Chinascope – Page 191

Lianhe Zaobao: China will Give Up Some WTO Preferential Treatment to Developing Countries

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that Li Chenggang, China’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO), said that China will remain a developing country in the WTO, but will give up some of its preferential treatment for developing countries. This is a major change for China’s trading partners. Li said that, due to some persistent poverty issues, China still considers itself a developing country, but China will seek to divest itself in some areas such as agriculture and financial services. He also said that, as a major fishing country, China may waive all WTO exemptions. WTO members, including the United States, Australia, and Japan, criticized China in a WTO trade assessment in October, pointing out that China provides subsidies to state-owned enterprises. That violates the conditions under which China joined the WTO in 2001. However, Li argued that, in terms of lowering tariff rates and opening up the service industry, it has surpassed some WTO accession standards. He refused to disclose when and under what conditions China will completely abandon its position as a developing country. As the world’s second largest economy, China faces increasing criticism from its trading partners on the issue of China’s status as a developing country.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, December 11, 2021
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20211211-1222073

Briefings | | December 15, 2021 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Xinhua: The U.S. Pushes 6G Alliance; Excludes China

Xinhua recently reported that, last year, the United States wooed its allies into establishing a 6G “small circle” alliance , excluding China. This year, the U.S. has been strengthening the cooperation among allies in a variety of new ways. The alliance’s key tasks mainly include the establishment of a 6G strategic roadmap, the promotion of 6G related policies and budgets, and the global promotion of 6G technologies and services. At present, dozens of global information and communication industry giants such as Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, and Nokia have joined the club, but leading Chinese 5G companies Huawei and ZTE have been excluded. Chinese scholars expressed the belief that it is understandable, since the purpose of the Alliance is to fix the leadership position of the United States in the upcoming 6G era. Ever since the founding of the Alliance, the U.S. has continuously strengthened its technical cooperation on a government level in the 6G field with Europe, Japan, South Korea, and other countries. This is the latest attempt to “overtake” in the 6G field and regain the global dominance in the communications industry, and to contain China. For example, in April, The U.S. and Japan announced a joint US$4.5 billion for 6G development. In June, South Korea announced a Korea-U.S. joint research program with US$188 million in funding. Samsung U.S. Research Center already received FCC approval of 6G bands. 6G technology is expected to have several to several hundred times better performance than 5G. It includes multiple delivery channels and includes satellite connectivity. The U.S. Alliance and its exclusion of China will inevitably lead to a division in global 6G technical standards.

Source: Xinhua, December 8, 2021
http://www.news.cn/mrdx/2021-12/10/c_1310363619.htm

Briefings | | December 13, 2021 | Information/Technology US-China Relations

Xinhua: China-Arab Beidou Satellite Navigation Cooperation Forum Took Place

Xinhua recently reported that the Third China-Arab Beidou Satellite Navigation Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing on December 9. China and the Arab Information and Communication Technologies Organization (AICTO) agreed jointly to implement no less than five projects in key areas on an application scale in the next two years and would do so by utilizing the Chinese satellite navigation system – Beidou/GNSS. The two parties will jointly promote the deployment of one to two Beidou/GNSS centers in interested Arab countries. In recent years, Beidou has been utilized widely in Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon, Oman, Morocco and the UAE to provide a variety of services such as real-time accurate positioning, land surveying and mapping, transportation, precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, security, and railway construction. This Forum marked the beginning of a new era for Beidou’s large-scale application deployments characterized as marketization, industrialization, and internationalization.

Source: Xinhua, December 9, 2021
http://www.news.cn/mil/2021-12/09/c_1211480286.htm

Briefings | | December 12, 2021 | Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

Wal-Mart Closed More Stores and Bridgestone Closed Factory in China

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that, not long ago, Walmart closed a fifteen-year-old store in Beijing. It is closing another store in one of Shanghai’s best locations. From 2016 to 2020, in four years, Wal-Mart closed 80 stores in China. Since the beginning of 2021, the number of closed stores has reached 27. In most instances, Wal-Mart’s explanation was that the lease term had expired. Analysts expressed the belief that the cost to operate in China, including such items as the rent and labor, continue to rise. In addition to that, online e-commerce has also had an impact in the retail industry. In recent years, the government has increased its support for domestic companies. International companies are seeing less-than-expected growth. Sina also reported that the Japanese tire giant, Bridgestone, just announced it is closing the Bridgestone (Huizhou) Tire Company in Guangdong Province. In recent years, the fact that Japanese companies have been withdrawing from China has aroused concern. A typical example is Toshiba’s closure of its Dalian factory. There have been reports that the Japanese government is planning to set aside a high budget to help Japanese companies move production lines away from China. Bridgestone saw a 15 percent decline in global sales in 2020. For a while now, the company has been planning to close the Chinese Huizhou factory at the end of 2021 .

