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Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

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Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

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Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

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Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

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China Times: Austria Joins Countries Banning TikTok from Business Phones

Major Taiwanese newspaper China Times recently reported that the Austrian Federal Interior Minister, Gerhard Karner, announced that the government will ban civil servants from using the Chinese-owned short video sharing application TikTok on their official mobile phones. This means another country joins the growing list of those who have banned the use of TikTok, Including the United Kingdom, the United States and several European Union (EU) member states. Many Western countries have banned the use of TikTok on official devices based on national security concerns. The EU’s two largest decision-making bodies also imposed a ban on TikTok in March. When Gerhard Karner was interviewed before the regular weekly cabinet meeting today, he was asked whether Austrian government officials could continue to use TikTok. He told reporters that official mobile phone use will be banned. However, using TikTok with private mobile phones outside the federal network is still possible. TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It is under scrutiny from a number of governments and regulators amid concerns that the Chinese government could use the app to collect user data or advance its own interests.

Source: China Times, May 11, 2023
https://www.chinatimes.com/cn/realtimenews/20230510006402-260408?chdtv

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

The U.S. and Europe to Take Joint Action against China

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that Western countries continue to hype the topic of so-called “economic coercion” by China. Following the Group of Seven (G7), the United States and the European Union also plan to repeat some old expressions of “concern” about China at a meeting at the end of this month, promising to take “joint actions” against China in a number of different fields such as the economy and trade. U.S. Secretary of State Blinken, European Commission Executive Vice President Vestager and other senior officials will attend the fourth ministerial meeting of the U.S.–EU Trade and Technology Committee (TTC) in Luleå, Sweden from May 30 to 31. According to a draft statement about that meeting, the United States and the European Union intend to commit to continued coordination and cooperation in the field of export control and investment review, and to address the challenges posed by issues such as non-market policies and practices and economic coercion. The U.S. and the EU have expressed the concern that “certain countries” use economic coercion to “induce or influence” foreign government decisions or actions for their own strategic political or policy goals. The parties committed to holding regular talks to discuss how to prevent companies in their regions from using knowledge related to foreign investment to support the technology advancement of their strategic competitors. The announcement draft also includes a bilateral commitment by Washington and Brussels to coordinate export controls on “sensitive items,” including items with military uses and semiconductors. The Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said, in response to an inquiry, that the U.S.-led groups are not only “suppressing China,” but also depriving developing countries of their right to scientific and technological progress, hoping to forever suppress these countries at the low end of the industrial chain.

Source: Sina, May 14, 2023
https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1887344341_707e96d502001dd6d.html

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

Departing World Bank President: China Refused to Restructure Debts for Developing Countries

David R. Malpass, the departing President of the World Bank, told Bloomberg that, though the World Bank provided super-low interest rate loans to the developing countries facing debt payment challenges, those countries’ debt problems have not been resolved since China refused to restructure their debts.

Over seventy low-income countries accumulated US$326 billion worth of debt in total. Half of these countries, including Zambia, Ethiopia, and Ghana, are already unable to pay their debts or are about to be in that state soon. Zambia’s debt must be restructured (as it could not pay it back following the current terms), Seventy-five percent were from Beijing.

Source: Epoch Times, May 9, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/5/9/n13991783.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

The Chinese Government Refused to Help Its Citizens Who Were Kidnapped to Work as Slaves to Conduct Telemarketing Fraud

Some Chinese and Taiwanese were enticed to go to Southeast Asian countries for work and were then kidnapped there and forced to conduct telemarketing fraud against the Chinese people. Recently Little Chen, a man trapped in Myawaddy, Myanmar, called Radio Free Asia (RFA) to help. An RFA reporter spent a month attempting to contact various authorities in China to request help for him, but not a single office extended a hand.

Little Chen was from Hunan Province. He and two other fellow Hunan residents were sold by kidnappers to the East Wind Park in Myawaddy. He said that over 1,000 Chinese were working as slaves at that park. The slave master asked for US$30,000 to give him his freedom, but his family did not have the money. The slaves were closely monitored and were not allowed to contact their family members or friends for help.

Somehow Little Chen’s friend managed to contact his family in Hunan. His family reported the situation to the Hunan police, but the police took no action and instead, asked him to come back to China and warned that he would face criminal charge if he did not come back soon.

An RFA reporter tried to contract China’s Embassy at Myanmar, but none of the calls to listed public phone numbers went through. The reporter then contacted the Hunan Provincial Police Bureau, but the officer there rejected the request for help. The reporter contacted the office of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was told to contact the diplomat security bureau. The reporter contacted the diplomat security bureau, but the bureau staff said this was not their responsibility. The reporter contacted China’s Embassy in Thailand, since Thailand was just next to Myawaddy. The embassy referred the reporter to contact the Chinese Consulate General in Chiang Mai. The consulate told the reporter they knew that many Chinese were trapped in Myanmar, but said it was outside their scope. Only if those Chinese came to Thailand could they help. However, they do not suggest that they cross the Thai border since that is illegal. The reporter asked the progress of the joint effort to clean-out the telemarketing fraud by China, Myanmar, and Thailand; but the consulate staff said there is no such thing at all.

Little Chen has been losing his hope.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 5, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/myanmar-05052023125339.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics Social Stability

Chinese with CCP Ties Are the Top Donors to New Zealand’s National Party

Two agents working for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are among the top donors to New Zealand’s National Party, a major opposition party, according to donation records in 2022 that were released by the New Zealand Electoral Commissions in late April.

Lu Xinyan (Vicky Lu), donated $18,750 to New Zealand  and ranked 31st among the top donors. Lu is the acting head of the Australian and New Zealand offices of People’s Daily Overseas Edition. People’s Daily is the CCP’s main mouthpiece. Lili Wang donated $17,110 to New Zealand  to the National Party. Wang is the head of the Chinese Language Herald newspaper in New Zealand, which has been run by a company owned by the CCP’s state-run China News Service.

Steven Wong also donated $16,161. He is the former President of the New Zealand branch of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (中國和平統一促進會), which targets Taiwan and runs under the CCP’s United Front Department.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 8, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/nz-donate-05082023105346.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

Public Opinion: The Six Huge Costs of the Three-Year Zero-COVID Policy

Lao Man (老蛮), an individual commentator in China, known for his writing on China’s economy, posted an article to list six prices that China paid for adopting the “zero-COVID” policy for the past three years:

  1. The fiscal deficit increased by 60 percent in those three years.
  2. The collapse of municipal investment companies (these companies are set up by local governments as a vehicle to raise money to finance government spending, usually using land which the government owns as collateral).
  3. The collapse of the government’s credibility.
  4. The collapse of the birth rate.
  5. The withdrawal (departing from China) of foreign companies.
  6. The general public’s decision not to take out loans to finance their purchases after they lost hope in the future.

Source: China News Digest, May 8, 2023
http://hx.cnd.org/2023/05/08/老蛮：清零三年的六个巨大代价/

Hot Topics | | |   @CS Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Government Fined Companies for Lowering Housing Prices

Though many Chinese real estate developers are facing severe financial problems, the government does not allow them to lower housing prices to speed up the inflow of cash. The communist regime is afraid that if it lets housing prices float, a freefall in the prices will occur and wipe out the  tremendous savings that people have poured into their houses, and thus create social turmoil and shake up the Communist party’s rule.

On May 5, the Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, sent out an official notice to fine two companies for dropping the sales prices of their newly-built apartments by 20 to 30 percent. It said the two companies “had disturbed the regular order of the real estate market and created a social instability factor.”

On the other hand, the two  companies, after lowering their prices, were able to  sell their inventories quickly since the other companies stayed at the high price following the government’s request.

Source: Sina, May 7, 2023
https://news.sina.com.cn/minsheng/2023-05-07/doc-imysxqsz9123109.shtml#/

Briefings | | |   @CS Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Transaction Amount at Canton Fair Down 15 Percent from Pre-COVID Level

China held its China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, in Guangzhou (Canton) City, Guangdong Province from April 15 to May 5. Official numbers claimed two new records: over 35,000 companies set up exhibition booths and over 2.9 million people

attended the exhibition. However, some vendors complained that they had no visitors at their booths at all.

The total transaction amount, both online and at the fair, was US$25.1 billion, down 15 percent from 2019, which was US$29.3 billion.

Some media reported that foreigners accounted for only 18 percent of the total attendees. That means most of the people were from the manufacturers trying to sell their products. “Among the foreign clients, the majority were from developing countries, which meant that they were more interested in purchasing high-productivity equipment but not a large quantity of consumer goods; there was a significant drop in the number of U.S. and European customers compared to the previous fair.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 8, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/hcm-05082023090035.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources