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Australian PM Will Ignore China’s Four-Point Demand to Restore China-Australia Relations

Taiwanese news site NewTalk recently reported that the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi,  met with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bali, Indonesia. Wang Yi urged Australia to comply with a list of four actions to bring bilateral relations back on track. Australia’s new prime minister Anthony Albanese said he will “ignore” China’s demands. China asked for these four changes on the Australian side: One is to adhere to seeing China as a partner rather than an adversary. Two is to adhere to seeking common ground while reserving differences. Three is insisting on not targeting or being subject to third parties (without naming the U.S.), and four is to adhere to building a positive and pragmatic social foundation of public opinion. Albanese said in an interview that, although the meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries was a “constructive step,” Australia has not changed its position on any issue and will not respond to China’s demands. He emphasized that, “We only follow our own national interest.” Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said he was concerned about the four claims made by Beijing and called for not accepting any Chinese demands to repair bilateral relations. Tehan said bluntly, “Australia has not changed. The Chinese government has changed.”

Source: NewTalk, July 11, 2022
https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2022-07-11/783803

Chinese Military Attaché Driven Out of Pacific Islands Forum

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been trying to expand its influence over the Pacific Islands for years. It successfully signed a security treaty with the Solomon Islands which allows for police and military exchanges. However, at the China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers’ meeting in May, its recent push for a similar security treaty with the whole group of island countries did not go through.

The latest development was at the Pacific Islands Forum which was held in Suva, Fiji from July 12 to 15. When U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was delivering an online speech on July 13, two Chinese officials entered the media section without proper identification. A Fiji news reporter recognized one of them and asked what his identity was. Was he a Chinese embassy official or a Xinhua news reporter? The Chinese official shook his head as if he didn’t understand English. The Fiji reporter then informed the meeting organizer and the police came to remove those two Chinese officials.

Later people in the diplomat circle confirmed that these two people were the Military Attaché and Deputy Military Attaché from the Chinese Embassy in Fiji.

Source: Radio France International, July 13, 2022
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20220713-贺锦丽正说着话-两名中国使馆武官遭太平洋岛国论坛会议警方驱离

Former Japanese Intelligence Officer Estimates China Sent at Least 20,000 Spies to Japan

While the U.S. intelligence community is busy investigating Chinese spy cases in its country, the Japan intelligence faces the similar challenge: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has sent too many spies to Japan.

Radio Free Asia reported that Masatoshi Fujitani, a former Investigative officer from Japan’s Public Security Investigation Bureau stated in a TV interview that he estimated that China has sent 20,000 to 25,000 spies to Japan so far.

On a Japanese cable channel ABEMA’s “ABEMA Prime” program, Fujitani said, “Through cooperation with intelligence agencies in various countries, (we) estimated that China has sent around 20,000 to 25,000 spies or agents to Japan. Adding (those from) North Korea and Russia, the number of agents in Japan is huge. However, with only 1,700 staff members, our Public Security Investigation Bureau is unable to keep up with the opponents. We can only respond as much as we can within our limited budget.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, July 8, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/jp-spy-07082022060550.html

Beijing Increases Purchasing of Low-Priced Russian Coal

Though China’s coal demand is decreasing and domestic supply is increasing, since May Russia, has been  offering a big discount on coal. Therefore, Beijing has increased its purchase of Russian coal significantly.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that, in the period of January to May, China’s domestic coal production has increased by 10 percent over the same period last year. It has risen to 1.81 billion tons. At the same time, Russia’s coal delivery to China in May increased by 20 percent, to 5.5 million tons; and from June 1 to June 28, the delivery increased by 55 percent, to 6.2 million tons.

Source: Epoch Times, June 30, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/6/30/n13770387.htm

China: Discrimination against Job Seekers Previously Infected with Covid-19

In Shanghai, China, people who recovered from Covid-19 have hit walls in their job hunting. Some job openings openly state, “Those who were admitted to Covid mobile hospitals are not wanted. Those who previously tested ‘positive’ are not wanted.”

The Shanghai municipal government said to all government branches and all units in Shanghai that all those who have previously tested positive and have recovered should be treated equally and without discrimination.

However, according to the Chinese media Caixin, a number of business owners said that if an employee who already recovered from Covid unfortunately got infected with Covid again, everyone in the company would have to be quarantined for two days and the office spaces would have to be sealed off. This would have a great impact on the normal production and operations. According to Shanghai municipal government’s policy, the company is responsible for preventing the spread of the disease. Once there is an infection, the person in charge of the company has to take the responsibility.

Under China’s “Dynamic zero Covid” policy, even a single case of infection is treated as a total disaster. Even if government officials ask that there be no discrimination, it is still impossible to prevent discrimination against those who have recovered from the disease.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), July 12, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202207120282.aspx

China’s Most Restrictive Game Ban

Last year, the Chinese government issued an anti-addiction game ban, stipulating that minors can play online games for no more than three hours a week.

According to the Chinese media Yicai, this is the first summer since the implementation of the game ban, also known as the “most restrictive anti-addiction game ban in history.” Normally the summer vacation in China extends from July 11 to August 31. According to the rules, minors can only play games for one hour between 8pm and 9pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This translates into a total of 21 hours of online games during the whole summer.

According to available data from large gaming companies, the share of corporate revenue made from minors has decreased now that the ban has been in effect for nearly one year.

For example, in Q4 2021, after the implementation of real-name registration and facial recognition, the total game time for minors at Tencent decreased by 88 percent from the same period last year. The total traffic of minors decreased by 73 percent annually.

Knowing that some underage players would play the games using the identity of their parents, Tencent claimed that its facial recognition system will come into play in the summer. All adult accounts suspected of being operated by minors will trigger facial recognition during the login and other sessions and the system will start a “round-the-clock patrol.”

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), July 11, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202207110218.aspx

Ukraine Completely Outlawed the Communist Party of Ukraine

Well-known Chinese news site Tencent News recently reported that Ukraine’s Eighth Court of Administrative Appeals completed the hearing of the administrative case on the banning of the Communist Party of Ukraine. The Court issued its final ruling to completely ban the activities of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Property, funds and all other assets of the party and its regional, municipal, district organizations, grassroots organizations and other structural entities will be handed over to the state. Earlier, Ukrainian President Zelensky signed a law to ban pro-Russian political parties in Ukraine. As early as April 9, 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the “Supreme Council”) passed a bill. The flag, the national anthem, the monument and the image of the leader of the Soviet Union, and the phrase “Great Patriotic War” were all banned in Ukraine. The names and activities of communist leaders and other associated entities are not allowed in trademarks. After this bill was passed, the Ukrainian government immediately instructed the relevant departments to sue the Ukrainian Communist Party in court.

Source: Tencent News, July 6, 2022
https://page.om.qq.com/page/O-BR0_LnmidFWq4c3_0vlGPA0

Global Millionaire Migration Report Released

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that the newly released Henley & Partners report revealed the 2022 global high-income population inflow and outflow data forecasts. The research looked at people with wealth of US$1 million or more, and is about true migration, that is, those who spend more than half of their time in a new country for the year. Data shows that with the advent of the post-epidemic era, more and more high-income families have begun to choose investment immigration. Around 88,000 millionaires are expected to emigrate by the end of 2022, and this number will continue to rise, with 2023 expected to be the largest year of millionaire immigration to date, a whopping 125,000. Forecast data in the report shows that the top ten countries with net inflows of HNWIs (high net-worth individuals) in 2022 will be the UAE, Australia, Singapore, Israel, Switzerland, the U.S., Portugal, Greece, Canada and New Zealand. Plenty of millionaires also expected to turn to Malta, Mauritius and Monaco. On the other hand, the top 10 countries and territories with the largest net outflows of HNWIs are expected to be Russia, China, India, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Brazil, UK, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

Source: NetEase, June 29, 2022
https://www.163.com/dy/article/HB1919520552RBV8.html