasting.

Jiang said that during the police interrogation, he discovered that the Thai information that police had came from the Chinese government. His Thai lawyer also said that the Thai police were under great pressure from China. “My lawyer told me that this is only a small case. The prosecutor did not intend to sue, but because of the pressure from the Chinese embassy, they had to file the charge.”

Sound of Hope Radio is a radio station that Falun Gong practitioners in the United States set up. It uses a shortwave radio to broadcast Chinese programs to China all year round. The station issued a statement on Tuesday urging the Thai government to release Jiang Yongxin. Zeng Yong, the president of the radio station, revealed that the network has hundreds of underground launching stations in China’s neighboring countries and regions. In recent years the Chinese government has exerted increasing pressure on those countries to close those underground launch sites.

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 12, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/xql-06122019152931.html

Briefings | | June 16, 2019 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Beijing Municipal Education Commission: Teachers Who Impair the Authority of the Party Will Be Punished

On Tuesday June 11, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission issued the “Guiding Opinions on the Punishment of Teachers Who Commit Moral Violations at Beijing Colleges and Universities.” The Opinions stipulate 11 major acts of misconduct that university and college teachers might commit, including impairing the authority of Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, endangering national security, leaking state secrets, and conducting religious activities on campus. Other violations include plagiarism, academic forgery, malpractice, demanding bribes, accepting property from students or parents, and using public power for private gain.

The punishment measures include suspension of academic activities, canceling promotions, administrative discipline, and revocation of the teacher’s qualifications.

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 11, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/2-06112019135038.html

Briefings | | June 12, 2019 | Government/Politics

China Accuses U.S. of Cyber Attacks

According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, Beijing based National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center (CNCERT) recently released the “Overview of China’s Cyber Security in 2018.” The data shows that cyber-attacks that originated in the U.S. lead the sources of attacks and the trend continues to worsen.

The CNCERT reported that in 2018 more than 14,000 U.S. based Trojan or botnet servers controlled more than 3.34 million mainframes in China. The number of attacked servers increased by 90.8 percent over the year 2017. 3,825 U.S. IP addresses implanted Trojans into 3,607 websites in China. The number of such U.S. IP addresses increased 43 percent over those in 2017. According to the statistics on the number of Chinese domestic mainframes and websites under attack, the U.S. tops the list of overseas attack sources. The report quotes experts who say that the U.S. has been accusing China of being a major threat to US cybersecurity, but the data shows that the U.S. itself is the largest source of cyber-attacks.

Source: People’s Daily, June 11, 2019
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2019-06/11/nw.D110000renmrb_20190611_2-02.htm

Briefings | | June 12, 2019 | US-China Relations

India May Join China and Russia against the U.S. out of Revenge

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that, according to the Indian newspaper, the Deccan Herald, India is very upset about the U.S. cancellation of India’s GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) status. In response, India is prepared to “join China and Russia” to condemn the U.S. trade protectionist stance. The U.S. withdrawal of India’s GSP benefits was to take effect on June 5. This could impact over 2,900 Indian products that are exported to the U.S. The estimated trade volume on these products is around US$5.6 billion. According to Indian Business Today, the Indian government is going through internal processes in an official response, and the decision is expected by the end of June. India’s potential “revenge tariff” could start as early as June 16. However, that date can be delayed. India is planning to sign a joint announcement together with China and Russia during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, which is to be held in mid-June. Experts expressed their belief that India may not go too far against the U.S. since there are upcoming scheduled talks with the United States.

Source: Sina, June 6, 2019
http://dailynews.sina.com/gb/international/huanqiu/2019-06-06/doc-ifziyxsw7686345.shtml

Briefings | | June 12, 2019 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Bitter Winter: CCP Actions to Ban Foreign Religions Will Continue throughout China

According to Bitter Winter, an organization focusing on religious liberty and human rights in China, China has launched a nationwide effort to crack down on foreign religious activities. The action is to implement the “Work Plan for the Investigation and Handling of Special Actions and activities of Overseas Christian Churches.” The Central United Front Work Department and the Ministry of Public Security issued the Plan. The document specifically mentioned some of the more prominent Christian churches in the United States and South Korea, including the “Jesus Youth Association,” the “School Missionary Society,” the “Evangelical Lutheran Church,” the “Pok Oi Church,” the “Love Church,” and the “Canaan Church.” It also called for the further suppression of the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” and some Korean Christian churches that had been severely attacked previously. The purpose is to prevent them from resuming religious activities.

The document stated that the main tasks of the special action include: “resolutely cracking down on foreign religious believers; “resolutely destroying the religious activities of foreign religious groups in the local area; and “resolutely preventing organizations from attending trainings in neighboring countries and regions. It also requires strict supervision of foreign-related missions on the Internet.

The document requires detailed investigation of foreign-related religious groups, including their background, organization, scale, scope of activities, meeting locations, personnel, online activities, funds and other information; and analysis of the relevant QQ group and WeChat group contents. All believers’ information will be entered into the data platform to establish a “Resistance to Foreign Christian Penetration Work Database.”

The crackdown effort includes closing the meeting places, training centers, seminaries, and other facilities; using a variety of comprehensive means to attack the participant’s beliefs, such as using work units and relatives to pressure them, cutting off welfare protection; using the transformation education system to convert the believers; and even imposing criminal sentences. The local party committee and government are responsible for the transformation and for completely cutting off any possibility of resuming religious activities.

The document requires that, while attacking religious believers, there needs to be an effort to develop undercover members within the church. “We must strive to build and develop a working relationship with those who are both domestic or in foreign countries so that it can be used for our work.”

The document requires that the Publicity Department produce articles and videos about the relevant religious groups and strengthen the publicity and education work for the general public while inciting them to “resist consciously any foreign-related religions.” The online department should do a good job of controlling “harmful information” and strengthening “positive guidance” online. The education department needs to strengthen management of teachers and university students, especially foreign teachers and students who have a religious background. The article also mentioned that there is another document entitled, “Investigating and Dealing with the External Correspondence of Christians from Foreign Countries,” but Bitter Winter was not able to obtain the specific contents of this document.

The document requires that, when carrying out crackdown activities, it should consider the timing so that it does not conflict with sensitive political events or holidays.

The document also requires strict enforcement of confidentiality disciplines. It is strictly forbidden to upload relevant documents to the website or through non-confidential channels such as WeChat.

The guiding principal of the document is based on Xi Jinping’s series of “important instructions” about resisting “international religious infiltration,” including “not allowing foreign religious forces to form a system within our country. We must not allow the formation of forces against the party and government in the religious field.”

Source: Bitter Winter, May 27, 2019

遼寧機密文件內容曝光　全國性打擊涉外教會行動已開始

Briefings | | June 12, 2019 | Government/Politics

Xinhua: Whoever Advocates Giving in to the U.S. in the Trade War Is a Rat Who All Should Chase

On June 9, 2019, Xinhua published a commentary on the U.S.-china trade issues titled, “Let Everyone Chase the ‘Surrender Theory’ As If It Were a Rat Running across the Street.”

The commentary began with a reiteration of the Communist Party’s official position. “The attitude of the Chinese side has always been clear: not willing to fight, not afraid to fight, have to fight if necessary. In this regard, the vast majority of Chinese people are very firm on this position and are united as one in solidarity. However, a small number of people have developed ‘PF chondrosis,’ lost their national integrity, and have widely advocated a surrender theory because ‘China is in a disadvantaged position and should appeal to all to compromise,’ thus confusing, disturbing, and distracting the public. In this regard, we must unequivocally say ‘no.’ We will vigorously carry out the struggle and let the ‘surrender theory’ become a street rat.”

The commentary went on, “[T]hose who advocate the ‘surrender theory’ unconditionally tout the ‘rationality,’ ‘legality,’ and ‘necessity’ of the U.S. government’s trade bullying policy and power-political behavior against China. They put the blame for the Sino-U.S. trade war entirely on China. They allege that China bites the hand that feeds it ‘with no reasonable basis for resisting the U.S. trade bullying.’ It is an action to curry favor with the United States and it is an absurd theory that calls white black and black white.”

The commentary concluded with a warning, “I hereby notify those who worship, are eager to please, and are fearful of the United States that you should not continue to be an accomplice of the U.S. government in bullying; you should not try to use the ‘surrender theory’ to sabotage the Chinese people’s spirit of resistance. If you continue to be obsessed and stubbornly move forward, an abyss of 100,000 feet will be right in front of you.”

Source: Xinhua, June 7, 2019
http://www.xinhuanet.com/comments/2019-06/07/c_1124595223.htm

Briefings | | June 10, 2019 | US-China Relations

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