By Eric Chen
On September 25, Meng Wanzhou, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, arrived in Shenzhen, China on a plane specially chartered by the Chinese government. Continue reading
US-China Relations - 30. page
China’s Leading AI Company Bypassed U.S. Restrictions
SenseTime is a prominent Chinese tech company and an industrial leader in artificial intelligence and facial recognition. In October 2019, the U.S. Commerce Department added SenseTime to its Entity List, which effectively prevents listed entities from obtaining many U.S. tech items. The Department states SenseTime was among a list of Chinese companies that were “implicated in human rights violations and abuses in China’s campaign targeting Uighurs and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.”
In 2020, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security made a subtle tweak to the designation. The company on the Entity List was changed from SenseTime generally to Beijing SenseTime, one of its subsidiaries. As a result, the firm says it can “continue to source” items as long as it doesn’t use its Beijing SenseTime subsidiary.
According to the company, the designation “has not had any material adverse impact on the [parent company’s] business.” It recently told this to potential investors.
Prior to the sanctions, SenseTime was widely referred to as “Beijing SenseTime” and most of the firm’s key patents and trademarks are still owned by Beijing SenseTime while Beijing has the most SenseTime workers listed on LinkedIn.
However, SenseTime’s current ownership chart shows Beijing SenseTime to be an isolated subsidiary. SenseTime’s website no longer lists Beijing SenseTime in its footer, but now lists Shanghai SenseTime.
In April 2019, the New York Times reported that the company had provided facial recognition software to Chinese authorities who then used the software to monitor Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Source: IPVM, September 28, 2021
https://ipvm.com/reports/sensetime-sanctions
Axios, September 29, 2021
https://www.axios.com/chinese-tech-firm-sidesteps-sanctions-de43feaf-7df5-46ad-85bd-8a37ab468e2e.html
Government & Leadership: After Meng Wanzhou, China Wants U.S. to Fix All Its Wrongs on Two Lists
Hua Chunying, the spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, during a press conference on September 28, that Xi Jinping, himself, gave directions on Meng Wanzhou’s case and requested the United States to resolve it properly.
Hua stated that Xi Jinping has given his personal attention to Meng’s case since she had been detained in early December 2018. The Chinese government representatives at all levels have worked to their full strength in every situation to help Meng.
Hua pointed out, in the recent China-U.S. diplomat meeting at Tianjin, that China gave the U.S. two lists. One list included the wrong talks and actions that the U.S. must stop. The other one included the key cases to which China pays attention. Both lists clearly requested that the U.S. should cancel its wrong accusation against Meng and let her return to China quickly.
“When the two state heads talked (Editor’s Note: referring to the Biden-Xi talk on September 9), … Meng said, “President Xi Jinping clearly made an effort on Meng’s case. He stated China’s stand and requested the U.S. to resolve the situation properly.”
Hua said that she has noticed that some media commented on how the resolution of Meng Wanzhou’s case helped to pull out a thorn that was deeply embedded in Sino-U.S. relations. “Due to the fact that the U.S. side has carried out a wrong China policy in the past period, there are many other thorns, big and small, in the Sino-U.S. relations. China hopes the U.S. will pay high attention (to them) and take substantive actions, to clear all items on the two lists.”
Sources:
1. China Press, September 28, 2021
https://www.chinapress.com.my/20210928/华春莹答覆孟晚舟事件-习近平明确部署工作！/
2. China Youth Daily, September 29, 2021
http://news.cyol.com/gb/articles/2021-09/29/content_Xx507fpEJ.html
After Biden-Xi Talk, CCP Held a Party Dialog with the U.S.
China reported that, on September 13, the Chinese Communist Party held its 12th Sino-U.S. party dialog in an online video conference. The CCP Foreign Liaison Department along with the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the U.S. organized the dialog.
Song Tao, the Minister of the CCP Foreign Liaison Department spoke for China.
Howard Dean, former Chair of the Democratic National Committee and former Vermont Governor represented the Democratic Party.
Carla Hills, former U.S. Trade Representative and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development represented the Republic Party.
Around 50 representatives, from the ministries and universities of China, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and key think tanks in the U.S., attended the dialog.
Source: China News Agency, September 14, 2021
https://www.chinanews.com/gn/2021/09-14/9564748.shtml
CBN: China-US Ocean Shipping Prices Soared Five Times
China Business Network (CBN) recently reported that, while in the peak season, China-US ocean shipping prices returned to more than US$20,000/FEU (a 40-foot standard container). At the same time, shipping giants like CMA CGM announced the freezing of freight rates. The global container freight index published jointly by the Baltic Exchange and Freightos showed, as of September 12, that the shipping prices of China/Southeast Asia – West Coast of North America and China/Southeast Asia – East Coast of North America continued to rise. Both exceeded the US$20,000 mark, which reflects a 500 percent increase, year-over-year. The shipping companies may not raise their price now, yet the possibility of a downward adjustment is also unlikely. Recent sales data showed that home furnishings and home audio-visual products are very popular in the US market. This translates into the risk that shipping prices may continue to rise during the fourth quarter. The freight price freeze does not necessarily include the additional surcharges, which has become a major burden for importers and exporters.
Source: CBN, September 12, 2021
https://m.yicai.com/news/101170808.html
Military: Huanqiu Report: “PLA Warships Appeared Near the U.S. Coast”
Huanqiu reported that the U.S. Department of Defense revealed, on September 12, that China’s warships appeared near the U.S. coast. The U.S. posted a picture which showed that, on August 30, the U.S. Coast Guard patrol ship USCGC Bertholf was conducting “close surveillance” of Chinese naval vessels entering international waters in the U.S. exclusive economic zone near the Aleutian Islands. The Chinese vessels included a Type 055 destroyer, a Type 052D destroyer, and a replenishment ship.
Though Huanqiu quoted a Chinese military expert as stating that “this might be a routine ocean-going training exercise and that there is no offensive implication,” the hottest comments in this article by the Chinese netizens overwhelmingly suggested that they view it as an answer to the U.S. naval ships sailing in the South China Sea. While Beijing claims the waters there to be China’s waters, the international community does not.
Some of the comments were:
“China’s freedom of navigation has begun, and the U.S. needs to get used to it!”
“Right, we should knock on the U.S. door to see if the American Empire is home.”
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you! You Yankees can sail freely, why can’t China sail freely? This is the best answer to you Yankees.”
“It is to provoke (confrontation). So what!”
“It’s just free sailing. Chinese warships are brave adolescents who like to wander around to any location in their own territory. So what if you don’t like it?”
Source: Huanqiu, September 14, 2021
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/44l3rQZKpOG
U.S.-China Relations: Huanqiu’s Editorial on the U.S.-Taiwan Connection
Huanqiu published an editorial regarding two developments in U.S.-Taiwan relations. The first was a report that the U.S. is considering Taiwan’s proposal to rename Taiwan’s representative office in Washington from the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” to the “Taiwan Representative Office.” The second development was that senior U.S. officials had an in-person meeting with the Taiwan Foreign Minister in Annapolis, MD, which is a one hour drive away from Washington, DC.
Huanqiu’s editorial said,
“The U.S. side is well aware that this is not a trivial matter, and they are now in the stage of releasing information and testing the reaction of mainland China.
What is there to test? They want to push the matter to the tipping point of a showdown. Mainland China has no choice but to meet the challenge and prepare for a showdown with them.
If the U.S. changes the name of the Taiwan Representative Office, the mainland’s diplomatic response will not be lower than our response to Lithuania at all. It can fully expected that China will recall its Ambassador from the U.S.
Having only a diplomatic response is obviously not enough. If the U.S. and Taiwan rename Taiwan’s office, they have violated the red line of (China’s) Anti-Secession Law. Mainland China needs to take severe economic and military measures to combat the arrogance of the U.S. and Taiwan. The mainland should apply severe economic sanctions against Taiwan or even impose an economic blockade, depending on the situation.
Militarily, mainland warplanes should fly over the sky of the Taiwan island and include Taiwan’s airspace as part of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) cruising patrol. This is a step that mainland China must take sooner or later, and the office renaming will provide a sufficient reason for the mainland to assert its sovereignty over Taiwan. We expect that the Taiwanese military will dare not stop the PLA warplanes from flying over Taiwan. If they dare to open fire, let us deliver a decisive and devastating blow to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces without hesitation.
Actually, the Taiwan issue is a willpower contest. Since Beijing has declared that Taiwan is China’s core interest, we will act resolutely to guard this bottom line of our national interest and pay any price for it.
It seems that sooner or later, a big, earth-shaking storm will come to the Taiwan Strait. Even if the U.S. and Taiwan retreat their foot this time, their foot will cross the line the next time. Now we need to get ready to ‘break their legs’ in the Taiwan Strait at any time.”
Source: Huanqiu, September 12, 2021
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/44k3twGoFQh
Global Times: Chinese Warships Must Speed Up their Appearance at Guam and Hawaii
Global Times recently posted an article with the author’s name Hu Xijin, the newspaper’s Editor in Chief. Hu offered a response to the recent U.S. Navy’s freedom of navigation mission in the South China Sea. The Southern China Military Theater announced its navy and its air force responded with a warning and a “drive-away.” Hu said there are disputes between China and the United States. However, international law does not give any country the power to use warships to forcibly break into and challenge the sovereignty claimed by other countries. The reason the U.S. dares to do this is that only it has the power to do so. However, “China is getting stronger.” Just telling this truth to the U.S. is not enough. China needs to take active actions. In the not-too-distant future, the U.S. will definitely see the People’s Liberation Army appear at its doorstep, like Guam and Hawaii. Hu expressed the belief that, sooner or later, there will be an accident in the South China Sea and it will happen between China and the United States. The United States is the greatest threat to peace in the South China Sea, and it may eventually ruin the peace there.
Source: Global Times, September 8, 2021
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-g6chvkpY_kg2IKhV2BwUw