Geo-Strategic Trend - 122. page

The international airport near Luanda, the capital of Angola, a west-coast country in south-central Africa, is projected to handle an annual traffic of 13 million passengers. However, this huge project, which has been under construction for 15 years, has not yet been completed. A Chinese company has been constructing the airport. To date, it has cost billions of dollars. In 2004, President José Eduardo dos Santos commissioned the China International Fund (CIF) and the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to undertake the project.

Due to design flaws and quality issues, China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) replaced CIF. In 2009, construction was suspended due to financial difficulties. Angolan construction workers protested that the project mainly used Chinese workers. The first phase of the construction was completed in 2012. The airport was originally planned to be put into use in 2015 to 2016. The opening was postponed until 2017. Now the design of the airport is outdated. Its functions and technical equipment are no longer fit for today’s needs. Therefore, the airport’s opening has again been postponed temporarily until 2023. Angolan Minister of Transportation Ricardo de Abreu said that it is necessary to ensure that the new airport has modern equipment and a modern layout. To finance the project, the construction company can borrow $6.5 billion.

Angolan journalist Rafael Marques told Deutsche Welle, “This is one of the biggest unfinished projects in Africa. … The project as originally planned was to cost $300 million. Now the cost has increased to $9 billion, and it’s still uncertain when it will be completed.” The Angolan reporter went on, “This is a meaningless construction project. It has no hope of completion and it has trapped Angola in heavy debts.”

Marques added that all previous investments in Angola or any form of real estate project generally involved corruption. He said, “The main difference now is that the scale of Chinese investment in Angola is unprecedented and this has led to the most serious corruption in Angola’s history.”

Source: Deutsche Welle Chinese, September 8, 2019
https://p.dw.com/p/3PAWT

Nikkei Chinese Edition recently reported from Hong Kong that, according to statistics provided by U.S. market research leader Dealogic, Chinese overseas acquisitions saw a significant decline in the first half of this year. The total acquisition value between January and June was US$24.5 billion, which represents a 42 percent decline. And it’s only worth twenty percent of the peak time value in 2016. In the first half of this year, China had a total of 251 overseas acquisitions, which is a five-year low. The highlights of these deals were the five percent shares of Daimler Germany (US$2.7 billion) and the merger with French chip maker Linxens (US$2.6 billion). Analysts said the sharp decline was mainly due to tightened regulatory and administrative restrictions in the EU and the U.S., as well as China’s increased restrictions on capital outflow. More Chinese capital is heading to Southeast Asia, Africa and Russia. Nikkei is the world’s largest financial newspaper.

Source: Nikkei Chinese, September 5, 2019
https://cn.nikkei.com/china/ccompany/37208-2019-09-05-09-15-35.html?start=1

The German government disclosed that the Chinese authorities are monitoring and intimidating dissidents and demonstrators in Germany, including those who support the Hong Kong democracy movement. The German government pointed out that Chinese intelligence agents in Germany are playing a particularly significant role.

The above announcement was made in response to a question from the Alliance 90/The Greens. The Green Party asked in an inquiry: “Do the German government or the federal agencies know that Chinese institutions in Germany are trying to influence the freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and the personal rights of demonstrators?” The reply indicated that the German government is “informed” about Chinese authorities’ attempts to exert influence.

The German government further pointed out that a major focus of the Chinese intelligence bodies in Germany is to “monitor and oppose the movements that the Chinese authorities believe will challenge their ruling power and threaten national unity.” The German government also mentioned that it is the responsibility of the German states, not the federal government, to deal with such behaviors from China.

The Green party’s spokeswoman for human rights Margarete Bause called for the German government to take countermeasures. “Security agencies should protect people who are committed to fighting against the authoritarian regime and are in our country.” Bause believes that political and espionage activities against Chinese dissidents in exile or living in Germany should face consequences, “including the expulsion of those who have infiltrated our country and threatened the residents here.”

Katrin Göring-Eckardt, leader of the Green Party group, also pointed out to that the German government has admitted that many demonstrators in Germany are often obstructed. “Beijing’s long arm has reached into our country of the rule of law through its intelligence agencies, reached out to these demonstrators and posed a threat to them.”

Source: Deutsche Welle Chinese, September 13, 2019
https://p.dw.com/p/3PXRx

Gladys Liu was born in Hong Kong in 1964. In May 2019, she became the first Chinese Australian woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives. . She went to Melbourne in 1985 and became an Australian citizen in 1992. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation disclosed on September 10th that the Chinese government website showed that from 2003 to 2015, she served as a council member of the Guangdong provincial chapter of the China Overseas Exchange Association. In 2010, Liu also served as a council member of the Shandong branch of the association. The association accepts business guidance from the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council. In 2018, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council was merged into the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party, an agency dedicated to expanding the political penetration and influence of the Party.

In the face of questioning from Sky News, Liu said, “I don’t remember . . .” However, shortly afterwards, she issued a statement acknowledging that she had held an honorary position in the Guangdong chapter of the China Overseas Exchange Association in 2011, but said that there had been no contact with the organization since then. According to Australian media, Liu supports the Hong Kong democracy movement, but she refuses to call Xi Jinping a “dictator” and refuses to condemn the Chinese government’s actions in the South China Sea as being illegal.

Professor Clive Hamilton, a China researcher at Charles Sturt University, told ABC, “I think Parliament itself must now ask whether she is in breach of section 44 of the constitution, which disqualifies any member who owes allegiance to a foreign power.”

In 2017, Labor senator Sam Dastyari resigned from the Senate after being accused of receiving funding from Chinese political donors to support China’s foreign policy interests.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 11, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/cc-09112019122938.html

Shen Haixiong, deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department and head of the China Media Group (CMG), met with Michael Friedenberg, President of Reuters News, and a leader of Associated Press, who attended the 2019 Belt and Road Media Community Summit Forum in Beijing on September 10. China Media Group is the most predominant state media company. It was founded in 2018 through the merger of China Central Television, China National Radio, and China Radio International.

According to the state media report, Friedenberg said that Reuters attaches great importance to the Chinese market, and attaches importance to the development of cooperative relations with CMG. He hopes to carry out all-round cooperation with CMG in financial reports and financial services, and improve the communication and feedback mechanism with CMG.

As reported by the state media, the AP leader said that the AP colleagues have witnessed the incredible rapid development in innovation and quality since the establishment of CMG. The Associated Press regards CMG as a partner and friend, while being neither a general customer nor a competitor. The Associated Press will support CMG’s objective and fair mainstream voice in the international public opinion arena.

Source: China Central Television, September 10, 2019
http://www.cctv.com/2019/09/10/ARTIFMuBojb1lZpw62KhKxts190910.shtml

On August 29, at China’s State Council Information Office’s press conference regarding the 70th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) founding, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Li Qun said, “Artists from Hong Kong, Macao. and Taiwan who love the motherland and safeguard the ‘one country, two systems’ and the peaceful unification of the motherland will work with mainland artists to present a high-level evening gala.”

At a press conference on the same day, spokesperson Chiu Chui-cheng of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) of Taiwan called on the Taiwanese people not to become a target of the CCP’s united front work against the island.

Chiu said that five bills surrounding Taiwan’s national security have recently been amended. The government is not happy to see the general public going to mainland China to participate in activities with political implications. Chiu called on the Taiwanese people to consider their national dignity and the social perception and avoid violating the law. On July 3, iIn order to strengthen the regulation of current or retired public servants and military personnel going to mainland China, Taiwan passed articles 9 and 91 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area. These articles will be officially implemented starting September 1. If personnel subject to the regulations obstruct the national dignity, they will be punished according to the law.

MAC believes that Beijing will use the anniversary activities to spread propaganda about the achievements of the regime and use large scale military parades to display new weapons to intimidate Taiwan and neighboring countries. Chiu emphasized that the Republic of China is a sovereign state, and Taiwan does not accept “one country, two systems.”

Source: Central News Agency, August 29, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201908290281.aspx

BBC Chinese recently reported that, due to the constitutional status change of Indian-controlled Kashmir, that region has been under military lockdown with nearly no public communication. The flagship project under China’s One Belt One Road initiative, namely the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, is being challenged as well. The local residents of Indian-controlled Kashmir were strongly against the move and the unstable situation immediately impacts the interests of the neighboring countries – Pakistan and China. The geopolitical situation introduced uncertainty to the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, which passes through Pakistani Kashmir. India is the only large country in South and Southeast Asia that refused to join the One Belt One Road initiative. The recent Indian move also touched a portion of the territory claimed by China. Some observers expressed their belief that part of India’s mission is to add pressure to China’s One Belt One Road expansion plan.

Source: BBC Chinese, August 12, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/world-49322250