Chinascope – Page 159

Communist Youth League: State Pays High Attention to “Lying Flat”

The term “lying flat” became trendy in 2021. It refers to a lifestyle that calls for “not buying a house, not buying a car, not getting married, not having a baby, not consuming,” and “maintaining a minimum standard of living. It means refusing to become a machine for others to make money and a slave to be exploited.” “Lying flat” reflects the reality of over competition in Chinese society to such an extent that many young people no longer believe that hard work results in a better life. Right after this movement gained in popularity, the state media published articles criticizing ithis view. Since 2021, the term “lying flat” has become popular among young Chinese people. Recently, the chief administrative body of the central government State Council released a white paper on “China’s Youth in a New Era” and held a press conference.

He Junke, the first secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League (CYL), said, “The state attaches great importance to the deep-rooted problems reflected in the ‘lying flat’ movement. The pressure of work, study and of life that the young generation faces are serious and realistic.” The Communist Youth League is a Chinese communist organization for young people between the ages of 14 and 28.

He also quoted Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, who said, “Happiness comes out of struggle, and struggle itself is a kind of happiness.”

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), April 21, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202204210223.aspx

Briefings | | May 6, 2022 | Economy/Resources

CCP Urges All Units to Use Domestic Computers Uniformly

On May 5, 2022, the Epoch Times reported that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is implementing a “Safety and Reliability Alliance Program.” The authorities urged all government, state-owned enterprises and institutions to hand over all of their current computers and replace them with domestic computers and systems. The reason is to “prevent foreign forces from stealing China’s data.”

On May 4, some Chinese netizens posted that their working units were urged to turn in their old computers after May 1 and replace them with new computers and systems made in China. Since that system is not compatible with Windows software, a Windows emulator has to be installed. That will result in a 10-year regression in office efficiency.

A netizen from a city in western Henan Province responded that his city has already replaced their computers with all Hikvision computers, which cost more than 9,000 yuan (RMB, or $1,360) each. The new computers are very difficult to use and have very little software. In addition, the authorities require that all units in China finish the replacement within two years.

Hikvision is a Chinese video surveillance equipment manufacturer. The British Financial Times reported on May 4 that the United States is moving to impose sanctions on Hikvision. The U.S. accused it of facilitating the CCP’s internal crackdown.

Concerning the CCP’s authorities forcing enterprises and institutions to use domestic computers, some netizens said it might be related to the ” Safety and Reliability Alliance,” and is probably because of its fear of U.S. sanctions.

According to public information, the predecessor of the “Safety and Reliability Alliance” was the “Working Committee on Information Technology Application and Innovation,” which was established in 2016. On January 9, 2019, it was officially changed to the China Electronics Industry Standardization Technology Association — Safety and Reliability Working Committee, that includes 14 categories of members, with a total of 180 member units. It’s aim is to “nationalize and automatize control.”

The CCP is promoting the “Safety and Reliability Alliance” to prevent possible sanctions from the United States and Europe. The authorities require some special enterprises to realize “nationalized substitution” in 2022. In particular, all provincial governments, important municipal governments, the financial sector, and the military sector are gradually making replacements with nationalized facilities.

The “Safety and Reliability Alliance” is considered a trillion-dollar market that involves a huge industrial chain. It is expected that 40 million computers will be replaced domestically in China.

Source: Epoch Times, May 5, 2022. https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/22/5/4/n13727288.htm

Briefings | | May 5, 2022 | Government/Politics

Chair of European Union Chamber of Commerce in China: China’s Leadership Is Prisoner of Its Own Narrative

Joerg Wuttke, the President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, when talking to the media, recently stated, “They (China’s leadership) are prisoners of their own narrative … China was the first to get into the pandemic and it is the last to get out. In the meantime, they’ve been telling the whole world that they’re the best.”

Wuttke said the above words on April 27, 2022, during an in-depth interview with NZZ Mediengruppe, the German media The Market NZZ. “All over China, entrepreneurs look to Shanghai and have to deal with the scenario that the same thing could happen in their city. So, until further notice, they hit the pause button and froze almost all investment plans.”

“The stimulus measures (in China) are like a band-aid for an amputation. The People’s Bank of China pumps some liquidity into the system, money flows into infrastructure projects and state-owned enterprises receive support. However, that doesn’t get private companies and foreign corporations to invest again.” Wuttke predicted that China’s GDP growth will be below 4 percent this year.

On behalf of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, Wuttke sent a letter to Hu Chunhua, the Vice Premier of China, requesting a change in the official dynamic Zero-Covid policy, but he received no formal response.

He pointed out, “The president (Xi Jinping) has maneuvered himself into two dead ends at once. He can’t change his Covid policy, and he can’t change anything about his friendship with Vladimir Putin.”

“All signs indicate that the politicians do not want to solve the problem, but only to limit it. I don’t see any vaccination campaign, no information campaign, no imports of mRNA vaccines, and I don’t see the population being told that society can live with it. So I have to assume that Zero Covid will result in locking down this city and then that city on a monthly basis, at least until the Party Congress.”

“Perhaps there will be a rethink when the domestic economy hits rock bottom. Perhaps they will realize in Beijing that they need foreign companies after all. Perhaps they will then open their doors wider again. However today, of course, we are not there yet.”

Source: The Market NZZ, April 27, 2022
https://themarkeZt.ch/Cinterview/chinas-leadership-is-prisoner-of-its-own-narrative-ld.6545

Briefings | | May 5, 2022 | Government/Politics

LTN: S&P Boosted Taiwan’s Sovereign Rating to AA+

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that S&P Global just upgraded Taiwan’s sovereign credit rating to AA+ with a “stable” outlook, thanks to the strong performance of Taiwan’s economy. After 21 years, Taiwan’s sovereign rating once again reached AA+. S&P explained that strong demand for Taiwan’s electronics exports drove the strong economic performance despite the pressure from rising geopolitical tensions. S&P expressed the belief that the Taiwan Strait issue will not seriously undermine Taiwan’s economic stability in the next three to five years. The rating will remain fairly balanced in the next year, and the structural demand for Taiwan’s semiconductor exports may offset the risks related to geopolitical tensions. However, geopolitical challenges still pose headwinds to Taiwan’s export-reliant economy. S&P did not believe this negative would be significant enough to derail Taiwan’s competitive manufacturing growth. Covid-19 has been driving the global acceleration of digital development, boosting Taiwan’s semiconductor exports. S&P also pointed out that Taiwan’s inflation rate has remained one of the lowest in Asia for quite a long time. This new rating adjustment was after S&P upgraded Taiwan’s sovereign rating from AA- to AA in April last year.

Source: LTN, April 29, 2022
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3909967

Briefings | | May 3, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Manufacturing PMI Continued to Fall in April

Shanghai Securities News recently reported that, according to numbers that China’s National Bureau of Statistics just released, the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was 47.4 percent in April, a decrease of 2.1 percentage points from the previous month, and the overall prosperity level of the manufacturing industry continued to decline. The PMI of large enterprises was 48.1 percent, a decrease of 3.2 percentage points from March; and the PMIs of medium and small enterprises were 47.5 percent and 45.6 percent. Both decreased by 1.0 percentage points from March. Sub-indices further showed that manufacturing activity slowed significantly, market demand has fallen sharply, inventories of major raw materials continued to decrease, employment of manufacturing enterprises has declined, and the delivery time of raw material suppliers has slowed down significantly.

In the meantime, Caixin also released its Chinese Manufacturing PMI numbers for April. Caixin PMI is a well-respected economic indicator monitored globally by financial institutions. Caixin’s China Manufacturing PMI recorded 46 for April, 2.1 points lower than March, and was in contractionary territory for the second consecutive month, the lowest value since March 2020. This trend is consistent with the National Bureau of Statistics. The various sub-indices of the Caixin PMI showed that both manufacturing supply and demand continued to contract in April. Both the production and the new orders recorded the lowest values since March 2020. Market orders and product circulation were disrupted. Some surveyed companies reported that customers canceled orders due to difficulties in delivery and logistics. New export sub-index in April fell to its lowest level since June 2020. Employment has been in contractionary territory for eight of the past nine months. Inflationary pressures remain high.

PMI (the Purchasing Managers Index) is an indicator of financial activity reflecting purchasing managers’ acquisitions of goods and services. A PMI number below 50 typically reflects a decline.

Source: Shanghai Securities News, April 30, 2022
https://news.cnstock.com/news,bwkx-202204-4873814.htm
https://news.cnstock.com/news,bwkx-202204-4873819.htm

Briefings | | May 3, 2022 | Economy/Resources

Government: Shanghai Volunteers Found Someone Took Their Identifies and their Compensation

Recently, when people in Shanghai tried to register themselves as volunteers, they found their names had already been registered. Someone had taken their identities, completed the registration process, and collected the compensation meant for volunteers.

For example, a woman found from the official volunteer website that she did 26 hours of volunteer work in 2017, but she was pregnant at that time and never did that work. An elementary student found she “was registered” in November 2019 when she was seven; a son found that his aging father did 16 hours of volunteer work in 2018 though his father had been sick and had mobility problems.

There were also many fake volunteer identities and fake incidents of participation in work during the COVID lockdown. A man reported to the authorities that he found out that he “was registered” as a volunteer in two groups. One was with the Huangpu District Yuyuan Street Neighborhood Volunteer Service Center, which pays each volunteer at least 50 Yuan (US $7.5) for each event. He had never received any money. Another man said volunteers in his neighborhood receive 120 Yuan each day and some other regions are even paid 400 Yuan.

On March 3, Xinhua reported that 5.2 million people in Shanghai, or over 21 percent of the permanent population there, had registered volunteer accounts.

Editor’s note: Obviously in Shanghai, someone has stolen people’s identities to register volunteer accounts and then collected money based on their fake registration. Since this involves repeated payment distributions from the government, it is unlikely that the authorities knew nothing about it.

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, April 27, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/4/27/n13721701.htm
2. Xinhua, March 3, 2022
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-03/03/c_139781116.htm

Hot Topics | | May 2, 2022 | Government/Politics Social Stability

Global Times: “Expel Russia” Is a False Proposition

China’s state-run media Global Times published an opinion article expressing concern over the U.S. attempt to expel Russia from international communities. The following is a translation of the article:

After the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States and the West imposed multiple sanctions on Russia and attempted to isolate Russia internationally. The latest move is that the United States and other Western countries called on most of the G20 members to work together to remove Russia from the organization.
The United States is attempting to undermine international law and the multilateral order through the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This is a trend that deserves the international community’s high vigilance … In fact, this pan-politicized operation by the U.S. has neither a solid legal basis nor wide support from the international community.

First, from the perspective of international law, it is difficult to find a legal basis for expelling Russia. Membership in an international organization is not determined by one or two countries, but by the constitution of the international organization. If the articles of an association have relevant provisions, the procedures shall be performed in accordance with the provisions of the articles. In general, international organizations do not have the right to directly expel or suspend membership if the constitution does not provide for it.
As the main forum for international economic cooperation, the G20 needs to follow the principle of consensus. Trying to deprive a member of its membership is bound to undermine the unity of the G20 and impact global economic governance, which is not in the interest of any party.

Second, international mainstream voices do not actually support the expulsion of Russia. Although the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to suspend Russia’s membership in the Human Rights Council, after the vote, Serbian President Vucic said that Serbia voting in support of the resolution was out of fear of the threat of sanctions if Serbia voted no. This fully shows that under the coercion and inducement of the U.S. and the West, a large part of the true voice of the international community has been silenced in the hustle and bustle of the U.S. and the West. So to what extent can such voting results reflect the mainstream understanding of the international community? Moreover, many G20 member countries such as China and Indonesia have expressed their opposition to the remarks about boycotting Russia in the G20. The Brazilian foreign minister severely criticized the way Western countries handled the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and opposed the expulsion of Russia from the G20. Even in the World Tourism Organization, many member states disapprove of suspending Russia’s membership. Under the discourse hegemony and selective reporting of the United States and the West, the voice of expelling Russia seems to be very loud, but in fact most countries are the “silent majority.”

Third, international organizations do not want to expel Russia. In the context of the prolonged epidemic and intensified conflicts, what international organizations need more is solidarity and cooperation to overcome difficulties, rather than widening the gap and deepening the estrangement. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that few international organizations openly support the expulsion of Russia.

In a word, to a large extent, “expelling Russia” in the international system is actually just a false proposition that American and Western politicians have made. The reality is that economic globalization has made the international community highly interconnected. This move by the U.S. side will not only tear apart the international system, but will not help resolve the current Ukraine crisis; nor is it in line with the general trend of the era of globalization. In the end, the era when one country or several countries have the final say has passed. The U.S. and the West should carefully reflect on what rights they have and what qualifications they have to issue orders to other countries.

Source: Global Times, April 25, 2022
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/47k9g3kLjhr

Briefings | | May 1, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

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.