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US-China Relations - 48. page

HKET: U.S. Reconnaissance Aircraft Challenged China’s Bottom Line

Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET), the leading financial daily in Hong Kong, recently reported that U.S.-China tensions just intensified in the South China Sea, right after the trade meeting got postponed for one month. According to the surveillance data that Beijing University’s South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) released, on August 15, the U.S. Navy EP-3E Reconnaissance Aircraft reached the closest point of 50.19 nautical miles (around 93 kilometers or 58 miles) from China’s Canton Province. SCSPI also identified that another EP-3E “potentially” entered Taiwan’s airspace. The SCSPI platform summarized that, in three days, the U.S. dispatched seven P-8A, P-3C, RC-135 or EP-3E aircraft to the region. Taiwanese media described this as “testing China’s bottom line.” In the meantime, according to an announcement from the U.S. Navy, the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier returned to the South China Sea for exercises, joined by the USS Antietam, the USS Mustin and the USS Rafael Peralta cruisers as well as the Fifth Carrier Aircraft Wing. The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier just had two exercises with the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier last month. The Chinese military called these activities a “major threat” to the Taiwan Strait area.

Source: HKET, August 16, 2020
https://bit.ly/3h3dF5O

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military US-China Relations

Taiwan: CCP’s Response to U.S.’s Taiwan Visit and Drone Sale

The United Stated made two major moves regarding Taiwan. The first was that, on August 9, 2020, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar visited Taiwan and, on August10, met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. This is the highest ranked U.S. official to visit Taiwan. The second one was that the U.S. and Taiwan are in negotiation for the U.S. to sell Taiwan at least four MQ-9B SeaGuardian surveillance drones which have a range of 6,000 nautical miles (11,100 km).

China’s Foreign Ministry issued a standard protest. People’s Daily and Xinhua didn’t comment much on either event, but Huanqiu and some other media commented on it, either cursing the U.S. or trying to downplay the event.

#1: On August 5, Wang Wenbin, Spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, stated at the press conference, that China urges the US to abide by the one-China policy and the provisions of the three Sino-US Joint Communiqués, to stop all forms of official exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan, to handle Taiwan-related issues carefully and properly, and to refrain from sending any wrong signals to the “Taiwan independence” forces so as to avoid serious damage to Sino-US relations.

On August 5, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, stated at a press conference, that it is very dangerous for the Democratic Progressive Party authorities to collude with foreign countries and willingly play the role of a U.S.’ pawn.

On August 5, Lu Xiang, an expert on American issues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times reporter that in 2000 and again in 2014, the U.S. had sent high-ranking officials (Department of Transportation and Environment Protection Agency) to visit Taiwan. They were sent during those two President’s second terms when they no longer considered re-election. This time, the HHS Secretary ranked higher than those two who were sent previously, based on the order of succession of Department heads to take the president’s seat if the current President is unable to perform his duties. In addition, Trump sent him to Taiwan in his first presidential term. This showed that Trump is gambling. Under the Coronavirus pandemic and economic pressure, Trump does not know how to play the chess game anymore. He just throws chess pieces onto the board. Now he has run out of pieces and throws bricks instead. (Global Times)

#2: Global Times said there was a huge controversy and debate in Taiwan regarding Azar’s visit. It said that some Taiwan netizens furiously claimed that Azar would put Taiwan into two bad areas: the pandemic (brought from the U.S.) and a crisis over the strait (between Taiwan and China). (Global Times)

#3: The Taiwan Strait Net commented that “jointly fighting the pandemic” is just a cover (for Azar’s visit). The U.S. has only one “strategy” to fight the pandemic: Blame China. Taiwan’s “magic operation (against the coronavirus)” was nothing but avoid testing. It said that quite a few people were worried, “(Azar) came from the U.S.? Shouldn’t he be quarantined?” (Taiwan Strait Net)

#4: Sina commented on the U.S. selling drones to Taiwan. “As the presidential election is coming up, the political in-fighting in the U.S. has intensified. Some politicians in the U.S. view playing the ‘Taiwan card’ as a measure that is low cost and has a quick return. However, playing the “Taiwan card” shows the U.S. lacks self-confidence and worries about its China policy. (Sina)

#5: Global Times said that some Taiwan netizens identified this drones transaction as Taiwan paying a “protection fee” to the U.S. “In the American’s eye, sending the HHS Secretary over to bring back $600 million is definitely worth it.” “The U.S. just takes Taiwan as an ATM machine.” (Global Times)

#6: Back on May14, 2020, Global Times commented on Taiwan’s purchasing 4 MQ-9 Reaper drones as not getting enough for the mainland to shoot down and claimed that these drones are nothing but target drones to be killed. (Global Times)

Related postings on Chinascope:

Hot Topics | | |   US-China Relations

Chinese Consulate in Houston Intervened in US Political Movement

Radio Free Asia (RFA) published an article explaining the reason that the U.S. closed China’s Consulate in Houston.

The article stated that the U.S. has known that the staff members at the consulate were conducting suspicious activities, but, for a while, it did not take any action. The Second Department of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is the PLA’s intelligence unit, sent staff members from a large network company, with fake IDs, to China’s Consulate in Houston. Those technicians used a large video platform’s backend data to identify people who might participate in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and ANTIFA’s protests and then created and sent them customized videos on how to organize riots and how to do promotions.

The purpose was to “weaponize” big data technology. It delivered relevant materials precisely to those people who were most likely to participate in the protests, while other people could not even find those videos.

RFA did not spell out the company names. A Twitter account said the technicians were from Huawei and the video platform they used to identify candidates and push videos to was TikTok.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, August 7, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/ear/ear-straw-08062020081345.html
2. Twitter, @Raymond999USA

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

LTN: U.S. Businesses Consider Leaving Hong Kong

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that, according to a member survey that the American Chamber of Commerce conducted in Hong Kong, around 53 percent of its members are considering leaving Hong Kong in the future, either near-term or mid-term. The survey was designed specifically to measure the impact of the Hong Kong National Security Law and the U.S. sanctions that followed. The survey sampled a total of 154 member companies of the Chamber. Most (55.84 percent) of the members recognized the long-term competitiveness of the Hong Kong based U.S. companies to be the top priority to evaluate. According to undisclosed sources, after the new law and the new U.S. sanctions, most of the “high net-worth individuals” in Hong Kong have not yet moved their money out of the city. They are still observing and evaluating the changes on local asset prices and the potential long-term business environment under the Mainland’s control. However, many of the wealthy people have completed the preparation work for a swift money move, such as opening off-shore bank accounts, obtaining overseas passports, and other means.

Source: LTN, August 13, 2020
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3259577

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

CCP Controlled Media Attacked Zuckerberg

The U.S. Congress held a hearing on the how the Chinese government steals U.S. Technology. Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, was the only CEO among the four at the hearing who stated firmly that China definitely steals U.S. technology.

As a result, an article criticizing Zuckerberg was published widely on Chinese media. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controls all media in China. The article was titled, “This ‘TikTok Slaughter Battle’ completely tore off Zuckerberg’s mask as the ‘Chinese people’s good son-in-law.’” Since the parents of Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan were Chinese refugees who fled Vietnam, Beijing had been calling Zuckerberg “the Chinese people’s good son-in-law.”

The article said that Mark Zuckerberg (of Facebook), Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Google, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon participated in the hearing remotely.

A congressman asked, “Do you think that the Chinese government steals U.S. technologies?”

Cook, “No.”

Pichai, “No.”

Bezos, “I only heard it on newspaper, but it didn’t happen to Amazon.”

Zuckerberg, “I believe that China’s stealing technology from U.S. tech companies is well-documented.”

The article then said that Zuckerberg had tried many things for several years to get Beijing to let Facebook enter China, but after he could not do it, he revealed his true face and, last year, became hostile towards China.

The article blamed him for having a double standard when closing several Facebook accounts, which Zuckerberg said to be connected to the Chinese government, for spreading “fake news” about Hong Kong; for using the “China threat” theory to promote his virtual currency; and for trying to destroy TikTok, his rival.

Source: 163.com, August 4, 2020
https://news.163.com/20/0804/14/FJ6NPPE60001899O.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Western Media Support “Marxist Journalism” School in China

The National Pulse reported that Several U.S. corporations and media companies have been supported Tsinghua University’s Global Business Journalism School. However, that school aims to produce journalists who adhere to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) standards of “Marxist Journalism” (applying Marxist theory to journalism).

The school’s financial supporters include Bank of America, Bloomberg, Deloitte, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Tsinghua University also claims the following Western media provide “talent, equipment, and internships” as part of a “long history of cooperation” with Tsinghua: The New York Times, CNN, Financial Times, Reuters, and Bloomberg.

An introductory letter to Tsinghua’s Global Business Journalism School outlines its purpose: to accomplish the “tasks for news media” outlined by the CCP Central Committee. The Dean of the journalism school indicated: “We should be committed to a firm and correct political orientation. Our school has been actively exploring the theory and practices of Marxist Journalism, namely, to applying Marxist theory in observing the world and in selecting and handling news production.”

As a result, alumni of the program frequently go on to work for the CCP’s main media outlets, including China Central Television (CCTV), Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, and the People’s Daily.

Source: The National Pulse, July 31, 2020

EXCLUSIVE: CNN and the New York Times Support Chinese Communist-Funded ‘Marxist Journalism’ School

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics US-China Relations

Global Times: Trump’s “Black Hand” on WeChat Now Worries Apple

Global Times recently reported that the U.S. presidential order to ban TikTok and WeChat in 45 days has triggered U.S. domestic concerns on damages it can cause to U.S. product sales in the Chinese market. For example, Bloomberg had a report expressing the worry that the Trump ban on all transactions related to WeChat may disallow Apple from offering WeChat in its AppStore. As most people know, WeChat has penetrated very deeply into the day-to-day life of the Chinese population. It is the top app that over one billion people use widely for shopping, payments, and other daily activities in commerce and gaming. Without being able to download WeChat from its AppStore, Chinese consumers may not want to buy an iPhone any more. The Chinese market takes 20 percent of the iPhone’s total sales. Losing WeChat can be a big obstacle for Apple to sell iPhones. Additionally, Trump’s order may cause retaliation from the Chinese government on the sides of manufacturing capacity and raw material supply (like rare earth metals). Huawei cellphones may turn out to benefit from this new ban.

Source: Global Times, August 8, 2020
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/3zNvyYZpKNx

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

U.S. Embassy in Beijing Offers Reward for Information on Interference in U.S. Elections

On August 5, 2020, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing posted a media notice on its websites in both Chinese and English.

The Chinese media notice mentioned the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, which the Diplomatic Security Service administers. It is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any person who works with or for a foreign government who uses certain illegal cyber activities for the purpose of interfering with U.S. elections.

The Chinese media notice provides a link to the English media notice which contains more details.

Source:
U.S. Embassy in Beijing, August 5, 2020
https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/zh/reward-offer-for-information-on-foreign-interference-in-u-s-elections-zh/;
https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/reward-offer-for-information-on-foreign-interference-in-u-s-elections/

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations