Chinascope – Page 139

UDN: China Makes Tech Giants Hand Over System Algorithms

United Daily News (UDN), one of the primary Taiwanese news groups, recently reported that Chinese tech giants such as Alibaba, Tencent and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance have handed over details of the online algorithms of some of their services to government regulators. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which oversees the Chinese Internet, released a list of 30 algorithms, for regulation purposes, that companies use to collect user data and promote content and services. Tech companies around the world keep their algorithms closely guarded as trade secrets, but in March, China announced rules that force companies to hand over their algorithms to authorities using the reason that it will preventing them from misusing data. The new rules require that companies cannot engage in activities that could threaten national security or social stability or encourage excessive addiction. The regulations state that service providers must frequently self-assess to ensure compliance and submit records to the relevant Chinese authorities. China’s move to establish an algorithmic registration system is unprecedented. So far, neither the United States nor the European Union (EU) have implemented such regulations. Applicable internet businesses range from social media provider like Weibo to food delivery platforms like Meituan.

Source: UDN, August 17, 2022
https://udn.com/news/story/7331/6542508?from=udn-ch1_breaknews-1-cate4-news

Briefings | | August 22, 2022 | Government/Politics Information/Technology

Seventeen Ministries Issued Joint-Notice to Encourage Chinese to Have More Babies

China is facing a severe population drop. According to the China Business Network’s report, China had 10.62 million newborn babies in 2021, a significant decrease from the 18.83 million in 2016.

On July 25, seventeen ministerial-level agencies in China issued a joint notice to encourage Chinese people to have more babies. The agencies include the National Health Commission, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Chinese Communist Party, the Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the People’s Bank, to name just a few.

The notices mentioned the need to improve services for pregnancy, child health, education, job finding, and a number of other issues. It also stressed a need to increase childcare services and reduce its cost.

However, Epoch Times reported that many online responses to the notice stated that the real reason that people do not want to have a baby is not the lack of childcare services but the overall high cost of raising a child from birth to college.

Sources:
1. China National Health Commission Website, August 16, 2022
http://www.nhc.gov.cn/rkjcyjtfzs/s7785/202208/9247dd64744c42df9522c4fa2cb78e42.shtml
2. Epoch Times, August 17, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/8/17/n13804712.htm
3. China Business Network, January 17, 2022
https://www.yicai.com/news/101291490.html

Briefings | | August 19, 2022 | Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Xi Jinping Talked about “Common Prosperity”

Xi Jinping promoted the “common prosperity” concept last summer but then the media cooled down on it for about a year. Recently, he started talking about it again.

There have been doubts about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intended to do. Its practice in the past was to confiscate the wealth from the rich and redistribute it to the people or to the “government” (the officials themselves). Chinascope has a deep analysis on this topic: Common Prosperity and Xi’s Desire to Be China’s “Greatest Leader (”http://chinascope.org/archives/28655 http://chinascope.org/archives/28655)

On August 15, People’s Daily republished Xi Jinping’s speech given on January 28, 2021.at the twenty-seventh collective study of the 19th Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Political Bureau, His speech made five points:

Implement new development concepts (innovation, coordination, green, open, and sharing)
Focus on common prosperity.
Continue deepening reform and opening up.
Have the systematic (big picture) view.
View things from a political angle.

On August 16, when visiting Northeastern China, Xi Jinping talked about common prosperity. Xi said that Chinese-style modernization is not just for a few people. Rather all people will be rich.

Source:
1. People’s Daily, August 15, 2022
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2022/0815/c1024-32502880.html
2. China’s Official Government Site, August 17, 2022
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2022-08/17/content_5705661.htm

Briefings | | August 19, 2022 | Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Russian Formal Military Chief of Staff Praised DJI Drones as a “Real Revolution” in Artillery War

The Russian Embassy placed a post on Weibo of the quotes from a new book by former Russian Military Chief of Staff General Yuri Baluyevsky. The Russian general praised Dajiang’s (DJI’s) drones and said that they have brought a real revolution to the usage of traditional artillery, completely solving the issues of detecting the target, directing the aim, and correcting fire. Their accuracy and efficiency are comparable to those of precision-guided missiles.

The general said DJI’s “Mavic quadcopter has become a true symbol of modern warfare.”

The posting was based on the Russian media Sputnik.

DJI immediately responded that its products are for civilian usage. Later, the Russian Embassy removed this posting.

Source: Net Ease, August 15, 2022
https://c.m.163.com/news/a/HERL2TJF05159GSR.html

Briefings | | August 19, 2022 | @CS Geo-Strategic Trend

Chinese People Have Difficulty Withdrawing Money from Banks. The Problem Has Spread to Shenzhen

Since July, customers of many banks in China have experienced difficulty withdrawing their money from their accounts. The problem has now spread to Shenzhen.

According to reports in the Chinese media, a number of depositors have shared their stories on the Internet. Bank of China’s debit card holders in Shenzhen have been unable to withdraw cash through WeChat, or transfer funds through Alipay. Their accounts have shown up as “suspended.”

The Bank of China stated that the purpose of freezing the accounts was to cooperate with the police operations to combat telecom fraud and Internet gambling. Holders of the suspended accounts have to go to the bank in person to unfreeze their accounts. Due to the large number of involved customers, people often have to wait more than an hour outside their banks.

In addition to the Bank of China, other banks, including China Construction Bank (CCB), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), and Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC), are in a similar situation. Long lines of depositors are waiting outside bank branch offices to unfreeze their accounts .

In the middle of July, in Beijing, Shandong, Hainan and in other provinces and cities, a number of bank depositors already had issues with their bank accounts being frozen and they could not withdraw their money.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), August 14, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202208140056.aspx

Briefings | | August 17, 2022 | Economy/Resources

RFI Chinese: Five Chinese State-Owned Companies Announced the Start of Delisting US Stocks

Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition recently reported that five companies, including PetroChina, Sinopec, Aluminum Corporation of China, China Life, and Shanghai Petrochemical announced separately that they applied for the voluntary delisting of their American Depositary Shares from the New York Stock Exchange. The China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a statement on “Initiating delisting from the U.S. for Individual Chinese Companies.” The Commission explained that, “ever since these companies listed in the United States, they have strictly abided by the rules and regulatory requirements of the U.S. capital market. They made the choice of delisting out of their own business considerations.” The Commission further stated that listing and delisting are the norm in the capital market. Previously, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on May 4 that it had included more than 80 Chinese companies on its scheduled delisting list, and ordered these companies to submit evidence that they met the listing conditions before May 25. Under the U.S. Foreign Company Accountability Act of 2020, the committee can remove foreign companies from U.S. securities markets if they fail to comply with U.S. auditing standards for three consecutive years. Beijing and Washington are negotiating the resolution of the longstanding audit disputes. U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said on July 27 that U.S. and Chinese officials must reach an agreement “as soon as possible” to obtain audit papers of Chinese companies in order to avoid the delisting of U.S.-listed Chinese stocks.

Source: RFI Chinese, August 12, 2022
https://bit.ly/3pexEUS

Briefings | | August 15, 2022 | US-China Relations

China’s Smartphone Market Fell Significantly in the Second Quarter

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that the International Data Corporation (IDC) has released its latest mobile phone market report. IDC mentioned in the report that, in the context of improving market supply, soaring inflation and economic uncertainty have severely suppressed consumer spending, global mobile phone inventories have grown significantly, and market demand has been limited. The region with the largest decline in global shipments was in China, down more than 14 percent year-over-year. In the global market; the ranking of manufacturers did not change much in the second quarter. Samsung maintained growth in all regions except Europe with a share of 21.8 percent, and Apple ranked second with a share of 15.6 percent. IDC predicts that the Chinese domestic smartphone market will ship about 280 million units in 2022, down more than 40 percent from the peak of 500 million units. The Chinese Q2 decline is the fifth consecutive quarter of declines in shipments and the second consecutive quarter of double-digit declines. IDC expressed the belief that, in the first half of the year, the sluggish Chinese domestic market was a result of the Covid-19 lockdowns and the lack of sufficient differentiation among mid-to-high-end products. Also, China’s huge smartphone market is highly saturated. As of the end of last year, there were more than 1.6 billion active mobile phone accounts in China, surpassing the population of 1.4 billion. The penetration rate is much higher than the global average, resulting in intense competition.

Source: NetEase, July 29, 2022
https://www.163.com/dy/article/HDFNMFSM051481US.html

Briefings | | August 15, 2022 | Economy/Resources Information/Technology

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

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

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

The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.