Geo-Strategic Trend - 94. page

Recently, Epoch Times has obtained a number of internal CCP documents that expose how the CCP used the Lancang-Mekong cooperation to export its ideology to Southeast Asian countries along with the “Belt and Road” initiative.

According to the “Application for 2018 Special Funding on the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation project” that the Yunnan Nationalities University submitted, the total project funding was 7.62 million yuan (US$1.16 million), where 200,000 yuan (US$30,474) was self-raised funds. The application shows that China plans to build the Lancang-Mekong Vocational Education Base at Yunnan Nationalities University. It will consist of the International Vocational Institute, the Vocational Education Alliance, the Research Institute on Vocational Education and Industry Development, the Industry-Education Integration Zone and the International Cadre Academy. One of the objectives of the education base is to “gain advanced knowledge in a number of fields, including Chinese politics, economics, social studies and the humanities.” The specific courses consist of “The Theory and Practice of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics,” “Innovative Theory Research of the Chinese Communist Party” as well as several others. At the same time, the content of the training includes courses on “Chinese Culture.” One of the examples is “spreading China’s voice in areas such as current affairs, history and foreign policy.” The trainees were also asked to understand the “Belt Road Initiative” and to learn more about China’s experience through the reform and development.

A separate document that the Epoch Times obtained included a report dated May 28, 2020, from the Yunnan Police Academy titled, “Activities on Promoting the Joint Development of the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative.” The document reveals that, since 2015, the Academy has trained 56 foreign students from Afghanistan, Argentina, Angola, Pakistan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, and Myanmar and has granted them master’s degree. The Ministry of Public Security provided full scholarships for these students. The academy also recruited 26 undergraduate Law students from Laos with full scholarships. Most of the graduates who returned to their home country are working in a field that has a direct interaction with China so these graduates can assist China in cooperating with their home countries in police enforcement. The Academy has established a Southeast Asian police training base to train police officers from the “Belt and Road” countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia. From 2016 to 2019, the Academy held 67 training courses and trained 1,241 officers.

Source: Epoch Times, November 12, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/11/12/n12542962.htm

Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing Ta Kung Pao newspaper carried an article stating that the Chinese regime is preparing to blacklist “Taiwan independence” diehards, and may launch crackdowns and impose life-long sanctions, referring to the legal provision of the “crime of committing secession.”

A Ta Kung Pao front page article on November 15 claimed that “Authorities in mainland China are preparing to blacklist ‘Taiwan independence’ diehards, and punish those who have made aggressive ‘Taiwan independence’ remarks and committed vile ‘Taiwan independence’ actions, along with their major sponsors. Legal provisions from the anti-secession Law, criminal law, and the national security law will be used to bring those people to justice and hold them accountable for life.” The article pointed out that the crime of secession can have a sentence of up to life in prison.

Shuh-Fan Ding, a professor at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, told Radio Free Asia that the purpose of the blacklist is more for intimidation than for real punishment. “The mainland wants to have a psychological impact. First, it aims to warn the people about ‘Taiwan independence’; second, it attempts to reduce Taiwan’s support for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) through intimidation because the DPP is considered a ‘Taiwan independence’ party.’” Shuh-Fan believes that, considering the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) handling of the Hong Kong issue last year, this crackdown and sanctions against “Taiwan independence” will also have a counterproductive effect.

Paul Huang, a Taiwanese freelance writer, said that the CCP’s implementation of the “Taiwan Independence” diehards list, similar to the promulgation of the Hong Kong national security law, is to enforce Beijing’s will. “What I am worried about is that the mainland will enact an unlimited authorization bill, or that the list can be expanded at any time without any warning. Then hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese in mainland China may be upset because of this. One must be cautious with his words and deeds even inside Taiwan. This is the biggest concern.” “We need to look at the detailed enforcement (measures). If it is just a blacklist, similar to the US Department of Commerce’s sanctions mechanism against China, it is just a concept of denying entry. If it is more offensive, the mainland will turn this into a law that can be criminally prosecuted, much like Hong Kong’s national security law.”

Since the enforcement of the Hong Kong national security law in June this year, Beijing has arrested a number of student leaders for violating the national security law and inciting the secession of the nation. The CCP’s General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the “Five Points” on Taiwan in 2019, namely, cross-strait reunification, the Taiwan version of “one country, two systems,” no promise of abandoning military reunification, deepened cross-strait integration and development, and promotion of the consensus of peaceful reunification. At the same time, the “Five Points” was formally written into the decision of the Fourth Plenary Session of the CCP’s 19th Central Committee.

The Mainland Affairs Council, the Taiwanese government’s agency handling cross-strait affairs, issued a statement in this regard, stating that the mainland’s use of force and legal means to bully and threaten dissidents with the intent of intimidating Taiwan into self-censorship, inciting cross-strait antagonism, and sabotaging peace and stability will only be futile and counterproductive. The Mainland Affairs Council stated that Taiwan will not give in under threats.

