Chinascope – Page 159

Japan Plans to Establish a New “Integrated Commander” Position

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) recently reported that relevant sources in the Japanese government revealed that the Ministry of Defense of Japan has generally decided to establish an “integrated commander” to unify the land, sea and Air Self-Defense Forces, as well as an “integrated command” to support the new position. Regarding the motives for the Japanese Ministry of Defense to make this move, Kyodo News said that the Ministry was mainly considering China’s increased maritime activities and new security areas like space, computer networks, and electromagnetic waves, and other areas. Therefore, Japan believed that there is a necessity to have a new dedicated position to improve mobility. Before the end of the year, the Japanese government will revise defense documents such as the National Security Strategy,” the Defense Plan Outline, and the Mid-term Defense Capacity Improvement Plan. Various branches of the government are coordinating the updates to include the creation of the “integrated commander” in these official documents.

Source: Sohu, June 8, 2022
https://www.sohu.com/a/555167675_114911

Briefings | | June 20, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: India and EU to Resume Free Trade Agreement Talks This Month

Global Times recently reported that India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry said India and the European Union will resume free trade agreement negotiations, which have been stalled for nine years. The first round of negotiations between the two sides is scheduled to start in New Delhi on June 27. For India, this will be one of its most important free trade agreements as the EU is its second largest trading partner after the United States. Between 2021 and 2022, India’s merchandise trade with the EU reached a record high of US$116.36 billion, up 43.5 percent year-over-year. India’s exports to the EU are expected to grow 57 percent to US$65 billion in Fiscal Year 2021-2022. India is currently the EU’s tenth largest trading partner. Before Brexit, an EU study showed that a free trade deal with India would bring benefits worth US$10 billion. Negotiations on a free trade agreement between India and the EU began in 2007, but they were shelved in 2013 due to differences over issues like tariffs on cars and wine. In April this year, the European Commission President Von der Leyen Von der Leyen visited India, and Indian President Narendra Modi also visited Europe in May. The two leaders settled on the roadmap for the negotiation.

Source: Global Times, June 18, 2022
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/48TbaJjAZtw

Briefings | | June 20, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend

The CCP Will Strictly Control High Officials’ Spouses and Children Who Run a Business

According to Xinhua News Agency, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently issued “Regulations on the business activities of high officials’ spouses, their children and their spouses.” The regulation offers clear and specific provisions on the applicable objects and circumstances, working measures and disciplinary requirements concerning officials’ spouses, their children and their spouses who run businesses or enterprises. The higher the level of an officials’ position, the stricter the requirements, and the integrated departments are stricter than other departments.

The “regulations” apply mainly to the officials of the CCP’s and the government’s organs, groups and organizations, enterprises and institutions at the level of department and bureau and above including the equivalent level of any position.

As for what is called “running a business or an enterprise,” it mainly refers to investing in the start of a business, holding senior positions in private or foreign-funded enterprises, investing in and engaging in private equity funds, and engaging in paid social intermediary and legal services.

According to the regulation, officials are required to report on the business activities of their relatives every year. False reporting will lead to severe punishment.

For those who are “to be promoted or further employed ” if they do not meet the regulations on the prohibition of employment for the proposed post, they should quit the business and enterprises, or will not be appointed.

Source: Creaders.net, June 19, 2022.
https://news.creaders.net/china/2022/06/19/2495931.html

Briefings | | June 20, 2022 | Government/Politics

Government: Authorities Used the Health Code against People Defending Their Rights

Chinascope pointed out in its analysis, “China’s Zero-COVID Strategy: Part II,” that the communist regime in China has abused the Health Code App, a tool it developed to track people’s COVID-related health condition, so it could control people’s movement. The authorities can use its backdoor access to the app to freeze political dissidents or anyone they don’t like, anywhere and anytime.

A recent incident shows exactly how this abuse has been used.

A few days ago, a few local private banks in Henan Province were reported for massively stealing their customers’ money. They offered high interest rates to attract over 400,000 customers who are now facing the potential loss of a total of 40 billion yuan (US $6 billion). The government that was supposed to oversee the banks claimed that it was not responsible for the loss.

Some people then went to Henan to try to get their money back. To their surprise, they found that their Health Code apps had all been turned Red (in the COVID procedure, it means the phone holder is either a COVID patient or has close exposure to a COVID patient and needs to be quarantined). Henan officials visited those who arrived there and offered them two options: either stay in Henan for quarantine (their code will remain Red and they cannot go out to talk to anyone about their bank account problem) or return home.

Those bank customers who did not go to Henan also found their code had turned Red, which then completely prevented them from travelling, or even going out of their homes.

China.com, the website managed by the State Council’s China Internet Information Center, alleged that it was Henan Province that manipulated the health code of those bank customers even though they were not in Henan.

The CCP’s Solution to College Graduates’ Unemployment: Send Them to a Remote Farmland

Chinese college graduates have faced a severe job shortage for years. The National Bureau of Statistics reported in May that the nationwide unemployment rate in April was 6.1 percent. It was 18.2 percent for people whose ages were between 16 and 24. Things will be even worse when 10.76 million students graduate from college in the upcoming two months.

The Chinese Communist Party’s solution is to send the college graduates to farmlands. Recently, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued a notice to guide college graduates to work or establish their own business in remote towns or rural communities and ask villages to “actively absorb college graduates to serve as village workers.”

The government will provide incentives to small businesses that employ college graduates in villages, home services, and elderly care. However, Chinese college graduates prefer to work for high-paying companies in large cities, and there is a wide income gap between rural and urban areas.

People compare this government initiative to the “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside (上山下乡)” movement that Mao Zedong initiated for the city teenagers during the Cultural Revolution. During that campaign, Mao sent several millions of teenagers from the cities to live in remote farmland for ten years, separating them from their families and ruining their lives.

Source: Epoch Times, June 13, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/6/13/n137588in57.htm

Briefings | | June 16, 2022 | Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Beijing Asked Foreign Investment Banks To Cut Pay to Their Executives in China

Bloomberg recently reported that China’s regulatory authorities summoned foreign investment banks, including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, and UBS. Beijing asked them to lower the total compensation to their executives in China and defer their bonus payments for over three years. The Chinese authorities said their substantial compensation is opposed to the “common prosperity” policy that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) promoted last year.

These foreign investment banks often hire top CCP officials’ children or grandchildren so that they can use their parents’ or grandparents’ power and influence to bring big business to the firm. In return these financial firms pay them decently and feel that pay is well worth it.

Source: Liberty Times, June 14, 2022
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3959213

Briefings | | June 16, 2022 | Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Xi Jinping Criticizes Chinese Universities for Faking Employment Data

China has a record 10.76 million fresh college graduates this year, but the economy is under huge downward pressure due to Beijing’s draconian COVID-19 epidemic control. According to the government statistics, the national urban unemployment rate reached 6.1 percent in April, indicating there is tremendous unemployment pressure. Xi Jinping recently visited a college in Sichuan Province and expressed concern over employment issues.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi said that the employment data should reflect the real situation. “Some schools, while in pursuit of a high employment rate, falsify the data by coercing the graduates to sign an employment contract regardless of their will.” Xi

stressed, “We cannot fool the higher authorities, let alone the students.”

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), June 14, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202206140124.aspx

Briefings | | June 14, 2022 | Economy/Resources

First Russia-China Transnational Highway Bridge Opens to Traffic

On June 10, Russia and China announced the official opening of the Heilongjiang River Bridge, the first transnational highway bridge between the two countries. While confronting the West over the invasion of Ukraine, Russia is turning to Asia for support.

The bridge, more than one kilometer long, connects Blagoveshchensk, the capital of Russia’s far eastern Amur region, with the city of Heihe in northern China’s Heilongjiang province. Although it was started in 2016 and completed in 2019, the opening ceremony was delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to official figures, the bridge, which cost 19 billion rubles (about US$328 million), is a two-lane road. According to Chinese media, the bridge is currently limited to cargo traffic only.

Source: Central News Agency, June 10, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202206100334.aspx

Briefings | | June 14, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend

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