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Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

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Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

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Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

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The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.

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The 2020 Chinese Population Growth Fell to a 59-Year Low

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) recently reported that, according to the China Statistical Yearbook 2021, just released by the National Bureau of Statistics, compared with 2019, the country’s 2020 population increased by 2.04 million. Under the influence of multiple factors such as Covid-19 and the reduction of women of childbearing age, the number of births in 2020 hit a record low for recent years. Based on the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, on the net population increase over the years since 1949, analysts found that the net population growth in 2020 was the lowest since 1962. From 1962 to year the 2000, China’s annual net population growth was always above ten million. Since 2016, even when the comprehensive two-child policy was implemented, Chinese population’s net increase declined every year. Based on current data and research, there is a lack of impetus to increase the total population. It is getting harder and harder, and the number of births is quickly decreasing. The trend is getting closer and closer to the edge of the intersection of births and deaths. People are the primary force of social development. Population is a key variable that affects sustainable economic growth. If the fertility rate is too low, the scale drops too fast, and the young population is shrinking, the aging problem will become very prominent, weakening the vitality of the economy, and increasing the burden on the whole society.

Source: Sohu, December 14, 2021
https://www.sohu.com/a/507990793_115479

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Hong Kong Democracy Movement Leaders Were Sentenced to Jail

China News recently reported that eight people, including Jimmy Lai, the founder of the newspaper Apple Daily, and former members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council Li Cheuk-yan and Wu Chi-wai, were sentenced to from four to fourteen months of jail time. They were sentenced because, last year, they participated in and incited others to participate in an illegal assembly. According to BBC Chinese, the judge stated that last year’s June 4th rally had not been approved due to Covid-19, but the defendants ignored the risk of virus transmission and called on citizens to gather in Victoria Park. Ultimately, there was no large-scale transmission resulting from that gathering. Jimmy Lai submitted a personal letter of explanation. He reiterated that he did not participate in the June 4th Victoria Park rally last year. He only held a candle in front of reporters to remind everyone to remember that there was a group of young men and women in Tiananmen Square 31 years ago who sacrificed their lives for truth and justice. He also said that if he had been guilty of mourning the June Fourth Movement, he would be happy to be punished and share the responsibility of seeking truth and justice for the souls of the dead.

Sources:
(1) China News, December 13, 2021
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/ga/2021/12-13/9628861.shtml
(2) BBC Chinese, December 13, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-59635861

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

State Media Urges Communist Party Members to Have Three Children

The state media, China Report, published an editorial on November 23, 2021, urging Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members to have three children. The original article was removed the next day, and major Chinese media followed suit. Screenshots, however, have gone viral on social media. 

According to the China Report editorial, CCP members have a personal obligation to help tackle the country’s plunging fertility rate by having three children.

Each CCP member is required to “align his thoughts and actions and those of his family with the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, and proactively and consciously take action to implement the three-child policy.”

“No Party member should use any excuse, objective or personal, not to marry or have children, nor can they use any excuse to have only one or two children,” said China Report. “Every Party member must bear the responsibility to implement the three-child policy for China’s population growth. Every Party member must also fulfill his obligation to grow China’s population.”

To the extent that some Party members can no longer have children due to age, health, and other reasons, the editorial urges them to “actively educate, guide, and encourage their family members or those around them to implement, actively and consciously, the three-child policy.” “You must never ignore or allow your family or people around you not to marry or have children, and you must never ignore or allow your family or people around you to give birth to only one or two children using this or that excuse.”

China Report is a state-owned media under the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration, also known as the China International Publishing Group (CIPG).   

Source: China Report, November 23, 2021
Screenshot at https://news.creaders.net/china/2021/12/10/2428749.html
Full text at http://huaitu.cn/news/68886.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Taiwan: The CCP Interfered with a Taiwan Referendum

On December 18, Taiwan held four referendums. The Kuomintang, the opposition party, proposed all four of them to challenge the current administration’s decision. The voting result, though close between yes and no, rejected all proposals.

The Information Operations Research Group (IORG), a Taipei-based research group focusing on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) information manipulation and influence over Taiwan, found that the CCP conducted a heavy information war on one of the referendum topics: whether to ban imports of pork containing the leanness-enhancing additive ractopamine.

Researchers pointed out that the CCP took on the ractopamine pork issue to ruin the Taiwan-U.S. relationship. The Taiwan government approved the pork imports last year, to remove a block for a free trade deal with the U.S. where ractopamine is widely used.

The IORG report found that from April to November this year, there were eight main hot discussions on the referendums and all of them could be traced back to the CCP. Among them, seven were about the ractopamine pork. On April 10, Beijing’s media started spreading a rumor that “the U.S. gets money from Taiwan by selling ractopamine pork and weapons.” In May, when COVID cases increased in Taiwan, the CCP’s media said, “Even after buying the U.S. ractopamine pork and weapons, Taiwan still cannot get COVID vaccine from the U.S.” After the U.S. announced that it would donate 750,000 doses of vaccine to Taiwan, the CCP changed its story line to, “Because Taiwan bought the American ractopamine pork and weapons, it should get the American vaccines.”

Other CCP information manipulation on ractopamine pork included spreading incorrect or fake news without scientific backing. Some examples follow: “Hong Kong detected Taiwan pork with ractopamine severely exceeding the standard.” “Taiwan soldiers ate the American ractopamine pork,” “Over 160 countries banned ractopamine pork,” “Following netizen’s words, China’s media called the ractopamine pork ‘drugs.’”

Related postings on Chinascope:

Source: VOA, December 16, 2021
https://www.voachinese.com/a/report-shows-CCP-initiated-pork-discussion-to-stir-up-Taiwan-anti-US-sentiment-20211216/6355619.html

Hot Topics | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics Social Stability

Deutsche Welle: China Suddenly Became a “Democratic” Country

For several weeks, China has been trying to inform the world and its people, “We are a democratic country.” The background in the strategic change is the direct competition between Beijing and the United States. Chinese state media and propaganda agencies have spared no effort to declare through all possible channels, “China is a democratic country and superior to the West.”

Earlier this month, China invited foreigners to participate in an online “high-end dialogue” that competed with the American Democracy Summit. Among the participants were representatives from dictatorial countries such as Syria and Cuba, as well as so-called experts, including some international scholars who teach at Chinese universities. Not surprisingly, they also concluded that Chinese democracy is superior to Western democracy.

Roland Boer, a professor at the Institute of Marxism at Dalian University of Technology, is one of them. He said at the dialogue meeting, “Socialist democracy is a more honest and superior form of democracy. It is encouraging to see that China is about to win back democracy for socialism in the world. … Socialism is certainly more democratic than capitalism.”

Source: Deutsche Welle, December 15, 2021
https://www.dw.com/zh/中国突然成了民主国家/a-60130940

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Some Provinces in China Cut Government Employees Salaries

Some Chinese netizens posted on the Internet that, starting in December, civil servants in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Fujian Provinces received notices of pay cuts of about twenty to thirty percent. Scholars believe that this phenomenon reflects the severity of China’s economic challenge, since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) puts the “officials (government employees)” in a much higher class than the normal citizens.

Some examples shared on the Internet include: the annual salary of a police station chief in Shanghai dropped from 350,000 yuan (US$ 55,000) to less than 200,000 yuan, and the salary of a civil servant was reduced from 240,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan. Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province announced cuts in staff positions as well as salaries without giving out reasons. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai cut the performance bonus for civil servants, causing people’s annual income dropped from 300,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan, and in some cases, from 200,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan. Certain areas in Guangdong Province have stopped distributing civil servants’ subsidies for two months and teachers’ subsidies for one month.

According to Henan Business Daily, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection responded to an inquiry by saying that civil servants who drive taxis or deliver food after work are not considered disciplinary offences. Some netizens view this as the authorities allowing or encouraging ordinary civil servants to take part-time jobs in other industries after work.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 9, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/ql2-12092021054023.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Beijing’s Anti-American Korean War Movie Hit North American Big Screens

The Chinese war movie, “The Battle at Lake Changjin” opened in late November in a limited theatrical release in North America.

The Korean War film was released by CMC Pictures with English subtitles in more than 20 selected theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Dallas, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto and a few other cities across North America.

Deutsche Welle reported that the film has raised anger in South Korea, with the public calling it “propaganda filled with historical inaccuracies.” South Korean former diplomat Ra Jong-yil called the film “nonsense” and “a whitewashing” and accused it of attempting to reshape the narrative of events during the Korean War.

The movie, a state propaganda to instigate anti-American sentiments amid the tension between two countries, was released in mainland China around National Day holiday.

Source: Xinhua, November 11, 2021
http://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20211111/e0d97351280848ff890db6789f1594df/c.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations