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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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Foreign Money Leaving China: 8.8 Billion Dollars in October and One Hundred Billion in (the previous)Nine Months

The Institute of International Finance estimated that foreign investors pulled out 8.8 billion dollars from China’s financial market in October. Among that, 7.6 billion was from the stock market and 1.2 billion was from the bond market. Several regions were gaining capital investment, including Asia (excluding-China) (5.6 billion dollars), Latin America (2.6 billion dollars), and Europe (2.3 billion dollars).

Since the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, about 105 billion dollars has been pulled out from China’s bond portfolio.

Source: Epoch Times, November 9, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/11/8/n13862006.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Canceled Video Speech by EU Council President at Shanghai Trade Expo

The Chinese authorities blocked a video by European Council President Charles Michel. It was not allowed to be shown on November 4 at the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo (CIIE), a major trade expo in Shanghai. Beijing had planned to show Michel’s speech along with those from other foreign dignities, including the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the director-general of the World Trade Organization, and the presidents of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Belarus.

However, in his pre-recorded video speech, the European Council president asked China to take the right side on the Russia-Ukraine war. Michel said, “China has a role in using its influence to stop Russia’s brutal war … through your so-called ‘no-limits’ partnership with Russia.” “You, China, can help put an end to this.”  His video also warned about Europe becoming overly dependent on Russia or China. “In Europe, we want balance in our trade relations  … in order to avoid over-dependencies,” Michel said. “This is also true of our trade relations with China.”

Michel’s office asked China for an explanation.

Source: China News, November 8, 2022
https://news.creaders.net/china/2022/11/08/2544742.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics

China Released 20 Measures on the Control of COVID

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Politburo held a meeting on November 10 to review its COVID policy, including 20 measures it proposed on “optimizing” the  control of COVID. The next day, the State Council published the 20 measures.

Some highlights of the new rules are:

Measure #1: Those who had close contact with a COVID patient will follow the “5+3” rule (five days of centralized quarantine followed by an additional three days of home quarantine) instead of the current “7+3” rule.

Measure #2: Stop identifying the second-level contacts (people who had contact with the people who had contact with COVID a patient)

Measure #3: People from high-risk regions going to other places will follow a seven-day home quarantine instead of the current centralized quarantine.

Measure #4: Adjust region’s risk level from “high-media-low” to “high-low.” High-risk is narrowed to a building or a unit (in the past the control was more limited to the residential community which usually is a walled residential compound with many buildings within).

Measure #6: Regions with no COVID cases do not need to have all-people PCR test. The “two tests per day” or “three tests per day” practices will be stopped.

Measure #7: Eliminate the inbound flight meltdown mechanism (stop the airline’s next flight(s) if COVID patients were detected on the current flight). Passengers only need to provide one negative COVID test in the past 48 hours (instead of two negative tests).

Measure #10: People coming into China from other countries will follow the “5+3” rule instead of the current “7+3” rule.

Measure #12: Promote COVID vaccinations.

Sources:
1. People’s Daily, November 10, 2022
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2022/1110/c1024-32563558.html
2. People’s Daily, November 12, 2022
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2022-11/12/nw.D110000renmrb_20221112_2-04.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

The CCP Conducted More Interference in Canada’s Election Than any Other Country

According to the Canadian media, the Global News’ report on November 7, Canadian intelligence officials warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that China has allegedly interfered in Canada’s elections, including funding a clandestine network of at least 11 federal candidates running in the 2019 election.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) reported that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) efforts in interfering in Canada’s election included payments through intermediaries to candidates affiliated with the CCP, placing their agents into the offices of Members of Parliament (MPs) in order to influence policy, seeking to co-opt and corrupt former Canadian officials, and mounting aggressive campaigns to punish Canadian politicians whom the CCP views as threats to its interests.

The intelligence report asserts that China conducts more foreign interference than any other nation.

In 2019, China’s Consulate in Toronto directed a large clandestine transfer of funds to a network of at least eleven federal election candidates and to numerous Beijing operatives who worked as the candidate’s campaign staffers. The funds were allegedly transferred through an Ontario provincial MPP and a federal election candidate staffer. Separate sources who are aware of the situation said a CCP proxy group, acting as an intermediary, transferred around $250,000 to these candidates and staffers.

Some, but not all, members of that alleged network were willing affiliates of the CCP.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on the same day, apparently in response to the Global News’ report, that China and other countries are finding ways to interfere with the Canadian democratic system. The Canadian government has taken strong measures to prevent this. The government established a special committee of senior officials to handle foreign interference during the two federal elections in 2019 and 2022.

Sources:
1. Global News, November 7, 2022

Canadian intelligence warned PM Trudeau that China covertly funded 2019 election candidates: Sources


2. Radio Canada, November 8, 2022
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/zh-hans/新闻/1931263/中国-干涉-资助-加拿大候选人-政府措施

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

Researcher: China May Have Inflated Its GDP By 30 Percent

Luis Martinez, Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago, published a research paper with a model to analyze a country’s economy. He used the brightness of lights at night from satellite images as a proxy indicator of economic activity. Martinez reasoned that more economic development leads to more infrastructure development, including more streetlights and buildings and more lights. He then compared the stable and credible democracy countries to authoritarian regimes and found that the latter overstate their economy by 30 to 35 percent.

Martinez’s model showed that China’s might have exaggerated its GDP by one-third.

A 2019 report by the Brookings Institution was in agreement with Martinez’s conclusion. It suggested that China overstated its economic growth by 2 percent each year and thus its actual economic volume was 12 percent smaller than the official number.

Source: VOA, November 1, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/satellites-shed-light-on-dictators-lies-about-economic-growth-20221031/6813568.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Economy/Resources

After the Confucius Institute, the CCP Switched to Promoting the Lu Ban Workshop

The Chinese Communist Party has been promoting the “Lu Ban Workshop (鲁班工坊)” in countries along the path of its Belt & Road Initiative (BRI).

Launched by the Tianjin Municipal Government, the Lu Ban Workshops are named after Lu Ban, a famous Chinese craftsman. They provide vocational education, from mechatronics to applied electronics, and from automation to robotics, to residents of hosting countries, with a focus on local needs.

Xi Jinping has personally promoted the Lu Ban Workshop on several occasions, including at his meetings with presidents from the target countries.

The first workshop was established in Thailand in 2016. There are now 25 Lu Ban Workshops in 19 countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Portugal, and in Central Asian countries.

The Lu Ban Workshop has essentially the same export model as the Confucius Institute: Chinese vocational and technical schools seek local partners in targeted countries and offer courses in those local schools to teach skills related to Chinese standards.

There has been growing concern over the Confucius Institutes as they promote the CCP ideology and impose CCP policy at the local partner school. In the past few years, there has been a wave of interest in closing Confucius Institutes and 104 of the 118 Confucius Institutes at U.S. universities have been closed.

Source: VOA, November 6, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/luban-workshop-china-2022-11-06/6821047.html

 

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

Newcastle Ends Sister-City Relationship with Chinese City

Newcastle will end its long-standing twin city relationship with Taiyuan, the capital of China’s Shanxi Province, due to allegations that the government has mistreated Uyghurs.

China has been accused of detaining over one million Uyghur Muslims in what has been called “re-education” camps.

Lib Dem Wendy Taylor, who proposed the motion that was passed unanimously on Wednesday, felt that, given the allegations of “horrific abuses,” Newcastle could not have ties with China.

Since 1985, there has been a partnership with the industrial city of Taiyuan, and delegations have frequently visited Taiyuanside. Regarding the Uyghur people, Ms. Taylor stated, “There is talk of rape, forced sterilization, and even organ harvesting.”

As of 2022, In addition to Newcastle,  Taiyuan has a sister city relationships with 12 international cities, including Nashville in the United States .

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 4, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/8-11042022154745.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Joint Venture between China’s State-owned and Private Enterprises

The state-owned telecom giant China Unicom has set up a new joint venture with private Internet giant Tencent, while China Mobile has joined hands with JD.com. China Telecom has also partnered with Alibaba. Scholars analyze that the joint venture program is continuing to expand, and that, next year, more large private companies will be included in the wave of creating joint ventures .

On October 27, the country’s State Administration of Market Regulation released a list of approved businesses, which include the new joint venture between China Unicom and Tencent.

Radio Free Asia quotes a Beijing-based political commentator Wu Qiang who states that the “public-private partnership” that people have been concerned about in the past five years has now entered a substantive stage of implementation. Also, the “strategic cooperation” between three large state-owned telecom companies and three private giants indicates the dawn of an era of full governmental control of the economy.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), November 3, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202211030339.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources