Chinascope – Page 155

The CCP Is Trying to Block the UN from Publishing a Xinjiang Report

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tried to block the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet from publishing the Xinjiang Human Rights report, which was planned to be published by the end of August.

Beijing sent Michelle Bachelet a letter asking her not to publish it. Beijing also tried to get diplomats from other countries to sign a joint letter to support Beijing.

Liu Yuyin, a spokesperson for China’s diplomatic mission in Geneva said that nearly 100 countries supported China on the Xinjiang issue, “opposing using human rights as an excuse to interfere with China’s internal affairs.” He said at the last UN Human Rights Council, which ended on July 8, that these countries issued public statements and a “joint letter.”

Source: Epoch Times, July 20, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/7/20/n13784940.htm

Briefings | | July 24, 2022 | Government/Politics

U.S. Congressional Leader Plans to Visit Taiwan

The European Parliament Vice President, Nicola Beer, led a delegation to visit Taiwan from July 19 to July 21. This is the first time that a European Parliament Vice President officially visited Taiwan. Beer told reporters that, “Now is the moment to stand firm on the side of Taiwan,” calling Europe and the island part of a “family of democracies.” She said,“We won’t turn a blind eye to China’s threats to Taiwan.” “Europe was late for Hong Kong, we won’t be late for Taiwan.”

In the U.S. the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has also been reported as planning to visit Taiwan in August. However, Biden said that the military believes it is not a good idea at the moment. China strongly opposed the Speaker’s trip both publicly and privately.

An article ridiculing Pelosi was widely published among Chinese media. It said that Pelosi’s trip was the Democrats’ plan to show that they are not too “soft” on Beijing. It also said that Pelosi’s plan was to gain some political points and get herself out of pressures from scandal. The article said many factors can still impact whether there will indeed be a trip. Maybe one day Pelosi will become “tactically COVID positive again.” That statement referred back to April when Pelosi announced a planned trip to Taiwan but later cancelled it by claiming that she caught COVID.

Sources:
1. Radio France International, July 19, 2022
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/国际/20220719-欧洲议会副议长到访台湾-强调支持台湾民主
2. SINA, July 21, 2022
https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2022-07-21/doNc-imizmscv2950539.shtml

Briefings | | July 24, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

Many Stores Are Deserted or Closed in Guangzhou & Shanghai; nearly Sixty Percent of Chinese Are Trying to Save Money

In China, more and more businesses are finding it increasingly difficulty to survive and have had to close their doors. The reason is the COVID-19 epidemic coupled with the government’s tough “Zero-COVID” policy. On July 21, China’s Guyu Data reported that the vacancy rate of shops in Shanghai and Guangzhou reached 9.8 percent and 14.1 percent, respectively, (data for most cities are not yet available). In 2019, the vacancy rates in China’s first- and second-tier cities were around 6.1 percent. That rate increased to 11.0 percent and 9.0 percent in 2020 and 2021. Generally speaking, a store vacancy rate of 6 percent is cause for alarm.

From January to April, the total daily shopping mall traffic in China decreased by 19 percent compared to the same period last year. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the total retail sales of consumer goods in April was down by 11.1 percent year-over-year.

In the first quarter of 2022 in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the store opening/closing ratios were 0.85, 0.88 and 0.76, respectively, showing more store closures than store openings.

In the second quarter of 2022, the People’s Bank of China conducted a questionnaire survey of 20,000 urban depositors in 50 cities nationwide. The results showed that 23.8 percent of residents tended to “consume more,” while 58.3 percent of residents tended to “save more.” This is 3.6 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.

Source: Creaders.net, July 21, 2022. https://news.creaders.net/china/2022/07/21/2507106.html percent

Briefings | | July 23, 2022 | Economy/Resources

HSBC Becomes the First Foreign Bank in China to Establish a Chinese Communist Party Branch

Lianhe Zaobao (United Morning Post), a Singapore based newspaper, reported that the financial institution, HSBC Qianhai Securities Co. Ltd., established a branch of the Communist Party of China, becoming the only bank among the seven foreign banks with an investment banking business in mainland China that has established a grassroots organization of the Communist Party in its subsidiaries.

China’s company law requires companies to set up grassroots Communist Party committees, but it does not mandate foreign financial institutions to do so. Foreign media previously reported that HSBC Qianhai Securities set up a party committee of the Communist Party of China, believing that the move might force other foreign banks to follow suit.

According to The Epoch Times, the establishment of the Communist Party branch of HSBC Qianhai Securities comes after its move in April to raise its stake in the joint venture from 51 percent to 90 percent .

At first, in order to facilitate the introduction of foreign capital, they only established party branches in foreign companies secretly. Later it became a completely open requirement. Based on data released by the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, by the end of 2016, 70 percent of foreign-funded enterprises in China had established party branches or committees.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao; Epochtimes, July 22, 2022.
https://www.kzaobao.com/shiju/20220722/121498.html
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/7/22/n13787052.htm

Briefings | | July 23, 2022 | Government/Politics

China’s Media Continues to Spread that Covid Virus May Have Come from U.S. Biological Laboratory

China News, a major news media in China, recently published an article titled, “Lancet Scholar Says New Coronavirus May Have Originated in U.S. Biological Laboratory.” The article cited a report from Russia Today. The article stated, “Jeffrey Sachs, chairman of the new crown committee of the international medical journal The Lancet, said that the new coronavirus may not have come from nature. It may have originated from an accident in a U.S. biotech laboratory.”

The article was republished on many media channels in China including Xinhua.

Radio Free Asia pointed out that Chinese media blatantly tampered with the original words of U.S. experts.

According to Radio Free Asia, Sachs made it clear that, “I’m pretty sure it came from biotechnology in American labs — not from nature.” Sachs said so in a speech at a conference hosted by the Spanish think tank GATE Center in mid-June.

Sources:
1. Sina.com, July 2, 2022
https://mil.news.sina.com.cn/2022-07-02/doc-imizirav1639787.shtml
http://www.news.cn/world/2022-07/03/c_1211663581.htm
2. Radio Free Asia, July 13, 2022
https://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2022/07/13/11686777.html

Briefings | | July 22, 2022 | Government/Politics

Banks in Multiple Chinese Provinces Restrict Depositors’ Withdrawals

Following the protests of thousands of depositors in Henan Province as they could not withdraw their money from a local bank, people in China have discovered that the difficulty in withdrawing money has also occurred in other provinces and cities.

According to China Times, a newspaper based in Beijing, one depositor from Shaanxi province, who opened an account at a Hainan branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), recently found he was unable to withdraw, transfer or spend money from his account. Another depositor from Hunan province also said that he had his bank card frozen after taking out a loan from a bank.

Another mainland Chinese newspaper, Securities Daily, reported that similar cases also took place in Beijing and in Shandong province. In response to media inquiries, the bank involved said the operation was a risk control measure taken by officials to prevent accounts from being used for money laundering.

Source: Radio France International, July 20, 2022
https://rfi.my/8b0E

Briefings | | July 20, 2022 | Economy/Resources

Starting in September, China Will Require a Security Assessment before Data Is Sent Overseas,

According to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), starting in September, an official “security assessment” will be required for data to be sent outside of China. This includes operators who have access to information on over 1 million people or have cumulatively provided information on more than 100,000 people.

The CAC, China’s top cyber regulating agency, announced the Measures on the Security Assessment for Data Export on July 7, 2022. “Data export” refers to the overseas transfer from China of data collected and generated within China, as well as the scenario in which a foreign entity or foreign individual is granted the authority to access any data stored within China.

The Measures prescribe several scenarios in which data processors are required to file an application with the authorities for a security assessment before exporting data. 1) The provision of important data outside the country; 2) Operators of Critical Information Infrastructure (CII); 3) Data processors processing the personal information of more than 1 million individuals; 4) operators that have transferred personal information of a total of 100,000 individuals on a cumulative basis since January 1 of the previous year; 5) operators that have transferred sensitive personal information of a total of 10,000 individuals on a cumulative basis since January 1 of the previous year.

The Measures will come into effect on September 1, 2022. The security assessment result is valid for two years. A data processor is also required to re-submit an application for a government security assessment in certain circumstances, such as where the cross-border data transfer purpose has changed.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), July 8, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202207in which080164.aspx

Briefings | | July 20, 2022 | Information/Technology

China’s CPI is Calculated Differently from the U.S.

At a press conference on July 15, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the key measure of inflation, was 2.3 percent in the second quarter. It was 2.1 percent for both April and May, and 2.5 percent for June. In the U.S., the CPI in June was 9.1 percent, reaching a 40-year high.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) has reported on why China’s inflation rate has been relatively lower than that of the West. A major reason for China’s lower inflation rate is that the weight of products included in the CPI calculation is very different.

CPI tracks the prices people pay for a “basket” of goods and services. The list of goods is weighted, with those more often bought for daily consumption getting a higher weight.

While China puts more weight on food and clothing, the U.S. values housing and transportation more, the latter being more susceptible to global energy prices.

According to Huang Wentao, an analyst at the China Securities Finance Corporation (CSF), in China’s CPI calculation, the weight of food is about 18.4 percent, while that weight in the U.S. CPI is 7.8 percent; China’s weight for clothing and apparel is about 6.2 percent, while in the U.S. it is 2.8 percent. The rent for housing accounts for 16.2 percent in China’s CPI, and 32 percent in the U.S. calculation. Transportation accounts for 10.1 percent in China, which is much lower than the 15.1 percent in the U.S. counterpart.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), July 15, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202207150277.aspx

Briefings | | July 20, 2022 | Economy/Resources

China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

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