Social Stability - 34. page

The People of Inner Mongolia in China recently launched large-scale rallies to demand that the authorities cancel the so-called bilingual education to be implemented in the region in the new school year. [Editor’s note: three core subjects in Inner Mongolia are supposed to be taught in Mandarin, China’s official language. Many ethnic Mongolians view the move as a threat to their cultural identity.]

However, the authorities have refused to give in. According to Mongolian herders, the government has blamed the large-scale protests on “being incited by overseas forces.”

A Mongolian scholar Aricha told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the roads between several banners and counties were blocked and the communications between the parents and teachers were severed. In addition, the authorities are searching for and arresting the demonstrators. A large number of armored personnel vehicles have been seen on the streets every day.

On Wednesday September 2, the police of Horqin Left Rear Banner issued a notice that demanded nine suspects to surrender. The police alleged that the nine persons mentioned gathered in elementary and middle schools in a number of towns in the Banner between August 28 and 30, and were suspected of breaking the law. Everyone who gives information to the authorities is rewarded with RMB 1,000 (US$146).

Farmers and herdsmen from Urad Middle Banner and Hure Banner in Tongliao City told RFA that to express their opposition, the vast majority of parents refused to send their children to school. In recent days, classrooms in Mongolian schools have been empty. In Hinggan League and Ulanhot, the local police are hunting down Mongolian students and forcing them to return to school.

The Urad Central Banner issued an “emergency notice” to all towns and villages, ordering Mongolian public servants to take their children to school before Wednesday evening to report. Those who do not attend school before noon on Thursday (September 3) will be subject to disciplinary sanctions and be expelled directly.

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, former President of Mongolia, issued a video statement to urge the Chinese government to respect the ethnic rights of Mongolians to maintain their mother tongue and called on Mongolians around the world to show support.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 3, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/textbook-09032020075137.html

Media in China reported that Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai, introduced a “Civilization Code” on September 3rd. It consists of a “civil transport index” and a “volunteer index,” with more indices and functions to be added in the future.

The civil transport index relates to manners on the road, such as traffic violations and voluntarily assisting with traffic duty, while the volunteer index is a measure of the degree of involvement in voluntary work, which the local authorities say aims to help strengthen awareness of social responsibilities and duty.

During the earlier days of the covid-19 epidemic outbreak, China introduced a “health code” to identify people’s health status and their movements. This invited widespread concern over the issues of privacy and social control. The new measure announced by the Suzhou city government also went viral in China’s cyber space.

People questioned on WeChat whether “scores” could actually quantify the degree of civilization. Others compared this to the British sci-fi series Black Mirror where there was a scoring system to distinguish good people from bad ones.

In 2014, the State Council issued the Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System. The main objectives were as follows. By the year 2020, to have established basic fundamental laws, regulations and standard systems for social credit and to have completed a credit investigation system that would cover the entire society with credit information and resource sharing as the basis. This would represent the basic completion of the credit supervision and management systems.

Source: Central News Agency, September 5, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202009050206.aspx

The Education Department of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced that, starting with the new semester on September 1, all elementary and middle schools in the region will adopt what is called the bilingual teaching model. That is, the three subjects related to China, which are history, ethics, and the rule of law,  will be taught in Chinese instead of the traditional Mongolian language. The move triggered a strong backlash from the locals in Inner Mongolia. Mongolian rights organizations in the U.S. also condemned China for suppressing Mongolian freedom of speech and destroying their national identity. They called it “cultural extermination” in Inner Mongolia.

The Mongolian teachers in Erenhot City launched a strike. Many Mongolian parents plan to teach their children at home instead of sending them to school. Herders also held simultaneous demonstrations in major cities across Inner Mongolia to protest the “cultural extinction.” Thousands of local students dressed in traditional Mongolian costumes participated in the demonstrations. Video footage of the protests also circulated on Twitter.

The Inner Mongolia Human Rights Information Center reported that, as the scale of the protests continues to escalate, the authorities also started to suppress the demonstrators. Hundreds of parents from the Mongolian language school in Zalut Banner gathered in front of the school and demanded the immediate release of the children detained in the school’s dormitory. The local police, however, blocked them from entering into the school. In Horqin Zuoyizhong Banner, the police beat the parents. In Hohhot, students and their parents from the Inner Mongolia Normal University Affiliated School protested in front of the school and launched a petition. Many parents said that if the appeal fails, they will not send their children to school. There are also reports that several hundred Mongolian activists were either detained or under house arrest because they participated in organizing the protests.

Source:
1. Secret China, August 30, 2020
https://www.secretchina.com/news/b5/2020/08/30/944635.html
2. Twitter Post
https:// twitter.com/lengshanshipin/status/1300070212746706945

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has obtained copies of documents that were leaked and which reveal that Cyprus, an EU country, approved 1,400 “golden passports” between 2017 and 2019, among which more than 500 were issued to Chinese. The project started in 2013, when Cyprus launched a “Cyprus Investment Plan.” According to this plan, through the purchase of real estate and other forms of investment in the local area amounting to at least 2.15 million euros, a foreigner could apply for a so-called “golden passport.” A Cyprus passport brings benefits including no requirement of a local residence and the freedom to live and work in the other 26 EU countries.

Al Jazeera discovered that most of the people who obtained the “golden passports” were Russians, Chinese, and Ukrainians. By selling citizenship, the Cyprus government received 7 billion euros in revenue within two years, a good boost for a sluggish economy.

Among about 500 naturalized people from China, Al Jazeera released the information on eight individuals, including Yang Huiyan, a property developer and the majority shareholder of Country Garden Holdings. In 2007, her father, Yang Guoqiang largely transferred the stake to her. She is the richest woman in Asia. It is legal for a Chinese to apply for a passport or permanent resident status of another country, but China does not recognize dual citizenship. In theory, after Yang Huiyan obtained the Cyprus passport on October 23, 2018, she could not continue to remain Chinese as her nationality.

The Chinese who have acquired Cyprus citizenship include a few representatives of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in provincial and city governments. Lu Wenbin, a representative of the Chengdu Municipal People’s Congress, obtained a Cypress passport in July 2019. Chen Anlin, a member of the CPPCC in Huangpi District, Wuhan City, became a Cypress citizen in July 2018. Fu Zhengjun, a former member of the CPPCC in Jinhua city of Zhejiang Province, was naturalized in November 2017. Zhao Zhenpeng, a member of the CPPCC of Binzhou City, Shandong Province, received a Cyprus passport in February 2019. The South China Morning Post pointed out that once these people are found to have foreign citizenship, they will be disqualified as representatives of the NPC or the CPPCC.

According to the South China Morning Post, people holding important positions in state-owned enterprises are not allowed to have foreign passports. Tang Yong, executive director and president of the state giant China Resources Power, is on the list that Al Jazeera disclosed. Tang obtained a Cyprus passport in January 2019. Then in December, he was transferred to China Resources Power as its president.

Being rich is not the only condition for investing in Cyprus to obtain a passport. The Cyprus government requires strict verification of the background of the applicants. Those with criminal records cannot be naturalized. However, the “Cypress Papers” show that Zhang Keqiang, a businessman from China, was sentenced for equity trading. Another Chinese businessman, Li Jiadong, was sanctioned by the United States for laundering more than US$ 100 million. Both of them bought Cyprus “golden passports.” In 2019, Cyprus revised relevant laws so that it now requires a strict investigation of investors and allows cancellation of passports already issued.

The “Cyprus Investment Plan” is an ongoing project. According to Al Jazeera, out of more than 500 people from China, only eight “politically public figures” have been disclosed. Most of the rest have no important political background or criminal history.

The European Commission once gave out warnings about some EU countries carelessly issuing EU visas and even granting EU citizenship for money, claiming that this approach contains risks.

Source: Deutsche Welle, August 25, 2020.
https://p.dw.com/p/3hUXA
Al Jazeera, The Cyprus Papers.
https://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/cypruspapers/