Geo-Strategic Trend - 36. page

China passed the Provisions on Procedures for Marine Police Agencies to Handle Criminal Cases on May 15. The law will be in effect starting on June 15. There are concerns over whether China will use this law to arrest citizens of other countries in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

Article 15 stated:

For maritime criminal cases occurring outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the jurisdiction shall be determined in accordance with the following principles:

(3) If a foreigner commits a crime against the state or a citizen of the PRC in waters other than the territorial waters of the PRC and is punishable under the Criminal Law of PRC, he is under the jurisdiction of the marine police agency of the place where the foreigner landed, entered, or resided after entering, the jurisdiction of the marine police agency of the place where the victim resided before leaving the country or currently resides, or the jurisdiction assigned by the Chinese Maritime Police Bureau if he has not entered the country and there is either no victim or the crime is against the state of PRC.

(4) For crimes under international treaties created or participated in by PRC and within the scope for the PRC to exercise criminal jurisdiction under the treaty obligations, the jurisdiction is the marine police agency of the place where the suspect was apprehended or the place he landed or entered.

Source:
1. Epoch Times, June 1, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/6/1/n14007942.htm
2. Peking University Law Library, May 2023
https://law.pkulaw.com/chinalaw/bc12742e184847e1bdfb.html

On March 24, 2023, China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Eleventh Bureau issued an internal notice announcing plans to organize over 40 “experts in cyber intelligence, big data system construction, and data mining” from across the country to engage in a month-long period of “Special Reconnaissance Operations ” in Beijing from March 27 to April 27, 2023. The main objective of this operation was to “send personnel to participate in the battle for public opinion against overseas ‘Internet armies’ and effectively safeguard political security online.”

The leaked notice, suspected to have been obtained through email hacking, revealed that the operation was undertaken by the “Twenty-Fourth Division of the Eleventh Bureau,” led by a person named “Hu Fengming” (胡凤鸣). Several “Public Security Bureau Network Security Defense Brigades” were mentioned in the notice, which also included a list of 32 participating police officers with their real names.

The Network Security Defense Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, also known as the Eleventh Bureau, is an internal agency responsible for handling criminal cases related to computers and information networks. It oversees the management of the national public information network security police, commonly known as the “Internet police.”

The leaked notice was independently verified by China Digital Times (CDT) through online searches and cross-referencing, confirming the identities of some of the listed police officers. As of now, CDT has confirmed that 11 individuals are indeed Internet police officers from various regions (with some screenshots as evidence), leading to the belief that the leaked notice is genuine.

It appears that Chinese authorities are aware of the leak and have taken action. As of the time of this writing, the Baidu Baike pages (Chinese encyclopedia) of the individuals on the list have been taken offline. Weibo (a popular social media platform) has also cleared all names from the list.

Source: China Digital Times, May 24, 2023
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/695957.html

The Chinese company Yunnan Energy New Material (Semcorp), the world’s largest manufacturer of battery separators, is planning to launch its first overseas factory in Hungary and aims to increase its global market share to 50 percent by 2025. The company has dispatched approximately 100 employees to the Hungarian factory and is currently recruiting locally. The factory, with an investment of approximately €340 million, is expected to start production in 2023.

Battery separators are essential components in lithium-ion batteries that prevent short circuits and regulate the movement of lithium ions between the positive and negative electrodes during charging and discharging. Yunnan Energy New Material surpassed Japan’s Asahi Kasei in 2018 to become the global market leader in the separator market. By 2022, the company had achieved a market share of 37 percent.

Yunnan Energy New Material’s overall production capacity reached 7 billion square meters by the end of 2022. The company recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its second-phase factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and plans gradually to establish and expand factories in China. By 2025, the production capacity is expected to reach 16 billion square meters, a 2.3-fold increase from the current level.

The company’s revenue for the 2022 fiscal year increased by 58 percent compared to the previous year, reaching ¥12.5 billion, and its net profit increased by 47 percent to ¥4 billion. Yunnan Energy New Material has experienced continuous revenue and profit growth since its listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2016, driven by the rapid development of Chinese battery manufacturers such as CATL and BYD.

While the company faces competition from technologically advanced Japanese and South Korean enterprises, it maintains a cost advantage due to its overwhelming production scale. Its customers include major battery manufacturers such as Panasonic and Samsung. However, the company faces three major challenges in achieving further growth: technological gaps with Japanese and South Korean competitors, economic security concerns between China and the United States, and the risk of oversupply in the separator market.

Yunnan Energy New Material has approximately 500 researchers, including Chinese experts who previously worked for Asahi Kasei and Toray. While the company is catching up with leading Japanese and South Korean companies in terms of quality, battery industry experts believe that expanding market share in Europe will require higher technical capabilities. Entry into the vast US market also poses difficulties due to the potential exclusion of foreign companies from tax incentives under the Biden administration’s inflation reduction law.

In the global market for the four main lithium-ion battery materials (positive electrodes, negative electrodes, separators, and electrolytes), Chinese companies hold a market share of 74 to 88 percent, while Japanese companies’ presence is declining. The focus of the market share battle will shift to the next generation of batteries, including semi-solid-state and all-solid-state batteries, which are expected to improve battery performance and safety.

Overall, Yunnan Energy New Material is aggressively expanding its presence in the global market, but it faces challenges in terms of technology, economic security, and potential oversupply. The company aims to leverage its production scale and continue its research and development efforts to remain competitive in the evolving battery industry.

Source: Nikkei, May 24, 2023
https://zh.cn.nikkei.com/china/ccompany/52475-2023-05-24-05-00-00.html

Recently, Russia announced an offer of the port of Vladivostok, its most important unfrozen port in the Far East, to China as an internal port. Russia claimed that it has completed the preparation for China’s mass shipping needs.

China plans to  open the port officially on June 1. It hopes this will boost the economy at the Northeastern provinces, especially for Heilongjiang and Jilin, which have no access to the sea and have to transport their goods entirely over land, or partially to the port of Dalian and then ship them over the sea. Once Vladivostok becomes available, they can transport their goods to this seaport first (which is at a much shorter distance) and then ship the goods out. Also China’s foreign trade goods can go through Vladivostok without tariffs and other taxes.

One analysis said that Russia previously planned to develop its Far East region with Japan and South Korea as partners.  It was afraid that China might dominate the Far East as its power grows. However, this plan didn’t get very far. Now Russia finally agreed to offer it to China, showing it truly takes China as its best partner in developing the Far East. This will also trigger more trade between China and Russia.

Some people suggested that Russia has been forced to give China Vladivostok. Being that it is suppressed and sanctioned by the West for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia can only look east and rely on China.

Following this model, Russia may also open a seaport on the Japan Sea to the Chinese navy, allowing China to set a foot into the Japan Sea and counterbalance the U.S., Japanese, and Korean naval forces.

Some background information is that China’s history claims that Vladivostok, whose Chinese name Haishenwai (海参崴), was under the Qing Dynasty’s rule and was ceded to Russia in 1860 as the Qing government was no military rival to Russia.

Sources:
1. Sohu, May 18, 2023
https://www.sohu.com/a/676627195_121470982
2. Net Ease, May 16, 2023
https://www.163.com/dy/article/I4SQNHJC05561Y1A.html

Two Chinese exiled dissidents protested in front of the Chinese Embassy in Finland and were subsequently arrested and detained for two days after the embassy staff reported them to the police for “multiple serious crimes.”

Last Friday, Wang Jingyu arrived in Finland and joined another exiled dissident, Zhao Yunting, in protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy. The embassy filed a complaint stating that the protesters were disrupting their normal operations, but the police released the two protesters after questioning them. On the following day, Wang Jingyu and Zhao Yunting continued their protest in front of the embassy. Subsequently, police officers arrived and arrested them. The next day, they were officially detained and informed that they were suspected of serious crimes. During the interrogation, Wang Jingyu was informed that a Chinese Embassy staff member named “Zhang Kui” had reported them for carrying explosives, extortion, and robbery. Based on these charges, Wang Jingyu and Zhao Yunting could potentially face a one-year prison sentence.

With the assistance of their lawyers and the Finnish Central Criminal Police, Wang Jingyu and Zhao Yunting were released after being detained for two days. On Wednesday, Wang Jingyu recounted the events and said, “On May 7th, the Finnish police formally arrested and detained us.. A police officer said that Zhao Yunting and I were suspected of serious criminal offenses. On May 8th, the Finnish police interrogated me again and told me that a person named ‘Zhang Kui’ from the Chinese Embassy had called them and accused us of planting bombs in Helsinki and robbing their diplomatic property, as well as extortion. After investigating, the Finnish police confirmed that we did not commit these acts.”

Wang Jingyu also mentioned that he had been subjected to death threats and harassment for over a year, with Chinese overseas police officers falsely reporting him numerous times. He believes this incident follows the same pattern and indicates a connection between the Chinese Embassy and illegal Chinese overseas police agencies.

The Chinese Embassy in Finland was contacted multiple times by the media, but they stated that there is no person named “Zhang Kui” in the embassy. Currently, Finnish lawyers are preparing to seek state compensation for the actions of the police. Wang Jingyu urged the police to  disclose the information about  the individual who made the false bomb threat publicly and called for a public condemnation statement.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 11, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/bomb-05112023112424.html

According to a Dutch media report, in the past two years, several provinces and cities in the Netherlands have ended their sister province and sister city relationships with China . China has been using these relationships as a means of external influence and penetration, but China  is facing increasing resistance.

The investigation by the Dutch newspaper NRC revealed that one-fourth of the sister friendly cooperation relationships, established between local authorities in the Netherlands and China in the past two years, have been canceled. Furthermore, several other municipal institutions are also preparing to end such cooperative relationships, while some municipalities are reevaluating their relationships with Chinese sister cities.

The report states that Dutch municipal authorities often cite China’s persecution of the Uighur ethnic group as the reason for terminating these relationships. Ahmed Marchouc, the mayor of Arnhem, said, “We must respect the principles of democracy, the rule of law, press freedom, and freedom of speech… (but) maintaining (friendly) relations with Chinese cities creates an image that disrespects these principles.” The city ended its relationship with Wuhan in 2021.

Some cities also mentioned that the economic benefits derived from these sister city relationships with China were not significant, which contributed to their decision to end them.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 8, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/9-05082023154300.html