US-China Relations - 51. page

Deutsche Welle Chinese Edition recently reported that the U.S. National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the U.S. consulting firm Rhodium Group just jointly published the 2019 report on investment trends between the United States and China. With the background of a continuously worsening U.S.-China relationship, Chinese investments in the United States reached the lowest level since the global financial crisis a decade ago. The newly signed U.S.-China Phase One Trade Agreement brought some brightness to the future. However, the coronavirus is now casting a dark shadow for the near term. In the first quarter of this year, China’s direct investment in the U.S. declined to US$200 million, which is far less than the 2019 average quarterly investment level of US$2 billion. The Chinese investment in the U.S. saw declines before the coronavirus came. The causes were mainly the poor relationship between the two countries, strengthened U.S. regulations, and China’s restrictions on overseas investments.

Source: DW Chinese, May 12, 2020
https://bit.ly/3dQ3gbr

As the 2019 coronavirus epidemic continues its worldwide rampage, China’s official media has concentrated on criticizing the United States. Data collected by a Wechat account, a popular Chinese social media platform, shows that 70 percent of the front page editorials of Global Times, a daily tabloid newspaper under the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper, with a focus on international issues, recently have been  targeting U.S.

According to its May 17 posting, the account, “yuguisuibi” by name, found that among the recent 40 Global Times’ daily front page editorials, titles of 29 articles carry the words “the United States.” The proportion is as high as 72.5 percent. The figure was, however, only 18, or 45 percent, out of 40 editorials over the same time period last year.

Among other titles, the wording “global” shows 3 times, “World” 4 times, and “G20” twice. In addition, “Britain” appeared once due to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s infection.

Source: Central News Agency, May 18, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202005180030.aspx

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu recently reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security posted a new proposed regulation in the Federal Register which plans to apply further restrictions to the visa duration for reporters from China to 90 days. Extensions will be allowed. The plan is currently in the process of public review. If the plan is implemented, Chinese reporters will have to leave the United States after 90 days unless the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approves an extension. The new proposal does not apply to those with Hong Kong or Macau passports. The new plan was reportedly to enhance U.S. national security. In the recent years, the U.S. government has been “creating trouble” for Chinese media reporters. In 2018, the U.S. government asked the Chinese media branches in the U.S. to register as proxies of a foreign government. In February of this year, five Chinese media companies in the U.S. were classified as “foreign missions.” Later the U.S. government restricted the number of staff members for these five companies. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented that, maybe the U.S. government does not want the world to know how poorly they handled the pandemic.

Source: Sohu, May 9, 2020
https://www.sohu.com/a/393986216_115479

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that, right after President Trump suspended legal immigration for 60 days, the U.S. government looked at considering tightening up the policies for the international students to apply for OPT (Optional Practical Training) after graduation. According to a recent Forbes article, the Trump administration may further restrict or entirely eliminate the temporary work opportunities offered by the OPT programs. It is possible that this new development may only apply to Chinese students. This report is not baseless. Acting U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said on the radio on April 27 that the OPT qualification for Chinese students will be the new target of the Trump administration. Restricting OPT for STEM majors has always been on the table.

Source: Sina, May 7, 2020
https://k.sina.com.cn/article_2817931122_a7f6377200100vany.html?from=news

The Thousand Talents Plan (TTP), once a high-profile Chinese government project to attract overseas talent, is now on total radio silence. Ever since the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started to pursue the scholars involved in TTP, Chinese authorities have mentioned little of the project in public. It is now even difficult to search relevant information on the Internet.

It was rumored that, as early as late September 2018, the Chinese authorities had ordered the official media to suspend the coverage of TTP. A document circulated on the Internet; the “Thousand Talents Plan Youth Project Review Working Group” authored it. It was affixed with the seal of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, which clearly ordained that “the wording of ‘Thousand Talents Plan’ should not appear in written notifications.”

China’s effort to keep a lid on the project is believed to be a response to the FBI’s probe into the TTP scholars that started in September 2018. The Thousand Talents Plan is a short name for “China’s Overseas High-Level Talent Recruitment Program.” In December 2008, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decided to implement the program. In January 2009, the Talent Work Coordination Group, a task force underneath the CCP’s Central Organization Department, formulated the “Opinions on the Implementation of the Overseas High-level Talent Recruitment Program.” Over the next ten years, about 8,000 overseas experts were hired with high pay, most of them ethnic Chinese.

Searching the characters “千人計畫” (Chinese characters for TTP) on Baidu, China’s largest search engine, turns out very few results. If the search is done using simplified Chinese character, nothing can be found. The keyword is unsearchable on China’s social platforms such as Weibo. It is rumored that, since April this year, China’s cyber police has been filtering the keyword for TTP. However, searching with characters “中國海外高層次人才引進計畫” (Chinese characters for “China’s Overseas High-Level Talent Recruit Program”) will give some information. Sometimes one has to combine different words so as to find piecemeal data.

Source: Central News Agency, May 6, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202005060336.aspx