Chinascope – Page 185

Lianhe Zaobao: U.S. Has No Intention to Engage with China on Indo-Pacific Economic Framework

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said that the U.S. has no intention of engaging with China in the upcoming Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. However, it is in discussions with partners who share the same vision for a free and open region without coercion. The U.S. is in preliminary talks on the Economic Framework and currently does not intend to involve the People’s Republic of China in the Framework. Kritenbrink said that the U.S. is in initial dialogues with partners across the region who share the same vision of living again in a free and open region where nations are free to pursue economic and security interests. The United States released an Indo-Pacific strategy report on the 11th of this month, vowing to invest more diplomatic and security resources in the Indo-Pacific region to resist China, which it accused of trying to expand its influence in the Indo-Pacific region. This is the first regional strategy report of the U.S. Biden Administration. The strategy report said it will focus on the areas from South Asia to the Pacific Islands to strengthen the United States’ long-term position and commitment to the Indo-Pacific region. According to a recent study that the ASEAN Studies Centre – ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore conducted, the U.S. government refocused on Indo-Pacific, boosting Southeast Asian countries’ confidence in U.S. leadership. However, in terms of economic, political and strategic influence, Southeast Asian countries generally believe that China has more influence in the region.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, February 17, 2022
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20220217-1243762

Briefings | | February 21, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

Beijing Is Building Mega Steel Companies in China

On February 7, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and three other departments in China issued a “Guidance on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Iron and Steel Industry, hereinafter referred to as the Guidance. It clearly encourages leading enterprises in the industry to implement mergers and reorganizations to build several world-class mega steel enterprise groups.

The Guidance makes concrete arrangements for steel industry mergers and reorganizations. One to two specialized pilot enterprises will be formed relying on the leading enterprises in stainless steel, special steel, seamless steel tubes, castings and other fields, respectively. It encourages cross-regional, cross-ownership mergers and reorganizations of steel enterprises to change the so called “small and scattered” situation in this industry in some regions, to enhance the endogenous power of enterprises’ development. The independent hot rolling and independent coking enterprises in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and surrounding areas will be led in an orderly manner to participate in the merger and reorganization of steel enterprises. The Guidance mentioned that those enterprises that have completed the mergers and reorganizations will be given capacity replacement policy support during their smelting project construction. The Guidance also encourages Chinese financial institutions actively to offer integrated financial services to those steel enterprises which implement mergers and reorganizations, layout adjustments, transformation and upgrading based on risk-controlled, commercially sustainable principles.

Li Xinchuang, chief engineer of the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, said that the concentration in the domestic steel industry is still less than 40 percent. China’s steel industry has now ushered in an important window of mergers and reorganizations and a period of historic opportunity. Given the background that the output of the iron and steel industry has entered the peak platform area, it is the key to the healthy and high-quality development of the industry to intensify the merger and reorganization of iron and steel and improve the concentration of the industry.

Cross-regional and cross-ownership mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and reorganizations are one of the key tasks of the steel industry this year. Peng Huagang, the Secretary-General of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, clearly stated at a press conference of the State Council Information Office in January this year that the restructuring and integration of steel and other fields will be steadily promoted and new central enterprise groups will be established in a timely manner in related fields.

Chen Derong, chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association and chairman of China Baowu, said that China’s steel industry has broken the “small and scattered” situation, where state-owned steel enterprises or private steel enterprises are promoting mergers and reorganizations. As a group of more than 50 million tons of ultra-large steel enterprises are rising, the concentration in the steel industry will be further enhanced.

Wang Guoqing, director of the Lange Steel Research Center, located in Beijing and established in 2005 as the No.1 steel information research center in China, told China Business News that, in the future, the merger and reorganizations mode in the steel industry will continue to change the effect of restructuring and will also be more prominent; the industrial concentration is to be effectively enhanced. Therefore, the iron and steel industry is bound to speed up its transformation and upgrading, speed up the pace of mergers and reorganizations, eliminate outdated iron and steel enterprises that do not meet environmental protection standards, vigorously develop a circular economy, and promote the overall development of the iron and steel industry.

The concentration in the steel industry continues to increase

As early as in September 2016, the State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Merger, Restructuring and Disposing of Zombie Enterprises in the Steel Industry,” which clearly stated that, by 2025, 60 percent to 70 percent of the output of China’s steel industry will be concentrated in about 10 large groups, of which there are three to four 80-million-ton steel groups, six to eight 40-million-ton steel groups plus some specialized steel groups.

Aiming toward this general goal, the steel industry mergers and reorganizations will be divided into three steps: the first step will focus on reducing production capacity by 2018 and clearing what should be cleared. At the same time, it will demonstrate the next merger and reorganization, such as the merger and reorganization of Baosteel and Wuhan Iron and Steel. The second step is to improve the merger and reorganization policy from 2018 to 2020. The third step is to promote the merger and reorganization of the steel industry on a large scale from 2020 to 2025.

Since 2021, the merger and reorganization of the steel industry has accelerated significantly. Anshan Iron and Steel merged with and reorganized Benxi Iron and Steel to form the second largest steel group in China and the third largest steel group in the world. This further promoted the formation of a new industrial development pattern; Baowu reorganized Kun Steel and signed an agreement with the Shandong Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission to reorganize the Shan Steel Group. The reorganization of Baowu’s capacity scale is expected to reach 150 million tons. Shasteel mixed reform Anyang Huacheng and five other enterprises. Puyang Steel reorganized Xing Steel, and so on.

At the same time, the level of the steel industry chain and the supply chain have been further improved. CITIC Special Steel has strengthened cooperation with upstream and downstream enterprises to enhance the overall competitive advantage of the industrial chain. Jiu Steel has accelerated the construction of a modern industrial system through a series of measures such as coordination to stabilize the chain, project extension, technology strengthening, and investment promotion.

According to the data released by the China Iron and Steel Association, the pace of mergers and reorganizations of Chinese iron and steel enterprises has accelerated, which has promoted the further improvement of industrial concentration. At the end of 2021, the steel output of the top 10 and top 20 enterprises in steel production accounted for 40.39 percent and 54.85 percent respectively. of the national steel output, , an increase of 2.99 and 3.26 percentage points over the same period of the previous year.

Source: China News Service, February 8, 2022
https://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/2022/02-08/9670947.shtml

Briefings | | February 19, 2022 | Economy/Resources

Did The CCP Violate Its Own Nationality Law to Cheat in the Winter Olympic Games?

There have been questions about whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cheated the world in sending athletes, who technically are not Chinese nationals, to represent China when competing in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

China’s own law does not recognize dual citizenship. Article 3 of China’s Nationality Law states that, “Chinese citizens are not recognized as having dual nationality.” Article 8 states that foreign nationals who are approved for Chinese nationality “may no longer retain foreign nationality.” China’s National Immigration Administration explicitly states in the Instructions for Applying for Chinese Nationality, “After being approved for Chinese nationality, you may not retain your foreign nationality.”

Rule 41 of Olympic Charter states that any competitor in the Olympic Games must be a national of the country of the NOC which is entering such competitor. A competitor who is a national of two or more countries at the same time may represent either one of them, as he may elect.

Therefore, since China does not allow dual citizenship, whichever athlete represents China in the Beijing Olympic Games must be of Chinese nationality and only of Chinese nationality. H or she cannot have another nationality from another country.

Eileen Gu, an American whose mother was a Chinese American, represented China and won a gold medal and a silver one in freestyle skiing. However, in the United States Federal Register which publishes the list of people giving up their U.S. nationality, there is no such record for Gu, indicating theat Gu may not have given up her U.S. citizenship and therefore she is not a Chinese national based on China’s own law. Gu didn’t answer her citizenship questions directly, but she said that she is American when she is in the United States and Chinese when she is in China.

Jeremy Smith, the goalie of the hockey team Bridgeport Sound Tigers affiliated with the New York Islanders, was recruited to China’s national hockey team. Smith stated that he would not give up his U.S. citizenship and was told it would not be an issue.

The athletes may not be legal experts and may have been promised not to worry about the nationality issue. What should be scrutinized here is whether the CCP, in order to look good in the Olympics, is violating its own law.

Source: Epoch Times, February 15, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/2/15/n13578136.htm

Briefings | | February 17, 2022 | Government/Politics

China’s Biotech Companies Operating in the U.S.

Epoch Times published an article pointing out that a growing number of biotech, genomics, and med-tech firms that have ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are operating in the United States, raising security concerns about American citizens’ medical and genetic data.

The article listed several Chinese companies as examples:

China’s Lepu Biopharma Co. 0pened its U.S. branch Innocube Bioscience, Inc. in Texas. Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund, the State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC), heavily invests in Lepu.
BeiGene, a Chinese pharmaceutical and research firm located in San Mateo, California, conducts research on targeted molecular agents related to gene sequencing. The company’s research center in China has received significant local government funding.
The PLA-linked BGI Group purchased Complete Genomics, a California-based company that holds the genetic information of U.S. citizens. Several of China’s sovereign wealth funds have invested in the company.
The Chinese firm WuXi Pharma Tech acquired U.S. genomic information company NextCODE Health in 2015.
Also In 2015, IuXi Biologics, bought a stake in an American DNA testing company, 23andMe. WuXi Biologics now has locations in Massachusetts and New Jersey. Its drug plant in Delaware was built with a Chinese government grant.
WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi ATU) announced the opening of a cell and gene therapy testing facility in the Philadelphia Navy Yard in November 2021.

The article also said that U.S. money has aided the CCP’s infiltration of the U.S. bio and medical industries. Last month, Chinese firm Andon Health Co. received a $1.28 billion contract from the U.S. Army Contracting Command to supply COVID-19 self-test kits. A subsidiary of Andon, iHealth Labs, signed a contract with the New York State Department of Health in December for $120 million worth of self-test kits.

Source: Epoch Times, February 7, 2022
https://www.theepochtimes.com/ccp-investment-in-us-biopharm-and-genomics-companies-raises-security-concerns_4259581.html

Briefings | | February 17, 2022 | Economy/Resources

Transitioning from Forced Abortions to Forced Births?

As China’s population crisis worsens, the Communist regime announced that it will intervene in the area of abortions among unmarried people.

The China Family Planning Association under the Chinese Communist Party of China released a directive titled, “China Family Planning Association’s Priorities for 2022.” It requires the development of special actions for abortion intervention among unmarried people to reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions among adolescents. In the past, the family planning agency enforced the one-child policy by forcing abortions.

According to media reports, the number of China’s annual abortions has hovered around 9.5 million over the past five years. This number came from an article published in 2021 in the Chinese Journal of Practical Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Separately, the Institute of Science and Technology under China’s National Health Commission conducted a survey in 2021 of 39,820 women who had abortions. Women under 25 who had abortions accounted for 47.5 percent. Other studies have shown that women under 20 who have abortions are becoming a significant portion of those women who have abortions.

This comes as China is facing a demographic crisis after its birthrate has fallen for the fifth consecutive year. Fewer babies were born in 2021 than during the Great Famine between 1959 and 1961. Beijing has directed governments at all levels to find ways to stop the population problem from worsening. The priorities issued by the China Family Planning Association have sparked concerns that women may be forced to give birth. It is estimated that there were 400 to 600 million abortions during the one-child policy between 1980 and 2015.

Sources:
1.) The China Family Planning Association, January 28, 2022
https://www.chinafpa.org.cn/tzgg/202201/t20220128_45623.html

2.)The Paper, February 9, 2022
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16629651

Briefings | | February 15, 2022 | Government/Politics Social Stability

Reference News: U.S. Eased Trump-Era Steel Tariffs on Japan

Reference News, a well-known branch of Xinhua, recently reported that the United States said it had agreed to lift the import tariffs it had imposed on Japanese steel under the Trump administration. It was a further move after the United States reached a similar agreement with the European Union last October. This showed that the Biden administration is stepping up its efforts to strengthen economic ties with Asia-Pacific countries to counter China’s growing influence.The Biden administration officials told reporters that the deal would allow Japan to export up to 1.25 million tons of steel annually to the United States duty-free. This is similar to the level of exports in 2018 and 2019. Such arrangements will help reduce the cost for U.S. steel importers. At the same time, it will maintain tariffs that exceed the protocol levels of steel to prevent the imports from increasing. The American Iron and Steel Institute welcomed the government’s announcement. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the deal would “level the playing field against China.” However, the current 10 percent tariff on Japanese aluminum will remain in place, while the new tariffs cover less steel than the 1.8 million tons of steel the U.S. imported from Japan in 2017, according to U.S. Commerce Department statistics. The World Steel Association’s data shows that Japan and the United States are among the world’s top steel producers behind China, the European Union and India.

Source: Reference News, February 10, 2022
http://www.cankaoxiaoxi.com/finance/20220210/2468694.shtml

Briefings | | February 15, 2022 | Geo-Strategic Trend

CNA: Taiwan Ranked 8th in the Global Democracy Index

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) just released its Global Democracy Index 2021 Report. According to the Report, Taiwan ranked 8th out of 167 countries and regions, and is the only “full democracy” regime in Asia to hold a spot in the top 10. According to the Report, the top 10 are Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Ireland and Taiwan, with Australia and Switzerland tied for the ninth place. Many European and American democracies, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, the United States, Canada, and others did not rank as high as Taiwan. Among them, France is 22nd, Spain is 24th, the United States is 26th, and Italy is 31st. They are in the “flawed democracy” category. Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom fall outside the top 10, although they are in the same “full democracy” category as Taiwan. South Korea and Japan are ranked 16th and 17th respectively. China is classified as “authoritarian” and ranked 148th. More than a third of the world’s population lives in authoritarian countries, a large number of which are in China. EIU noted that, “China has become richer, but not more democratic. On the contrary, China has become less free.” Afghanistan, Myanmar and North Korea are the three least democratic countries in the world.

Source: CNA, February 10, 2022
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202202100357.aspx

Briefings | | February 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