Government/Politics - 36. page

Elmer Yuen Gong-yi, a pro-democracy activist for Hong Kong, as well as Victor Ho Leung-mau and Baggio Leung Chung-hang and others, recently launched a committee to establish a “Hong Kong Parliament” in exile. The Hong Kong government slammed their activity as contravening the National Security Law.

Yuen is the father-in-law of Eunice Yung Hoi-yan, a Hong Kong barrister and pro-Beijing politician. As a member of the New People’s Party and the Civil Force, Yung became member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for New Territories East in 2016 and for the Election Committee in 2021. Yung issued a public statement on Friday August 5th, announcing that she has officially terminated her relationship with him as his daughter-in-law. She added that her husband is aware of it and understood her decision. Yung’s husband is Derek Mi-Chang Yuen, a Hong Kong-based strategist, scholar, and columnist.

Liu Mengxiong is a former member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference who swam illegally and fled to Hong Kong from mainland China in 1973. Liu said that what Yung Hoi-yan did brings back the era under Mao Zedong, when many husbands and wives had to divorce because of ‘political struggles,’ and what she did is against basic human nature.

In her statement, Yung said, “I am a Chinese with the blood of the great motherland. Under the premise of the righteousness of the country, based on the fact that, according to the National Security Office, Mr. Elmer Yuen is suspected of violating the National Security Law to subvert state power. I am now announcing that I have officially terminated my relationship with Yuen as my father-in-law.”

The Hong Kong Security Bureau said that Yuen and others are suspected of violating the “subversion of state power” under the National Security Law and will be pursued in accordance with Article 37 of the law. When the Security Bureau ordered the arrest of Yuen and others, Yung Hoi-yan announced that the “Hong Kong Parliament” was a planned, reckless and malicious organization to subvert the functions of the Hong Kong government. Yung expressed her full support of the police to crack down on all illegal activities in accordance with the National Security Law.

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 5, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/htm/hk-criticise-08052022064338.html

On July 29th and 30th, the United Front Work Conference of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was held in Beijing. Xi Jinping delivered a speech.

Xi said, “Promoting the great unity of the Chinese people is the historical responsibility of China’s patriotic united front work in the new era. To do this job well, we must . . .  truly unite all Chinese people in different parties, nationalities, classes, groups, and with different beliefs, and those who are living under different social systems.”

Obviously, “those who are living in different social systems” refers to ethnic Chinese who are living outside of China.

“(We ought to) strengthen the overseas patriotic forces, building up the cohorts who know and befriend China.”  … Xi added, “We must do a good job in our united front work in cyberspace,”

The CCP’s united front work strives to track down, maintain relationships with, influence and sway prominent people and groups both inside and outside of China. It focuses on individuals or groups outside the CCP, particularly in the community of overseas Chinese, in an effort to make sure that they support or serve the CCP’s goals. The CCP’s central committee has a United Front Work department.

Source: People’s Daily, July 31, 2022
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2022-07/31/nw.D110000renmrb_20220731_1-01.htm

Recently, China’s State Administration of Radio and Television and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism jointly issued a “Code of Conduct for Live-Stream Online Hosts.”

The purpose of the 18-article regulation was to curb the spread of perceived opposition to the CCP in online e-commerce, such as was shown by Li Jiaqi, a top e-commerce live streamer, two weeks before the regulation. In the evening on June 3, Li and his co-host were presented on TV before the audience with a plate of the British brand Wall’s layered ice cream. The ice cream was garnished with a chocolate ball and a chocolate stick on top. The show ended abruptly. The CCP authorities believed that it resembled the shape of a tank.

On the evening of June 4, 1989, the CCP leaders sent military tanks and heavily armed troops to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and cracked down on student protesters who were demanding democracy and greater freedom. According to a recently declassified secret cable written on June 5, 1989, by Sir Alan Donald, the then-British ambassador to China, the death toll was 10,000. The CCP had announced a death roll of 241. The “Tank Man” picture showing a young man standing in front of Chinese military tanks trying to stop the tanks at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989  has become the worldwide monumental symbol of the June 4 massacre. As a result of the vigilant efforts of the CCP to censor any references to the killings, most young Chinese, especially those born after the massacre, have little knowledge of the killings.

The 18-article regulation prohibits 31 behaviors in the live stream audio-visual programs.

Online live streamers must be politically correct. They must have a correct perspective of the world, life, and values. They must be “actively practicing the Core Socialist Values.”

Of the prohibitions, Article 14 Section 3 prohibits “publishing content that weakens, distorts or denies the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the socialist system, or economic reform and opening up.”

Under Article 17, online accounts shall be closed for those with serious issues or repeated problems who do not change their ways. “Their names shall be entered onto a ‘blacklist’ or ‘warning list’ and shall not be permitted to resume broadcasts through methods such as changing account names or platforms.”

Source: China National Radio and Television Administration, June 22, 2022                                                                                                                                                                    http://www.nrta.gov.cn/art/2022/6/22/art_3730_60758.html

China Ministry of Culture and Tourism, June 22, 2022                                                                                                                                                                                                              http://zwgk.mct.gov.cn/zfxxgkml/qt/202206/t20220622_934011.html

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tried to block the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet from publishing the Xinjiang Human Rights report, which was planned to be published by the end of August.

Beijing sent Michelle Bachelet a letter asking her not to publish it. Beijing also tried to get diplomats from other countries to sign a joint letter to support Beijing.

Liu Yuyin, a spokesperson for China’s diplomatic mission in Geneva said that nearly 100 countries supported China on the Xinjiang issue, “opposing using human rights as an excuse to interfere with China’s internal affairs.” He said at the last UN Human Rights Council, which ended on July 8, that these countries issued public statements and a “joint letter.”

Source: Epoch Times, July 20, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/7/20/n13784940.htm

Lianhe Zaobao (United Morning Post), a Singapore based newspaper, reported that the financial institution, HSBC Qianhai Securities Co. Ltd., established a branch of the Communist Party of China, becoming the only bank among the seven foreign banks with an investment banking business in mainland China that has established a grassroots organization of the Communist Party in its subsidiaries.

China’s company law requires companies to set up grassroots Communist Party committees, but it does not mandate foreign financial institutions to do so. Foreign media previously reported that HSBC Qianhai Securities set up a party committee of the Communist Party of China, believing that the move might force other foreign banks to follow suit.

According to The Epoch Times, the establishment of the Communist Party branch of HSBC Qianhai Securities comes after its move in April  to raise its stake in the joint venture from 51 percent to 90 percent .

At first, in order to facilitate the introduction of foreign capital, they only established party branches in foreign companies secretly. Later it became a completely open requirement. Based on data released by the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, by the end of 2016, 70 percent of foreign-funded enterprises in China had established party branches or committees.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao; Epochtimes, July 22, 2022.
https://www.kzaobao.com/shiju/20220722/121498.html
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/7/22/n13787052.htm

China News, a major news media in China, recently published an article titled, “Lancet Scholar Says New Coronavirus May Have Originated in U.S. Biological Laboratory.” The article cited a report from Russia Today. The article stated, “Jeffrey Sachs, chairman of the new crown committee of the international medical journal The Lancet, said that the new coronavirus may not have come from nature. It may have originated from an accident in a U.S. biotech laboratory.”

The article was republished on many media channels in China including Xinhua.

Radio Free Asia pointed out that Chinese media blatantly tampered with the original words of U.S. experts.

According to Radio Free Asia, Sachs made it clear that, “I’m pretty sure it came from biotechnology in American labs — not from nature.” Sachs said so in a speech at a conference hosted by the Spanish think tank GATE Center in mid-June.

Sources:
1. Sina.com, July 2, 2022
https://mil.news.sina.com.cn/2022-07-02/doc-imizirav1639787.shtml
http://www.news.cn/world/2022-07/03/c_1211663581.htm
2. Radio Free Asia, July 13, 2022
https://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2022/07/13/11686777.html