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 16, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/bx-11162020103136.html

Well-known new Chinese news site The Paper recently reported that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement is set to be signed at the Fourth RCEP Leadership Summit on November 15 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries initiated RCEP. Six dialogue partner countries including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India were invited to participate. The aim is to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers and establish a 16-nation free trade agreement with a unified market. The negotiations started in November 2012 and covered over ten trade areas including small and medium-sized enterprises, investment rules, economic and technical cooperation, as well as trade in goods and services. However, In 2019, India decided to withdraw from the negotiation citing unresolved important issues. The 15 signing countries account for 30 percent of the world’s population and just under 30 percent of the global GDP.

Source: The Paper, November 14, 2020
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_9990776

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that, based on British media reports, UK intelligence agencies MI5, MI6 and GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) are establishing a new program that is currently hiring “mandarin linguists.” The goal of the program is to respond to the “intelligence threats from China.” GCHQ job postings have been listed on its website and the employees will be stationed in London, or Cheltenham, where the GCHQ monitoring and surveillance center is located. GCHQ is one of the largest linguist employers in Britain, and this new effort requires the applicants to perform “accurate analyses” and discover the “insights of the intelligence information.” They will be part of the “core functions” of the intelligence work. China’s intelligence operations now have a very large scale, and the British intelligence community is considered “far behind.” So in addition to hiring more hands, the new program also plans for a new round of technology upgrades. The British intelligence community is set to deepen the cooperation with the “Five Eyes” alliance member countries as well as the European Union.

Source: Sina, October 30, 2020
https://m.us.sina.com/gb/finance/huanqiu/2020-10-30/detail-ihacmqme8729613.shtml

Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition recently reported that, under the new political reality after China passed the HK National Security Law, many local primary schools and middle schools are losing students, especially the elite schools. Some well-known schools in this new wave of dropouts lost 40 to 50 students at the end of last school year, and another ten to twenty right after the new school year started. Many professionals in Hong Kong’s education field expressed their concern that another much bigger wave of dropouts will occur after the pandemic in foreign countries concludes. This latest wave is the worst level in a decade. Wealthy parents who hesitated before about whether they should send their children overseas now fast-tracked their decision making and took actions earlier rather than later. One parent who plans to move to Britain herself said she will take her middle-school daughter with her because it is unacceptable for her to receive her education under such a system where the government is tightening control and will intensify “patriotic education.” The dropouts are occurring in all districts of the city of Hong Kong.

Source: RFI Chinese, November 7, 2020
https://bit.ly/2JNLjRl

Slovakia recently passed a law declaring that the former Czechoslovak Communist Party is a criminal organization and prohibited displaying communism and Nazi fascist signs in public. After Ukraine, the three Baltic countries, and Poland, Slovakia became an additional Eastern European country that took similar actions.

The Slovak Parliament passed a legal amendment on November 4, declaring that the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, which was in power from 1948 to 1990, and the branch of the Communist Party in Slovakia are criminal organizations. The reason is that the Communist Party suppressed civil society and restricted the freedom of the people during its ruling period.

The law prohibits signs that symbolize communism, Nazi fascism and other authoritarian political systems from being on monuments and commemorative plaques. It also prohibits naming streets, squares, and other public places after Communists and Nazi fascists. The vast majority of parliamentarians voted affirmatively to support the passage of this law.

In recent years, countries such as Ukraine, the three Baltic countries, and Poland, which have a history of communist rule, have adopted a number of methods to remove communism.  They denounced that communism as being the equivalent of Nazi fascism. The European Parliament also passed corresponding resolutions. Slovakia, once a member of the socialist camp, therefore became another Eastern European country that took similar actions. As early as 1993, in a law on the communist system, the Czech Republic, Slovakia’s neighboring country, defined the Czechoslovak Communist Party as a criminal organization .

Like the Communist Parties in many countries in the world, the Czechoslovak Communist Party was formed in the early 1920s and subsequently received leadership and commands from the Communist International and Moscow. The Czechoslovak Communist Party is also closely linked to political persecution and to bloody repression.

Source: Voice of America, November 6, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/Slovakia-passed-a-bill-to-ban-communist-symbols-20201106/5650850.html

Emma Reilly, a former employee of the United Nations Human Rights Council, said in an interview with a British radio station on Sunday that the UN Human Rights Council secretly provided the Chinese government with the names of Uyghur dissidents who came to the Human Rights Council to testify against China’s human rights violations, and that this situation has lasted for many years.

Reilly said that before each meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, the Chinese government would ask the United Nations whether specific individuals were planning to attend the session. Her boss provided the Chinese government with a list of Uyghur dissidents.

Reilly said, “It is completely against the rules to hand over that kind of information to any government, but the UN makes an exception for China, and only for China. It gives them the names, and China uses that information to harass these people’s family members who are still based in China.”

Reilly said she has been denouncing this since 2013, and this has been going on for years. For speaking out, the UN deprived Reilly of all functions.

The U.S. Congress is now investigating Reilly’s allegations against the UN. Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), an outspoken critic of China, told the Washington based Free Beacon that he is investigating the allegations in his role as the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s lead Republican.

“The U.N. was founded on protecting human rights,” McCaul said. “If this report is true, it is very troubling. We are looking into these allegations.” Sources at the Foreign Affairs Committee also confirmed they are probing the allegations, which could implicate the U.N. in China’s efforts to spy on the Uighur community.

Source: Voice of America, November 3, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/un-misconduct-report-probed-11032020/5646966.html