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Two New Zealand MPs Resigned Due to Ties with Beijing

On May 26, news website Politik revealed that the resignations of two former MPs in New Zealand in 2020 had been orchestrated after the National and Labour party leadership received security briefings over growing concerns about their links to Beijing.

On May 27, in a personal column in the New Zealand Herald, Matthew Hooton, political adviser to Todd Muller, who was leader of the New Zealand National Party in 2020, confirmed that their departure was the result of the intervention of intelligence agencies.

Yang Jian, an MP from the National party and Huo Raymond, an MP from the Labour party resigned last July within 11 days of each other. Yang had served as MP for 10 years and Huo had served for seven years. During their terms as MP, they were frequently spotted participating in the events that the Chinese consulate or the United Front Department had organized. In 2017, two weeks before New Zealand’s September 2017 general election, Financial Times and Newsroom.co.nz reported that Yang has been teaching at a Chinese military institution for over 15 years. However, he did not disclose the teaching experience in his citizenship application. In 2019, Yang accompanied the leader of the National Party and met with Guo Shengkun, China’s secretary of Political and Legal Affairs.

In 2017, Anne Marie Brady, a Chinese scholar at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, published the report called, “Magic Weapons.”  The report listed a number of encounters that Yang and Huo had with Beijing’s United Front organization in New Zealand. The report mentioned that both Yang and Huo openly supported the Belt and Road initiative. Huo set up the Belt and Road Research Association in New Zealand and named himself as the Chairman. Huo organized a fund-raising banquet for the current Mayor of Auckland and raised over US$188,000. The participants were mostly Chinese. One of the items auctioned during the fund raising was the book Xi Jinping Talks about Governance Theory. Xi Jinping had signed the book. A Chinese buyer paid 150,000 New Zealand dollars (US$109,000) for the book. In addition, Huo once prevented New Zealand from inviting the Dalai Lama to visit. He told New Zealanders that the Dalai Lama was a separatist and a slave owner. In September 2019, he also introduced Beijing’s “New and Old Tibet” exhibition to New Zealand.

Source: Epoch Times, May 31, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/5/31/n12987469.htm

Chinese Generations Y and Z Caught Between “Involution” and “Lying Down”

Involution (内卷Nei Juan) and Lying Down (躺平 Tang Ping) have become buzzwords among Generations Y (born in the 1990’s) and Z (born in 2000) in China. One refers to “excessive competition” while the other one indicates “dropping out of competition.” Both of them reflect the frustration of China’s younger generation towards the fierce competition in society.

On Weibo, there are over 1 billion views on topics related to “Involution.” In 2020, “Involution” became one of the “top ten buzzwords” in China. Involution came from Clifford Geertz who used it to describe the agricultural process in which many centuries of intensifying wet-rice cultivation in Indonesia had produced greater social complexity without significant technological or political change. Generations Y and Z in China use it to describe their feeling of powerlessness when faced with competition. If they don’t work hard and don’t compete, they will fall behind or end up dropping out; they are repressed and unable to make a breakthrough. What they are facing is unlike the1990’s or early 2000 when China’s economy was taking off. That was the time when their parents benefited. Generations Y and Z missed that window. Meanwhile they have also found that their parents or employers do not understand them very well.

In April 2021, six months after the word “Involution” gained popularity, Lying Down (躺平 Tang Ping) appeared. It is a way that those in the younger generation show their resistance to “Involution.” “Lying Down” means that Generations X & Y withdraw from the competition by giving up what they think is meaningless. The state media quickly expressed concern and even condemned the words. Guangming Daily pointed out that “Lying Down” is disadvantageous to economic and social development. The society needs the younger generation to bring “creative contributions” when China’s economic development is facing challenges such as an aging population. Nanfang Daily criticized that it is shameful to “Lie Down” and not making an effort. Other media call it an irresponsible attitude towards their parents and tens and millions of tax payers. The official media reports are merely there to maintain social stability. They had to allow the younger generations to release their frustrations, but many people will undoubtedly regard “Lying Down” as a social problem.

Source: BBC, June 2, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-57304453

Chinese Customs Announced List of Unqualified Imports, Naming H&M and Nike

On June 1, China’s General Administration of Customs announced a list of unqualified imported children’s products. Swedish clothing brand H&M and U.S. sports brand Nike are on the list for using hazardous materials. H&M and Nike were targets of a boycott in China after Chinese netizens unearthed old statements from the brands stating that they had taken a stand against cotton sourced from the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang over concerns about reports of forced labor involving the Muslim Uyghur minority.

The official website of the General Administration of Customs (GAC) of China reported the quality of some imported children’s products investigated over the past year, involving 81 batches of imported children’s products in five categories: clothing, toys, toothbrushes, shoes, and pacifiers and bottles. Among them, ten brands including H&M, Nike, MUJI, ARCELO BURLON, Bonton, GAP, GU, mikiHOUSE, STORY LORIS, and ZARA allegedly failed to pass the standard for rubbing color fastness, or the ability to sustain the original color of dyed fabrics when rubbing. GAC claimed there is a risk that dyes or harmful substances may be absorbed by the human body through the skin, mouth and other health hazards.

Source: Central News Agency, June 1, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202106010379.aspx

Chinese Investment in Eastern Europe’s Clean Energy

China’s state media People’s Daily reported the official launch of a 100 MW solar power plant in Kaposvár, Hungary last week. The project, built by China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC), is expected to generate 130 million kilowatts of electricity per year, saving 45,000 tons of standard coal and reducing 120,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions after it is connected to the grid.

The Kaposvár plant is the largest solar power plant in Hungary in terms of installed capacity. The paper quoted the Hungarian Minister of Innovation and Technology, Laszlo Palkovics, “The ‘Belt & Road Initiative’ is highly compatible with Hungary’s policy of ‘opening up to the east.’ The Kaposvár solar power plant is a key project of cooperation between Hungary and China in the field of clean energy.”

The paper continued, “Due to the high proportion of coal in the energy structure, Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are generally facing the challenge of energy transition. … CEE countries have set their own emission reduction targets and energy transition tasks and are vigorously investing in hydrogen, nuclear, solar, wind and other clean energy. Many Chinese enterprises have actively participated in the energy transition of CEE countries. Many Chinese manufacturers of new energy vehicles, lithium battery and parts have set up factories in CEE countries. A large number of green, low-carbon, eco-friendly and popular clean energy projects have been steadily promoted. Projects such as the Mozura wind farm in Montenegro, the combined cycle power plant in Pančevo, Serbia, and the hydropower plant in Dabar, Bosnia and Herzegovina have completed or started construction, bringing huge economic and environmental benefits to the local communities.”

The report also mentioned the solar power plant in Poland. The China-Central and Eastern Europe Investment Cooperation Fund invested in it and acquired it. In February, the plant’s first batch of four projects were officially completed and connected to the grid after one year of construction. Poland’s Minister of Climate and Environment Michał Kurtyka said, “By 2040, half of Poland’s installed power generation capacity should have zero-emissions. We very much hope that Chinese companies actively participate in the development of Poland’s clean energy industry and look for mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation opportunities.”

Source: People’s Daily, June 3, 2021
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2021-06/03/nw.D110000renmrb_20210603_5-17.htm

Italian Parliament Condemned China’s Human Rights

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the lower house of the Italian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, passed a motion on May 26 expressing its strongest condemnation of “the various human rights violations that China has committed against its ethnic minorities and religious groups.” It called on China to grant the UN High Commissioner access to “re-education camps” in Xinjiang. The resolution from the parliament of the first European country who joined China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” certainly dealt a blow to China.

The motion shows that the pro-China trade and economic policy of the former Italian government has begun to falter. In particular, since he became prime minister in February this year, Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank, has come to the forefront of the European Union’s efforts to strengthen its tough stance on China. Draghi had recently invoked its so-called Golden Power to block China’s takeover of a semiconductor firm in Italy.

The Chamber of Deputies did not adopt the use of the term “genocide”, which has been used by the Canadian and U.S. governments. In Europe, the British Parliament first proposed to adopt the finding that the Chinese government’s serious and systematic violations against the Uighurs in Xinjiang were genocide. Because the discussion of “genocide” caused a serious political division, the motion ultimately chose to avoid the word.

The motion calls on the Draghi government and EU partner countries to take a “firm stand” against China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, which include illegal birth control, the repression of religious freedom, forced labor in detention camp factories, arbitrary detention and the use of digital technology for surveillance purposes.

Laura Harth, campaign director of Safeguard Defenders, a human rights non-governmental organization, told Radio Free Asia, “The bill was debated in Parliament and the media made a big deal out of it. Before it was very difficult to discuss the Uighur issue in Italy, but the epidemic from China has significantly changed the attitude of the MP’s.”

Italy, single-handedly signing the “Belt and Road Memorandum” with Beijing among EU member states, has been seen as an important bridgehead for China to conquer EU. The Italian public began to see the other side of China upon the outbreak of the epidemic, as well as from receiving the fake news spread by Chinese diplomats on Twitter, claiming that Italians were grateful for Chinese aid and were playing the Chinese national anthem. In March, Deputy Foreign Minister Marina Sereni summoned the Chinese Ambassador to protest against the sanctions that  China imposed on several European parliamentarians and to reiterate Italy’s position in defense of human rights and freedoms.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 31, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/cl-05312021160148.html

China Surpassed Germany to Become Britain’s Largest Trade Supplier

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that, according to the British National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter, China became Britain’s largest supplier. This broke Germany’s number one position which it had held since 1997. In the first quarter, imports from China increased by 66 percent, to 16.9 billion pounds. In the meantime, imports from Germany declined by a quarter to 12.5 billion pounds. The increase on the China side was the direct result of the high demand for the personal protection products (PPP) for the pandemic. The German decline was largely caused by the shrinking car sales, also due to the pandemic. At the moment, the top five importing countries for the UK are China, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands and Belgium. China’s exports to Britain are mainly in three categories: machinery products, electronic equipment, and various chemical products. Britain’s exports to China grew mainly in the areas of machinery and transportation equipment. In addition to cars and fossil fuels, British exports also include products in the pharmaceutical industry and material manufacturing. London is the one city alone that has ranked number five among all British exporting areas.

Source: Sina, May 27, 2021
https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2021-05-27/doc-ikmxzfmm4907145.shtml

Global Times: U.S. Dollar Hegemony Crack Is Widening

The Global Times recently published a commentary analyzing the power of the U.S. dollar. The commentator indicated that the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status is being weakened by the Euro, the Japanese Yen and the Chinese RMB. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the fourth quarter of 2020, the Euro held a 21 percent share in the global central bank currency reserve, which restored it to the same high level of six years ago. At the same time, the U.S. dollar fell to 59 percent, which was a 25-year low. This is the result of the U.S. government borrowing money from the world uncontrollably, and the U.S. Federal Reserve having no bottom line for its quantitative easing. The fact that the Biden Administration’s ambitious infrastructure investment plan kept shrinking its total size is very telling. Even many U.S. economists have said the Federal Reserve is running out of ideas after massively printing money. The U.S. inflation rate is reaching a very high level. This is triggering a global discussion of the need to put an end to the U.S. dollar’s hegemony. The Chinese RMB, with a significant share in the IMF’s SDR, cannot be underestimated, although the RMB has only a two percent share in the global currency reserve. The Euro and the Chinese RMB, via the IMF platform, should increase their weight in the global economy, along with other modern methods, like the digital currency and currency exchange agreements among central banks.

Source: Global Times, May 27, 2021
https://opinion.huanqiu.com/article/43Hm5dUrz6X

RFA: China’s New Regulations Caused Further Suppression of the Catholic Religion

Radio Free Asia (RFA) recently reported that, starting in May, China implemented its new “Measures for the Administration of Religious Staff.” The new regulations require that the staff members in all religious groups must support the Chinese Communist Party. Those Catholic clergymen who refused to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which was blessed by the Communist Party but not recognized by the Vatican, were the first to face suppression. On May 21 and 22 in Hebei Province, hundreds of policemen surrounded a monastery and detained Bishop Zhang Weizhu, seven priests and more than 10 monks. Since the Hebei Xinxiang Diocese did not want to join the Patriotic Association, it was recognized as illegal under the new regulations; hence the crackdown. All Catholic families in the diocese were searched and fined for possession of Catholic symbols. The police also confiscated those Catholic symbols, their crosses, pictures of the Pope, statues or portraits of saints, and all of the religious symbols that they had.

Source: RFA, May 23, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/7-05232021151415.html