Geo-Strategic Trend - 79. page

Beijing tried to downplay Taiwan during the Olympics in Tokyo. It demanded that people use, “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan.” It cut off the television signal during the award ceremony after two Taiwanese badminton players beat the duo from the mainland and won the gold medal. It also tried to suppress and intimidate Taiwanese celebrities for political reasons. During the recent Olympic games, two high-profile Taiwanese celebrities were attacked because they posted messages to cheer on Taiwanese Olympic Athletes.

Dee Hsu, a formal Taiwanese talk show host was denounced for being Taiwan pro-independence after she posted messages on Instagram cheering for Taiwan Olympic athletes. Four mainland companies terminated their sponsorship agreements with Hsu. Another mainland company that sponsored her daughter also terminated the contract.

Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai was also attacked for her posting in which she cheered for Taiwanese athletes. She was accused of being a Taiwan independence activist and told that, because of it, she shouldn’t come to China to make money.

In addition to these recent incidents, on numerous occasions, Beijing has been bullying celebrities from Taiwan. The following includes only a partial list of incidents:
1. Kulilay Amit, who goes by A-mei as her stage name, sang the Taiwan national anthem at the presidential inauguration in 2000. Beijing banned her for four years.
2. At the 2010 Tokyo Film Festival, Beijing insisted that the Taiwan delegation must be introduced as the “Taiwan, China delegation.” The Taiwan delegation disputed this and, as a result, chose to skip the red carpet celebration.
3. In 2013, Zhang Xuan, a Taiwanese singer took a Taiwan National flag from a fan during a concert in Manchester England and told the crowd that the flag is the national flag from her hometown. As a result, her concert, scheduled for later in the year in Beijing, was cancelled.
4. In 2015, Chou Tzu-yu, a Taiwanese singer performed for a Korean band. She was accused of being a pro-Taiwan Independent activist for introducing herself as Taiwanese and for holding a Taiwan flag in her hand in one of her TV appearances in Korea. Chou had to publicly apologize on her Weibo account.
5. In 2016, Taiwan actor Dai Liren lost his role in a movie because the communist youth league posted on its official weibo account that Dai is pro-independence. Dai denied the claim.
6. In 2017, Doris Wang performed a live song in a TV program that Taiwan public television broadcasted. Because the name of the song is called “Beautiful Island,” Wang was accused of being pro-independence. The recording company forced her to apologize. Otherwise they would have imposed hefty fines on her.
7. In 2018, Guangdong Provincial Press, Publication and Radio Bureau banned “My Dear Boy” a Taiwanese television series, because it accepted funding from the Taiwan Ministry of Culture.

8. In 2018, the movie, “Missing Johnny,” was banned in China because actor Lawrence Ko was a “pro-independence activist.”
9. The movie, “Hello Mr. Billionaire,” achieved an impressive box office success in China. Vivian Sung, the lead actress from Taiwan was accused to being pro-independence because she said in one of her earlier interviews that her favorite country is Taiwan. Sung had to issue an apology on weibo.

Source: Epoch Times, August 3, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/8/3/n13134587.htm

China’s Confucius Institutes have been investing heavily overseas to promote foreigners being able to learn Chinese and Chinese culture. It is viewed as Beijing’s measure to enhance its “soft power.” In recent years, Confucius Institutes have been accused of interfering in academic freedom, conducting intelligence collection and other unwanted tasks. Since 2017, many Confucius Institutes in the U.S. have closed down.

This year, Taiwan began to explore the international Chinese language teaching market very actively. The Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee under the Taiwan Executive Yuan announced in June that it will set up 20 “Taiwan Chinese Language Learning Centers” in the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, France and other countries. Seventeen of them will be in the United States.

According to the statistics from the National Association of Scholars (NAS), in 2017, there were 103 Confucius Institutes in the U.S. As of July 9 of this year, the number had dropped to 41. Many other schools will also close Confucius Institutes later this year or next year.

Last October, the U.S. switched the cover of its official language learning website to the landmark Taipei 101 building in Taiwan. Last December, the U.S. signed the “Taiwan-U.S. Education Initiative” and launched the language teaching cooperation. It also increased the quota of the number of teachers from Taiwan who would teach in the United States.

In March,  21 U.S. congressmen wrote to the Secretary of Education. They stated that, after the U.S. closed Confucius Institutes, there was still a high demand for learning Chinese and Chinese culture. They suggested that the U.S expand Taiwan-U.S. education initiatives. The letter stated that the cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S. in education can limit the influence of communist China and ensure freedom of speech. It will be an alternative option to be used instead of the Confucius Institutes.

Source: BBC, August 13, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-58170293

According to the data from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, China has increased its total exports of personal protective equipment (PPE) by nearly three times.

In 2019, China’s total PPE exports reached US$ 22.9 billion, and in 2020 they will reach US$88.1 billion.

The total amount of China’s exports of PPE to the EU increased from US$3.9 billion in 2019 to US$ 23.4 billion in 2020. As for Russia, according to data from the Russian Customs Service, the total imports of medical PPE and disinfection products from China has increased from US$570 million in 2019 to US$2.01 billion in 2020.

The total amount of China’s exports of PPE to the U.S. has increased from US$7.1 billion to US$24.6 billion.

It is reported that China’s substantial increase in the production of PPE didn’t stop the price of this product from rising in 2020. Among its products, the price of a mask in April 2020 increased by 720.8 percent compared to December 2019.

Source: Sputnik, August 6, 2021
https://sputniknews.cn/china/202108061034216950/

According to the Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, in 2022, to prevent China from crossing the first island chain, Japan will deploy a missile force on Ishigaki Island. The island is 300 kilometers (186 miles) away from the coast of Taiwan.

Yomiuri Shimbun quoted an official from Japan’s Ministry of Defense who mentioned that an army force of 500 to 600  is expected to be deployed on Ishigaki Island. One of the troops will be equipped with shore-to-ship missiles and surface-to-air missiles, and the other will be a security force that can respond to armed attacks and large-scale natural disasters. The missile range will cover northern Taiwan just to deter China.

In addition, Japan’s Ministry of Defense is also planning to install electronic warfare units on the U.S. Island before the end of 2023 and build a new Self-Defense Force base on Magog Island.

On August 3, Japan’s Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told the Financial Times that, as China continues to increase its security threat to Taiwan, the international community should pay more attention to Taiwan. Other experts also believe that China’s threat to Taiwan has caused a backlash in other Asian countries.

Source: Deutsche Welle, August 5, 2021
https://p.dw.com/p/3yYxN

A Swiss media exposed that a professor at the University of St. Gallen suspended the academic relationship he had with a PhD student because the student criticized China. The university also ended the student PhD fellowship with the university.

On August 3, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a Swiss, German-language newspaper reported that a PhD student at the University of St. Gallen lost his PhD fellowship after tweeting a criticism of China. The incident took place in March 2020. The student goes by the name of Oliver Gerber as pseudonym. Gerber told the media that his professor received “an angry email” from China complaining that Gerber had spread “neo-Nazi” content on twitter. The professor terminated his academic ties with Gerber and also warned Gerber that he should moderate his political speech on the social media platform. A couple of days later, Gerber received a notification from the University of St. Gallen that they disabled his school email.

Gerber began his PhD research on environmental pollution at the University of St. Gallen in the spring of 2017. The subject is closely related to China. Gerber received a three-year government scholarship from a university in Wuhan, China. He met his Chinese girlfriend while he was in Wuhan, but he soon discovered that China’s censorship system affected his academic studies. When he submitted an article about re-education camps, he was given the lowest score.

Before Christmas in 2019, Gerber returned to Switzerland for the holiday. However, he couldn’t return back to Wuhan because of COVID. He began to use Twitter to condemn the Chinese government for the initial coverup of the new pandemic and for the repression in Xinjiang. He also criticized Xi Jinping. He said he was only active on Twitter for 10 days and had 10 followers.

The University of St. Gallen portrayed a different version of why Gerber was dismissed. It alleged that Gerber requested the cancellation of his registration at the University of St. Gallen while he was in China and denied that the University is influenced by China.

In recent years, Swiss universities have expanded their cooperation with China. The University of St. Gallen currently has 15 project agreements with China. However, the school emphasized that the department where Gerber was enrolled did not receive funds from China.

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 5, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/sw-study-08052021091941.html

On August 3, 2021, the Russian news agency Sputnik reported that, in February 2021, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) appears to have sent a group of China’s Armed Police officers to Cuba to train the Cuban Black Berets, a special forces unit under the Cuban Ministry of the Interior. Beijing Today reported the Sputnik article. Information from the U.S. media indicates that Black Berets played a crucial role in squashing the unprecedented protests in Cuba last month.

According to Beijing Today, the Sputnik article shows group photos of Chinese Armed Police officers and Cuban Black Berets. In the pictures, the Black Berets are holding Russian SVD sniper rifles. The Chinese officers were training the Black Berets on sniper rifle shooting.

An article that Beijing Today posted stated that experts believe China’s dispatch of experienced instructors to Cuba has taught the White House a lesson. It stated that the training solidified the combat capabilities of these elite forces in the Cuban Ministry of the Interior. It is not a good thing for the United States.

This was not the first media report indicating that China provided military training to Cuba. On May 27, 2010, the CCP media China Central TV (CCTV), broadcasted on its military channel (Junshi Jishi) a program on training Cuba’s Black Berets titled, “Chinese Armed Police as ‘Foreign Teachers.’” From November 2008 to January 2009, in 55 days, four Chinese Armed Police officers taught the Cuban Black Berets mixed martial arts, hostage rescue, and handling “large scale riots” to close to a hundred Cuban students. The training was held at the training base for the special forces of the Cuban Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the CCTV program, senior generals from the Cuban Ministry of Internal Affairs awarded “Special Contribution” medals (“extremely high honors”) to the Chinese officers.

In 2016, China’s Armed Police in the Ningxia Autonomous Region (central-north China) also sent instructors to Cuba. From April 19 to May 21, 2016, they provided training across six categories to the Cuban special forces. The Chinese media reports show group photos of the Chinese officers and the Cuban Black Berets. The purpose of the trip was to “consolidate the traditional friendship between the Armed Police Force and the Cuban Ministry of Internal Affairs along with its affiliated police forces, and to deepen the practical cooperation between the two parties.” China’s Armed Police instructors “demonstrated excellent military skills and good style. They also successfully completed the glorious and arduous training tasks assigned by the heads of the [Chinese Communist] Party committees at the headquarters.” Again, the Cuban Ministry of Internal Affairs awarded “Special Contribution” medals to the Chinese officers.

Sources:
1. Beijing Today, August 4, 2021
http://www.beijingtoday.com.cn/military/573216

2. China News, May 28, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/news/2010/05-28/2311268.shtml

3. China Military, May 27, 2016
http://www.js7tv.cn/news/201605_46656.html; more group photos at https://kknews.cc/zh-cn/military/og2yge6.html

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that Philippine President Duterte met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on July 29. The two sides announced the full resumption of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and agreed that there is room for strengthening the relationship between the two countries. Secretary Austin, at a joint press conference on the next day, expressed his gratitude to President Duterte for his decision to fully restore the VFA. The VFA is one of the critical military agreements signed by the Philippines and the United States in 1998. It includes agreements on military exercises. President Duterte proposed to terminate the VFA last year. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier that the differences and contradictions between China and the Philippines, as President Duterte has repeatedly emphasized, should not affect the friendship and cooperation between the two nations. Some analysts expressed the belief that Duterte is trying to please the military in exchange of their support for his election effort next year. Secretary Austin visited three Southeast Asian countries including Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines in late July to strengthen alliances in the region.

Source: Sina, July 30, 2021
https://mil.news.sina.com.cn/2021-07-30/doc-ikqcfnca9980186.shtml