Sources:
(1) Sina, December 11, 2021
https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-12-11/doc-ikyakumx3408433.shtml
(2) Sina, December 7, 2021
https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2021-12-08/doc-ikyakumx2652374.shtml

Briefings | | December 12, 2021 | Economy/Resources

The CCP Held a High-Profile National Religious Work Conference

From December 3rd to 4th, the National Conference on Religious Work was held in Beijing. Xi Jinping gave a key speech at the meeting. Many key officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attended the meeting, including all Politburo Standing Committee members, Politburo members, Secretaries of the CCP Central Secretariat, officials of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, State Council members, the President of the Supreme People’s Court, the President of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, top officials from the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, top CCP provincial officials in charge religious work, city party heads from key cities in each province, top officials at the CCP Central Departments, the state’s ministries, and the Central Military Commission organs.

Xi Jinping stressed the party’s leadership over religions and the need to develop a group of CCP officials who are experts on Marxist theories and capable of doing religious control work.

Source: China Government Site, December 4, 2021
http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2021-12/04/content_5655877.htm

Briefings | | December 9, 2021 | Government/Politics

China’s Ministry of Finance Supported Zhejiang Province’s Common Prosperity Moves

This summer, Xi Jinping introduced the concept of “Common Prosperity.” The Chinese media have since hotly discussed the “Third Distribution.” It would involve distributing wealth from the rich to the poor via donations from the rich. In China, this could be a donation the authorities enforced- instead of a voluntary donation. Zhejiang Provincial Party Secretary Yuan Jiajun led the provincial leaders to donate a day’s worth of wages on September 3, to echo the call for the “Third Distribution.”

Xinhua reported that, recently, the Ministry of Finance published “The Implementation Plan to Support Zhejiang Province as a Provincial Example to Explore, Innovate, and Develop Fiscal Policies to Promote Common Prosperity.” This plan is the first plan to use fiscal policies to promote common prosperity. The plan fully intends to leverage the fiscal policies and the “Second Distribution” (via taxation) function; to adjust and influence the “First Distribution” and the “Third Distribution.”

Source: Xinhua, December 1, 2021
http://www.news.cn/fortune/2021-12/01/c_1128118905.htm

Briefings | | December 8, 2021 | Economy/Resources Government/Politics

Chinese Companies Are Mining Lithium and Rare Earths in Afghanistan

Liberty Times reported that at least 20 Chinese companies, both state-owned and privately-owned, have inquired about lithium projects in Afghanistan. Global Times reported that, currently, five Chinese companies have stationed representatives in Afghanistan. They are conducting site inspections in order to develop lithium projects.

Afghanistan has large untapped reserves of copper, iron, zinc, lithium, and rare earths. These reserves are valued at more than $1 trillion.

Source: Liberty Times, November 24, 2021
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3746854

Briefings | | December 8, 2021 | Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

The Chinese Foreign Ministry Asked U.S. Businesses and Local Officials to “Work on” the Biden Administration

On November 30, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng held a virtual conference with representatives from the U.S. business community, state and local governments. the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China), AmCham Shanghai, the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC), and representatives of America’s state and local governments in China, who all attended the dialogue.

At the meeting, Xie explicitly asked the business community and local governments to influence and work on Biden Administration to advance Beijing’s agenda.

Xie said, “We hope you will continue to play a unique and important role, speak out for what is right, and encourage the U.S. administration to follow a sensible and pragmatic China policy and to stop waging a trade war, industrial war or technology war and stop creating confrontation or conflict over values, ideology or geopolitics.”

On trade and economic relations, Xie added, “I hope you can work on the Biden administration to lift the tariff hikes, stop suppressing and sanctioning Chinese businesses, and create a level playing field for Chinese and American businesses.”

Xie also asked the meeting attendees to work on the one-China policy and the Beijing Winter Olympics. “I hope you will use your influence to urge the U.S. administration to truly abide by the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués and honor the true one-China policy, which should not be altered, distorted or negated. . . . Boycotting the Olympic Games for political reasons would harm the interests of athletes and go against the common aspiration of the international community. Beijing will host the Winter Olympics next February, and Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics in 2028. China and the United States need to support each other and jointly honor the Olympic spirit of solidarity, friendship, fair play and mutual understanding. In this regard, I count on positive contributions from the U.S. business community as well as states and cities.”

Source: Chinese Foreign Ministry website, November 30, 2021
http://new.fmprc.gov.cn/web/wjbxw_673019/202111/t20211130_10459101.shtml

Briefings | | December 7, 2021 | US-China Relations

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.