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Briefings - 354. page

Vietnam’s Largest Telecommunications Company Has Its Own 5G Plan

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that Viettel, Vietnam’s largest telecommunications company has developed a plan to provide its 5G high-speed wireless services in 2021. The company announced that it has been investing heavily in developing its own 5G chips as well as its own equipment that will utilize the chips. Viettel, which has a military background, holds more than half of Vietnam’s high-speed telecommunications market. Most of its 4G technology came from China’s Huawei. However, Viettel decided to take a different approach for the 5G journey. The company decided to depend more on its self-developed technologies. It may also absorb some Western technologies. Viettel’s native design focused on the core 5G chipsets, but for establishing a nationwide network, a large number of different chips are required. Viettel may not be able to self-develop those immediately. The company may have to depend on Intel, Xilinx, Broadcom, Skyworks and Qorvo. In case its internal test results are not satisfactory, Viettel will sync with Washington by importing from Nokia or Ericsson, instead of Huawei.

Source: Sina, April 11, 2019
https://t.cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/5904298558/15fec723e00100h00c

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

Sputnik: China Will Set Off an Upheaval in the World’s Meat Market

According to an article that Sputnik News published, U.S. Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) recently reported that, as China is unable to solve the African swine fever issue, African swine fever could drive up the global prices of protein since China consumes 40 percent of the pork in the world. China’s problem may also cause shortages in other countries’ food markets.

African swine fever is an acute viral infection in pigs that is not transmitted to other animals and humans. In August 2018, the African swine fever epidemic broke out in Liaoning Province for the first time and the virus spread rapidly to other provinces in China. Now Chinese officials have confirmed that more than 120 cases of African swine fever have been recorded in 30 provinces and autonomous regions. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, nearly one million pigs have been slaughtered, but China has still failed to control the spread of the dangerous virus of African swine fever.

In an interview with Chinese media, Chinese agriculture minister Han Changfu reported that the African swine fever virus has been brought under control and the occurrence rate has decreased. From the beginning of 2019, only 23 new cases were recorded. However, the U.S. CNBC pointed out that the price of achieving this result was that healthy pigs were slaughtered. Many farms slaughtered all of their pigs because they were worried about the spread of African swine fever.

According to estimates from the Shanghai JCI Consulting Company, China’s pork production will be reduced by 16 percent in 2019, or 8.5 million metric tons, which will result in a pork shortage of around 7 million metric tons. Under the current conditions, a rise in pork prices will be inevitable. The issue of African swine fever has caused active discussions on Chinese blogs. One blogger whose name is “Tangshan Wangzi” wrote, “What happened to China’s pig industry? Take a look. People’s lives are ruined.” Another blogger named “Musalaisi” wrote, “African swine fever can be spread in a number of ways. Prevention is the key. Sterilization of tools is very important. Once this is over, the price of pork will definitely rise.” The blogger named “I am Lin Shu” wrote, “The production of Chinese pork has been cut back, but there is imported pork. Now the domestic pork prices are very bad.”

Washington hopes that China will once again increase imports of U.S. pork in light of the shortage of pork in China. According to Reuters’ data, 90 percent of U.S. exports of pork in 2017 were sold to China. After China imposed a 70 percent responsive tariff on US pork products in 2018, the US exports of pork products to China dropped by 55 percent.

Source: Sputnik News, April 12, 2019
http://sputniknews.cn/opinion/201904121028177192/

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

CNA: South Korea Ranks First among Foreign Students Studying in China

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education of China, there were 492,000 foreign students studying in China in 2018. Among them there were 50,000 from South Korea which is the highest in the world; the second were from Thailand, Pakistan, India, and the U.S., each country had between 20,000 and 30,000 students studying in China. Among these foreign students, there were 60,304 people who had received scholarships from the Chinese government, accounting for 12.81 percent. The number of foreign students studying for a college degree was 258,122 or 52.44 percent and rest of them were there for training programs. These foreign students were studying at 1,004 colleges and universities in 31 provinces and autonomous regions across China, an increase of 3,013 people over 2017, with an annual growth rate of 0.62 percent. The regions include 88,786 people in Beijing, 61,400 in Shanghai, 45,778 in Jiangsu, 38,190 in Zhejiang, and 27,879 in Liaoning.

Source: Central News Agency, April 13, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201904130072.aspx

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

RFA: Former Peking University Security Guard Arrested for Producing Video Criticizing Xi Jinping

Zhang Pancheng, a former security guard at Peking University, went missing because he posted a video on the Internet last November criticizing China’s human rights situation and Xi Jinping for giving out generous foreign aid to 3rd world countries. Zhang’s friends and lawyers have recently confirmed that the authorities arrested Zhang for allegedly “Picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” According to Zhang’s mother, Zhang Pancheng has been held in the Xicheng District Detention Center in Beijing for more than four months. The family member received a notice of the arrest. An attorney that the Zhang’s family hired had gone the detention center to visit him. The lawyer told Zhang’s family that Zhang refused to admit he made a mistake, refused to write a letter of guarantee, and refused to sign the lawyer’s power of attorney.

In the video Zhang made, Zhang said: “I am a simple, ordinary Chinese, but I also have my dreams, my ideals, my self-esteem, and my rights as a person. In China under today’s totalitarian rule, no one has personal safety. A private entrepreneur could die any time and anyone could disappear for no reason. He (Xi Jinping) could give away $60 billion in foreign aid but did he go through any approval process? . . . One million innocent Muslim compatriots are being held. What crimes have they committed? Please release them and send them home immediately.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, April 10, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/nu-04102019102548.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Provincial Official’s Documents Revealed How Officials Work on Persecuting Falun Gong

Chinese Epoch Times published a few official documents from Liaoning Province that gave instructions on intensifying the work of “attacking” Falun Gong.

Yu Ming, a Falun Gong practitioner who recently escaped from China brought these documents out with him. Falun Gong is a mind-body exercise in the Buddhist school. It was introduced to the public in 1992 and, by the late 1990s had widely spread in China due to its teaching of the principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” and its effectiveness in healing illnesses and aiding fitness. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned it in 1999. The Central Leading Group on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions (Central LGPDHR) is the leading CCP organ that manages the work against Falun Gong. The “610 Office,” so named because it formed on June 10, 1999, is the execution arm of this leading group.

These documents include:

1. “Pertaining to the Request for Instructions on Recent Work Arrangements on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions,” by the Liaoning Provincial LGPDHR, on July 23, 2013. The document mentioned that Li Dongsheng (李东生), the Director of the CCP Central LGPDHR, instructed, during his visit to Liaoning, that Liaoning needed to increase the intensity of its work on preventing and dealing with (Falun Gong) and to take all necessary measures to intensify the education and transformation of (Falun Gong practitioners), to dig deeper to (find and) attack them, and to contain the resurgence of the Falun Gong issue.

It stated that the Provincial LGPDHR would call for a work coordination meeting on July 24, 2013, with top officials from the Liaoning Provincial Public Security Bureau, the Provincial Procuratorate, the Provincial Court, Provincial Judicial Bureau, Provincial State Security Bureau, Provincial Internet Management Bureau, and also the corresponding offices in Dalian (the capital city of Liaoning).

The request was sent to Su Hongzheng (苏宏章), Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CCP Liaoning Provincial Committee, and Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Committee; Pan Liguo (潘利国), Deputy Governor of Liaoning; and Wang Dawei (王大伟), head of Liaoning Provincial Public Security Bureau.

2. A notice without title, from the Liaoning Provincial LGPDHR, dated July 23, 2013. It was sent to secretary Qi to ask him to submit the drafted leader’s instructions on preventing and dealing with (Falun Gong).

3. “Comrade Liguo’s Instruction,” signed by Pan Liguo. It stated that each locality and each department must implement Li Dongsheng’s important instructions. The Public Security and State Security organs needed to maintain the high pressure (against Falun Gong), intensify intelligence collection, and intensify the struggle’s strength by adhering to the principles of “taking care of it early, or while it is small and attacking it whenever there is a sign.” Each local office must gather the information about stubborn Falun Gong practitioners and members of the “Quan Neng Shen” (another religion that the CCP called heretical) and fully utilize the current forced labor camp and resources, to push forward the intensified “transformation” work against them.

Source: Epoch Times, April 4, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/4/3/n11159391.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

“Chinese Communist Party to Mobilize Ten Million Young Volunteers to Develop the Countryside

The Central Committee of the Communist Youth League (CCCYL), the leading authority of the communist organization for young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty-eight, recently announced that, over the next three years, it will send ten million college students to the countryside, in order to implement president Xi Jinping’s “important thoughts on youth work” and his Strategic Plan for the Vitalization of Rural Areas.

CCCYL issued the “Opinions on Further Implementing the Movement of Rural Vitalization and Accomplishment for Youth.” It swears that it will let Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, also known as Xi Jinping Thought, enter into young people’s minds and show in their actions.

The Opinions ask China’s young generation to participate in the rural projects to improve the local humanitarian environment without mentioning the details. It also includes entrepreneur projects where the young people start businesses and get rich. In addition, there are rural e- commerce fostering projects which are supposed to help 10,000 young people to use e-commerce to create jobs in the agricultural sector. College students will need to volunteer themselves to go to poor regions to gain experience.

It was very easy for Chinese people to relate to a Mao Zedong era movement half a century ago. In 1968, Mao believed that “it was necessary for young intellectuals to go to the countryside and be re-educated by the poor peasants.” He launched the “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement.” It is estimated that more than 16 million young Chinese intellectuals, including Chinese president Xi Jinping, were forced to relocate to the countryside during the ten-year Great Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976.

Many parents worry that the state will inevitably force their children to go to the countryside. Possible means (the state might use) include not issuing a diploma and youth not being able to work for the government.

Source: Central News Agency, April 10, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201904100216.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Duowei: China Can’t Give the “Reciprocity” That the United States Wants in Trade Negotiations

Duowei, a Chinese government controlled news media stationed in North America, published an article stating that, in the Sino-U.S. trade negotiations, China cannot give the U.S. “reciprocity.” The article said, “As long as it meets the needs of economic and social development, China does not mind forming a reciprocal relationship with the United States on market rules.“

“However, China cannot achieve full reciprocity with the United States in terms of market access and industrial policies. First, China still belongs to developing countries. Under the WTO’s trade rules, China has the right to set up barriers to market access and tariff policies. Second, China’s transition from a planned economy to a market economy has been relatively short and China has developed a unique economic system that cannot be aligned with the U.S. economic system. Finally, China’s development of technology is far less than that of the United States. It is unfair to adopt the same industrial policy for the development of Chinese industry. Because the United States has absolute advantages in capital and technology, the United States is keen to promote trade liberalization and market opening. However, major economies around the world have set different levels of tariff and non-tariff barriers in order to protect their own economic interests. According to WTO data, the main developed economies have higher barriers than the United States, both in terms of tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers. Therefore, the United States’ requirement of trade equivalence will inevitably damage the fairness of trade.”

“In market openness and industrial competition policy, China cannot give the reciprocal relationship that the United States wants. In order to expand openness and develop the economy, China will make compromises in some areas. At the same time it will use external pressure to promote internal reforms. However, due to the huge differences in the level of development and in the political systems between China and the United States, China and the United States are destined to be unable to establish a comprehensive ‘reciprocal’ trade relationship.”

Source: Duowei, April 10, 2019
http://economics.dwnews.com/news/2019-04-10/60128174.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Global Times: Do Not Rule Out the Removal of Targeted Taiwan Military Base

The Chinese PLA’s warplanes flew over the “Taiwan Strait Line” recently, which has increased the tension across the strait. China’s state media Global Times published a commentary threatening that the mainland will not exclude the possibility of wiping out the targeted Taiwan military base.

The article said, “First of all, the ‘Strait Line’ is an imaginary psychological line that the mainland has never accepted.”

“The U.S.-Taiwan collusion is intensifying and the U.S. warships have crossed the Taiwan Strait three times this year. This is excessive. Many people tend to think that the military forcefully crossing the center line is the mainland’s response to the recent provocations of the U.S. and Taiwan. If the U.S. and Taiwan were to maintain restraint from now on, it would be a trivial matter for the PLA fighters to pass over the ‘Strait Line.’ However, if the U.S. and Taiwan . . .  further show strength, then the tensions in the Taiwan Strait will inevitably escalate and lead to serious uncertainty.”

“As military tension in the Taiwan Strait intensifies, the possibility of sporadic military friction or limited military conflict will increase. For example, if the two sides exchanged fire and a plane were to be shot down, then, in the future, the possibility of  the targeted removal of a certain military base that threatened the mainland could not be completely ruled out.

“Once the Taiwan Strait crisis is out of control, the mainland has enough will and capital to fight to the end and both the United States and Taiwan have their own scruples. The DPP is afraid that the regime will not survive. Washington is afraid that it will be involved in a major war and that Taiwan’s public opinion will be tired of turmoil and will no longer accept U.S. support.”

“The last thing we want to say is that the U.S. and Taiwan must be restrained because the Taiwan Strait crisis is already a gamble they can’t afford.”

Source: Global Times, April 2, 2019
http://mil.huanqiu.com/world/2019-04/14650724.html?agt=15422

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military