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Propaganda: Chinese Teacher Taught Students: “Ukraine Is a Spendthrift”

An online video showed a Chinese teacher teaching elementary students that Ukraine is a spendthrift and has wasted all of the assets it inherited when it separated from the USSR.

The teacher said Ukraine inherited a large amount of military assets and asked the students what those assets included. The first students answered, “Nuclear weapons.” The second said, “6,000 tanks.” The third said, “Three aircraft carriers fully loaded with planes that could go anywhere.” (Note: Ukraine sold one carrier to China. It  became China’s first aircraft carrier.)

Then the teacher asked the students what they learned from the Ukraine incident. Students answered by quoting Xi Jinping’s words, “Each of us must live his life in his own way.” Also, “We must study well so we can [later] build the country and defend the country.”

Source: Yahoo!, March 7, 2022
https://tw.news.yahoo.com影-中國女師罵烏克蘭-敗家子-洗腦學生影片瘋傳-072932351.html

Hot Topics | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

LTN: Poland Plans to Double its Army to “Become NATO’s Strongest”

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that Ukraine has suffered from Russian aggression, making countries adjacent to Russia quite nervous. NATO member Poland has announced that it is necessary to update next year’s military expenses and expand its military scale to strengthen its defense ability. The Polish Army will expand from 143,500 soldiers to 300,000. The Polish government said it plans to focus on the defensive ability of its capital, Warsaw. The military expenses for next year were increased from the 2.5 percent of GDP proposed in October last year, to 3 percent, and may increase more if necessary. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak pointed out that this will be a framework to have one of NATO’s strongest armies. He also said, “The evil empire is trying to be reborn (and come) through our eastern frontier.” Poland intends to raise funds from the bonds or interest of the Central Bank of Poland and other banks. Since the E.U. stipulates that the budget overspending cannot exceed 3 percent, Poland is negotiating with the EU not to include military spending in the budget deficit.

Source: LTN, March 5, 2022
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3849139

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: The Ukraine War Brings Damage to Trade between Indian and Russia

Global Times recently reported that, according to Indian media, the Indian government may soon resort to swapping rupees for trade with Russian rubles, bypassing Western sanctions to avoid disruptions to India-Russia trade. Since the end of 2021, Russian and Indian defense export payments have been made in rubles and rupees, abandoning the use of U.S. dollars. To ensure Russia maintains fertilizer supplies to India amid sanctions, the Indian government and banking sources revealed there is a plan for Russian banks and companies to open Indian rupee accounts in some state-owned banks for trade settlement as part of the barter system. Russian economic experts pointed out that Russia is still evading sanctions through some friendly neighbors. Russia’s trade and capital flows will turn east again. Global Times also reported that, as one of the world’s leading arms exporters, the new round of U.S. sanctions may hugely impact Russian military enterprises on their export of weapons systems. India may have to swallow the “bitter fruit” produced by the U.S. and the West’s sanctions against Russia. Russia has been India’s largest arms supplier since the 1970s. Although the United States has been courting India in recent years to provide India with American-style equipment, more than 60 percent of India’s weapons and equipment comes from Russia and India’s authorized defense industry production chain basically comes from Russia. Senior Indian government officials said that the Indian army currently has sufficient reserves of Russian-made ammunitions and weapons’ spare parts. However, India’s orders for weapons worth about US$8 billion from Russia will face uncertainty. Since Russia was kicked out of the SWIFT system by the United States and the West, payments for arms transactions between the two countries will be seriously affected. In addition, the weapons projects jointly developed and produced by India and Russia may also be hit hard.

Source: Global Times, March 4, 2022
https://finance.huanqiu.com/article/473CosONcMc
https://mil.huanqiu.com/article/4730vkchnhV

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

HK01: French Museum Suspends Cooperation with Chinese Art Institutions

Hong Kong’s popular new online media, HK01 Network,  recently reported that the Matisse Museum in northern France has announced the cancellation of its loan of 280 works to the UCCA (Center for Contemporary Art) in Beijing. The Museum cited “the geopolitical crisis triggered by Russia’s declaration of war on Ukraine” and “China’s Relations with Russia.” The exhibition was originally scheduled to open in Beijing on March 26 and was to move to the UCCA pavilion in Shanghai next. UCCA suspended the exhibitions until further notice as the loan program has been cancelled. The Henri Matisse exhibition, originally scheduled to open in Beijing on the 26th of this month, is the largest solo exhibition in China by the French painter. Henri Matisse (1869-1954), is known as one of the masters of modern art. Matisse, together with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, brought great changes to the arts in the early 20th century. So far, China has not condemned Russia for invading Ukraine. China was one of the 35 countries abstaining in the UN General Assembly’s vote on condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Western intelligence revealed that senior Chinese officials have asked senior Russian officials to delay its invasion of Ukraine until after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing this year. However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied the allegations.

Source: HK01, March 4, 2022
https://bit.ly/3Kjs5wH

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Duowei News: Chinese Netizens Show Support for Russia; China Will Continue Normal Trade with Russia

Recently, many Chinese netizens have chosen to shop at the “Russia National Pavilion,” the only e-commerce platform in China that is authorized by the Russian embassy. Many items such as snacks  and teas were sold out. The number of fans of the store is also skyrocketing.

On March 2, a thank-you video appeared on the homepage of the store. The commercial ambassador of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce in China said that, at this difficult time, he would like to thank his Chinese friends for their support to Russia and the Russian National Pavilion.  He said he will remember this deep friendship and, at the same time, call on his Chinese friends to consume rationally.

Regarding whether China would continue to carry on trade with Russia while Western countries sanctioned Russia one after another, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, on March 2, “China firmly opposes any illegal unilateral sanctions. Sanctions have never been the fundamental and effective way to solve a problem. It will only bring serious difficulties to the economy and to people’s livelihoods in the relevant countries, and further aggravate division and confrontation. China requires relevant parties not to damage the legitimate rights and interests of China and other parties when handling the Ukraine issue and relations with Russia. China and Russia will continue to carry out normal trade cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, “The Chinese government’s position is that sanctions are never a fundamental and effective way to solve problems and China always opposes any illegal unilateral sanctions. According to the US Treasury Department’s own published data, in the past 20 years, the number of sanctions imposed by the United States has increased by 10 times.  . . . Since 2011, the United States has imposed sanctions on Russia more than 100 times but everyone can calmly think about it or discuss it. Have the U.S. sanctions solved the problem? Has the world changed for the better because of the U.S. sanctions? Will the Ukrainian problem be solved naturally because of the U.S. sanctions on Russia? Will the security of Europe be more secure because of the U.S. sanctions on Russia?”

Guo Shuqing, Chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said at a news conference that as far as financial sanctions are concerned, China does not agree with the sanctions because it has a bad effect and has no legal basis. China will not participate in the sanctions.

Source: Duowei News, March 3, 2022
https://www.dwnews.com/中国/60280809/中国网友敏感时刻买爆俄罗斯国家馆商品?itm_source=universal_search&itm_campaign=universal_search&itm_content=买爆俄罗斯国家馆商品&itm_medium=web

 

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

Xi Jinping’s Telephone Conference with Putin

The Russia’s Embassy in China posted an article stating that Russian President Putin had a telephone conference with Xi Jinping on February 25, the second day after Russia invaded Ukraine.

“The Russian President informed the Chinese President in detail about the reasons for the decision to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (two separatists-controlled regions in Ukraine), to conduct special military operations aimed at protecting civilians from genocide, and to ensure the demilitarization and de-Nazification of the Ukrainian state.”

“Xi stressed (that China would) respect the actions taken by the Russian leadership in the current crisis situation.”

“… Both (Presidents) stated that the use of illegal sanctions to achieve self-interested goals of certain individual countries must not be allowed. In the light of this, the two leaders stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral practical cooperation, taking into account the results of their talks in Beijing on February 4.”

“Overall, the call was friendly and constructive, demonstrating that both sides share the same principled positions on key international issues.”

Source: Russian Embassy in China Website, February 25, 2022
https://beijing.mid.ru/zh/news/_00121/

Hot Topics | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: “Sanctioning Cats” Is a Satire on the Radicalization of Sanctions

Global Times, China’s state media, published a commentary on the U.S. and other Western countries’ sanctions against Russia. The author of the article was the deputy Chief editor of Securities Daily (Chinese), Dong Shaopeng. The article said:

“At present, the sanctions against Russia by the United States and Western countries have not only increased in scope, but also showed a trend of “crossing the border” and even cats in Russia are sanctioned . The International Federation of Feline Animals (FIFe) has announced that any cats raised in Russia will not be allowed to register on the official pedigree of FIFe outside of Russia. Pet exhibitors from Russia are not allowed to participate in the FIFe Pet Show outside of Russia.”

“The essence of the sanctions is unilateral punishment . . .  Under certain conditions, as a means to correct imbalances in the political and economic fields, sanctions are justified.”

“However, in the context of power politics and hegemonism, the rationality of sanctions has been largely eliminated, and sometimes sanctions and oppression have been mixed together. The United States and Western countries often initiate sanctions out of self-interest, rather than upholding international law or international morality. They have wantonly expanded the scope of the so-called sanctions, not only habitually bullying the weak, but even making up excuses to abuse sanctions, which has radicalized the “sanction culture.” In this Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States and Western countries and entities have imposed sanctions on the use rights of transnational financial infrastructure, public communication tools, international sports competitions, cultural exchange projects, and more, and they have imposed sanctions in areas that belonged to friendly exchanges. The instrumentalization of these domains and platforms has completely distorted the normal communication mechanism between people and countries, violated the norms of international relations and general political principles, and fully exposed the ugliness of its hegemony and power.”

Source: Global times, March 2, 2022
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/471UMdqcRVV

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations