Geo-Strategic Trend - 140. page

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that Set Aung, Myanmar’s Deputy Minister of Finance, commented on the downsizing of the Kyaukpyu project, which is part of China’s One Belt One Road program. The original Kyaukpyu Deepwater Port project was targeted at US$7.3 billion. The scope will now be reduced to around US$1.3 billion. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested that the business negotiation is still on-going. The primary developer, China CITIC Group, explained that the US$1.3 billion is for the “initial phase,” which is one of four phases. Deputy Minister Aung expressed his concern about falling into a “debt trap.” The project’s original plan was to construct 10 berths for large oil tankers in the deep-water port. However, the number has been down-scaled to two. The Myanmar government already clarified that it will not provide sovereign guarantees for any loans to the project and the government will require a third-party independent audit on project spending. The Port of Kyaukpyu is located right at the entry point of the China- Myanmar Oil and Gas Pipeline.

Source: Sina, August 3, 2018
http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/dgby/2018-08-03/doc-ihhehtqh1807509.shtml

Universities UK International, an advocacy group for the universities in the UK, recently issued a research report showing that, among the foreign students in the UK, about 20 percent are mainland Chinese citizens.

According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, Chinese students account for the highest proportion of foreign students in the UK. In the 2016-2017 school year, 95,000 students from mainland China studied at universities in the UK. When compared with the previous school year, the number increased by 4.2 percent. According to the report, the number of U.S. students was 17,500, ranked second among foreign students in British universities and less than one-fifth of the number of Chinese students. Next on the list were Hong Kong (16,600), India (16,500), and Malaysia (16,300). The report also stated that as many as 27 percent of the students have an economics or a management major.

Source: Sputnik News, August 14, 2018
http://sputniknews.cn/society/201808141026123122/

China recently announced that it will issue the same type of personal identification card to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan residents who live in China for six months or longer. VOA reported on the notice the State Council issued. It stated that that Taiwan resident refers to those Chinese citizens who are permanent residents of Taiwan but don’t have Chinese residential status. The notice also mentioned that ID cards will allow residents from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan to have the same type of benefits that the rest of the Chinese citizens have, including employment, education, insurance, and housing funding. However these residents also should provide their personal information to the Public Security Bureau, including their finger prints. The ID card they have would contain an embedded chip that has the ability to track an individual’s whereabouts. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said that the ID card is only a piece of card. It does not mean that we (the Taiwan Government) acknowledge the political system it represents. Another Taiwan official has reminded Taiwan residents that the Chinese government has been escalating surveillance of its residents. Any Taiwan resident who wishes to work or study in the mainland might bear certain personal risks.

Source: Voice of America, August 19, 2018
https://www.voachinese.com/a/news-china-residence-permits-for-taiwanese-20180819/4534868.html

Prior to embarking on a five-day trip to China, Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir once again expressed his intent to cancel two major infrastructure projects in Malaysia that a Chinese company had funded. The Chinese side responded with concern that the cancellation of the projects will cause the Chinese company to suffer a significant financial loss and will also cause a setback in the “belt and road” project. Deutsche Welle reported that, In July, Mahathir said that there was some unfairness in a few of the projects in which the Chinese companies had invested. It will be an important issue that he will bring up when he visits China. On August 13, Mahathir stated again that he intends to cancel several agreements that the previous administration had signed for infrastructure projects that would cost billions of dollars. He stated, “Malaysia does not need these projects.” One high ranking Chinese  bank official who participated in sourcing the funding for the Malaysia projects told Deutsche Welle that cancelling the project would be a major setback for the development of China’s Belt and Road project overseas. It would result in a huge financial loss to the Chinese investors and would result in the loan becoming a bad debt. Mahathir also stated that he will demand that China respect freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, “No one should develop a permanent station in the disputed region in the South China Sea and cause an unnecessary increase in tension.”

Source: Deutsche Welle, August 14, 2018
https://p.dw.com/p/335WX?maca=zh-Twitter-sharing 马来西亚喊停 “一带一路”将受挫

The Paper reported that Transportation Minister Li Xiaopeng visited Panama from August 8 to August 11 to attend the signing ceremony of the “Memorandum of Understanding on Maritime Cooperation between the Ministry of Transportation of the Maritime Bureau of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Panama.” During his meeting with Li Xiaopeng, Juan Carlos Varela, Panama’s President, expressed the desire to strengthen the pragmatic cooperation between Panama and China in the fields of maritime transportation, air transportation, and transportation infrastructure construction and to utilize the advantage of Panama’s location to build a “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” with China. Currently, Panama’s ships receive preferential tax treatment in China; there are also direct flights between these two countries; and China also participates in canal, railway, and subway construction projects in Panama.

Source: The Paper, August 12, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2344378

Development Reimagined, a Beijing based consulting Company, announced that China ranked second in terms of the number of cultural centers in Africa, only behind France.

Currently the region has 48 Confucius Institutes, which debuted in 2004. This is the second largest foreign cultural system in Africa. France ranks first with 180 cultural institutions. The others are the United States (40), the United Kingdom (38), Portugal (34) and Germany (21).

What makes the Confucius Institute different is that it is seated inside the campus of universities and its courses are part of the academic programs.

According to Dr. Ishmael Mensah, Dean of the Confucius Institute in Ghana, courses offered by Confucius Institutes are becoming more and more popular, with 2,000 students attending classes during the semester.

Source: Sputnik News, August 14, 2018
http://sputniknews.cn/society/201808141026115441/

Xinhua recently reported that the trade talks between the United States and Japan started on August 9. Because of the large number of disagreements, the talks could not be finished as scheduled and the two parties decided to continue on the second day. The Nikkei Index dropped by 1.33 percent citing worries about U.S. trade protectionism. Xinhua referred to a Nikkei (Japan Economics Newspaper) report, which indicated that the U.S. wanted to shift the talks into a free trade negotiation between the two countries, while Japan wanted to frame the talks under the TPP international agreement. The Xinhua article also quoted an Asahi News report on widespread concerns among Japanese industries, especially agriculture. The Trump administration had already threatened, not long ago, to increase the tariff on Japanese automobiles by 25 percent. According to Japanese media, the positions between the two countries are far from each other. Japanese Prime Minister Abe will soon face an election for the head of the party, while the U.S. President is about to be challenged in his first mid-term election. Nikkei is the world’s largest financial newspaper. Asahi News is the second largest Japanese daily newspaper.

Source: Xinhua, August 11, 2018
http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2018-08/11/c_129931131.htm