Chinascope – Page 181

In the Past Three Years, Huawei Invested In Vain in 56 Chip Making Companies

Epoch Times reported that, right before the U.S. issued sanctions against Huawei, Huawei set up Hubble Investment, which, in the past three years, has invested in 56 chip companies. The entire country of China had also set off a vigorous movement to build chips at the same time, but it all ended in vain.

In May 2019, the United States banned Huawei from importing products if at least 25 percent of the components they contained were made in the U.S. On May 15, 2020, the U.S. escalated its sanctions. Any companies, including non-U.S. companies, should not sell any chips produced with U.S. technology and equipment without U.S. approval. Afterward, TSMC, the world’s leading dedicated semiconductor foundry, completely stopped supplying its chips to Huawei

A month before the first U.S. sanction, Huawei established a wholly owned subsidiary, Hubble Investment, with registered capital of 700 million Yuan (US $110 million) in Shenzhen.

According to a market research company PitchBook Data, Hubble Investment has invested in 56 chip companies. The Chinese media Semiconductor Today reported Hubble is like a “wolf” in its chip investment, investing at a rate of nearly one company per month. Its aggressiveness escalated after the second time the U.S. issued sanctions against Huawei. Huawei increased Hubble’s registered capital to 1.7 billion yuan (US $268 million) in January 2020 and Hubble invested in 25 semiconductor-related companies in 2020 alone.

Hubble Investment also moved up the industry chain.

For example, in May 2019, Hubble invested in Radrock (Shenzhen) Technology, focusing on high-performance 4/5G RF front-end chips and WiFi PA products. In July 2019, Hubble invested in 3PEAK, producing high-performance, high-quality integrated circuit products. In August 2019, Hubble invested in SICC Co, producing silicon carbide substrate materials; and in October 2019, Hubble invested in TankeBlue Semiconductor Co., producing third-generation semiconductor SiC wafers.

Topology Research Institute reported that Hubble Investment covers the third-generation semiconductors, wafer-level optical chips, power management chips, clock chips, RF filters, and many other areas, where Huawei relies on the U.S. supplies.

However, there has not been much of a result from Huawei’s chip producing capability. By 2021, it had gradually run out of its chip storage. Hisilicon, which used to supply the high-end Kirin 9000 chips to Huawei, couldn’t do it anymore. Huawei introduced its P50 series mobile phone this year, with some phones equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 processor due to the lack of Kirin 9000 chips. Also, a lack of 5G RF equipment rendered the phones, even with the Kirin 9000 5G SoC installed, still unable to support 5G.

In 2020, not only did Huawei heavily invest in chips companies, but the entirety of China also had a chip investment wave. Chinese semiconductor companies raised nearly US $38 billion through public offerings, private equity, and asset sales, more than double the total for 2019. In the same year, more than 50,000 Chinese companies registered semiconductor-related businesses, four times the total of five years ago. These companies included those with no connection to chips at all, such as real estate developers, cement makers, and restaurants – all of which branded themselves as “chip companies” because the government promised tax breaks and funding for the chip industry.

However, there was no result from these investments. According to statistics from Chinese media in October 2020, six high-profile Chinese semiconductor projects with budgets each over ten billion Yuan (US $1.58 billion), Including Wuhan Hongxin and Jinan Quanxin, were stopped within a little over a year. Some never even produced a single chip.

Source: Epoch Times, January 15, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/1/15/n13506884.htm

Briefings | | January 20, 2022 | Economy/Resources US-China Relations

MI5: Christine Li, Chinese Spy in the United Kingdom

On January 13, 2022, the U.K.’s Security Service MI5 (Military Intellligence, Section 5) informed British Members of Parliament (MPs) that a Chinese lawyer Christine Ching Kui Lee (李贞驹) conducted clandestine political interference work in the United Kingdom. MI5 said Lee works for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) United Front Department.

Lee is not only a member of the CCP’s Overseas Exchange Association, Chief Legal Advisor to the Chinese Embassy in London, and Legal Advisor to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of China’s State Council; she is also the secretary of the All-Party China Group in the British Parliament. In 2006, she launched a “British Chinese Political Participation Project” and received a compliment from Downing Street. Her firm, Christine Lee & Co Solicitors, has offices in London, Birmingham, and Beijing. She is also a frequent presence in the British Parliament. She has been pictured in several media releases with former Prime Minister David Cameron, Theresa May, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and Xi Jinping.

Lee’s closest contact among political figures is Barry Gardiner, a Labour Party MP. She raised several hundred thousand pounds for Gardiner, who served as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2020.

Lee’s son worked for Gardiner. After MI5 exposed Lee’s status, her son resigned from Gardiner’s office. Lee’s attorney office in London was emptied.

Martin Thorley, a researcher at the University of Exeter wrote in twitter that Xi Jinping promoted China to participate in the U.K.’s Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power project during his visit to the U.K.in 2015. However, the U.K. announced in 2016 that it would defer the project. Gardiner criticized the U.K. government’s decision; his opinion became the Labour Party’s main opinion.

Thorley mentioned on February 7, 2013, that Lee also made donations to Sir Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrats. The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats were then in power jointly. At that time, Sir Ed Davey served the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change His reputation could convince the Liberal Democrats to support the nuclear power project for China.

Epoch Times also found several Chinese media reports on the CCP’s offering high-status treatment to Lee. On March 23, 2009, China News Services reported that Lee attended, as an overseas representative, the Second Session of the 11th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Lee said that she was arranged to sit in the front rows and was also invited to join the CCP’s celebration of the 60th anniversary of the People Republic of China.

China Radio International (CRI) Online reported that Xu Yousheng, Deputy Director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, received Lee in Beijing on April 12, 2011. Xu praised Lee.

In 2013, People’s Daily U.K. Channel opened the “Christine Li Column.”

In December 2017, Lee was hired as a member of the Legal Advisory Panel of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. In her speech, Lee said that she was doing political lobbying .

The Times reported that, when Lee attended a banquet at the Chinese Embassy in London in 2020, she lashed out at the British and other Western countries for their condemnation of the CCP’s suppression of Hong Kong people’s rights. Lee told guests that Western media’s reports of bloody clashes between protesters and riot police, including police brutality, “failed to convey the true picture accurately.”

Source:
1. Epoch Times, January 15, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/1/14/n13505251.htm
2. Epoch Times, January 16, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/1/15/n13507104.htm

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

Pandemic: Beijing Reported COVID Cases

China reported COVID-19 cases including the Omicron mutant. Beijing reported an Omicron case on January 15. It also reported 5 COVID cases on January 19. The Beijing government spokesperson said the Omicron and Delta variants were cross spreading in Beijing and created a higher risk for COVID prevention. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known for hiding COVID information, so the actual infection situation is unknown.

Beijing reported that two patients in Fangshan District (counted in the January 19 infection cases) had not left Beijing in the past 14 days. This made people wonder if they got the virus from other people in whom the infection had not yet been detected.

However, the CCP blamed the international mail and the international supply chain. The authorities said that the patient in the January 15 case received an international mail that had been sent from Canada on January 7, going through the United States and Hong Kong, and then arriving in Beijing on January 11. Chinese medical experts found the Omicron virus on that international mail.

Other Chinese cities also blamed international shipping for spreading the COVID virus. Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province said an Omicron patient in their city received an international mail on January 12. Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province said a COVID patient in their city worked in the international supply chain field.

However, experts outside of China questioned the possibility of the mail spreading COVID. Some argued that the virus trace on the mail could have been from the patient who might have already caught COVID by the time he received the mail. The Wall Street Journal also quoted a London doctor, Martin Hibberd, who stated that there is not much evidence to support the theory that COVID can spread over an object’s surface. The virus might only live for 10 minutes on the surface, but shipping can take several hours or even several days.”

Chosun: Survey Showed the U.S. to be the Most Trusted Country in South Korea

South Korea’s largest newspaper Chosun recently reported in its Chinese Edition that Seoul National University’s Institute of Asian Studies published the “2021 Korean People’s Asian Awareness Survey Results Analysis Report” in the latest issue of “Asia Briefings.” The Institute commissioned the public opinion survey agency Korea Research to conduct a questionnaire survey on the favorability of 20 major countries including the United States, China, Japan, France, Australia, Germany, Thailand, and Vietnam. The survey results showed that, in a multiple choice questionnaire, 71.6 percent of the respondents chose the United States as a “trustworthy country.” In contrast, Japan and China were selected by 13.3 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively, ranking 19th and 20th among the 20 countries to become the countries least trusted by Koreans. The United States (69.2 percent) is the top country that “South Korea should cooperate with.” The proportions of those choosing China and North Korea are 6.9 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively. Japan (1.1 percent) is even behind North Korea. On South Koreans’ favorability (on a scale of 1 to 100) toward 20 major countries, the United States ranked first at 65.9, followed by Sweden (59.5) and Germany (58.1). Among Asian countries, Singapore (54.1) ranked highest, followed by Taiwan (51.3) and Mongolia (50.1). China (35.8) was 18th, North Korea (33.8) was 19th, and Japan (33.6) was 20th.

Source: Chosun, January 12, 2022
https://cnnews.chosun.com/client/news/viw.asp?nNewsNumb=20220156539

Briefings | | January 18, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: Afghan Ambassador to China Announced Resignation

Global Times recently reported that, on January 10, the Afghan ambassador to China, Javid Kaim, announced his resignation on his personal Twitter. In a handover letter accompanying the tweet, he said he and some other embassy staff had not been paid for the past six months. According to the handover letter, he himself left the Afghan Embassy in China on January 2 this year. In the letter, he gave a brief introduction to the structure and planning of the Embassy. He said that he would use remote means to assist in the handover. According to him, most of the diplomats in China appointed by the former Afghan government left China after the Taliban entered Kabul on August 15 last year. Since “the Embassy has not received salaries from Kabul for the past six months,” Kaim said, they set up a committee to specifically address the funding issue. The letter also stated that he had settled all the salaries of local employees before January 20. Unpaid diplomats also received a sum of money to cover expenses in China. He said that, as of January 1, 2022, about $100,000 remained in the account of the Afghan Embassy in China. Kaim also mentioned that he had left the keys to five embassy cars in his office. All the doors of the Embassy were closed, except for a local operator who could answer questions. The door key was placed at the Qatari Embassy in China. At the end of the letter, Kaim said China was “well informed” about this. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had taken note of Ambassador Qaim’s remarks.

Source: Global Times, January 11, 2022
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/46MIXNigNVz

Briefings | | January 18, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend

The Paper: Evergrande Moved out of Its Shenzhen Headquarters Building

The Well-known new Chinese news site The Paper recently reported that the Evergrande Group has moved out of its Shenzhen Headquarters building and the “Evergrande Group” sign at the building has also been removed. According to sources familiar with the matter, Evergrande withdrew from the building in December 2021. Most of its working staff at the headquarters has moved back to Guangzhou to work. Sources revealed that, in order to cut costs, Evergrande completed the lease cancellation procedures quickly. However, based on the registration and filing information of commercial entities at the Shenzhen Market Supervision Bureau, Shenzhen remains the registered city for the Group. Evergrande officially moved its headquarters from Guangzhou to Shenzhen in mid-2017. At that time, its headquarters campus ground sat in the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base. The location was in the Hongshuwan luxury residential area, which occupies the central area of the city of Shenzhen. By sales, the China Evergrande Group is the second largest property developer in China . It ranked 122nd on the Fortune Global 500.

Source: The Paper, January 10, 2022
https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16219349

Briefings | | January 17, 2022 | Economy/Resources

Chinese Economist Banned from Weibo Due to Comments on Financing Childbirths

China has banned the Twitter-like Weibo account of Ren Zeping, an Internet celebrity, and a former economist in mainland China. Ren was also the chief economist for Evergrande China Group, one of China’s largest real estate developers, which is now mired in debt.

At the top of Ren’s Weibo account, the notice said he had “violated relevant laws and regulations.”

What had Ren posted on his Weibo account?

On January 10, 2022, Ren posted an article titled, “The Solution to Findings of Low Fertility — The China Fertility Report.” His article stated that the main reasons for low fertility are the high cost of raising children and high housing prices. Therefore to solve the low fertility rate, China must reduce the cost of raising children. Ren believes that establishing a fertility incentive fund may stabilize growth and boost domestic demand in the short term. It can improve the supply side, optimize the population structure, and help national rejuvenation in the long run.

In his post, Ren suggested that the central bank print 2 trillion yuan (US$314 billion) to support the birth of 50 million babies over the next ten years.

Why 2 trillion yuan? Ren explained that family social welfare expenditures related to childbirth incentives account for two to three percent of GDP in OECD countries OECD stands for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It is is an international organisation that works to build better policies for better lives. China’s GDP is 110 trillion yuan, so Ren believes the incentive fund should be 2 trillion yuan.

Ren’s figure of 50 million childbirths for ten years is an estimate based on the assumption that 15 million babies are required annually to stabilize the population. There are about 10 million per year using the 2021 low fertility rate of 1.1 percent. So 5 million per year for ten years is 50 million in total.

Ren also urged the authorities to establish the fund as quickly as possible. “We must seize the time when we can still have children from those women born from 1975 to 1985 because they still believe that having more children is a blessing. He reminded that the post-90s and post-2000s generation would not want to discuss having a second or third child. Many people are not even willing to get married.

Why was he banned on Weibo? Some speculated that Ren might have hit a nerve with the authorities. The economic strategy proposed by Ren reflects an unspoken consensus among Chinese economists; that is, the regime’s economic model may have come to an end. The regime has tried to control the high housing prices. In the past, China’s inflation and debt risks were mainly absorbed by real estate. Printing money for more childbirths now would likely increase prices and be suicidal. It could push the Chinese economy further into a recession.

Source: sina.com, January 10, 2022
https://finance.sina.com.cn/zl/china/2022-01-10/zl-ikyakumx9364507.shtml

Briefings | | January 17, 2022 | Economy/Resources

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.