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RFI: Brief Pro-U.S. Experience of a National CCP Advocate

Jin Canrong, a professor at Renmin University of China, is known for his aggressive anti-American stance. He has national fame as an “anti-American pioneer” and a diehard advocate for the Chinese Communist Party.  Many people put him alongside Fudan University professor Zhang Weiwei and Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin.

For example, on July 20, heavy rains in Henan flooded the Zhengzhou subway and the entire Beijing-Guangzhou tunnel. According to local authorities, hundreds of cars were submerged with at least 300 fatalities.

On the morning of July 23, Jin Canrong posted on weibo, “In addition to natural disasters and man-made disasters, we need to be wary of another possibility; that is, an attack by weather weapons of a hostile country.” He meant that the United States may have triggered the Henan flood using weather weapons.

On the evening of the same day, Jin surprised many with a weibo posting that showed  him having dinner with a U.S. embassy diplomat.

He was “invited to have dinner with the new political officer of the U.S. Embassy, ​​Mr. Su Weiguang [the Chinese name of the diplomat], and they exchanged views on Sino-US relations and the Taiwan issue. …”

Jin Canrong also posted a photo of himself and the U.S. diplomat.

Jin Canrong’s aggressive stance on the United States is well known such that his two postings have caused an uproar in public opinion among Chinese netizens.

“What a day Jin Canrong had! He was tough as a nail when scolding the American imperialist during the day and thoroughly enjoyed a big dinner that the American imperialist paid for at night. Work hard at sunrise and rest at sunset.”

“During the day, everything is work as part of his official duties. At night it is life and a personal relationship!”

In response to public criticism against the posting on the U.S. weather weapon, Jin Canrong defended it. “I just saw the posting. I did not know who wrote it.” Jin’s weibo account is maintained by Beijing ceskywebsolutionsco., ltd., of which Raojin owns 97 percent.  Jin said that the posting on U.S. weather weapons was ghost-written by his fan at the direction of Raojin.

Fang Zhouzi, a well-known science writer, had a question:

“Has Jin Canrong rebelled? He posted a weibo suggesting that the heavy rain in Henan was an attack that the U.S. ‘weather weapon made.’ After having dinner with a U.S. political officer, he came out clean, saying that the weibo posting was written by his team partner, and he did not know anything about it. What other microblogs he posts are ghost-written by others? That team seems to be Hu Xijin’s partner’s team. Are Hu Xijin’s postings also ghost-written by someone else?”

Source: Radio France Internationale, July 27, 2021

https://rfi.my/7bdr

STCN: U.S. SEC Froze Chinese Company IPOs

China Security Times (SecuTimes or STCN) recently reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stopped processing the registration of U.S. IPOs of Chinese companies and their other sales of securities. The SEC is crafting a new investor risk disclosure guidance to respond to Beijing’s recent regulatory crackdown. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler later publicly stated on the SEC official website that he raised concerns about the way Chinese companies are going public in the U.S. He said that the Chinese government has recently put forward new guidance and restrictions on Chinese companies raising funds overseas, including conducting cyber security reviews for these companies. The SEC plans to require overseas issuers related to Chinese operating companies to make more disclosures and especially to ensure that they are clearly disclosed in a prominent position. The SEC also plans to conduct additional targeted examinations on the listing applications of companies with major business operations in China. In June, the SEC removed the chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). That Board was considered negligent in promoting independent audits of Chinese companies listed in the United States. The SEC is also under pressure to finalize the delisting rules for Chinese companies that do not meet the U.S. audit requirements. Around 418 Chinese companies are listed on U.S. exchanges.

Source: STCN, July 30, 2021
https://news.stcn.com/sd/202107/t20210730_3495645.html

U.S. and The Philippines Resumed Visiting Forces Agreement

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that Philippine President Duterte met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on July 29. The two sides announced the full resumption of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and agreed that there is room for strengthening the relationship between the two countries. Secretary Austin, at a joint press conference on the next day, expressed his gratitude to President Duterte for his decision to fully restore the VFA. The VFA is one of the critical military agreements signed by the Philippines and the United States in 1998. It includes agreements on military exercises. President Duterte proposed to terminate the VFA last year. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier that the differences and contradictions between China and the Philippines, as President Duterte has repeatedly emphasized, should not affect the friendship and cooperation between the two nations. Some analysts expressed the belief that Duterte is trying to please the military in exchange of their support for his election effort next year. Secretary Austin visited three Southeast Asian countries including Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines in late July to strengthen alliances in the region.

Source: Sina, July 30, 2021
https://mil.news.sina.com.cn/2021-07-30/doc-ikqcfnca9980186.shtml

BBC Chinese: China’s Taishan Nuclear Power Plant Shut Down for Inspection

The BBC Chinese Edition recently reported that the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) announced on July 30 that “a small amount of fuel damage” occurred in Unit One of the Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Plant. The company decided to shut down the unit for inspection to identify the cause of the fuel damage and to replace the damaged parts. The Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Plant has the largest single-unit nuclear capacity in the world. In mid-June, the outside world questioned the safety of the plant. US media revealed that Framatome, the French supplier of the Taishan Plant,  asked the US Department of Energy for help, describing the Taishan Plant as facing “an imminent radiological threat.” At that time, CGN called the reports “rumor” and “hype” of the Western media. CGN’s latest announcement now says some small fuel damage does exist, but it was within the allowable range of the specifications. Framatome was once a subsidiary of Areva and was resold to EDF (Électricité de France) in 2009. In 2015, the French regulatory authorities found quality problems in Areva components. That brought the construction of three nuclear power plants in China, France, and Finland to a halt. The China Taishan Plant resumed construction later, but the plants in France and Finland remain delayed.

Source: BBC Chinese, July 31, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-58037951

Beijing Cracks Down on Private Tutoring Sector

In order to encourage families to have more children, Beijing has launched a series of policies to reduce the cost of raising a child. It has banned private tutoring activities and cracked down on home purchases in good school districts. Prestigious private schools have also become targets.

On July 24, the State Council issued an opinion to scrutinize and regulate off-campus institutions including a suspension on approving new private tutoring institution applications and a requirement that existing agencies be converted into non-profit entities. It directed that all training institutions be prevented from being listed on the stock market for financing purposes and they were also banned from using foreign teaching materials.

On July 30, after the Central Committee held a meeting on carrying out the “three-child” policy, the Ministry of Education issued a notice stating that it will ban teachers from hosting paid supplementary lessons for middle school and elementary school students outside of school hours or from engaging in monetary or gift exchanges with parents.

The crackdown order that the provincial government is carrying out has turned private tutoring activities into an underground business. For example, Hebei Province has set up a dedicated tipping portal so that the public can report private tutoring activities. Guangdong Province has incorporated a crackdown effort as part of its “anti-gang crime” measures. Hubei Province placed the Office of Combating Pornography and Illegal Activities in charge of the crackdown on private tutoring agencies.

Meanwhile, shares of Chinese tutoring firms plummeted in both the Hong Kong and the U.S. stock markets. Between the top three off-campus education and training institutions, New Oriental, the Beijing Science and Technology Education Corporation and K12, they lost a total of approximately 128.7 billion yuan (approximately US$19.85 billion) in market value during the two trading days of July 23rd and 26th.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, July 30, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/ac-07302021070407.html

2. Epoch Times, July 30, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/7/30/n13128035.htm

Wuhan to Issue Housing Vouchers to Qualified Buyers

In a notice issued on July 28, the Wuhan Housing Management Bureau proposed to issue housing vouchers to curb the overheated housing market. The proposal suggested that people must present their housing voucher before they can buy a house and each voucher is valid for 60 days. People who got the housing voucher illegally will be ineligible to buy a house for one year. Their name will also be added to the dishonest housing buyer blacklist. According to real estate insiders, in the past, buyers could register to buy regardless of whether they were qualified. This has resulted in an overstated market demand and disturbed the market order.

Since 2021, there have been over 320 policies introduced to curb the overheated housing market. There were 46 new polices from the central administration, compared to 30 in the same period in 2020.

On July 23, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and another eight departments issued the “Notice on Continued Rectification and Standardization of the Real Estate Market Order.” This further increased the industry’s expectations for strict and tight regulation of the housing market in the second half of the year. Subsequently, many places including Shanghai, Shaoxing, Zhejiang and Hangzhou issued new measures on regulating the real estate market.

Source: Central News Agency, July 30, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202107300062.aspx

Controversies around Chinese Gymnast’s Pick of “Anti-Japanese Music” at Tokyo Olympics

On Sunday July 25, in a qualifying match, Chinese women’s gymnastics player Tang Xijing, chose Jiu Er, the end credits song of the Chinese TV series Red Sorghum as the background music for the competition.

The TV series Red Sorghum, starring the Chinese actress Zhou Xun, is adapted from the novel by Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan. Set in Shandong Province during China’s war against Japan between 1937 and 1945, it tells the story of a man and a woman who ended up being killed by the Japanese for participating in the resistance movement.

For many Chinese people, Jiu Er is a familiar melody that reminds them of the TV series and stories of flighting against the Japanese invasion. In addition, Tang also chose a Chinese patriotic song Me and My Motherland for the competition.

Chinese netizens overwhelmingly expressed support for Tang’s pick of this anti-Japanese song for the Tokyo Olympics.

Some posted, “I want to cry when I hear this song; we are strong.”

“The main business is to win. The side business is to take revenge.”

“Not only will the national anthem be played on Japanese soil, but also anti-Japanese songs will be on the game field.”

“(The pick of Jiu Er) is to protest Japan’s provocations in its history of invasion and on its meddling in the Taiwan Strait.”

“When the motherland is strong, you can go to the home of the people who bullied you and hit them in the face.”

“Win win win, we’ve won in spirit.”

However, a few netizens pointed out that it is unethical and against the spirit of the Olympics to play an anti-host song on the host’s home turf. On Twitter, some Japanese netizens expressed their “discomfort” and said that Tang’s action was “deliberately insulting to Japan” and “disrespectful to Japan”.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, July 27, 2021
http://www.czaobao.com/shiju/20210727/97286.html