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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

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

U.S. Imposed New Technology Export Controls

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) reported not long ago that, in advanced technology fields such as semiconductors, the United States has recently been intervening frequently in normal market competition. Biden just signed the $280 billion chip bill to restrict semiconductor giants from investing in China. Now the U.S. Department of Commerce announced new export control measures. The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an announcement stating that four “emerging and foundational technologies” were included in new export controls due to national security concerns. The four technologies are: fourth-generation semiconductor materials gallium oxide and diamond that can withstand high temperature and high voltage; ECAD software specially designed for 3nm and below chips; pressure gain combustion technology that can be used in rockets and hypersonic systems. Although BIS did not directly mention China, yet China is now one of the countries that the United States has listed under national security controls. As long as technology items are listed in the import and export control catalogue, the U.S. government will likely impose restrictions on China. This will actually lead to further decoupling between China and the US in the semiconductor field. In its announcement, BIS claimed that the inclusion of four technologies supporting the production of advanced semiconductors and gas turbine engines under export controls was the result of an agreement among the 42 participating countries of the Wassenaar Agreement at the December 2021 plenary meeting. Considering that China is increasing its investment in semiconductors, in order to maintain its own advantages, the United States is trying to hinder the development speed of China’s semiconductor industry.

Source: Sohu, August 13, 2022
https://www.sohu.com/a/576560607_115479

Global Times Commentary Calls Pelosi’s Taiwan Trip a “Sneaky Visit” with “Four Conspiracies” of the United States to Split and Contain China

China’s State media Global Times published a commentary article on U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. The article said, “Pelosi’s sneaky visit to Taiwan is a grand show of the US’s anti-China strategy and a big exposure of its geopolitical ambitions. From the beginning to the end, Pelosi has not talked about the exchanges between the legislatures, but the conspiracy to split the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in all aspects, contain China in all aspects, shape the ‘Indo-Pacific’ in all aspects, and promote the new Cold War in all aspects.”

The article listed 4 such conspiracies of the United States:

1. Turn Taiwan into a colony of American ideology;
2. Turn Taiwan into an unsinkable aircraft carrier for the Asia-Pacific alliance;
3. Turning Taiwan into a Military Frontier for the Indo-Pacific Strategy;
4. Turn Taiwan into a chip killer for China’s tech blockade.

Source: Global Times, August 10, 2022
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/49BKoXTuWGc

Philippine Fishermen Found Wreckage of China’s “Long March 5-B” Rocket

Taiwan news media New Talk reported that the Philippine Coast Guard released photos on August 2, alleging that Philippine fishermen salvaged a 3-meter long, 2-meter wide rocket with debris weighing 100 kilograms off the coast of Mindoro Island at the northern end of the Sulu Sea. Judging from the appearance and text on the wreckage, it may be China’s “Long March 5-B” carrier rocket launched on July 24.

The rocket debris displayed by the Philippine Coast Guard clearly shows the pattern of the Chinese five-star flag. Philippine media reported that there are also Chinese characters on it. The Philippine Space Agency told the media that debris from a Chinese rocket crashed into the waters off the western part of the Philippines. There was no report of damage caused by the debris. That such a large and heavy piece of wreckage did not cause casualties or damage is perhaps just luck.

Source: New Talk, August 3, 2022
https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2022-08-03/795663

China’s Government Spending Deficit in the First Six Months of 2022 Was 5 Trillion Yuan

China’s Ministry of Finance published the amounts of the government’s spending and income for the first six months of the year. The income for the national government budget was 10.52 trillion yuan (US $1.56 trillion) and the spending was 12.89 trillion yuan (US $1.91 trillion). The income from the national governmental funds was 2.80 trillion yuan (US $420 billion) and the spending was 5.48 trillion yuan (US $810 billion). In total, the government spending deficit was 5 trillion yuan (US $740 billion) for the first six months of the year.

Source: China’s Ministry of Finance website, July 14, 2022
http://gks.mof.gov.cn/tongjishuju/202207/t20220714_3827010.htm

The CCP Connection to Lord Wei of Shoreditch of the U.K.

Lord Wei of Shoreditch, Nathanael Ming-Yan Wei is a member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom. A son of a Hong Kong immigrant, he was born and grew up in the U.K.

Foreigninterference.org reported that Lord Wei had continuous contact with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) United Front Work Department and its controlled entities between 2011 and 2016. For example, Li Xuelin (Lady Xuelin Bates), Chairwoman of the Zhejiang UK Association, had a good connection with Lord Wei and served as his advisor on China issues. Li married British Minister of State for International Development Lord Michael Bates. Li had served the Vice President of the Promotion of China Re-Unification Society in the U.K., which is under the CCP’s United Front Work Department. Li led Lord Wei to attend many activities at the Chinese Embassy or organized by the CCP’s United Front Work. Li also arranged his trip to China and meetings with Chinese officials during the visit.

Due to the controversy, Lord Wei resigned from the Chairman post of the Welcoming Committee for Hong Kongers.

Source: Epoch Times, August 10, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/8/10/n13799344.htm

China Published a New White Paper on Taiwan

On August 10, Beijing published its latest White Paper on Taiwan. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the State Council Information Office published the document titled, “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era.”

The paper announced that, “Taiwan has never been a state; its status as part of China is unalterable.”

“The realization of complete national reunification is driven by the history and culture of the Chinese nation and determined by the momentum towards and circumstances surrounding our national rejuvenation. Never before have we been so close to, confident in, and capable of achieving the goal of national rejuvenation. The same is true when it comes to our goal of complete national reunification.”

It criticized Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party authorities for creating tension and external forces for “hav(ing) encouraged and instigated provocative actions by the separatist forces.”

“(W)e will not renounce the use of force,” the document stated, “and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to guard against external interference and all separatist activities… The use of force would be the last resort taken under compelling circumstances.”

China published the Taiwan White Paper in both 1993 and 2000. Both earlier versions mentioned that, “(Beijing) will not dispatch soldiers or administrative staff to Taiwan” after the “re-unification.” The 2000 White Paper also stated, “As long as Taiwan recognizes there is only one China and does not seek independence, everything is negotiable.” These sentences were not seen in the new White Paper.

The Taiwan government disputed Beijing’s claim. The Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council said this White Paper was, “full of wishful-thinking, lies and reckless disregard of the truth.” “Only the 23 million people of Taiwan have the right to decide the future of Taiwan, and they will never accept the results set by an authoritarian regime.”

Sources:
1. China’s State Council Website, August 10, 2022
https://english.www.gov.cn/archive/whitepaper/202208/10/content_WS62f34f46c6d02e533532f0ac.html
2. Al Jazeera, August 10, 2022
https://chinese.aljazeera.net/news/political/2022/8/10/中国重申武统台湾立场