US-China Relations – Page 25

A Chinese Student at Yale Called on the School to Reflect on its Ethics in Investing in China

VOA reported that Yale Daily News, the oldest college newspaper in the United States, published an article that a Chinese student wrote. (His name was protected so that his family members in China would not be endagered). The article, titled, “Where is Peng Shuai,” suggested that people should not forget about Peng Shuai as the (Chinese Communist Party) regime has gone rogue; it no longer bothers even with keeping up a façade of protecting human rights.

More importantly, the article asked Yale to reflect on whether its investment in China is ethical. “Despite having a significant Chinese portfolio, which includes top-earning tech companies like Tencent and JD.com, the Yale Investments Office currently has no publicly available ethical policy specific to China; nor has it reviewed any ethical implications.”

“Shouldn’t we be legitimately concerned that Yale’s Chinese portfolio might create a conflict of interest between placating parties close to the CCP and using Yale’s influence to advocate for Chinese people’s human rights? Additionally, what has prevented Yale, while profiting from China, from just releasing a statement acknowledging that human rights abuse allegations even exist?”

“The Yale endowment needs to do some soul-searching. We are demanding answers to these questions, because we have a right to know whether our University that claims to uphold both ‘light and truth’ is playing an unethical role in perpetuating some of the worst human rights abuses in modern history – and whether our institutional integrity remains intact when doing the right thing is hard.”

Source: VOA, January 4, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/yale-chinese-student-pengshuai-20220103/6380863.html

Briefings | | January 5, 2022 | US-China Relations

U.S. Mainstream Media Silent on Their Interview of China’s Ambassador to the U.S.

Radio France Internationale reported on December 28 that Qin Gang, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, recently accepted a joint interview with some mainstream media in the United States. However, in the past few days, there has not been a single media report in the United States on the interview.

According to the official website of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, on December 20, Ambassador Qin Gang accepted a joint interview with the editors-in-chief and senior reporters of many mainstream media in Washington. The Bloomberg Innovation Economic Forum organized the interview in English in the form of a “fireside chat.”

The Chinese Embassy posted the interview content on its homepage and translated it into Chinese. The article emphasized that “all the content may be reported, and used as a background.” The Chinese media also highlighted Qin Gang’s remarks on Taiwan and how he discussed the United States provoking China on the Taiwan issue.

While the media inside China widely reported the interview, they questioned why none of the U.S. mainstream media reported the interview, including those who participated in the interview. “Why did they collectively lose their voice?” At least one commentator thought that the U.S. media did not want merely to reiterate Qin Gang’s propaganda.

Sources:

Radio France Internationale, December 28, 2021
https://tinyurl.com/2p8wa9t2

ifeng.com, December 29, 2021
https://i.ifeng.com/c/8CNA4TZ5PKR

Chinese Embassy to the United States, December 24, 2021
http://www.china-embassy.org/dshd/202112/t20211224_10475267.htm

Briefings | | December 29, 2021 | US-China Relations

LTN: Chinese Diplomat Banned on Facebook; Sought an Explanation

Well-known Taiwanese Newspaper Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that Zhang Heqing, a Chinese diplomat in Pakistan, tweeted on December 22nd that both his Facebook account and page were disabled. He asked Facebook for an explanation. Zhang also said he believes Facebook will never give him a reason as per security and safety reasons. He commented on Facebook’s Twitter account and said, “I need an answer.” However, since China blocks the public from using Twitter and Facebook, netizens also bombarded Zhang’s tweet. Some questioned why he had a Facebook account when the Chinese government has banned the use of Facebook. Some asked, “Didn’t China block Facebook first?” Some tried to find out: “What are you doing on Facebook when you prohibit your people from freely using this same platform?” Some complained saying, “My posts about Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong on Weibo and WeChat have also been deleted, and I was not given a reason either.” Some hoped Zhang would be blocked by Twitter too, just like Facebook.

Source: LTN, December 23, 2021
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3777406

Briefings | | December 27, 2021 | US-China Relations

Subnational Infiltration: Using Western Countries’ Local Governments to Counter the State’s Policy

The Voice of America (VOA) published an article that discussed two research reports exploring the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) subnational infiltration of Western countries. According to the reports, in a systematic way, the CCP takes advantage of the pluralistic and decentralized nature of the Western political system to rope in and encourage local governments to confront and dismantle, at the sub-national level, their state’s negative policies toward China. The VOA called it “encircling the cities from rural areas,” a military strategy that the CCP used to win the civil war in China in the late 1940’s.

In the U.S., the CCP’s strategy is to bypass Washington and to target the governors, mayors, and non-governmental organizations directly. The purpose is to foster a positive connection between Beijing and the local officials or organizations.

The two reports refer to the “All Over the Map” strategy. This strategy addresses the Chinese Communist Party’s “subnational Interests in the United States” as reported by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) and the “Big fish in small ponds strategy,” which is China’s subnational diplomacy in Europe” as discussed in an article by the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS).

The FDD report states that China has a long history of trying to influence local governments in the United States, including through events and forums that promote U.S.-China relations and friendship cities (or sister cities), Internet forums, governors’ forums, and other examples. Though at the national level, the U.S., holds a critical attitude toward Beijing, the National Governors Association expresses positive descriptions about Beijing.

The MERICS article pointed out that, within the five biggest member countries of the European Union – Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland, local governments have established 146 partnerships with the CCP. In many situations, Beijing or its entities can sign investment or cooperation treaties with Europen cities or regions, which usually do not need the central government’s participation.

Source: VOA, December 7, 2021
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-subnational-diplomacy-20211207/6343105.html

Hot Topics | | December 23, 2021 | Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

Pandemic: COVID Spreads to Xi’an

COVID-19 continued spreading in China. The National Health Commission reported 100 cases on December 22, among which, 71 were local residents and the rest were carried in from overseas. Xi’an city, Shaanxi Province reported 63 cases. The CCP is known for hiding information, so the actual infection count is unknown.

Xi’an city had infection cases for several days. Authorities locked down certain areas and then conducted testing for all residents in Xi’an. They found infection cases outside of the lockdown areas – meaning the virus could still spread. The authorities locked down more areas and started the second round of testing the whole city. The authorities also stopped long-distance buses and forbade taxis and mobile-app taxis from going into high-risk areas or going out of the city.

Beijing’s Anti-American Korean War Movie Hit North American Big Screens

The Chinese war movie, “The Battle at Lake Changjin” opened in late November in a limited theatrical release in North America.

The Korean War film was released by CMC Pictures with English subtitles in more than 20 selected theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Dallas, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto and a few other cities across North America.

Deutsche Welle reported that the film has raised anger in South Korea, with the public calling it “propaganda filled with historical inaccuracies.” South Korean former diplomat Ra Jong-yil called the film “nonsense” and “a whitewashing” and accused it of attempting to reshape the narrative of events during the Korean War.

The movie, a state propaganda to instigate anti-American sentiments amid the tension between two countries, was released in mainland China around National Day holiday.

Source: Xinhua, November 11, 2021
http://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211111/e0d97351280848ff890db6789f1594df/c.html

Briefings | | December 15, 2021 | US-China Relations

Global Times Chief Criticized the U.S. in Its Annual Meetings

Global Times recently reported, in the coverage of its own Annual Meetings, that its Editor in Chief Hu Xijin said the attitude of the United States towards China this year is very bad. Hu complained about the timing of Biden’s Democracy Summit and also about the Biden Administration’s continuation of most of Trump’s anti-China policies. Hu also said that Biden has spurred more radical anti-China attitudes in more Western countries. A number of challenges seem to be increasing. With regard to the Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan issues, the world has also seen that confrontations are intensifying. Hu complained that he and the Global Times have become a target for repeated attacks from the United States, from Taiwan and from the Hong Kong separatists. He also said, on the Internet and in the media, that an international public opinion war is actively going on. Hu thanked the attending guests at the Global Times Annual Meetings under the risk of Covid-19, and he was determined to win the fight against the “political meeting” of the U.S. Democracy Summit.

Source: Global Times, December 11, 2021
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/45wMYnErpeQ