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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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China to Censor Karaoke Songs

China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently issued a draft of the “interim regulations on the management of karaoke music content in entertainment venues,” and opened it for public comment. The purpose was “to strengthen the management of karaoke music content entertainment venues, to promote the core values of socialism, and to safeguard national cultural security and ideological security.”

The draft mentioned the phenomenon of prohibited songs offered in entertainment venues. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism established a national karaoke music content auditing expert group to establish a list of illegal songs.

According to the draft, there are nine categories of prohibitions, namely: violating the basic principles established by the Constitution; endangering national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity; endangering national security or damaging national honor or interests; inciting ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, hurting national feelings or infringing on national customs and habits, and destroying national unity; violating national religious policies, propagating evil religions and superstitions; propagating obscenity, gambling, violence and drug-related illegal and criminal activities; the violation of social morality or national cultural traditions; and insulting or defaming others.

The draft emphasizes that entertainment venues should use karaoke music from legal sources. The content provider of the on-demand song system should conduct self-censorship of the content of the songs and screenshots before providing karaoke music to the entertainment venues.

Source: Central News Agency, July 10, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202107100121.aspx

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Times: Two Major US Stock Indexes Remove Dozens of Chinese Companies

Major Taiwanese newspaper China Times recently reported that two major U.S. stock indexes, the S&P and the Dow Jones Indices and FTSE Russell, decided to remove dozens of Chinese companies from their indexes. This will take effect at the end of July and in early August, respectively. This is the latest move by the U.S. stock market in response to the Biden administration’s executive order against China, which prohibits domestic investments in companies suspected of being affiliated with the Chinese military. In the past decade, the US capital market has always been a source of funds for Chinese companies, especially in the technology sector. At the same time, in the past couple of weeks, China has cracked down on several Chinese companies that wanted to list in the U.S. stock markets. Also, some of the stocks removed earlier based on Trump’s order now can return under Biden’s new Presidential Decree.

Source: China Times, July 9, 2021
https://www.chinatimes.com/cn/realtimenews/20210709003053-260409?chdtv

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Beijing Cracks Down on Chinese Companies Seeking Foreign IPOs

On July 10, the China Cyber Space Administration published a draft version of a new data security law. It asked the public to provide feedback by July 25. The new law requires that Chinese companies seeking to list in foreign countries must first pass a cyber security review.

The statement stated that companies with a data base of over 1 million users must apply for cybersecurity approval before listing in other countries. The reason is that the data and personal information might be “influenced, controlled and abused by foreign governments.” The review includes an evaluation of the potential national security risks of the company’s overseas initial public offering (IPO).

According to data from Bloomberg News, 37 Chinese companies have been listed in the U.S. They raised a total of $12.9 billion this year.

As early as three months ago, Chinese authorities requested Didi Chuxing, the Uber of China, to postpone its IPO in the US. Despite inconsistent orders from various agencies, Didi Chuxing moved forward with its listing plan on June 30. On July 2, Beijing ordered a cyberspace security inspection on DidiChuxing and banned the new users from signing up. On July 9, 29 Didi Chuxing Apps were taken down online. All these measures are considered to be Beijing’s deliberate retaliation against companies that don’t follow its order. According to Didi Chuxing financial disclosure, in the first quarter of 2021, it had 156 million active users and an average daily transaction volume of 25 million in China while it had 493 million active annual users and 15 million active drivers annually worldwide.

On July 8, a number of companies withdrew their IPOs from the New York Stock Exchange including LinkDoc Technology, a medical data solutions and oncology big data service provider; Keep, a modile fitness company, and Meicai, a food delivery firm.

The new law could push more Chinese Internet companies to list in Hong Kong, rather than listing in other countries, in order to bypass such scrutiny.

Source:

1. Epoch Times, July 10, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/7/10/n13080990.htm
2. Central Cyberspace Affairs, July 10, 2021
http://www.cac.gov.cn/2021-07/10/c_1627503724456684.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

RFI Chinese: Chinese Company Acquiring UK’s Largest Semiconductor Manufacturer

Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition recently reported that Nexperia (headquartered in the Netherlands), owned by Chinese company Wingtech, is in the process of acquiring Britain’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, Newport Wafer Fab (NWF). The move raised doubts about British national security. UK Prime Minister Johnson stated in the British Parliament last Wednesday that his national security adviser will look into the acquisition. The analysts expressed the belief that this obviously represents a reversal of the British government’s policy on this case. At the moment when the UK-China relationship is strained and the global chip shortage intensifies, the overseas investment situation of Chinese companies is increasingly under scrutiny. This acquisition case is particularly concerning. It is worth noting that, only one day before the Prime Minister made the comments in Parliament, his spokesperson told reporters that the government thought, “It would be inappropriate to intervene at this moment.” The Chinese government holds around a 30 percent stake in Wingtech.

Source: RFI Chinese, July 7, 2021
https://bit.ly/3k1bjbZ

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times Chief Editor: the Taliban and China Are Friends

On July 9, the Taliban spokesman stated that they have made territorial gains and secured 85 percent of the region in Afghanistan. They also see China as a friend and welcome China to return to invest in Afghanistan. In response to the comment, Hu Xijin, the Chief Editor of Global Times, published a post on weibo boasting that the Taliban and China are friends.

Hu wrote in the post: “Now you understand how stable and powerful China’s diplomacy is. The United States has been fighting in Afghanistan for 20 years. More than 2,000 soldiers have been killed. It cost the U.S. one trillion U.S. dollars. The Taliban sees the U.S. as an enemy, and the Afghan government sees the U.S. as a selfish escapee. China’s approach, however, makes us friends with both Kabul and the Taliban. What’s important is that we will always be friends with Afghanistan.”

People posted comments trashing Hu’s post. One person wrote, “Who agrees that you and the Taliban are friends?” “Are we at a point that we need to be friends with the Taliban and use it as an achievement to show off?” “My views of the world, life and values are completely destroyed.” “Do we have no friends?” “It turns out that terrorists are also politically correct. Those who commit so-called terrorist attacks in Hong Kong must be killed without mercy! Meanwhile, Taliban terrorists can be friends. As a person and a country, you really have no bottom line. ”

Source: 163.Com, July 12, 2012
https://www.163.com/dy/article/GEML1RSU055250DA.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

RFA: CCP to Build Grassroots Governance and Abandon Grassroots Democracy

According to Xinhua News, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued a new directive to build grassroots government organizations. It no longer talks about expanding grassroots elections and other democratic autonomy mechanisms. Instead, it emphasizes the party’s comprehensive re-engineering of grassroots organizations as well as the implementation of tight control over them.

The “Opinions of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party and the State Council on Strengthening the Modernization of the Grassroots Governance System and Governance Ability,” included 7 major sections. It included overall requirements, improving the party’s overall leadership of the grassroots governance system, and strengthening the governance capability of grassroots political power. It also detailed 27 items, emphasizing the use of artificial intelligence and other modern scientific and technological information methods to strengthen the party’s overall control over grassroots government organizations, enhance organizational mobilization capabilities, and completely abandon the grassroots democratic experiments which have been carried out over the past two decades.

The document emphasizes “adhering to the party’s overall leadership of grassroots governance and enabling the party’s leadership to run throughout the entire process and all aspects of grassroots governance.” It also states that it plans to take about five years to establish a grassroots governance system with unified leadership of the party organization and use another 10 years to finish the modernization of the grassroots governance system and governance capabilities.

Source: Radio Free Asia, July 11, 2012
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/9-07112021170004.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CCP Anniversary Celebrations at Canadian Universities

While July 1 was Canada’s National Day, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) in Canada held events to celebrate the centennial of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Since mid-June, the messages about the “July 1 Party Centennial Campaign” have been circulating on WeChat among Canadian users. The CSSA’s at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU), as well as the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver organized the event. The event encourages students to submit artistic and literary works to express their so-called “love for the country and the Party.” Words in praise of the CCP were everywhere in the works of the winners of the awards that the organizers announced. For example, “The Chinese Communist Party has led the Chinese people to miracles that have shocked the world,” “We were born under the red flag and grew up in the spring breeze, and the shining five stars are our faith.”

A student at the University of British Columbia came from an immigrant family in Hong Kong. He told Radio Free Asia that clashes between Chinese and other students on university campuses have already occurred over Hong Kong and Xinjiang issues. The CSSA’s way of doing things is weird. Not all CSSA members are international students, and many are Canadian citizens or residents.

This is one of numerous examples of how Chinese authorities influence campus affairs in Canada.

Source: Radio Free Asia, July 8, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/lf-07082021140950.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend