Geo-Strategic Trend - 47. page

Xi Jinping recently visited Saudi Arabia and attended the 2022 China-Arab States Summit hosted in Saudi’s capital city Riyadh. China signed a joint summit statement declaring its support for the United Arab Emirates “to reach a peaceful solution to the issue of the three islands; Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa” under international law. The UAE and the Iranese have been disputing these three islands in the Strait of Hormuz for decades, where Iran grabbed them after the British Royal Navy stopped patrolling them in 1971.

Iran expressed fury for the betrayal by China which had supported it for long time. Iran called in China’s Ambassador to express its grievance. In the meantime, many Iranian media have complained about China.

On December 10, the Arman Daily, an Iranian newspaper published an article titled, “Taiwan Independence: A Legal Right” on its front page. The article stated that Beijing would have to accept Taiwan’s independence despite attempts to suppress the country by force.

To calm down Tehran, on December 13, Beijing sent Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua (胡春華) to meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Xinhua News reported that Hu told Iranian officials that China “will not waver in its determination to develop their comprehensive strategic partnership” and that “China firmly supports Iran in opposing external interference and safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity.”

Source: Epoch Times, Dec 14, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/14/n13884833.htm

Taiwan Democracy Lab recently announced its “China Index.  It ranked China’s influence on 82 countries or regions in nine categories including academia, domestic politics, the economy, foreign policy, law enforcement, media, military, society, and technology. Among the overall ranking, the top five countries are Pakistan, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, Peru and South Africa (tied).

Taiwan ranked number one in two categories: media and society, and number 11 in the overall ranking. Germany ranked the top among all European countries.

Source: Epoch Times, December 9, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/9/n13881687.htm

The 142-km high-speed rail connecting Indonesia’s capital Jakarta with another large city Bandung, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, has faced numerous accusations from Indonesians during the project’s closing stage.

In August of this year, KCIC, the consortium building the railway, requested the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation  to extend the concession period from 50 to 80 years. The company’s president, Dwiyana Slamet Riyadi, explained on December 8 before the Fifth Committee of the Indonesian Parliament, which is in charge of transportation and public works, that there had been a significant change in the project’s business environment.

However Lasarus, S.Sos., an Indonesian Parliament member and chair of the Committee, is skeptical about the extension of the concession rights, according to detik.com, an Indonesia news website. He pointed out that many people complained about the project, arguing that since the business environment is not good, no more public expenditures should be used on it.

The news was picked up by major media in Indonesia that day and drew widespread criticism. Muhammad Said Didu, a former senior government official, posted on his personal Twitter account that KCIC had deceived Indonesians in five aspects. China claimed that it was cheaper than Japan’s high-speed rail construction proposal, that the project was feasible, that it did not require government guarantees, that it did not tie up public coffers, and that the operating rights were extended from the 50-year requirement to 80 years. The post received thousands of retweets and likes.

According to Chinese official media, construction of the railway officially began in January 2016 and was set to be completed in the second half of 2019, with the concession running for a total of 50 years from May 2019, with a total cost of US$5.135 billion negotiated between China and Indonesia. However, Detik.com noted that the total investment for the project was later renegotiated to US$6 billion. On top of that, the Indonesian Financial Supervisory Authority (BPKP) assessed that the construction cost exceeded the budget by US$1.49 billion, while the Chinese side admitted to only US$980 million, a disagreement of up to US$500 million.

An Australian engineer told Radio Free Asia, “There is a widespread issue of underbidding in China’s construction contracts in Asian, African and Latin American countries, as well as in Australia’s iron ore projects, followed by constant requests for more money during the operations. This has often resulted in debt traps, as in the case of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, which has put a big financial burden on the country.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 12, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/fy-12122022130743.html

A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator pointed out during a hearing on December 12 that, after the Ministry of Digital Affairs banned the use of Tiktok in the public sector starting from December 5, only the Executive Yuan and its subordinate ministries are actually subject to this rule, while the other four branches of Taiwanese government can still use the app. Although Tiktok has been banned from public sector computers, it is not banned on cell phones for government use.

The Executive Yuan’s spokesperson admitted that, although the scope of the ban includes cell phones for government use, banning the app alone may not be effective enough. There should be some better methods, such as some technical processing in the networks of the public sector so that civil servants do not have access to the app. The spokesperson also pointed out that if a public servant violates the regulations, there will be a corresponding punishment.

The Secretary General of the Executive Yuan, Li Meng-yen, responded that, in addition to prohibiting civil servants in the ministries under the Executive Yuan from using these platforms, they will also coordinate with the other four branches, the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan, to establish the ban.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao (Singapore), December 12, 2022
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20221212-1342718

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that a cross-party Polish House of Representatives delegation visited Taiwan. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said to the delegation that Taiwan, Poland, and Ukraine are all on the front line of an authoritarian expansion, and the people of Taiwan identify with Ukraine’s determination to defend democracy and freedom. They look forward to working with like-minded partners to assist Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.

Tsai also said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a major impact on the global democratic order. Poland is the current rotating president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe this year. It is also actively leading countries to sanction Russia and provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Waldemar Andzel, chairman of the Poland-Taiwan Congressional Group, said that when Taiwan faced pressure from Mainland China, Poland was very supportive of Taiwan’s position. Poland and Taiwan have the same views and have similar histories. Taiwan donated over US$11 million as Ukraine faces aggression from Russia. Andzel hoped that Taiwan-Poland’s economic cooperation can go further, and he welcomes Taiwanese manufacturers, such as semiconductor factories to set up factories in Poland. Taiwan and Poland’s cooperation in higher education is very extensive as well. Andzel also expected that, in the future, direct flights can be established between Warsaw and Taipei.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, December 6, 2022
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20221206-1340778?amp