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Beijing Passed a “Maritime Traffic Safety Law,” Regulating Submarines and Nuclear Ships

In April, Beijing passed the “Maritime Traffic Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China” and started enforcing it on September 1.  According to the law, five types of foreign ships entering China’s territorial waters need to report to China’s Maritime Administration, including: submarines; nuclear-powered ships; ships carrying radioactive substances; ships carrying toxic and harmful substances such as oil, chemicals and liquefied gases in bulk; and other ships that may endanger the safety of China’s maritime traffic as stipulated by laws, administrative regulations or the State Council.

Beijing has taken several coral reef islands in the South China Sea and built them into permanent islands, thus expanding its claim to territorial water deep into South China Sea. Observers pointed out that the first two items in its must-report list – submarines and nuclear-powered ships – are likely to refer to U.S. naval ships.

Source: United Daily News, August 30, 2021
https://udn.com/news/story/7331/5710339

Entertainment Ordered to Study Xi Jinping’s Articles; Crackdown Has Started a Revolution

On August 30, 2021, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a directive requiring literary and artistic workers to study a series of articles by the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping.

The directive was issued to address the current violations of laws, regulations, and moral failures in the entertainment business, to further strengthen the control of education and to cultivate and promote the core values ​​of socialism.

The first item in the directive is to “strengthen study and education.” Specifically, it refers to studying Xi Jinping’s series of important expositions on literary and artistic work in depth. The directive calls for a deep understanding that the cause of entertainment is an “important cause for the party and the people” and that the entertainment front is an “important front of the party and the people.”

On August 29, 2021, the CCP media, China Youth Daily, posted a commentary entitled “Everyone Can Feel  that a Profound Change Is Underway!” More than 30 state media at the central, provincial and municipal levels in China have since prominently re-posted the commentary.

The commentary calls China’s recent crackdown measures “profound reforms” or “profound revolutions.” From censoring entertainment stars to suspending Ant’s Initial Public Offering, to Alibaba’s fine of 18.2 billion yuan, to the investigation of Didi and to the “common prosperity” policy, all measures show that a profound reform or revolution is taking place in the economic, financial, cultural, and even political arena. A profound “revolution” or “revolution” is returning capital to the people, to the CCP’s original goal, and to socialism. Those who attempt to block this reform will be “abandoned.”

The commentary continues that this “profound reform” is to counter the “barbaric and ferocious attack” of the United States against China. The commentary implies that China’s capitalists are the “fifth column” of the United States in waging a color revolution in China. “The United States is imposing increasingly severe military threats, economic and technological blockades, financial strikes, political and diplomatic containment and the suppression of China.” “The United States is more aggressively waging a color revolution through the fifth column within China. If this time, we still have to rely on those big capitalists as the main force of anti-imperialism and anti-hegemony,” China will not need enemies to fight. “It will fall first by itself,” just like the Soviet Union back then. That’s why China is reforming the “capital circle” and the “entertainment circle.”

Sources:

1.) China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, August 30, 2021
https://www.mct.gov.cn/whzx/whyw/202108/t20210830_927427.htm

2.) People’s Daily, August 29, 2021
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2021/0829/c1001-32211523.html

3.) Radio France Internationale, August 31, 2021
https://tinyurl.com/6p54dc87

 

Private Schools in China Are Disappearing

The owners of private schools in China have been forced to turn over their facilities to the state.

On August 25, 2021, the Ministry of Education of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responded to questions from the media regarding the “Notice on Regulating the Establishment of Public Schools or Participation in the Establishment of Private Compulsory Education Schools.” The Ministry of Education stated that schools must cooperate with the CCP and carry out education reform as an important political task. Under the new regulation, private schools will be either handed over to the state or cease their operation within two years. The CCP’s suspension of private schools appears to be politically motivated to strengthen ideological control and amounts to misappropriating private assets.

The fallout from the education reform is rippling across the country.

On August 25, 2021, Yingshang School in Anhui Province notified its students’ parents that it closed its doors. In 2020, the school was a flagship in Yingshang County’s investment promotion campaign. The Jiangsu Zhufeng Education Group established it and invested in it. It was to provide elementary, junior high, and high school education. The campus has a construction area of ​​130,000 square meters and can accommodate 6,300 students. The school year was scheduled to start at the end of August.

Recently, the Huaiyang No. 1 Senior High School in Henan Province announced that the school will be donated in its entirety to the local government to “repay society.” It had a teaching staff of 1,300 and more than 20,000 students. The Henan Provincial Department of Education approved the school in 2002 and started to admit students in 2005. The school was touted as a model high school in Henan Province.

Jiaxiang Foreign Language School in Sichuan Province was turned over to the local government and will operate as a public school. It is the first compulsory education school in Sichuan that was converted from a private school to a public school after the implementation of the “Notice on Suspending the Approval of the Establishment of Private Compulsory Education Schools” that the Sichuan Provincial Department of Education had issued on June 11, 2021. The Notice requires all local governments to suspend the approval of private schools in the compulsory education stage.

In Hunan Province, on June 22, 2021, the Department of Education issued a notice on regulating private compulsory education. It requested that private junior high and primary schools reduce their students to below five percent of the total compulsory education students. It amounts to a reduction of approximately 364,000 students. Further, Hunan Province will no longer approve new private compulsory education schools.

In Jiangsu Province, the CCP Education Work Leading Group issued a directive stating that it will no longer approve new private compulsory education schools. The order sets the goal of reducing students at private compulsory education schools to below five percent of the entire compulsory education students within two or three years.

Sources:

1.) The Government of the People’s Republic of China, August 25, 2021
http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2021-08/25/content_5633202.htm

2.) Zhihu, August 3, 2021
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/396201138

 

In 2020, China’s Economic Espionage Cases Were Seven Times What They Were Five Years Ago

On August 30, Dong Jingwei, China’s Vice Minister of State Security (MSS), said that the number of espionage cases in the economic and financial sectors in 2020 were seven times what they were five years ago. At the same time, the MSS has “strengthened work in non-traditional areas such as bio-security, network security, and data security, and has achieved rich results.”

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission held a press conference on August 30. Dong, who was once rumored to have defected and fled the country, made his public appearance and made the above statement in response to media questions.

Dong Jingwei said that the national security organs “organized and mobilized the whole society to fight the anti-espionage war.”

Dong mentioned that MSS has achieved comprehensive coverage of the National Security People’s Defense Line. After the activation of the national security reporting platform in 2018, the number of tips submitted by the public has continued to increase, reaching a total of more than 11,000. MSS has launched investigations based on many of the submissions.

Source: Central News Agency, August 30, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202108300301.asp

ETIM Stands between China and the Taliban

China held its first diplomatic talks with the Taliban on Wednesday August 25, establishing “effective communication” with the insurgent group in Afghanistan. However, the growing relationship between the two countries seems to be contingent on the Taliban’s ties with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a Uyghur militant group.

ETIM is an extremist group of native Uyghurs, which is a Muslim minority in China. The ETIM’s stated objective is to form a sovereign nation of East Turkestan. It is to be carved out from Xinjiang province.

In 2002, the United Nations and the US officially designated the ETIM as a terrorist group. “ETIM has a close financial relationship with al-Qaida and many of its members’ received terrorist training in Afghanistan, financed by al-Qaida and the Taliban. A statement from the US Treasury Department in 2002 said, “A number of ETIM and ETIM-linked militants were captured in Afghanistan last fall fighting alongside al-Qaida and the Taliban.”

On August 30, a Chinese government spokesperson for Xinjiang province said, “In the past, the ETIM gathered in Afghanistan, posing a direct threat to the security and stability of Xinjiang. It is hoped that the Afghan Taliban draw a clear line from ETIM and attack them resolutely and effectively.”

Days earlier, on August 27, Xi Jinping, the general secretary of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) said in a meeting in Beijing, “We must resolutely guard against major hidden dangers in the ethnic field. It is necessary to  …  eliminate ethnic divisions and religious extremes.” “We must strengthen international anti-terrorism cooperation.”

Source: Central News Agency, August 30, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202108300168.aspx

China to Regulate Algorithms behind Internet Platforms

On August 27, 2021, the Cyber Administration of China, the country’s top Internet regulator, issued a draft version of the “Internet Information Service Algorithmic Recommendation Management Provision.”

“The use of algorithmic recommendation technology … refers to the use of generative or synthetic–type, personalized recommendation–type, ranking and selection–type, search filter–type, dispatching and decision-making–type, and other such algorithmic technologies to provide information content to users.”

The draft version stated, “Algorithmic recommendation service providers shall uphold mainstream value orientations, optimize algorithmic recommendation service mechanisms, vigorously disseminate positive energy, and advance the use of algorithms upwards and in the direction of good.”

“Algorithmic recommendation service providers may not use algorithmic recommendation services to engage in activities harming national security, upsetting the economic order and the social order, infringing on the lawful rights and interests of other persons, and other such acts prohibited by laws and administrative regulations. They may not use algorithmic recommendation services to disseminate information prohibited by laws and administrative regulations.”

“Algorithmic recommendation service providers shall strengthen information content management; they shall establish and complete feature databases to be used to identify unlawful and harmful information”

“Where unlawful information is discovered, transmission shall cease immediately, measures such as deletion shall be adopted to handle it, information spread shall be prevented, and relevant records preserved; and a report shall be made to the cybersecurity and informationization department. Where harmful information is discovered, it shall be dealt with according to online information content ecology management-related regulations.”

“Algorithmic recommendation service providers shall … vigorously present information content conforming to mainstream value orientations in key segments such as front pages and main screens, hot search terms, selected topics, topic lists, pop-up windows, and more.” “The national cybersecurity and informationization department is to establish a categorized and graded management system, to implement categorized and graded management of algorithmic recommendation service providers on the basis of the public opinion properties of algorithmic recommendation services or their social mobilization capability, content categories, scale of users, the degree of sensitivity of data handled in algorithmic recommendation, the degree of interference in users’ activities, etc.”

“The providers of algorithmic recommendation services with public opinion properties or social mobilization capabilities shall conduct a security assessment according to relevant State regulations.”

“Algorithmic recommendation service providers shall cooperate with relevant competent departments carrying out security assessment, supervision, and inspection work according to the law, and provide the necessary technical, data, other data, and support and assistance.”

The Provision also specifies the punishment such as a fine between 5,000 and 30,000 yuan for violating the regulations. “Where an act violating public order management is constituted, public order management punishment is to be imposed according to the law; where a crime is constituted, criminal liability is to be prosecuted according to the law.”

Source: Cyber Administration of China, August 27, 2021
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2021-08/27/c_1631652502874117.htm

Falun Gong Scored a Win in HK Court

Falun Gong online site Minghui recently reported that Falun Gong practitioner Hong Ruifeng won a case in Hong Kong. In 2013, the Hong Kong government accused Hong of an “Illegal display of placards and posters on government land without written permission” and “Obstructing public officials.” On August 19, 2021, the court ruled that Hong Ruifeng was “not guilty” of either of these two counts.

Since 2013, Hong has been clarifying the truth about Falun Gong on the street in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) confiscated his banner board. The government later filed a lawsuit against him. Hong explained that there was video evidence showing that it was actually FEHD staff who prevented him from closing the small site. Hong said he was happy to win the case. He has been on the street clarifying the truth about Falun Gong for 21 years. He also insisted that, “The persecution (of Falun Gong) has not stopped, and the truth has to be clarified.” Hong expressed the belief that winning the case means that justice returned to Falun Gong practitioners. [Editor’s note: On July 20, 1999, The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a campaign to “eradicate” Falun Gong. Since then, Falun Gong practitioners Have been clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to enable people to undestand why the CCP’s decision was wrong.]

Source: Minghui, August 22, 2021
https://bit.ly/38xVO4t

LTN: U.S. Survey Showed Strong Support for Taiwan

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that the U.S. independent think tank, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, release its new survey report. The report showed that, if China invades Taiwan, more than half of Americans agree to provide U.S. military assistance to Taiwan and nearly 70 percent of the respondents support Taiwan’s independence. The report also showed that 65 percent of the individuals surveyed support Taiwan’s entry into international organizations; 57 percent support the signing of the US-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement; 53 percent support a formal alliance between the United States and Taiwan; 52 percent support sending US troops to defend Taiwan; and 46 percent support a clear commitment to defend Taiwan when China invades. This is the highest percentage recorded in the same survey since the think tank first raised these questions in 1982. The report indicated that 60 percent of Republicans, 50 percent of Democrats, and 49 percent of independents are in favor of sending U.S. troops to defend Taiwan.

Source: LTN, August 27, 2021
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/3651933