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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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China Times: 37 Countries Discontinued Generalized System of Preferences for China

Major Taiwanese news network China Times recently reported that, 37 different countries including Switzerland, the European Union, and Japan have stopped granting the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to Chinese goods. After they did so, the General Administration of Customs of China issued an announcement to stop issuing GSP certificates of origin (Form A) for the export of goods to the aforementioned 37 countries. The only countries that still retain China’s GSP treatment are Norway, New Zealand and Australia. For goods exported to these three countries, companies can still apply for a GSP certificate. The Generalized System of Preferences is a universal, non-discriminatory, and non-reciprocal preferential tariff system in which developed countries (beneficial countries) grant exports from developing countries (beneficiary countries). It is based on the most-favored-nation tariffs and further provides tariff reductions, exemptions, or even full tax exemptions in order to help the economic development of developing countries.

Source: China Times, November 2, 2021
https://www.chinatimes.com/cn/newspapers/20211102000132-260203?chdtv

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

DW Chinese: Yahoo Completely Withdraws from China

Deutsche Welle Chinese Edition recently reported that Yahoo issued a statement indicating, from November 1, 2021, users will no longer be able to use Yahoo’s products and services from Mainland China because of the “increasingly challenging business and legal environment.” The announcement also said, “Yahoo is still committed to safeguarding the rights of our users and a free and open Internet. We thank users for their support.” Yahoo’s products and services in other parts of the world will not be affected. In addition, Engadget, a technology media company under Yahoo, also announced that it will shut down its content in simplified Chinese from November 1. Yahoo is the second major U.S. technology company to withdraw from Mainland China in recent weeks. Last month, Microsoft’s LinkedIn announced its closure of business in China, and LinkedIn was the last major US social media in China. In 2015, Yahoo had already closed its R&D center in Beijing.

Source: DW Chinese, November 2, 2021
https://bit.ly/3mQkahB

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Commercial Times: China Requires Coal Companies to Increase Mining

Taiwanese newspaper Commercial Times recently reported that, in response to the tight power supply situation, the Chinese government has asked coal companies to increase their mining production. China’s coal production this year is expected to increase by 220 million tons, exceeding the annual mining output of all of Western Europe and hitting the global carbon reduction target. This happened while the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) debuted in Glasgow, Scotland. Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping did not attend COP26. Currently, China is the world’s largest carbon emitter. A few weeks ago, due to the shortage of the coal supply, China experienced widespread power cuts, which paralyzed many industrial cities. Now a “Supply Guarantee” has become a national slogan across Chinese media and among government announcements. Before the current official government requirements to accelerate coal production, China’s coal mining and consumption had already exceeded the rest of the world’s coal production combined. This will cause a huge loss to the global efforts to respond to climate change.

Source: Commercial Times, October 31, 2021
https://ctee.com.tw/news/china/540592.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Ten Explosions in One Week in China

Recently the Chinese media reported that ten explosions occurred in China in the period from October 21 to 27.

  1. October 21: Shenyang City, Liaoning Province had an explosion that impacted 2,000 households in the neighborhood. (See Chinascope briefing: A Huge Explosion in Shenyang)
  2. October 22: A chemical plant in the Alashan League High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Inner Mongolia, exploded in the middle of the night.
  3. October 24: There was an explosion on the top floor of a residential building in Dalian City, Liaoning Province.
  4. October 24: A lab at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Jiangsu Province, had an explosion.
  5. October 25: An explosion occurred on the food vendor street outside the Huangdao Campus of Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qiangdao, Shandong Province. The whole street was burned out.
  6. October 26: An explosion occurred at Shandong Ding Ding Chemical Technology Co. in Zibo City, Shandong Province.
  7. October 26: An explosion occurred in a residential building in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province.
  8. October 26: Nine fishing boats caught on fire in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province.
  9. October 27: A building under construction in Tianjin City was caught on fire.
  10. October 27: A fire broke out at a factory building and the hotel next to it in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province.

Political commentators expressed the thought that it was abnormal to see so many explosions or even the intensified reporting on the explosions, as the Chinese Communist Party tends to filter out negative news to portray a “stable” society.

Source: Epoch Times, October 31, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/10/31/n13342305.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

Beijing Issued a “Food Conservation Action Program”

On October 31, the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued a “Food Conservation Action Program.”

It has the following sections:

  1. Overall requirements
  2. Improve the conservation and loss reduction in the agricultural production chain
  3. Improve the loss reduction in food storage
  4. Improve the loss reduction in food transportation
  5. Improve the conservation and loss reduction in food processing
  6. Resolutely curb the waste in food and drink consumption
  7. Push for innovation on food conservation and loss reduction
  8. Strengthen the propaganda and education on food conservation and loss reduction
  9. Strengthen the food safeguarding measures

Source: China’s Government Site, November 1, 2021
http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2021-11/01/content_5648085.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Does Ruili City Need Help?

Ruili City in Yunnan Province is a key port city bordering Myanmar in southwest China. It has been locked down five times since last year due to Covid. The former Deputy Mayor Dai Rongli recently posted an article on the Internet stating that Ruili residents have suffered severely. He appealed to the government to provide aid to the city and its people.

