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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

Tencent’s Stock Tumbled after Trump Banned WeChat

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that, as soon as U.S. President Trump officially signed the executive order to ban WeChat (in 45 days), the stock price of WeChat’s owner, Tencent, instantly suffered a free fall of 10 percent on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE). The loss of market value was the equivalent of HK$500 billion (around US$64.5 billion). In the meantime, the bad news also brought down SMIC (China’s largest chip maker) by over ten percent, Alibaba by six percent, and Xiaomi by five percent. These were all happening with the background of Mike Pompeo’s repetitive mention of the so-called Clean 5G Network plan on August 5. This is part of the U.S. effort to remove Chinese-made “untrusted” apps from the U.S. digital networks. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its strong opposition to these unfair political moves designed solely to sustain the U.S. monopoly in the high-tech industry. The new U.S. executive orders are directly against market rules and are a threat to the safety of the global supply chain.

Source: Sina, August 7, 2020
https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/hkstock/marketalerts/2020-08-07/doc-iivhuipn7334222.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

People Cheer as China Closes U.S. Consulate in Chengdu

On Friday July 24, after China announced the closure of the U.S. consulate general in Chengdu, China’s official media, including CCTV  began broadcasting live images outside the consulate on social media platforms. At the peak, more than 20 million people were watching. The state media showed images of trucks leaving the U.S. consulate, while the signs and nameplates on the outer wall of the consulate were being removed. Many people went to the consulate for a visit. Some of them held Chinese flags and tried to take a picture in front of the consulate. Dozens of police officers were stationed outside the consulate. They asked onlookers not to stay and tried to stop any provocative behavior. Fire trucks were also at the scene to prevent possible accidents. One man was taken into police custody because he was shouting, “China Add Oil (Go China)! I am a Chinese.” The police fined another man because he tried to light a fire cracker outside the consulate. When a bus with brown tinted glass left the consulate, the onlookers started booing. One 63-year-old man told Reuters that closing the consulate was a reciprocal action that China took against the US. Another video circulating online showed a man between 50 and 60 years old choked up. He said, “The U.S. should be a friend.” Many others were afraid to speak to the media and refused to be interviewed.

In this diplomatic war between the U.S. and China, Zhuang Zuyi, the wife of Jim Mullinax, the American consulate general in Chengdu, and a Taiwanese food writer was also accidentally involved. Zhuang often writes on Weibo about food and life in Chengdu and never hides her love for Sichuan province. She has performed on the street of Chengdu and has close to 600,000 followers on Weibo. Since the news of the closure of the Chengdu consulate, Zhuang’s social media account has been flooded with thousands of angry comments calling her “spy” and “Taiwan Independent.”

The US Embassy in China posted a video and wrote on its official Twitter account on Monday, July 27, “Today, we bid farewell to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu. We will always miss you.” People commented that they appreciated the help from the US. They are hoping for a free China and are looking forward to the return of the consulate back in Chengdu in the near future.

Source:
1. BBC Chinese, July 27, 2020
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-53549963

2. Epoch Times, July 27, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/7/27/n12286212.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Is China Getting Ready for War?

As the U.S.-China relationship has deteriorated, China has begun spreading an atmosphere of getting ready for war. On July 25, 2020, in Beijing, posters on how to handle air raids, which had not been posted for nearly 50 years, appeared in Beijing’s Haidian District. A video circulating on the Internet shows that air-raid billboards were on display, which reminded residents “how to enter an air-raid shelter quickly after hearing the alarm …”

In some places along China’s southeast coast, public announcements are posted, notifying people that retired naval and air force personnel, including their families, must go and register with the community neighborhood committee, which indicates that these people may be called to return to the military at any time.

According to a  notice issued by the Shuiyun Street Community Neighborhood Committee in Chongqing City, Sichuan Province, on July 24, 2020, families of active-duty border/island officers and soldiers living in its jurisdiction, especially those stationed in Xinjiang, Tibet, Yunnan, Guangxi, Hainan, and at other borders and islands, are required to register with the community neighborhood committee.

On the evening of July 27, Beijing time, the Chinese Communist Party media CCTV Headline News broadcasted a piece of old news that in January 2020, Xi Jinping wrote to the Top Gun Sixth Company of the People’s Liberation Army, emphasizing that the military must follow the CCP command to prepare for war.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, July 27, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/ql-07272020054946.html
2. Voice of America, July 28, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/US-citizens-relatives-china-react-drastic-escalation-US-prc-tension/5519350.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Pompeo’s Advisor’s Name Removed from Honor Stone in China

Miles Yu became immediately famous after the Washington Times reported that Yu is a chief China policy adviser at the U.S. State Department. Recently the high school that Yu once attended in China chiseled his name off the honor stone tablet.

Miles Yu, 57, graduated from Yongchuan High School in Chongqing city in 1979. In the same year, he was admitted to the prestigious Nankai University for having the highest scorer in liberal arts field in Sichuan Province on the national college entrance examination. Over the years, Yongchuan High School has engraved the names of top-score graduates on a campus stone tablet in commemoration.

Radio France International (RFI) shows a video in which a stonemason hired by the school was using an iron chisel to scrape away the characters of Yu’s Chinese name from the stone, followed by comments from overseas Chinese community, such as

A: Sooner or later, this name will be engraved again.
B: It turns out that Mr. Yu was the number one student on the college entrance examination and I admire him even more.
C: This is a magic country where history can be tampered with.

There were also some from mainland China, such as

D: The imperialistic U.S. government uses a person who has been away from China for so long to make its China policy. It will only get worse and worse. Let the name be kept as a laughing stock.
E: Maybe it (the name) will be engraved again someday.
F: By doing this, won’t it make people be more curious about the name that was erased, and attract more attention?

Source: Central News Agency, July 29, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202007290293.aspx

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

CCP Scholar: CCP Can Cut Down the Number of U.S. Diplomatic Staff if U.S. Closes another Consulate

On July 24, The United States closed the Chinese Consulate in Houston, Texas. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David R. Stilwell said the consulate was the command center for Beijing to develop students and spies and to gather economic and military intelligence.

Recently, Cai Wei, China’s Consul General in Houston, along with two other Chinese diplomats brought a few passengers to the boarding gate of a special flight that the Chinese government arranged for Chinese citizens at the Houston airport. However, the birthdate on one of the traveler’ ID cards was incorrect.

On July 21, the Chinese staff started burning things inside the consulate. The flames and smoke from the fires was visible from outside. Firefighters were called to come to the scene, but the consulate didn’t let them in.

Beijing closed the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, in retaliation.

However, Huanqiu (the Global Times), a hawkish state-controlled media with a strong anti-America attitude, published an article on July 24, showing a softer tone.

It quoted from Lv Xiang, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, that from the perspective of confronting China, it is not impossible for the U.S. to close more Chinese consulates (e.g. the San Francisco Consulate). Beijing can consider responding by cutting down the number of U.S. diplomatic staff, especially the staff doing intelligence work in Hong Kong.

However, the article did not suggest closing another U.S. consulate as a reciprocal countermeasure.

Source:
1. BBC, July 22, 2020
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-53496291
2. Huanqiu, July 24, 2020
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/3zBMqPJ9Tl8

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations