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China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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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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Chinese Consumers Slashed Spending on National Day Holiday

Well-known Taiwanese news site Anue recently reported that Mainland consumers slashed spending on travel and movies during the National Day holiday week as government Covid control measures led to fewer people going out. Data from the China National Railway Group shows that from September 28 to October 8, the number of railway passengers nationwide was estimated to be 68.5 million, mainly for family visits, short-distance travel and tourism. This represents a sharp drop of about 38 percent compared with the same period last year. According to statistics of Maoyan Entertainment, the Mainland movie box office has also fallen sharply, with sales reaching only 1.4 billion yuan (around US$197 million) as of October 7. This number is less than one-third of last year’s National Day holiday box office. It is also not comparable to the nearly RMB 4 billion (around US$562) in 2020. Weak spending data is a big bear for a pickup in Chinese consumption amid heightened risks to economic growth. The housing slump has yet to ease, global demand for Chinese goods has cooled, and the Chinese currency has depreciated. Still, economists say the chances of Beijing loosening its Zero-Covid policy in a short period of time remains low. Goldman Sachs expects that the government’s Covid control measures are expected to continue until the end of the second quarter of next year. Many economists have lowered their growth estimates on the Chinese economy.

Source: Anue, October 7, 2022
https://news.cnyes.com/news/id/4972972

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability

U.S. Department of Defense Blacklisted DJI and BGI for Investment

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that, according to the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) official website, the DOD is determined to identify and counter China’s “Military-Civilian Integration” strategy. This strategy is based on Chinese companies, universities and research programs that appear to be civilian institutions. Advanced technologies and expertise owned and developed by these agencies will in the meantime support the Chinese military’s modernization goals. Contributors to the Military-Civilian Integration strategy operate directly or indirectly within the United States. The U.S. Department of Defense will continue to update this blacklist. The list announced last June included Huawei and Hikvision. The new list just released has a total of 13 companies, including DJI and BGI. Basically, those blacklisted by the U.S. Department of Defense are China’s leading high-tech companies or colleges with strong influence. According to public information, DJI is headquartered in Shenzhen, China. As of October 2020, DJI had a market share of over 80 percent in the global civilian and commercial drone market, ranking first among all commercial drone companies. BGI was established in 1999 and also headquartered in Shenzhen, China. The company provides research services and comprehensive solutions for precision medical testing for medical institutions, scientific research institutions, and social health organizations through genetic testing, mass spectrometry testing, and bioinformatics analysis.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, October 7, 2022
https://www.kzaobao.com/cngov/2022-10/07125587.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

U.S. Announced New Controls over Chips and Chip-making Equipment

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that, on October 7, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced new export controls over chips. New export control measures restrict U.S. companies from selling certain advanced chips and manufacturing equipment to Chinese manufacturers. Also, the BIS increased export licensing requirements for technologies that China can use in supercomputing and semiconductor development. This may be the biggest change in U.S. policy on exporting technology to China since the 1990s. If implemented, U.S. technology and chip manufacturing will no longer be able to support China, which will set China’s chip manufacturing industry back by several years. The BIS stipulates that if U.S. manufacturers want to export equipment that can make DRAM of 18 nanometers or below, NAND Flash of 128 layers or above, or logic chips below 14 nanometers to local Chinese manufacturers, they must apply for export licenses. The Commerce Department said the move would protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. A senior official at the ministry said that concerted action is still in discussions with allies. For Its own self interest, Americans have not hesitated to use the laws of fair trade, or suppress and contain the development of technology companies in other countries.  They have reached that point.

Source: NetEase, October 8, 2022
https://www.163.com/dy/article/HJ4UL3D50553JNEE.html?f=post2020_dy_recommends

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

The CCP Uses Celebrities to Promote Its Messages

Epoch Times reported that two professors at the University of Richmond, Dan Chen and Gengsong Gao, published an article to expose the CCP’s tactic in sending its official messages via celebrities, including some Taiwanese entertainment stars.

Their study found that 85 percent of the top 218 celebrities in China re-posted the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) official messages on their social media account at least once over a six-month period in the second half of 2021.

On August 2, the day when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan, the CCP’s mouthpiece CCTV sent out a post on Weibo, a Chinese-owned Twitter-like social media platform, with the message “There is only one China in the World” statement. Within hours, Chinese celebrities re-posted this message on their extensive networks of followers, including Xie Na (谢娜), a 41-year-old popular TV host and actress who posted it for her 128 million followers on Weibo, and Jackson Yee (易烊千玺), a 22-year-old singer, dancer and actor ranked the No.1 celebrity in Forbes’ 2021 Chinese Celebrity List.  He posted it for Taiwan celebrities conducting business in mainland China, such as Chen Qiaoen (陈乔恩) and Wu Qilong (吴奇隆), and also re-tweeted this message, about a day later.

One celebrity news outlet listed more than 20 Taiwan celebrities who reposted the “Only one China in the World and he praised them for “fulfilling their responsibility to voice political support.” It also listed 11 Taiwan celebrities who did not retweet the message and suggested that fans will judge them accordingly.

Fans and media in China harassed and criticized those Taiwan celebrities who did not express that they lined up with the CCP’s position, including a well-known Taiwan singer Hebe Tien (田馥甄) who has 13 million followers on Weibo.

In addition to using the fans to “teach” the celebrities, the CCP can also directly punish the celebrities. In 2014, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued a notice to require all broadcasting platforms to block “tainted artists” – celebrities who engage in illegal behavior or actions that are illegal, indecent, or politically incorrect.

This practice forced many celebrities to endorse the official lines to make themselves safe. Also, the state-endorsed celebrities have better opportunities to perform on state televisions or in state-sponsored films and TV shows.

Source: Epoch Times, October 1, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/10/1/n13836744.htm

Reports | | |   Government/Politics

Xinjiang Is Locked Down Due to 97 Infection Cases

The communist regime in China has been taking a strict “zero-COVID” policy and locks down any city where there are some infection cases. Last week it locked down Xinjiang. The authorities forced the 22 million people living there to stay at home – if they had not yet been put in “reeducation camps.” It also stopped running public transportation. It cancelled 97 percent of out-bound flights and 95 percent of in-bound flights at Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital city and largest city. It also cancelled all out-bound flights except two to Urumqi at Kashgar, Xinjiang’s second largest city.

On October 5, the authorities reported that it has only 97 infected cases.

Many analyses have pointed  out that the communist party’s COVID control and lockdown allows it to control the general public and practice precision control over its targeted people.

Source: VOA, October 6, 2022
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-s-vast-xinjiang-hit-with-covid-19-travel-restrictions-20221006/6778421.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

The CCP Party School Established a Center for Communication Studies

At a conference held in Beijing, the Central Party School of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a top political institution which trains CCP cadres, announced the establishment of the “Center for the Study of Chinese Civilization and the Chinese Path” and the “Center for International Communication Research.”

Xie Chuntao, vice president of the Central Party School, said at the meeting that the two centers were established to implement Xi Jinping’s ideas on the localization of Marxism, to promote Chinese civilization and to improve international communication.

Li Xiguang, a professor at Tsinghua University, pointed out that China should deepen cross-civilizational cooperation and dialogue with Eurasia and other like-minded countries around the world. Li suggested that through the joint efforts of thinkers, academics and media from non-Western countries, China should achieve “replacing the ideas of Western colonizers and Western imperialism with our ideas.”

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 3, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202210030143.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Cambodia’s China-Built Expressway Opens to Traffic

Cambodia’s first expressway was opened to public use on China’s National Day and is free for one month. As a benchmark project of China’s “Belt & Road Initiative,” the 187-kilometer highway connecting the capital city of Phnom Penh and the southwest port of Preah Sihanouk cost $2 billion, and will reduce the driving time between the two cities from 5 hours to 2 hours. The project is a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract project, with a 50-year license and toll system.

Cambodia’s Khmer Times newspaper reported that South Korea’s Green Eco Energy once bid $536 million to build the project in November 2015, with a 35-year contracting period. In the same year, China’s Henan provincial government submitted a quote of $1.6 billion at the time of signing the MOU. It is not uncommon that Chinese companies often overbid infrastructure projects so that involved officials can take kickbacks.

According to the local Cambodian news network, at the end of October 2021, the Cambodian government forcibly demolished a number of residential buildings during land acquisition for the project, sparking outrage online.

The China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the state conglomerate that undertook the construction of the Phnom Penh-Sihanouk Expressway, signed a contract with the Cambodian government in September to conduct a study and is set to start construction of the country’s second expressway in the middle of next year, It will link Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese border at Bavet City, and will have a length of more than 100 kilometers.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 28, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/fy-09282022130759.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

IT Competition between China and the U.S. in Africa

During his visit to Africa, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States is financing a massive underwater fiber optic cable that will connect Africa to the rest of the world and provide fast communications between Africa and the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe. This will be one of the first projects under the framework of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), a project reportedly launched during the Biden administration with G7 leaders to counter China’s transcontinental “Belt & Road” initiative.

It is no coincidence that the American project is seen as a response to China’s Pakistan and East Africa Connect in Europe (PEACE) cable project. The cable will run from Pakistan to East Africa and then into Western Europe. In the second phase, the fast communication cable will reach South Africa and Singapore.

China has financed the construction of a sizeable communications technology infrastructure throughout Africa. These network technology and communication projects have put China in a dominant position in Africa. Huawei has completed or is building digital processing centers and has built cloud services in many African countries, including Zimbabwe, Senegal, Zambia, Togo, Tanzania, Mozambique, Mali and Madagascar.

Source: Sputnik News, August 2022
https://sputniknews.cn/20220820/1043236644.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend