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The Chinese Government Refused to Help Its Citizens Who Were Kidnapped to Work as Slaves to Conduct Telemarketing Fraud

Some Chinese and Taiwanese were enticed to go to Southeast Asian countries for work and were then kidnapped there and forced to conduct telemarketing fraud against the Chinese people. Recently Little Chen, a man trapped in Myawaddy, Myanmar, called Radio Free Asia (RFA) to help. An RFA reporter spent a month attempting to contact various authorities in China to request help for him, but not a single office extended a hand.

Little Chen was from Hunan Province. He and two other fellow Hunan residents were sold by kidnappers to the East Wind Park in Myawaddy. He said that over 1,000 Chinese were working as slaves at that park. The slave master asked for US$30,000 to give him his freedom, but his family did not have the money. The slaves were closely monitored and were not allowed to contact their family members or friends for help.

Somehow Little Chen’s friend managed to contact his family in Hunan. His family reported the situation to the Hunan police, but the police took no action and instead, asked him to come back to China and warned that he would face criminal charge if he did not come back soon.

An RFA reporter tried to contract China’s Embassy at Myanmar, but none of the calls to listed public phone numbers went through. The reporter then contacted the Hunan Provincial Police Bureau, but the officer there rejected the request for help. The reporter contacted the office of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was told to contact the diplomat security bureau. The reporter contacted the diplomat security bureau, but the bureau staff said this was not their responsibility. The reporter contacted China’s Embassy in Thailand, since Thailand was just next to Myawaddy. The embassy referred the reporter to contact the Chinese Consulate General in Chiang Mai. The consulate told the reporter they knew that many Chinese were trapped in Myanmar, but said it was outside their scope. Only if those Chinese came to Thailand could they help. However, they do not suggest that they cross the Thai border since that is illegal. The reporter asked the progress of the joint effort to clean-out the telemarketing fraud by China, Myanmar, and Thailand; but the consulate staff said there is no such thing at all.

Little Chen has been losing his hope.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 5, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/myanmar-05052023125339.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics Social Stability

Chinese with CCP Ties Are the Top Donors to New Zealand’s National Party

Two agents working for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are among the top donors to New Zealand’s National Party, a major opposition party, according to donation records in 2022 that were released by the New Zealand Electoral Commissions in late April.

Lu Xinyan (Vicky Lu), donated $18,750 to New Zealand  and ranked 31st among the top donors. Lu is the acting head of the Australian and New Zealand offices of People’s Daily Overseas Edition. People’s Daily is the CCP’s main mouthpiece. Lili Wang donated $17,110 to New Zealand  to the National Party. Wang is the head of the Chinese Language Herald newspaper in New Zealand, which has been run by a company owned by the CCP’s state-run China News Service.

Steven Wong also donated $16,161. He is the former President of the New Zealand branch of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (中國和平統一促進會), which targets Taiwan and runs under the CCP’s United Front Department.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 8, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/nz-donate-05082023105346.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

Government Fined Companies for Lowering Housing Prices

Though many Chinese real estate developers are facing severe financial problems, the government does not allow them to lower housing prices to speed up the inflow of cash. The communist regime is afraid that if it lets housing prices float, a freefall in the prices will occur and wipe out the  tremendous savings that people have poured into their houses, and thus create social turmoil and shake up the Communist party’s rule.

On May 5, the Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, sent out an official notice to fine two companies for dropping the sales prices of their newly-built apartments by 20 to 30 percent. It said the two companies “had disturbed the regular order of the real estate market and created a social instability factor.”

On the other hand, the two  companies, after lowering their prices, were able to  sell their inventories quickly since the other companies stayed at the high price following the government’s request.

Source: Sina, May 7, 2023
https://news.sina.com.cn/minsheng/2023-05-07/doc-imysxqsz9123109.shtml#/

Briefings | | |   @CS Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Transaction Amount at Canton Fair Down 15 Percent from Pre-COVID Level

China held its China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, in Guangzhou (Canton) City, Guangdong Province from April 15 to May 5. Official numbers claimed two new records: over 35,000 companies set up exhibition booths and over 2.9 million people

attended the exhibition. However, some vendors complained that they had no visitors at their booths at all.

The total transaction amount, both online and at the fair, was US$25.1 billion, down 15 percent from 2019, which was US$29.3 billion.

Some media reported that foreigners accounted for only 18 percent of the total attendees. That means most of the people were from the manufacturers trying to sell their products. “Among the foreign clients, the majority were from developing countries, which meant that they were more interested in purchasing high-productivity equipment but not a large quantity of consumer goods; there was a significant drop in the number of U.S. and European customers compared to the previous fair.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 8, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/hcm-05082023090035.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s “Belt and Road” Investment Shifts Focus

China’s overseas investments related to the “Belt and Road” initiative are undergoing a shift, with a decrease in large-scale infrastructure projects and an increase in soft investments in areas such as biotech and digital technology. According to data from fDiMarkets, a service that tracks foreign direct investment, China’s greenfield investments in local entities, factories, and sales channels are growing in the digital and biotech sectors. Investments in IT, communication, and electronic components have grown sixfold to $17.6 billion, while biotech investments have surged to $1.8 billion, a 29-fold increase since the start of the then  Belt and Road initiative in 2013.

Etana Biotechnologies, an Indonesian start-up, has acquired the technology for the development of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines from Suzhou Aibo Biotechnology in China. The vaccine plant is to be completed in 2022 with a target of 100 million doses.

The development of digital and biotech sectors represents a shift in China’s overseas investment strategy away from large-scale infrastructure and fossil fuel projects. In the past decade, China has reduced its investment in coal and fossil fuels by 99 percent and has set a goal of decarbonizing by 2060. Meanwhile, China’s investment in metals such as aluminum has also peaked and since 2018, it has declined . The soft investments in digital and biotech sectors are seen as more cost-effective than hard infrastructure investments, and the smaller investment amounts could help to reduce debt risks for emerging market countries.

Source: Nikkei, May 8, 2023
https://zh.cn.nikkei.com/china/ceconomy/52291-2023-05-08-05-00-03.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Guangdong Strengthens Management of Government Officials’ WeChat Groups; Bans Negative Comments

Several government branches in Guangdong Province and other regions have recently required Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members and officials to report activities on the WeChat groups that they are affiliated with, including the content of images, texts, and videos.

Two images circulating on Twitter and WeChat show the cover of a “Personal WeChat Group Registration and Reporting Form” printed in April by the Guangdong Provincial CCP Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Guangdong Provincial Supervision Commission .

One of the attachments to the WeChat Group Registration and Reporting Form, entitled Attachment 4, “Self-Examination Table for the Purification of Moments,” lists seven items that need to be reported promptly, including distorting, negating, and attacking the Party’s and China’s’ National history; vilifying and slandering party leaders and heroic models; advocating Western “constitutional democracy,” “universal values,” and human rights issues; questioning the achievements of poverty alleviation; spreading pessimistic views regarding topics such as employment, housing, education, and the polarization of rich and poor; and attacks and slander against the effectiveness, safety, and fairness of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines.

On September 5, 2019, a university in Hubei Province required teachers and students to register in WeChat groups across the provinces. On March 28 last year, the Wuhan City’s Confidentiality Bureau issued a “Notice on Confidentiality Management of WeChat Work Groups in Government Agencies and Units,” which requires government branches to establish WeChat groups only after obtaining approval. “An application must be submitted as per the work needs, specifying the purpose, time of establishment, and responsible person.” The group leader is then determined as the group administrator and has to sign the “WeChat Group Administrator Confidential Responsibility Statement.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 9, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/gt2-05092023034525.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Russia Authorizes Export of Up to 30 Percent of Enriched Uranium Nuclear Fuel to China

According to a government decree released on May 2nd, Russia has authorized its state-owned nuclear fuel company, TVEL, to export new nuclear fuel to China for the next three years. The fuel to be exported will be enriched with uranium-235 to no more than 30.4 percent purity. The Federal Service for Technological and Export Control (FSTEC) of Russia is responsible for issuing the necessary licenses to TVEL for exporting such nuclear fuel to China, and should do so before April 12, 2026.

Russia and China are actively cooperating in the peaceful nuclear energy sector, including in the field of fast neutron reactors, which use uranium-235 of higher purity than traditional thermal neutron reactors. The two countries are working together to construct a 600 MW CFR-600 fast neutron reactor, which is China’s flagship project in the field of “fast” nuclear energy. In late 2017, China began building its first fast reactor at a nuclear power plant in Xiapu, Fujian Province. In June 2018, Russia and China signed an agreement to cooperate in building and operating the CFR-600 fast neutron reactor, and subsequently signed an agreement to provide nuclear fuel for the reactor.

In addition, the government decree also authorized TVEL to export new nuclear fuel with uranium purity not exceeding 5 percent to India before April 12, 2026, which will be provided to nuclear power plants under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India, in which Russia is a partner, has already commissioned units 1 and 2, and construction of another four units is underway as part of the plant’s second and third phases.

Source: Sputnik News (Russia), May 3, 2023
https://sputniknews.cn/20230503/1050025294.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s April Manufacturing PMI Declined

According to the official numbers released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, China’s April manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.2 percent. In terms of the company sizes, the PMIs of large, medium, and small companies are 49.3 percent, 49.2 percent and 49.0percent, respectively – all lower than March. The new orders sub-index was 48.8 percent, a decrease of 4.8 percentage points from the previous month, indicating that the demand in the manufacturing market has dropped. The raw material inventory sub-index was 47.9 percent, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from the previous month. This continued the decreasing trend. The employment sub-index was 48.8 percent, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points from the previous month.

In the meantime, Caixin just released its official Chinese Manufacturing PMI numbers for April. Caixin PMI is a well-respected economic indicator monitored globally by financial institutions. Caixin’s China Manufacturing PMI recorded 49.5 for April. With the release of the previous backlog of demand, China’s manufacturing industry returned to a contraction trend in April, reflecting that the recovery of the manufacturing industry is still not solid. Employment is also a prominent problem facing the Chinese economy, especially for young people.

Sources:
(1) National Bureau of Statistics, April 30, 2023
http://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202304/t20230429_1939136.html
(2) Caixin, May 4, 2023
https://pmi.caixin.com/2023-05-04/102042089.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources