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The Arms Control Division of China’s Ministry of Diplomacy reposted Liu Xin’s tweet in both English and Chinese on its official Weibo account, “Strategic Security and Arms Control Online,” with three Chinese characters as the comments: “真相了!” (meaning “Truth!”)
Source:
1. Twitter, March 19, 2022
Can you help me fight your friend so that I can concentrate on fighting you later?
— CGTN LIU Xin 刘欣 (@LiuXininBeijing) March 19, 2022
2. Weibo, March 19, 2022
https://weibo.com/5594165638/LkuxHEles
iThe U.S. Department of State announced on March 21 that it is taking action against officials of China (the People’s Republic of China, or PRC) for their involvement in repressive acts against members of ethnic and religious minority groups and religious and spiritual practitioners inside and outside of China’s borders, including within the United States.
The statement said, “The United States rejects efforts by the PRC officials to harass, intimidate, surveil, and abduct members of ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who seek safety abroad, and U.S. citizens, who speak out on behalf of this vulnerable population.” It “imposes visa restrictions on PRC officials who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, policies or actions aimed at repressing religious and spiritual practitioners, members of ethnic minority groups, dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, labor organizers, civil society organizers, and peaceful protestors in China and beyond.”
Source: Department of State website, March 21, 2022
https://www.state.gov/promoting-accountability-for-transnational-repression-committed-by-peoples-republic-of-china-prc-officials/
China’s Zhejiang Provincial government recently issued a notice that it will train auditors of Internet religious information starting on March 31. The content of the training includes “basic knowledge of religion” and “religious policies and regulations.” Several provinces and cities have made announcements for such training and examinations.
Pastor Liu Yi, who now lives in California and once worked for many years in churches in Zhejiang, said that religious auditors have existed in China since a long time ago. Liu said, “At the beginning of the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of China, there were such personnel in Christian and Catholic churches, monitoring the sermons and Bible studies. If any so-called anti-socialist content was found, it would be reported to the authorities.”
The Measures for the Administration of Religious Information Services on the Internet, published by China’s State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA), came into effect on March 1 this year. The document prohibits any organization or individual from establishing any religious organizations, religious colleges, religious activity sites, or developing congregations online, and it also prohibits overseas organizations or individuals from “engaging in Internet religious information services” inside China.
According to the announcement of the Tianjin Municipal government on March 7, the scope of training also includes “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” “Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law,” “Socialist Core Values ,” and “General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Discourse on Religious Work.”
Source: Radio Free Asia, March 22, 2022
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/sc-03222022150905.html
China continued to report much higher COVID-19 infection numbers than it reported previously. By now, 28 provinces (out of the total 30) in China have reported COVID cases in this pandemic round. At least 17 cities imposed lockdowns in their city and Jilin Province locked down the entire province.
For the day of March 22, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reported 2,591 confirmed infection cases and 2,346 asymptomatic cases, or a total of 4,937 cases. The CCP is known for hiding COVID information, so the actual infection count is unknown.
Shanghai reported 981 cases on March 22, including 4 confirmed infection cases and 977 asymptomatic cases. A posting on the Internet said that Shanghai found 8,000 asymptomatic patients on March 21, on just one day alone and the authorities, to hide the information, is spreading the count over multiple days to report only eight to nine hundred cases each day. The authorities claimed this report was untrue.
Related postings on Chinascope:
Sources:
1. Epoch Times, March 23, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/3/23/n13666827.htm
2. Epoch Times, March 23, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/3/23/n13666659.htm
With China’s natural population growth approaching zero last year, Cai Fang, the former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CAAS) and a member of the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, believes it is entirely possible that China’s population will reach its peak in 2022.
According to the 2021 population data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s total population was 1.41 billion at the end of last year, with a natural growth rate of 0.34 per 1,000.
Cai said in a speech at a conference on March 18th that the most prominent factor affecting China’s long-term economic growth is population.
The demographic factors are now creating constraints on the demand side. Cai noted, “In the past we had negative growth in the working-age population, which was a supply-side constraint. Now we may be experiencing negative growth in the total population, which will create a new constraint on the demand side.”
Cai added that with the weakening of the comparative advantage of manufacturing and the slowdown of the growth in GDP, the export-and-investment-driven growth model is unsustainable. There is an urgent need to shift to a model that relies more on domestic consumption. As the population growth rate has declined, the growth rate of total consumption has also declined, and it is declining rapidly. He pointed out that the trend of population change is irreversible and cannot be reversed in the short term or in the foreseeable future. He said that the only thing that can change is the income distribution.
Source: Lianhe Zaobao (Singapore), March 21, 2022
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20220321-1254491
Global Times recently reported that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continues to target Chinese telecommunications companies,and revoked the operating licenses of two Chinese companies in the United States on the grounds of “national security.” The FCC officially decided on March 16th to terminate the licenses of Pacific Networks and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet for providing interstate and international communication services in the United States. In its announcement, the FCC offered a range of reasons for the action. The FCC indicated that Pacific Networks and ComNet belong to Chinese state-owned enterprises and are exploited, influenced and controlled by the Chinese government. They are likely to be compelled to implement the Chinese government’s demands without adequate legal procedures under independent judicial oversight. China’s national security environment has changed since the FCC authorized the companies to provide communications services in the United States. Their ownership structure gave them, their parent companies and affiliates, and the Chinese government the opportunity to access, store, disrupt and mislead the U.S. in its communications, allowing them to engage in espionage and other harmful activities against the United States, thereby greatly increasing the U.S. national security and law enforcement risks. Earlier this year, the FCC also revoked the licenses of China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs both responded by stating that the United States continues to generalize the concept of national security, abuses government power, and maliciously suppresses Chinese telecommunications companies without a factual basis. China firmly opposes this.
Source: Global Times, March 18, 2022
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/47EcXX8ntB9
Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima, Japan. The earthquake also shut down some factories, including chip maker Renesas Electronics. This tragedy in Japan once again casts a shadow over the auto industry, which is suffering from chip supply bottlenecks and rising raw material prices. A total of three Renesas factories were affected. One of them is an important chip production base for Renesas, and automotive chips account for about two-thirds of the products it produces. The earthquake also affected Japanese car companies such as Toyota and Nissan. Renesas is the world’s third largest automotive chip maker and the world’s largest manufacturer of microcontrollers (MCUs), accounting for about 19 percent of the global market. In addition to Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Great Wall Motors and other automakers are also customers of Renesas Electronics. Many automobile companies are planning to raise prices. Since 2020, the global auto industry has been plagued by chip shortages. According to Auto Forecast Solutions (AFS) data, due to the shortage of automotive chip supplies, the global automobile production volume was reduced by 11.31 million vehicles in 2021, a drop of 14.6 percent, of which the Chinese vendors reduced production by 2.148 million vehicles in 2021. According to the latest forecast from AFS, global automakers may cut production by more than 1 million vehicles in 2022 due to chip shortages. In this context, chip prices have also risen. The shipment cycle of chips is also much longer than before the pandemic. China’s auto production and sales account for about 33 percent of the global market, but auto semiconductors and other components mainly rely on overseas suppliers.
Source: Sina, March 18, 2022
https://news.sina.com.cn/s/2022-03-18/doc-imcwipih9278428.shtml
Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that the Yango Group of Fujian Province has a market value of RMB hundreds of billions. Its domestic and overseas debts exploded at the same time. On March 16, China Construction Bank issued an announcement that Yango’s RMB 600 million medium-term notes “20 Yango MTN001” missed their due date of March 15. The issuer, Yango Group, failed to pay the interest or principal in full on schedule, which constituted a breach. On the same day, the company’s controlling shareholder, Sunshine Group, announced that the principal and interest of the existing overseas bonds “YANGOG 12.5 02/20/22” (US$106 million) and “YANGOG 12.5 01/04/24” (US$300 million) defaulted. More defaults are expected in the next one-year timeframe since there are payments due every month. In the past month, Yango Group has also suffered a number of holdings being judicially frozen. After the thunderstorm in Yango, the company’s senior executives were in turmoil and many of them departed. Yango is a publicly traded company with a real estate business in over 100 cities across China. It ranks among the top 20 real estate companies in China.
Source: NetEase, March 17, 2022
https://www.163.com/dy/article/H2LE9J030530NLC9.html