Skip to content

Briefings - 405. page

Short Videos Need to Conform to the “Main Theme”

On August 21, the China Internet Security and Information Office got a new director, Zhuang Rongwen. New censorship is now being directed against new social media in the form of short video platforms.

Since July, the Office has been urging all major short video platforms to impose “self-censorship.” So far more than 1.1 million accounts that violated the rules have been blocked, 8.1 million instances of “harmful” short videos have been deleted and 19 short video apps have been disciplined.

The Office also called for a meeting with 36 commercial short video platforms to give them guidelines. One example is that they must ensure “socialism’s core values” are reflected in their production. The Office also encouraged government and traditional media entering this new media platform “to occupy the new frontier of propaganda actively.” As a good example, it cited the “Youth League” setting up an account in the popular “Dou Yin” platform. The Dou Yin platform was one of the most popular social media in China. It has reported having .5 billion active users globally with overseas versions in Japan, Thailand, India, and Germany, among other countries.

On Aug 21, the Office together with Public Security Ministry issued a new notice. Short videos need to use “real names.” It also started to “blacklist” those (“rule-breaking”) broadcasters.

Source: Deutsche Welle, August 24, 2018
https://p.dw.com/p/33hQ9

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Huanqiu: Russia Will Provide Land for China to Grow Soybeans

Huanqiu quoted a report that Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post had published saying that Russia plans to provide one million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land to foreign investors. The article stated that this is good news for Beijing as it is dealing with a shortage in the supply of soybeans. The statistics show that, between July 2017 to May 2018, Beijing bought a record of 850,000 tons of soybeans from Russia. China has also decided to increase its domestic soybean production. According to the article, since Russian farmers have excessively utilized the most fertile land in the Eastern region of Russia, Chinese investors will have to use land in a region that is even more remote and lower in productivity. Some of the Russian farmers in the Far East region, however, say they do not like Chinese farmers because they tend to use too much pesticide and fertilizer. The person in charge of the Investment Department of the Russian Far East Investment and Export Agency said that 50 percent of the investment is expected to come from China.

Source: Huanqiu, August 16, 2018
http://oversea.huanqiu.com/article/2018-08/12729455.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

African Swine Fever Virus Outbreak in Jiangsu

The Paper reported that the China Center for Animal Health and Epidemiology confirmed that the African swine fever virus was recently found among pigs on a farm in Haizhou district, Lian Yungang City, Jiangsu Province. Since August 15, 615 pigs have been affected and 88 have died. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs sent a team to Jiangsu Haizhou District after the outbreak and started the emergency response system to prohibit all pigs and susceptible animals and products from entering or leaving the blockaded site. According to the article, at present, the epidemic has been effectively contained.

Source: The Paper, August 19, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2361470

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

College Professor Dismissed for Making “False Political Statements”

RFA reported that on August 16, Guizhou University dismissed a college professor from its School of Economics claiming that the professor has been “making false political statements” for a period of time. On the termination statement, the university asserted that the professor often told the class about content that was not related to the course, published sensitive comments on the Internet, and had a bad influence on the school and society. The Professor told RFA that all he had been saying during his lectures was the truth and that should not have a negative impact on society. He thought the University was not happy with him because he criticized the government, but he will appeal his case. According to RFA, this professor published an article criticizing the government for paying 20 million yuan (US$2.92 million) a year to support party officials. The burden of the cost to society of paying these officials could be as much as 20 trillion yuan (US$2.92 trillion) a year. He also reported that the school leaders were suspected of plagiarism.

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 17, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/professor-08172018092321.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China Is Developing Cyberattack Technologies to Interfere in Neighboring Countries’ Politics?

Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that China may have developed cyberattack technologies enabling it to intervene in neighboring countries’ politics. It is believed that China may have used Cambodia’s July 29 general election as a rehearsal, giving it the potential to interfere with intelligence collection and political elections in Asian countries in the future. According to the report, the practices include obtaining confidential information by illegal means, releasing false web information to manipulate voter psychology, and influencing the outcome of the elections by polarizing the target country’s public opinion and attacking the opposition camp.

The report expressed the suspicion that China set up its cyber warfare command center on Hainan Island. The evidence is an email received by Kem Monovithya, the daughter of Kem Sokha, the leader of Cambodia’s largest opposition party. The e-mail carried a virus that was capable of collecting confidential information. An Investigation showed that the server that the email was sent from is located on Hainan Island, China. Based upon the technology and hardware infrastructure, the investigation concluded that the email was undoubtedly linked to China.

This Hainan-based server, according to the report, was found to infringe frequently on Cambodian facilities. It is quite possible that China is using the Cambodian election as a drill to improve its cyber-attack technology. The ultimate goal may be to use the Internet to intervene in the politics of neighboring countries. This practice could be just treading on the heels of Russia.

Source: Radio France International, August 20, 2018
http://rfi.my/31Xx.T

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Beijing News: NAFMII Warned and Punished Dagong Global

Beijing News recently reported that the Dagong Global Credit Rating Group, China’s primary credit rating company, was under fire. China’s National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) just issued a “severe warning” to Dagong and banned Dagong from doing business in the debt financing tool ratings market segment for one year. Investigations showed that Dagong was providing direct consulting services to companies to which it had been issuing credit ratings. Dagong provided forged documents to the authorities during the investigations, trying to hide its conflict of interest. Dagong is China’s primary credit rating company. It was established to compete against global leaders like S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch. It is the only rating company in China authorized by the central bank to rate all debt financing tools (except government bonds) and the participating companies that use those tools.

Source: Beijing News, August 17, 2018
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/finance/2018/08/17/499954.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

People’s Daily: The Fun of the U.S. Trade War May Die Down Quickly

People’s Daily recently published a commentary in its paper edition, which other media, including Business Daily, then published on-line, predicting the U.S. initiated trade war will soon see its end, although it may look like the U.S. is having a high time and fun at the moment. The “American First” slogan has been shouted for over a year now and some did see a few big steps taken. However, those in the U.S. who did not feel the “First” privileges also started complaining. With the expected big soybean harvest season this fall, Illinois farmers may not necessarily feel happy, since an average loss per acre of soybeans is estimated at US$100. Trump’s US$12 billion federal help may offer a maximum subsidy per acre of US$14. While the U.S. government may not care about the individual farmer’s checkbook, still, the bigger picture does not look rosy either. The U.S. trade deficit in June posted its highest increase in one and one-half years. In the meantime, the U.S. policy makers seem to have suddenly gone completely deaf. They simply ignore the loud and clear voices from the U.S. industries and from around the globe. This is apparently the symptom of a high fever. The dying-down of the fun of “American First” is just a matter of time.

Source: Business Daily, August 16
http://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2018-08-16/1245887.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

DW: German Government Warns against China’s Acquisition Efforts and Encourages European Companies to Join Forces to Face Competition from China

The German Government has issued warnings about China’s escalated acquisition efforts and has encouraged European companies to join forces in order to face the competition from China. Deutsche Welle reported that China has been obtaining top technology through the acquisition of foreign companies. It has also been acquiring infrastructure projects in Europe in order to gain political influence. Thomas Bareiß, Secretary of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy, said that the German Government inspected 80 acquisition proposals in 2017 and 30 percent of them were acquisition requests from Chinese companies. Bareiß has issued warnings before and said that, although Germany is a country that is very open to foreign investment, it shouldn’t underestimate the acquisition efforts that these Chinese investors have put forth and all the Eastern European countries should unite together on this issue. He said, “We can’t be too naive and too reckless. The competition in the international community requires a tough position. We are willing to face it, but it must be under fair and equal rules of the game. We are still far from it because the investment environment around the world is very different.” Recently, for the second time, China’s State Owned Company, the China Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) failed to acquire a 20 percent stake in the German transmission system operator, 50Hertz. The deal was awarded to the domestic development bank KfW after the intervention of Germany’s Federal Government. Meanwhile Bareiß also acknowledged that Germany needs more strong companies and it is more meaningful if the cooperation is among European companies such as Siemens and Alstom. Three years ago, the China National Automobile Group became the world’s largest railway vehicle manufacturer through merger and acquisition. Early this year, Siemens and Alstom decided to join forces to face off against the competition from the China National Automobile Group.

Source: Deutsche Welle, August 19, 2018
https://p.dw.com/p/33OPL?maca=zh-Twitter-sharing

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend