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US-China Relations - 23. page
Lianhe Zaobao: Scholars Concluded Zero Probability of U.S. Sending Troops to Taiwan
Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently published a commentary by its Beijing Commissioner. The commentary referred to comments from Chinese and Hong Kong scholars. Even for Ukraine, which is so important geopolitically to the United States, the United States has made it clear that it will not send troops. Based on this, it is fair to say that in the event of a war in the Taiwan Strait, the United States will provide military assistance and share weapons, but the possibility of sending troops directly is zero. The phrase “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow” has continued to appear in public opinion after the situation in Ukraine heated up. The Ukraine crisis is indirectly related to China because of the psychological expectations caused by the Taiwan issue. In terms of geopolitics, Ukraine is more important to the United States than Taiwan. The United States also psychologically regards Ukraine as a “semi-member” of NATO, but Taiwan does not have such a status. External events are a factor for Beijing to consider, but not a decisive factor. Even if there is a window now, for Beijing, the problem is not the reunification of the two sides of the strait, but how to solve the various governance problems that arise after the reunification. The Ukraine issue also made it clear that Russia and the U.S. cannot really come together, which is critical to China. If Russia is classified as part of the West, under the current relationship between China and the West, China will face a very dangerous situation.
Source: Lianhe Zaobao, February 20, 2022
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/china/story20220220-1244522
Hua Chunying: The U. S. Has Been Inciting Tension; the Danger is War; Wang Yi Expressed Understanding of Russia’s Ukraine Action
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular press conference on February 24 that the U.S. has been raising tensions to the point of inciting the danger of war. The U.S. has shipped more than 1,000 tons of weapons and ammunition worth at least $1.5 billion to the Ukraine. At this time, if all parties performed the task of persuading others to be peaceful, we could examine the ins and outs of the Ukraine issue together; we could respect and take care of each other’s security concerns, solve them reasonably, and properly make the situation a soft landing. What would that situation be like? . . . It is really not a responsible behavior for those who follow the United States to fan the flames, and then accuse others of not helping after they set up the fire. “As the initiator, the person who started the fire should consider how to put out the fire as soon as possible with practical actions now, instead of blaming others.”
On February 24, 2022, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Wang Yi told him that China always respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. At the same time, we have also seen that the issue has its complex and special historical latitude and longitude, and we understand Russia’s legitimate concerns on security issues.
Source: Xinhua, February 24, 2022
http://www.news.cn/world/2022-02/24/c_1128413011.htm
http://www.news.cn/world/2022-02/24/c_1128413630.htm
U.S. Notorious Market List Targeted Chinese Companies Again
Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that the United States Trade Representative (USTR) just released the so-called “2021 Counterfeit and Piracy Notorious Market Report.” AliExpress and Tencent’s WeChat and Ecosystem were newly included in this year’s list. Chinese companies such as Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD), Taobao and Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) Netdisk, which had made it to the list before, remain listed. In total, the USTR Report identified 42 online and 35 brick-and-mortar markets around the world, which the report states, “are reported to have engaged in or facilitated substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.” The USTR Report reflected what the Biden-Harris administration called “worker-centric trade policies.” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai claimed that “global trade of counterfeit and pirated goods undermines critical U.S. innovation and creativity, harming American workers.” In recent years, the United States has used export control as a tool of political suppression and economic bullying and has continuously taken unilateral measures to suppress and contain other countries’ enterprises, institutions and individuals, creating difficulties and obstacles, jeopardizing the international economic and trade order, as well as free trade rules. As early as January 12, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative issued a so-called report on intellectual property protection in 2017, in which 9 Chinese markets were included in the list of “notorious markets.”
Source: Sina, February 18, 2022
https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/1887344341/707e96d5020017pw9
Lianhe Zaobao: U.S. Has No Intention to Engage with China on Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said that the U.S. has no intention of engaging with China in the upcoming Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. However, it is in discussions with partners who share the same vision for a free and open region without coercion. The U.S. is in preliminary talks on the Economic Framework and currently does not intend to involve the People’s Republic of China in the Framework. Kritenbrink said that the U.S. is in initial dialogues with partners across the region who share the same vision of living again in a free and open region where nations are free to pursue economic and security interests. The United States released an Indo-Pacific strategy report on the 11th of this month, vowing to invest more diplomatic and security resources in the Indo-Pacific region to resist China, which it accused of trying to expand its influence in the Indo-Pacific region. This is the first regional strategy report of the U.S. Biden Administration. The strategy report said it will focus on the areas from South Asia to the Pacific Islands to strengthen the United States’ long-term position and commitment to the Indo-Pacific region. According to a recent study that the ASEAN Studies Centre – ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore conducted, the U.S. government refocused on Indo-Pacific, boosting Southeast Asian countries’ confidence in U.S. leadership. However, in terms of economic, political and strategic influence, Southeast Asian countries generally believe that China has more influence in the region.
Source: Lianhe Zaobao, February 17, 2022
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20220217-1243762
Chinese Student Association at George Washington University Attempted to Silence Criticism of the CCP
The Chinese Student and Scholar Association (CSSA) at George Washington University (GWU), located in Washington, DC, dragged the school into a political controversy. Some students posted an Olympic Game-themed cartoon drawing created by cartoonist Ba Duicao, a China-born Australian citizen, to show the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) human rights violations. For example, a skier dressed in China’s red national flag was shooting a person wearing an East Turkestan flag.
The Chinese Student and Scholar Association and the Chinese Culture Association at GWU protested to the school, claiming these posters spread racial discrimination and hatred and that the Chinese students felt they were insulted.
GWU President Mark Wrighton replied to the two groups in an email, saying that he would take action to find out the people who posted the posters and hold them accountable.
However, soon Mr. Wrighton realized that the CSSA had misled him. He published a statement to admit that he made a mistake in responding too quickly without knowing the full details. He concluded that the posters were a political statement but not racial in nature and so the school would not take any action against the student who posted them. He stated that he supports freedom of speech.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission pointed out in its 2018 annual report that the CSSA’s at U.S. universities have close ties with China’s embassies or consulates in the United States and receive funding from them as well. For example, the GWU CSSA introduced itself as the “only official Chinese student association” that is “dually accredited” by the Chinese Embassy in the United States and George Washington University.
Source: Radio Free Asia, February 7, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/rc-02072022101053.html
Global Times Editorial: Washington Set a Fire in the Ukraine; Now the U.S. Should Put it Out
Below is an excerpt from an editorial article that was in China’s state-run media, Global Times::
“U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Nuland revealed at a press conference on (January) 27 that “We are calling on Beijing to use its influence over Moscow” to resolve the Ukraine crisis through diplomatic means.
“Obviously, Washington is trying to create such an impression to influence public opinion. The United States is working very hard to ease the crisis and then kick the ball to Russia and China. The United States is making itself seem like a good person, but it is shifting the responsibility to China and Russia. Washington lit a fire in the Ukraine, posing as a victim, fantasizing that Beijing could ‘persuade’ Moscow to put it out. It must be pointed out that this is a kind of public opinion smoke bomb reversing the cause and the result.
“The root cause of the Ukraine problem is that the United States unrestrainedly promotes NATO’s eastward expansion, forcing Russia into a corner where there is no way to retreat. Washington is the initiator of the crisis. The U.S. hopes that China will come forward to ‘persuade’ Russia. Actually it is hoping that China will persuade Russia to make concessions to the U.S. in order to realize a ‘perfect solution’ which is what the U.S. would like to have. That is, Russia should unconditionally cooperate with the U.S.’s insatiable desires in geopolitical terms. What an absurd logic this is.
“Not only Ukraine, but many major regional crises in recent years have had their roots in Washington, such as the North Korean nuclear crisis, the Iranian nuclear issue, and the chaos caused by the withdrawal of the U.S. military from Afghanistan last year. The United States messed up a region, and finally found that it could not clean up the situation, so it wanted to pull in other countries to pay for it together. Over the years, Washington has wanted China to coordinate in the resolution of almost all major international crises. On the one hand, it is doing its utmost to suppress China, and on the other hand, it looks to China for help. The same is true this time.
“To solve the Ukrainian crisis, if we really need to ‘persuade’ someone, we would like to persuade Washington to give up this zero-sum game and the Cold War mentality as soon as possible and you should put out the fire that you set yourself using the right way.”
Source: Global Times, January 28, 2022
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/46aeRs2BVArW
Micron Disbands Shanghai DRAM Design Team
Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that the major U.S. storage manufacturer, Micron Technology, is disbanding its Shanghai Research and Development (R&D) center with about 150 employees. It has selected more than 40 core R&D personnel to provide qualifications for immigrating to the United States. These core employees will be able to bring their family members and immigrate to the United States. It is still unclear how many employees will choose the immigration path. Sources confirmed that, instead of disbanding the entire Shanghai R&D center, Micron only took out the DRAM design department, which has more than 100 people in total. In addition to the design team, the Micron Shanghai R&D Center also includes sales, testing and other departments. According to a former Micron employee, Micron’s DRAM design team had previously lost a large number of personnel to Chinese domestic chip design companies and storage manufacturers. Micron’s move is highly likely to prevent technology leakage. Although the number of domestic DRAM companies is relatively small, yet several new DRAM manufacturers may emerge in the next few years and the existing DRAM companies are also looking for talent. Micron is apparently consolidating its product design and R&D capabilities to areas outside Mainland China. Micron has been emphasizing the importance of intellectual property protection for a long time. Micron had previously taken UMC to court for leaking trade secrets. Micron indicated after winning the case that intellectual property protection is an important cornerstone for Micron to remain competitive. Currently, Samsung ranks first in the market with a market share of 41.5 percent, SK Hynix ranks second with a market share of 29.3 percent, and Micron ranks third with a market share of 23.4 percent. The top three manufacturers together account for 94.2% of the global DRAM market.
Source: Sina, January 25, 2022
https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2022-01-25/doc-ikyakumy2509223.shtml