Government/Politics - 43. page

Recently schools in Shandong, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, and Heilongjiang provinces held a “Hands-on Online Group Preparation for Teaching” activity. The topic was the “Ukraine Situation.” This event targeted teachers of political education classes. The goal was the implementation of the authorities’ requirement of “precisely grasping China’s principle position and the caliber of the situation in the Russia and Ukraine War.”

Shandong Provincial Department of Education issued a document entitled “Notice on Holding a Group Preparation Activity on the Situation of Russia and Ukraine War.” According to screenshots that a Chinese teacher uploaded to the Internet, the teacher explained to the students in answer to the question, “Why did Russia send troops to Ukraine?” in the following way. First, Ukraine is politically corrupt and economically depleted. It is split among ethnic groups and hates Russia. Second, NATO has expanded eastward five times, reducing Russia’s strategic space to the brink of extinction. The teacher also told students that, “(Ukraine) Nazis killed 14,000 ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine” and “the United States is the cause of the tragedy of the Russia and Ukraine War.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 28, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/ql2-03282022073544.html

On March 1, the Canadian Embassy in Beijing flew the Ukrainian flag and displayed the wording, “We support Ukraine” and “We are with Ukraine” on the light box on its outer wall. On its official Weibo account, the Chinese counterpart of Twitter, the Embassy posted an article titled, “Today, in Beijing, we raise the Ukrainian flag to express our solidarity with the people of Ukraine.” However, Chinese netizens flooded the comment section of the article with criticism.

On March 2, the light box signboard with “We support Ukraine” written on it was found spray-painted in red with the wording “Fxxx NATO,” which seems to be a way to express dissatisfaction with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Canadian Embassy’s solidarity with Ukraine. The spray-painted area was later covered up, but the light box signage saying, “Support Ukraine” has not been removed.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the mainstream opinion in China is mostly in favor of Russia and against Ukraine, although there have also been some people who expressed their position in support of Ukraine and against Russian aggression.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), March 3, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202203030249.aspx

On February 16, 2022, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA), the Chair and Co-chair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC) released a letter to Amazon in which they asked publicly that the company support labor rights activist Tang Mingfang’s court appeal to clear his arrest record and compensate him for the fines he was forced to pay and for serving time in prison due to exposing labor abuses in Amazon’s supply chain in China.

The letter also requested publicly that Amazon update its company policies to protect whistleblowers, particularly in China, stating that the exposure of labor abuses and forced labor in the Amazon supply chain is not an exposure of company secrets nor is it a violation of company policy.

Tang Mingfang, 42, was a physical control engineer at Foxconn in Hengyang, Hunan province of China. According to China’s court documents, He was detained in September, 2019, for “leaking confidential company information.” He served a two-year prison sentence and was fined 10,000 RMB (approximately $1,500 US). The information that Tang provided led to changes at the factory where Amazon had a contract and included compensation to unpaid workers. Without Tang, Amazon may not have discovered the illegal use and abuse of student interns at its factories. China does not adequately enforce its own labor laws and workers are prevented from forming independent trade unions. In addition, reports from the South China Morning Post and The Sourcing Journal  published found significant problems in the Chinese labor auditing industry including bribery, fraudulent consulting practices, and falsification of factory information in order to pass the company’s audits.

The CECC Commissioners and ranking minority members in Congress, including Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) joined the bipartisan letter with the Chairs.

Source: https://www.voacantonese.com/a/6445449.html

There have been questions about whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cheated the world in sending athletes, who technically are not Chinese nationals, to represent China when competing in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

China’s own law does not recognize dual citizenship. Article 3 of China’s Nationality Law states that, “Chinese citizens are not recognized as having dual nationality.” Article 8 states that foreign nationals who are approved for Chinese nationality “may no longer retain foreign nationality.” China’s National Immigration Administration explicitly states in the Instructions for Applying for Chinese Nationality,  “After being approved for Chinese nationality, you may not retain your foreign nationality.”

Rule 41 of Olympic Charter states that any competitor in the Olympic Games must be a national of the country of the NOC which is entering such competitor. A competitor who is a national of two or more countries at the same time may represent either one of them, as he may elect.

Therefore, since China does not allow dual citizenship, whichever athlete represents China in the Beijing Olympic Games must be of Chinese nationality and only of Chinese nationality. H or she cannot have another nationality from another country.

Eileen Gu, an American  whose mother was a Chinese American, represented China and won a gold medal and a silver one in freestyle skiing. However, in the United States Federal Register which publishes the list of people giving up their U.S. nationality, there is no such record for Gu,  indicating theat Gu may not have given up her U.S. citizenship and therefore she is not a Chinese national based on China’s own law. Gu didn’t answer her citizenship questions directly, but she said that she is American when she is in the United States and Chinese when she is  in China.

Jeremy Smith, the goalie of the hockey team Bridgeport Sound Tigers affiliated with the New York Islanders, was recruited to China’s national hockey team. Smith stated that he would not give up his U.S. citizenship and was told it would not be an issue.

The athletes may not be legal experts and may have been promised not to worry about the nationality issue. What should be scrutinized here is whether the CCP, in order to look good in the Olympics, is violating its own law.

Source: Epoch Times, February 15, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/2/15/n13578136.htm