This article spread widely among Chinese netizens.

The current Ruili Mayor Shang Labian responded that the article was only one person’s opinion and it used out-of-date data. He said that Ruili does not need support from other places. (Note: Communist Officials generally do not want negative exposure.)

Mao Xiao, the Party Secretary of Ruili’s Party Committee also said that the higher-level government has already provided them with a lot of support.

Many netizens from Ruili also posted comments on the Internet, stating, for example, “The mayor does not need help but I need help.”

Sources:
1. Lianhe Zaobao, October 29, 2021
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20211029-1208156
2.  Epoch Times, November 2, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/11/2/n13347206.htm

 

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

China Escalates its Control over Lawyers

The All-China Lawyers Association (ACLA) issued new regulations for lawyers and law firms banning them from discussing cases in public in the latest move to tighten control over lawyers.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established the ACLA in July 1986 and placed it under China’s Ministry of Justice.  under the ACLA Charter Article 3. The ACLA follows Xi Jinping and the CCP’s leadership and practices law according to China’s socialist rule of law. All lawyers in China are members of the ACLA.

On October 20, 2021, the ACLA issued the “Rules on Prohibiting Violations and Speculation on Cases.” The Rules require that lawyers and law firms shall not “spread violations of the [CCP’s] party line, principles, and policies,” “oppose the leadership of the Communist Party of China,” or “incite complaints against the Party and the government.”

The new ACLA regulations also require that lawyers and law firms not hype up cases through joint signatures, open letters, and online gatherings to show solidarity. They also ban posting comments on cases on social media.

In addition, the ACLA stipulates that, for publicly heard cases, the undertaking lawyers shall not disclose or disseminate important information and evidence materials obtained through client interviews, file reviews, investigations, and evidence collection “that may affect the handling of the case.” For cases that are not heard publicly, lawyers cannot disclose or disseminate case information and materials.

However, some of these bans are causing grave concerns among rights lawyers in China.

Since July 9, 2015 (7-09), the police in over 20 provinces and cities throughout China have conducted a crackdown. They have arrested, summoned, criminally detained, taken away, disappeared, or interrogated hundreds of Chinese human rights lawyers, civil rights activists, petitioners, and their relatives. The charges against them have included: “inciting subversion,” “disturbing a court order,” “picking quarrels, provoking troubles,” and many other examples. At least 280 people were detained during the crackdown.  The authorities banned them from the practice of law and continued to monitor and harass them after their release.

The CCP touted the 7-09 crackdown on lawyers as its significant achievement in 2015. During the following year’s 3rd Plenary Session of the 5th Session of the 12th National People’s Congress on March 12, 2016. Zhou Qiang, President of the Supreme Court, and Cao Jianming, President of the Supreme Procuratorate, made special mention of the crackdown.

Sources:

1. The All China Lawyer Association, October 20, 2021
http://www.acla.org.cn/article/page/detailById/32079

2. U.S. Department of State, July 8, 2021
https://www.state.gov/on-the-6th-anniversary-of-the-709-crackdown-in-china/

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chinese University Cancels Left-wing Scholar Event for Speaking Ill of CCP Leaders

China’s Nanjing University (NJU) had previously made an agreement with Zizek, a well-known Slovenian left-wing scholar, to hold a “Colloquium on Zizek’s Philosophical Thought” from October 29 to 31, 2021. At the event, Zizek himself was scheduled to deliver a lecture online and conduct a dialogue with Chinese scholars. However, at the last minute, news came out from the NJU Department of Philosophy that Zizek would not be allowed to speak at the conference to discuss his philosophical ideas. The conference was later cancelled with the excuse of “epidemic prevention and control” and “adjustment of schedules of participating experts.” The incident sparked widespread concern and discussion among netizens in mainland China.

An anonymous source at NJU told a reporter that Zizek, a famous Marxist scholar, was “silenced” and the event was even cancelled because his speech involved politically sensitive contents and even “made presumptuous remarks about the leaders of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”

“The simple fact is that what he said in his speech was all about political issues, criticizing many social phenomena that do not fit the CCP’s intention of ‘positive energy’ and its ‘main theme.’” The source said, “What frightened the NJU leaders even more was that he actually made direct comments about the central leadership, mentioning Xi Jinping without naming him, saying that he was engaging in capitalism by cracking down on big companies and opening the Beijing Stock Exchange. He also directly named Wang Huning as a neoconservative. The event, if it were held, would have violated a political taboo. That’s why he was not allowed to speak. The fact that Zizek’s own seminar did not allow Zizek to speak would become a laughingstock. As the university leadership could not afford to lose face, they simply found an excuse to cancel the event.”

Wang Huning, who ranks no. 5 on the 7-member Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top decision making body, is in charge of the CCP’s propaganda.

Source: Boxun, October 30, 2021

左翼学者齐泽克发言稿妄议中共领导人，南大“齐泽克哲学思想研讨会”将其“禁言”后取消

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics