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CNA: British Government Officially Gave Notice to Remove Huawei by 2027

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that the British government issued an official notice on October 13 to 35 domestic broadband and mobile network operators, as well as to the Chinese telecom giant Huawei that Huawei must completely remove Huawei equipment from the UK’s 5G public network by the end of 2027. The ban also includes 1.) an immediate halt to the installation of Huawei equipment on 5G networks and 2.) the complete removal of Huawei from facilities important to national security by January 28, 2023, and 3.) the refusal to install any Huawei products affected by U.S. sanctions on full-fiber networks. In a notice to Huawei, the UK Digital Ministry explained the reasons for the ban.  Huawei is headquartered in China and its business is controlled on the Chinese end. The Chinese government and related actors have carried out and are expected to continue to carry out cyber-attacks on the UK. The Chinese government and related actors continue to seek to exploit weaknesses in telecommunications service equipment and networks in order to undermine their security. Chinese laws such as the National Intelligence Law allow the Chinese government to require Chinese companies and their employees to engage in activities “harmful to the UK.” Also, in terms of law enforcement practices, the Chinese government may even ask Huawei employees to cooperate with the Chinese government. The Chinese government’s authority under the statute means Huawei’s equipment could be secretly embedded with malicious functions. The UK Telecommunications (Security) Act, which went into effect in November last year, gave the UK government new powers to impose stricter controls on high-risk telecom service providers based on national security concerns.

Source: CNA, October 13, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202210130365.aspx

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

North Korea Fired More than 40 Missiles This Year

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile into the waters off its eastern coast on October 14, the latest in a series of recent North Korean launches.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from the Sunan area near the North Korean capital Pyongyang. Reuters said this was at least North Korea’s 41st ballistic missile launch this year.

North Korea stated that its recent string of missile tests, including an intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan last week, was in response to the joint military exercises by South Korea and the United States.

North Korea’s latest launch in the early hours of Friday also drew Japan’s attention. The Japanese government said the missile is believed to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, about 370 kilometers from the coast.

Source: Epoch Times, October 13, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/13/n13844834.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Possible Methods for the CCP to Interfere on Taiwan’s Election

Taiwan will hold its election on November 26. Included will be local public service positions, the mayor, county executive, city and county council members, and others.

Su Ziyun, Director of the Defense Strategy and Resources Studies, Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told the Epoch Times that the U.S. has confirmed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has interfered in a number of other countries’ elections. The CCP spent at least several billion dollars to intrude directly or indirectly in other countries’ political operations, using agents such as the Confucius Institute.

Su thinks that the CCP has three methods to interfere in Taiwan’s election this year. One, spread specific information, via their agents in Taiwan, to shift voter’s minds. Two, force Taiwan business people who are doing business in China to state publicly that they support certain candidates. Three, use Taiwan’s local associations, such as agricultural and fishery associations, temple systems, and whatever they can, to impact the support for local candidates.

Source: Epoch Times, October 9, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/9/n13841851.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

CCP Requested Foreign Diplomat’s Missions in Hong Kong to Hand in Building Floor Plans

According to Financial Times, in the past few months, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested foreign diplomat’s  missions in Hong Kong to submit their real estate information, including floor plans. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also wants to collect and review their leases and/or sales contracts.

Diplomats from these foreign countries are concerned that the CCP’s request will jeopardize the security of their buildings and their properties.

Source: Radio France International, October 4, 2022
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/港澳台/20221004-中国据报要求驻港外交使团提供所有房产资料

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Several Countries Are Taking Action against China’s Police Stations on Their Land

After a report revealed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has established police service stations and conducted police operations in foreign countries, some  of these countries started conducting investigations. In some other countries politicians have put on pressure for action to be taken.

Safeguard Defenders, a human rights organization in Spain, reported in September that the CCP has extended its police operations overseas. It has set up at least 54 police service stations in 30 countries, including the U.S. (New York), France (Paris), Canada (Toronto), Spain (Madrid), and elsewhere. Their main mission is to hunt for those Chinese who stole money and went overseas. “Rather than using legal forms of international cooperation, they have resorted to pressuring targets to return. In fact some 230,000 people have been involved for a little over year.”

These police service stations have physical locations and phone numbers so that people can call and provide information. Beijing claimed that its purpose was to provide ID services or China’s driver’s license renewal to Chinese citizens overseas.

However, some countries where Beijing has conducted these police operations, feel this is a violation of their sovereignty.

Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Ministry officials have expressed concern to the Chinese Embassy and are consulting within the entire government as to how to resolve this issue.

The Ministry of Interior in Spain started its investigation.

In the U.S., Jim Bank (R), Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Michael Waltz (R), Mike Gallagher (R), along with 18 other House Representatives, wrote a letter to Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Justice Garland, stating, “There should be no room for the Chinese government to exercise extraterritorial law enforcement unilaterally on U.S. soil.”

On October 4, the Canadian House of Commons committee on relations between Canada and the People’s Republic of China held a hearing on this issue. Weldon Epp, a China lead with Global Affairs Canada, stated at the hearing, “The activity that’s being alleged (about the police service stations) would be entirely illegal, totally inappropriate and would be the subject of very serious representations.”

Sources:
1. Scribd.com
https://www.scribd.com/document/599145539/Banks-Waltz-Gallagher-letter-to-Austin-Blinken-about-CCP-police-arm-in-NYC?secret_password=Rnjt1JQ6WoEg4gW1d91F
2. Epoch Times, October 10, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/10/n13842597.htm
3. Epoch Times, October 9, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/9/n13841856.htm
4. Epoch Times, October 11, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/11/n13843260.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

Cambodia’s China-Built Expressway Opens to Traffic

Cambodia’s first expressway was opened to public use on China’s National Day and is free for one month. As a benchmark project of China’s “Belt & Road Initiative,” the 187-kilometer highway connecting the capital city of Phnom Penh and the southwest port of Preah Sihanouk cost $2 billion, and will reduce the driving time between the two cities from 5 hours to 2 hours. The project is a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract project, with a 50-year license and toll system.

Cambodia’s Khmer Times newspaper reported that South Korea’s Green Eco Energy once bid $536 million to build the project in November 2015, with a 35-year contracting period. In the same year, China’s Henan provincial government submitted a quote of $1.6 billion at the time of signing the MOU. It is not uncommon that Chinese companies often overbid infrastructure projects so that involved officials can take kickbacks.

According to the local Cambodian news network, at the end of October 2021, the Cambodian government forcibly demolished a number of residential buildings during land acquisition for the project, sparking outrage online.

The China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the state conglomerate that undertook the construction of the Phnom Penh-Sihanouk Expressway, signed a contract with the Cambodian government in September to conduct a study and is set to start construction of the country’s second expressway in the middle of next year, It will link Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese border at Bavet City, and will have a length of more than 100 kilometers.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 28, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/fy-09282022130759.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

IT Competition between China and the U.S. in Africa

During his visit to Africa, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States is financing a massive underwater fiber optic cable that will connect Africa to the rest of the world and provide fast communications between Africa and the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe. This will be one of the first projects under the framework of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), a project reportedly launched during the Biden administration with G7 leaders to counter China’s transcontinental “Belt & Road” initiative.

It is no coincidence that the American project is seen as a response to China’s Pakistan and East Africa Connect in Europe (PEACE) cable project. The cable will run from Pakistan to East Africa and then into Western Europe. In the second phase, the fast communication cable will reach South Africa and Singapore.

China has financed the construction of a sizeable communications technology infrastructure throughout Africa. These network technology and communication projects have put China in a dominant position in Africa. Huawei has completed or is building digital processing centers and has built cloud services in many African countries, including Zimbabwe, Senegal, Zambia, Togo, Tanzania, Mozambique, Mali and Madagascar.

Source: Sputnik News, August 2022
https://sputniknews.cn/20220820/1043236644.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Cooperation between China and Mexico

According to the Mexico News newspaper, China’s investment in Mexico has continued to grow, while Chinese companies engaged in exporting to the United States are also showing interest in Mexico. Last year, China invested a record of almost $500 million in Mexico, compared to less than $300 million in 2020 and less than $200 million in 2019. Within two years, “Hofusan Industrial Park,” the first industrial park built by the Chinese in North America, expects to have 35 companies from China. In a recent report, Bloomberg noted that the industrial park has become a haven for China to bypass U.S. tariffs and restart supply chains in the wake of the epidemic. In this way, it takes advantage of the tax exemptions between Mexico and the United States under the framework of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Victor Jeifets, a professor at St. Petersburg State University, told Sputnik News: “The Americans have leverage on Mexico, which is very interested in the U.S. market. At the moment, with the growth of Chinese companies’ influence there, the United States will not go down the road of intensifying conflict with Mexico. The United States needs allies when dealing with China-related issues, and will not take the risk of forcing Mexico to make a choice. Therefore, if the cooperation between China and Mexico does not undermine the USMCA, the United States will not set up obstacles.”

According to Mexican media reports, some new Sino-Mexican cooperation projects have been announced. They include a $1 billion investment over four years by Chinese solar panel maker Solarever Group in a Chinese-owned automotive battery plant in Jalisco. China’s Lingong Machinery Group announced plans to build a $140 million manufacturing plant in Nuevo León, on Mexico’s northern border.

Source: Sputnik News (Russia), September 24, 2022
https://sputniknews.cn/20220924/1044226872.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend