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China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

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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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The CCP Uses Macao’s Casinos for Its United Front Work

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently arrested Alvin Chao, a prominent Macao casino CEO.  Yuan Hongbing, a writer and political dissident from China, pointed out that Alvin Chao and Macao’s casinos are part of the CCP’s united front work. That work consists of expanding the reach and influence of the CCP.

According to Yuan, Alvin Chao worked for the CCP’s United Front Work Department. Zeng Qinghong, Jiang Zemin’s right-hand man and former Vice President of China, was previously in control of the united front work. Alvin was given a membership in the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The People’s Political Consultative Conference is under the United Front Work Department.

The CCP’s spies belong to five systems: state security, the military, public security, the CCP’s International Liaison Department, and the CCP’s United Front Work Department.

The CCP has used the casino business to push its Belt and Road Initiative throughout Southeast Asia. In addition, “The CCP used the casino business to infiltrate the high-ranking officials in Southeast Asia.” Macao is a base that the CCP has used to capture politicians from Southeast Asian countries, including Taiwan. “We know many Taiwanese who have defected to the CCP. First they went to Macao to gamble and later they fell into the CCP’s trap.”

Yuan also expressed that the arrest of Chao is part of the infighting between Xi Jinping and Zeng Qinghong.

Source: Epoch Times, November 30, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/11/30/n13406823.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

HKEJ: Italy Vetoed Third Attempted Chinese Acquisition of an Italian Company This Year

The Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ) recently reported that the administration of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has vetoed a Chinese acquisition of an Italian company. This was the third veto since Draghi took office in February this year. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange had listed Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical (300316.SZ). It issued a notice stating that a joint venture with Applied Materials Hong Kong Branch planned to acquire the Italian branch of a U.S. display printing equipment company. At a Cabinet Meeting on November 18, the Italian government vetoed the deal. Italian Industry Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti favored the use of the veto power, saying the transaction may have an impact on the semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry is regarded as one of the strategic industries in Italy. Italy enacted the “Golden Powers Bill” in 2012 to prevent non-EU companies from acquiring companies in strategic industries. Since then, this is the fifth time that relevant powers have been exercised. The first four times involved Chinese companies, and the Draghi administration made three of those decisions.

Source: HKEJ, November 24, 2021
https://bit.ly/317U55F

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China Tightened Control over Celebrity Online Information

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that China’s Central Cyberspace Administration just issued an administrative notice on regulating entertainment celebrities’ online information. The key points of the notice were: Celebrity online information must present “positive values” and must promote “socialist core values.” The government will establish a “negative list” of the behaviors that are not allowed online. Key link collections, such as top search lists, in principle, can only present one information piece about a celebrity in the collection at a time. The celebrity’s daily life, schedule, family members and personal interests cannot be presented in critical information display spots. These spots include recommended hot news, celebrity account names, descriptions and avatars. These cannot be used for negative information distribution. “Disgraced” celebrities will be banned across the network, The government will “closely monitor” online public opinion and verify the authenticity of the celebrity accounts.

Source: NetEase, November 23, 2021
https://www.163.com/dy/article/GPGC6OPI0512DU6N.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Social Stability

China Youth Daily: Tencent Apps Found Violating End User Rights

China Youth Daily recently reported that, in a recent government compliance inspection movement on app infringement of users’ rights and interests, nine products of Tencent had not been rectified as required. Tencent had been warned publicly four times. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has required that all new apps and updates to existing apps must pass government technical inspections before they can be released. Tencent responded to the news report, stating that the company is continuing to update its apps, to protect users’ rights, to cooperate with the regulatory authorities and to conduct normal compliance inspections. Currently Chinese mobile app users have felt strongly that many apps violate the rules of handling users’ personal information. They set up configuration barriers, harass users, and mislead users, among other violations. So far 2.44 million apps have been inspected. Of those, 2,049 apps that violated regulations were notified, and 540 apps that refused to be updated were removed from the app stores. In today’s Chinese app market, new issues such as microphone eavesdropping, communication theft, and unauthorized reading and writing of albums, are frequently exposed. There have been reports on some businesses, such as banks, that have asked employees to pause the use of popular Tencent apps such as WeChat.

Source: China Youth Daily, November 27, 2021
http://news.cyol.com/gb/articles/2021-11/26/content_OMpnOhW5M.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Taiwan: CCP Imposed Hefty Fines Because a Company Supported the DPP in Taiwan

The Far Eastern Group is one of the biggest conglomerates in Taiwan. It has made substantial investments in mainland China. Recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) targeted the company and fined it 36.5 million yuan (US$5.7 million), because of its support for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan.

Xinhua News Agency reported on November 22nd that the authorities in five provinces, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Sichuan, inspected Far Eastern Group’s chemical fiber textile and cement companies in their regions and found a series of violations in environmental protection, land use, employees’ occupational health, safety production, firefighting, taxation, and product quality. Authorities imposed fines, recovered taxes, and took back unused land that was given to the company.

Zhu Fenglian, the spokesperson from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office connected the fine to Taiwan independence activists. She said the mainland will absolutely not allow people supporting Taiwan independence to make money in the mainland and “eat the food and destroy the pot” – meaning to get benefits from the mainland while damaging it. She stated, “Taiwanese businessmen and companies (operating in mainland China) should discern right from wrong, stand firm, draw a clear line (separating them from) the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, and take practical actions to safeguard the cross-strait relations.”

The Far Eastern Group has made legal contributions to politicians from both the DPP and the Kuomintang, with more money to the DPP side. The CCP has been trying to collaborate with the Kuomintang and suppress the DPP.

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 23, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/hcm1123a-11232021054632.html

Hot Topics | | |   Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s “Whitelist” to Limit Key Industries Only to Chinese Companies

Bloomberg reported on November 16 that, in 2016, Beijing established the Information Technology Application and Innovation Working Committee (ITAIWC)  and has been using it to build a “Whitelist” so that entry into certain key industries is limited to “Chinese companies only.” China rejected the report on November 18.

Epoch Times provided some details about the ITAIWC’s actions in the past. In January, the Chinese Institute of Electronics, an institution directly under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released the “White Paper on the Development of China’s Information Technology Applications and Innovations Industry (2021) (the White Paper).” This is the first White Paper that the CIE and 16 enterprises and organizations have created in this field.

The White Paper said the Chinese government has included Information Technology Innovation into its national strategy and stated that, regarding the “2+8” model, the “2” stands for leadership by the party and the government, and the “8” stands for the eight big industries including finance, electricity, telecom, petroleum, transportation, education, medical treatment, and space.

The “Code of Work” of the ITAIWC sets the basic requirements for companies to apply to join its organization. The requirements are that the companies must be officially approved domestic enterprises and institutions engaged in research and development, production and manufacturing in the field of information technology application and innovation; the controlling shareholder of the enterprise must be a Chinese legal person or a Chinese natural person with a Chinese national as the legal person and less than 25 percent of the capital can be foreign capital.

The ITAIWC Technical Advisory Committee was formed in Beijing in March of this year. More than fifty people attended the meeting, including Major General Liao Xiangke, Dean of the School of Computer Science, the People’s Liberation Army’s University of National Defense Science and Technology, and Major General Wu Jiangxing, the Chairman of the China Network Information Technology Military-Civilian Integration Alliance. An official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology delivered a speech at the meeting.

Source: Epoch Times, November 21, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/11/21/n13389371.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Information/Technology

Kaisa Group Offered Debt Repayment Plan

The Evergrande debt problem was the first. It started a wave of Chinese real estate companies defaulting on their debts. Kaisa Group (佳兆业) ran into same problem. Its subsidiary Jinheng Wealth missed a payment of a 300 million yuan (US$47 million) financial product. Kaisa Group offered a guaranty on the product.

On November 22, Kaisa Group announced a repayment plan for its product. The plan was that its debt will be paid in installments, based on the due date. For money where the due date of the dept has not passed yet, the company will pay the investor 10 percent of the principle in the month when the payment is due. Then it will pay 10 percent every three months thereafter. There will be no interest payment before the principle is due. After that, the interest payment will follow the same 10 percent payment schedule once the principle is due.

For the principle due because the company missed the payment, it will pay interest for the extension at 4.35 percent (based on a one-year commercial load rate). The extended interest will be paid with 50 percent of what is due three months after it completes the payment for the principle and original interest, and then complete it in another three months.

Source: Sina, November 22, 2021
https://finance.sina.com.cn/money/roll/2021-11-23/doc-iktzscyy7194408.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s Birth Rate Hits a Record: the Lowest in 43 Years

According to the recently released “China Statistical Yearbook 2021,” China’s birth rate in 2020 was 8.52 per 1,000 people. It thus fell below 10 per 1,000 for the first time. This is the lowest rate in the past 43 years. There were 12 million births in 2020, about one-third fewer than the 17.86 million in 2016.

According to the Yearbook, China’s natural population growth rate (birth rate minus death rate) for 2020 was 1.45 per 1,000. This is a record low since 1978. Experts predict that, at the earliest, a negative growth rate is likely to occur during the 14th Five-Year Plan period  i.e., the 2021-2025 period.

In 1987, the birth rate was as high as 23.3 per 1,000, and the natural growth rate that year was as high as 16.61 per 1,000, both of which were historical highs for the period of more than 40 years.

The Chinese Communist Party adopted a law in August 2021 to lessen its control of planned parenthood by allowing three children per couple.

As young people are not responsive to the policy change, at least 12 provinces and cities in China, including Shanghai, Hebei, Henan, Tianjin, Guizhou, Anhui, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, have issued the “Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Application Plan (2021-2025)” The purpose of the plan was to increase assisted reproductive service agencies in order to help infertile couples with artificial insemination.

Among them, Sichuan Province plans to increase the number of institutions in the next five years by 20, Shaanxi Province 10, Anhui Province by 10, Shanxi five, Tianjin two more, and Hebei Province up to five.

At the end of June last year, China had 523 assisted reproductive medical institutions. Among them, there were 56 in Guangdong and 33 in Jiangsu Province. There are 27 medical institutions approved to set up human sperm banks, including two in Beijing, Shanghai, and Henan Province, respectively.

Sources:

1.) China Business Network, November 15, 2021
https://www.yicai.com/news/101229959.html

2.) The Paper, November 21, 2021
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_15479163

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources