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RFA: China Rebuilds and Expands at Least 30 Prisons Within One Year

Radio Free Asia reported that China’s provincial prisons have been undergoing renovation and expansion projects in recent years. Some online media have collected information from public government online information and found that over the past six years, the size of prisons everywhere has been expanding. Since 2013, 200 prisons have expanded to varying degrees. Overseas Uyghur organizations said that many Uyghurs have been transferred from Xinjiang to the mainland for custody, so the authorities needed to expand many detention facilities.

According to “Haifeng Express,” a Twitter account, since 2018, 34 prison expansion projects have been launched. They include Shaoyang Prison Phase II Expansion Project in Hunan province, Xingyi Prison Expansion Project in Guizhou, Luoyang Prison Reconstruction and Expansion Project in Henan, and the Prison Reconstruction and Expansion Project in Harbin. Radio Free Asia reported that their online research results showed that many prisons that were being renovated were not included on the list. This indicates that the actual number of prison reconstruction projects is far more than the reported number.

Di Lishati, the spokesperson for the World Uyghur Congress in Germany, disclosed to RFA on Tuesday March 26 that a large number of illegally detained Uyghurs have been transferred out of the Xinjiang region. Because the Chinese government has illegally detained a large number of Uyghurs, including the Turkic people, in reeducation concentration camps, the prisons are overcrowded. Since the Chinese government is under strong pressure from the international community about the illegal detention of Uyghurs, they planned to transfer the detained Turkic people gradually to the inland provinces of China. After these Turkic people were transferred to the provinces of mainland China, they continued to be oppressed and subjected to brainwashing education.

According to earlier reports from RFA, on New Year’s Day, a group of Kazakh young people from Nalati Town, Yili Xinyuan County were transferred to Nanchang, Jiangxi province, where a military company employed them under the China Aerospace Group. They were asked to learn Chinese after work and were even asked to join the party. Uyghurs in southern Xinjiang were transferred to Heilongjiang Province to serve as cheap laborers.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 26, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/ql1-03262019093632.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

RFA: Tsinghua Law Professor Suspended from Teaching for Openly Criticizing Xi Jinping

Xu Zhangrun, a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, published a number of articles last year criticizing Xi Jinping’s totalitarian political control and asked the authorities to re-construct the constitution, restore the president’s term limit, and “vindicate the June 4th incident.” Radio Free Asia (RFA) has learned that Professor Xu was recently stripped off all duties, prohibited from teaching and counseling students, and stopped from conducting scientific research activities. The relevant department of Tsinghua University may investigate his visits to Japan and the UK last year.

Xu Zhangrun, 57, is a professor at Tsinghua University Law School, serves as the director of the Center for the Rule of Law and Human Rights at Tsinghua University, and is a special researcher at the Tianze Economic Research Institute. Last year, he criticized Xi Jinping for unconstitutional abolition of the term limit for the presidency. Bao Tong, a Chinese dissident, called on the authorities not to silence Xu Zhangrun.

Currently news of Xu Zhangrun’s dismissal and suspension has been spreading continuously on the Internet. Chinese writer Zhang Yihe is calling for the solidarity of the intellectual community to step up and show support for Professor Xu. RFA stated that due to this sensitive timing before the “June 4th Anniversary,” it can’t be ruled out that the intellectuals in China could take joint action on the incident.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 25, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/scholar-03252019090019.html?encoding=simplified

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

RFA: Communist Youth League Pushes a Social Credit System App for China’s Youth

Recently, the Communist Youth League Central Committee (CYLCC) launched a big-data credit app in partnership with the State-owned Tsinghua Unigroup. People with good scores can enjoy preferential treatment in education and employment. Analysts believe this is another attempt to control young people’s behavior.

The app is called Unictown. It is available for free download at the Apple Store. Each user of the app receives a credit score between 350 and 800. The user may be entitled to tuition discounts or preferential treatment in job hunting.

Citing the South China Morning Post, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that, unlike the three credit rating companies in the United States, Unictown gathers and analyses a huge amount of non-economic and non-financial data. Academic publications, inventions, and volunteer activities may increase the user’s rating, while cheating on exams and plagiarism may lower his rating.

Analysts believe that this is nothing but the digitalized version of the personnel files that the Chinese Government has on everyone in China which follow a citizen all of his life. Online postings critical of the Chinese Government will likely lead Unictown users to have lower credit scores.

Unictown is said to be one of the products in the China Youth Credit Management (CY Credit) system that CYLCC and Tsinghua Unigroup have established. CY Credit is expected to cover all Chinese between the ages of 18 and 45, estimated at around 460 million.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 25, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/xql-03252019104215.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Swedish Defense Research Agency Suspects Beijing of Cyber Espionage Activities

Analysts at the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI) believe that the Chinese government is conducting cyber espionage that targets Sweden as a means of gaining an economic advantage.

The analyst Johan Englund, who wrote the FOI report published on March 21, stated, “What I have found is that cyber espionage is one of several methods that China uses to achieve its strategic objectives. There are legal methods such as corporate acquisitions, research collaborations, and hiring foreign experts, but there is also illegal cyber espionage.”

According to the report, which is based only on open source research, Sweden’s open and innovative economy, as well as its advanced manufacturing sector, leave Sweden particularly exposed to cyber espionage activities from China.

The Swedish security police earlier warned that the activities of Chinese intelligence agencies in Sweden are one of the main threats to its national security.

Sources:
1. Sputnik News, March 25, 2019
http://sputniknews.cn/politics/201903251028015015/
2. FOI, China’s industrial cyber espionage, March 21, 2019
https://www.foi.se/rapportsammanfattning?reportNo=FOI%20MEMO%206698

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Industrial Profit Dropped Most Since 2011

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the Chinese industrial profit in the first two months of this year shows a year-over-year reduction of 14 percent to 708 billion yuan (US$105 billion), the largest drop since 2011. The main reason is believed to be the weak demand both at home and abroad, resulting in a slowdown of the economy.

The world’s second-largest economy has been growing the slowest in nearly 30 years. The Chinese government has lowered its economic growth target this year from 6.6 percent to a range of 6.0 percent to 6.5 percent.

A National Bureau of Statistics official said in a statement that the profits of major industries such as automobile, petroleum processing, steel, and chemical industries have dropped significantly. These are the main contributors to the lower profit.

Source: Central News Agency, March 27, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201903270155.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

German Retail Giant Metro Started Exiting China

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the German retailer Metro AG kicked off its process of exiting the Chinese market. Metro has issued invitations to buyers. The Chinese market portion of the retail chain has an estimated value of US$1.5 to US$2 billion. Sources said Metro planned to sell most of the shares of its Chinese operation. It currently has 95 retail locations in China and owns real estate in Beijing and Shanghai. The move is considered part of Metro’s global restructuring effort. Online commerce newcomers have been challenging China’s traditional retail and wholesale segments. A large portion of Metro China’s valuation is in real estate holdings. All potential buyers have declined to comment on this matter. Metro AG’s official position is that the company will be collaborating with its partners on future developments.

Source: Sina, March 20, 2019
https://finance.sina.com.cn/world/gjcj/2019-03-20/doc-ihsxncvh3983716.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

VOA Chinese: Finland Is Investigating Some Nokia Phones That Send Data to China

Voice of America (VOA) Chinese Edition recently reported that the Finnish authorities are currently investigating the case of certain Nokia cellphone models that are sending sensitive user data to China without the phone owner’s knowledge. The Nokia 7 Plus manufacturer, HMD Global, admitted that there are bugs in the software. The Finnish authorities suspected that the cellphone vendor violated EU data privacy and protection laws. An assessment process is underway. According to NRK, the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, one of the Nokia users told them that his Nokia 7 Plus cellphone has been connecting to and sending data to servers that China Telecom owned. HMD Global insisted that no data was shared with any other government. Some analysts expressed the belief that these cellphones were designed to sell in the Chinese market; however, some mistakes were made and they were sold in Europe. This event added uncertainty to the global 5G deployment war. Ericsson and Nokia are considered the replacements for Chinese vendor Huawei, since more and more countries are banning Huawei.

Source: VOA Chinese, March 22, 2019
https://www.voachinese.com/a/nokia-phone-data-breach-20190321/4841871.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

China’s Upcoming Personal Credit Investigation Report

Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, recently said, “Many young women are looking for boyfriends. The future mothers-in-law often say, “I will take a look at the guy’s credit investigation report that People’s Bank produces.”

The Personal Credit Investigation Report (PCIR) should be correctly called the “financial credit information infrastructure database.” It includes five types of information: the basics such as “Who you are, where you live, and what you do”; credit information such as “Who you borrowed money from, and whether you have paid it back”; non-financial liabilities, including utility payments such as water and electricity; social security and medical insurance; and lastly, the records of how your credit report has been checked, by whom, and for what reason.

In other words, the PCIR put together by China’s central bank, with the assistance of a computer network and big data technology, faithfully recorded everyone’s everyday life activities and debt repayments, carrying many more details than even a credit agency’s investigations.

One should never underestimate this “economic identity card.” If you don’t pay back the money you owe on time, or if it is overdue, you may not even be able to apply for a credit card. The bank will not process your application for a car loan, a mortgage, a student loan, or consumer credit. Nor can you be a CEO or member of a company’s board of directors. The bank will also directly freeze your deposits and financial products. Even worse, if you are on the list of significantly “dishonest” or “untrustworthy” people, you may not be able to take the plane, ride the high-speed rail, and may even be limited from spending on big ticket items.

China is building a comprehensive network of personal credit information with no blind spot. The PCIR was put into a trial operation starting from November 2018 and the new and formal version will be launched in May of this year. With a fully connected network, a lot of detailed information could be queried. For individuals in China, it is less and less likely to live a private life or one hidden from the government.

Source: The World Journal, March 24, 2019
https://www.worldjournal.com/6193766

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology