Geo-Strategic Trend - 102. page

BBC Chinese Edition recently reported that, right after the Canadian British Columbia High Court approved the extradition proceedings of the Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, China’s Supreme Prosecutor’s Office announced that it has filed charges of spying against former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor. After Meng Wanzhou was arrested by the Canadian authorities based on a U.S. request, on December 10, 2018, the Chinese authorities detained Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. This move was widely considered as hostage diplomacy. Not long ago, Canada also participated in the G7 announcement urging China to stop the Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which will allow residents of Hong Kong to be secretly extradited to the Mainland for trial under the name of national security. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to associate the current spy suit with the Meng Wanzhou’s case. The Canadian Consular Staff in China cannot visit the two Canadian citizens at this moment.

Source: BBC Chinese, June 19, 2020
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-53104011

On Monday June 22, the Federal Communications Commission said it rejected the request of a radio station in Mexico to continue broadcasting Mandarin Chinese language programs to southern California and ordered it to cease operations within 48 hours. The statement reads, “The application was dismissed because the parties failed to include in their application a key participant, Phoenix Radio, which produces the Mandarin programming in its studio. Phoenix Radio is partially owned by two entities with Chinese government ownership, Extra Steps Investment Limited and China Wise International Limited. The parties have 48 hours to cease broadcast operations related to this application.”

After the rejection, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued a statement applauding the FCC’s decision. “Today’s decision sends an important message to the world that the U.S. will not allow China to exploit FCC loopholes and spread its propaganda over our airwaves. More importantly, this decision is a critical step in countering the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to control what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think.”

Source: VOA, June 22, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/fcc-dismisses-application-to-deliver-chinese-programs-across-border-20200622/5473019.html

People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), reported on June 19, that the CCP and the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) organized an opening session of the video seminar series on the governance of the party and the country. Song Tao, head of the CCP’s Department of External Relations, and Wu Yingjie, head of CCP Committee of Tibet, participated and gave speeches. Speakers also included Pushpa Kamal Dahal, aka Prachanda, head of the CPN and the former Prime Minister of Nepal, Ishwar Pokhrel, a current Secretariat member of the CPN and Nepal’s Minister of Defense. Other attendees included over 100 people from the CPN central committee, heads of the Nepal government agencies and the CPN committees of seven Nepal provinces.

Song Tao said that China and Nepal are “good neighbors, friends, and partners for generations.” Last year, CCP head Xi Jinping visited Nepal and reached an “important consensus” on strengthening exchanges of political experiences between the two parties. The joint seminar was supposed to implement the “important consensus,” to deepen mutual trust, and to promote high-quality cooperation in the areas of the “Belt and Road” project.

In return, Prachanda and Pokhrel “spoke highly of the great achievements of the CCP for leading the Chinese people in epidemic prevention and control, as well as economic and social development.”

Source: People’s Daily, June 20, 2020
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-06/20/nw.D110000renmrb_20200620_4-02.htm

The Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) recently issued guidelines to primary and secondary schools that require raising China’s national flag and letting it flow and playing the national anthem on three holidays: New Year’s Day, the HKSAR’s Establishment Day on July 1, and Chinese National Day on October 1.

A Hong Kong radio station reported that the education bureau also announced that it will implement “national anthem” education in the music classes from the first grade of elementary school to the third grade of junior high school.

In particular, the education bureau also pointed out that if students exhibit “abnormal behavior” while singing the national anthem, the school should handle it through counseling and if the situation is serious and involves illegal behavior that cannot be handled by the school, it may consider seeking police assistance.

Source: Central News Agency, June 18, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202006180398.aspx

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the European Union is considering further tightening up foreign investment policies. It is aiming at the Chinese government’s subsidies to Chinese companies’ international acquisitions. The EU is preparing investigations into the conduct of the Chinese investors. This new plan is supplemental to the EU’s foreign investment review mechanism passed in April. Another important driver behind this new action is to address the wary when some EU companies become the target of acquisitions in the current coronavirus environment. The European Commission has informed the member countries about this intent to establish a new legal tool, designed to ensure a fair competitive environment. The EU April Foreign Investment Review Policy already allowed member country governments to step in to foreign acquisitions on strategic assets. The new rule will focus on subsidies.

Source: Sina, June 6, 2020
https://bit.ly/3e0vLUw

According to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) mouthpiece newspaper People’s Daily, on June 9, the CCP’s International Liaison Department held a video conference with leaders of Communist Parties in Latin American. The paper reported that the meeting discussed issues such as adhering to the mission of Communists, cooperation in battling the epidemic, and opposition to using the epidemic to stigmatize the party. Attendees included communist leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Song Tao, head of the International Liaison Department promised continued assistance to those countries. In return, “The Latin Communist leaders spoke highly of the CCP’s leadership in the fight against the epidemic and thanked the CCP for its assistance through inter-party channels. They also condemned individual countries’ attempts to politicize the epidemic and stigmatize China. In addition, they affirmed their support for the ‘one China’ and ‘one country, two systems’ principles, and opposed any external forces that interfered in China’s internal affairs.”

Source: People’s Daily, June 10, 2020
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-06/10/nw.D110000renmrb_20200610_8-03.htm