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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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Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

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The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.

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Golden Globe Winner’s Comments Triggered another Wave of Nationalist Sentiment in China

On February 28, Chloe Zhao won Best Director at the 78th Golden Globe for her movie “Nomadland.” Born in Beijing in 1982, Zhao became the second female director in history to win this honor and the first Asian director to win the Golden Globe after Ang Lee. People on the Chinese social media and the state media cheered and praised Zhao. People’s Daily even called her “the pride of China.” However, the praise quickly took a sharp turn because people found a couple of prior interviews Zhao had in which she was accused of making negative comments about China.

In 2013, Filmmaker magazine interview Zhao. When asked why she picked a Native American story for her first film, she stated, “When I was a teenager in China, being in a place where there are lies everywhere. you felt like you were never going to be able to get out. A lot of information I received when I was young was not true; I became very rebellious toward my family and my background.” In another interview with an Australian media in 2020, Zhao said, “The U.S. is now my country.”

People’s nationalist sentimentality exploded on Chinese social media. They started calling Zhao “anti-China,” or “traitor director.” On social media, they even called for a boycott of “Nomadland.” A research center affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences posted a comment on social media saying, “Let’s not praise Chloe Zhao for winning the Golden Globe Best Director just yet. First, we had better find out what her real attitude towards China is.”

On March 5, Sina Weibo took Nomadland down from its top search list. Chinese movie site “Douban” removed the Chinese version of the Nomadland poster and deleted its release date in China.

Back in 2017, a domestic produced movie, “Wolf Warriors 2,” which had a strong patriotism theme, was released. It set a record of over 5 billion (US$770 million) in box office revenue in China. The nationalist theme in the movie aligned perfectly with the CCP’s agenda: China is on the rise and is in conflict with Western ideology. There was no criticism of the movie in the news media. The China Film Bureau has extended the screening period to 95 days.

The CCP has always used patriotism as the official narrative for love of the party and support of its rule. Patriotism is often used in the context of nationalism when the CCP needs to incite xenophobia or suppress those who agree with western values.

Sources:
1. Boxun, March 8, 2021
https://boxun.com/news/gb/pubvp/2021/03/202103080834.shtml
2. 163.com, March 1, 2021
https://www.163.com/dy/article/G41D26FO05179RJN.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Sichuan International Studies University Hires Student Information Officers

Sichuan International Studies University issued an internal notice to recruit student information officers. The notice stated that candidates will be managed and paid by the Chongqing City Public Security Bureau. Their responsibility will be to monitor security information on campus. Students who understand minority languages are preferred. It is believed that this was meant to be able to monitor foreign students from the countries where such languages are spoken.

In the notice that the security office of the university issued on March 8, it said that they will hire 3 student information officers for each department. It is believed that there is already one anonymous student information officer in each class to monitor speech by fellow classmates and professors.

Since Xi Jinping came to power, universities have elevated the ideological control on campus. The authorities have secretly deployed surveillance personnel in schools to monitor teachers’ speech in the classroom and student activities. Since 2019, dozens of teaching staff, including Tang Yun, a professor at Chongqing Normal University, have lost their teaching positions due to student informants. Professors are now highly alert and have had to self-censor their speech inside and outside the classroom.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 11, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/minority-03112021050316.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

British General Warns of the Advantage Russia and China Have in Cyberspace

On March 13, Patrick Sanders, the head of the Strategic Command of the British Armed Forces, wrote an article for the Times. In the article he stated, “We are ceding the strategic initiative to our rivals. For all we herald the return of great power competition, the truth is it has never ended. While we drained our strength in interventions like Iraq, others have used the time and space to further their interests more strategically.” Sanders wrote for the Times, “China has pursued a strategy of winning without fighting, changing the terms of the international order; Russia has combined military and non-military means to alter the map, attempting to change the balance of power and undermine the cohesion of our societies through disinformation. Both are gaining a decisive advantage in information age military technologies.”

The senior military officer further stated, “The consequence has been a succession of strategic surprises, the erosion of strategic advantage and the loss of initiative. Unchecked it is not unthinkable that we will find ourselves vulnerable in time to a fait accompli, where as a nation we have capitulated without a shot being fired.”

Sanders listed a three-pronged integrated strategic response, including Defense Intelligence, Information Age warfare by deploying artificial intelligence systems, and growing grey zone capabilities to secure networks and data and regain the edge in electronic warfare.

Source: The Times, March 13, 2021
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-and-russia-have-seized-the-initiative-in-battle-for-cyberspace-fq87vg8dn

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China and Russia to Build a Joint Lunar Research Station

China and Russia have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the construction of an international lunar research station. This is the latest agreement between China and Russia on a number of cooperative decisions on space projects. The signing of the memorandum coincides with Russia’s celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first manned spacecraft flight and the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first space station.

The China National Space Administration is building the lunar research station in conjunction with Roscosmos, Russia’s state corporation responsible for space flights, cosmonautics programs, and aerospace research. It will be an integrated scientific test base, built on the lunar surface or in lunar orbit, for the purpose of scientific research activities such as exploration and utilization of the moon itself, lunar-based observation, basic scientific experiments and technology verification. Both parties claim that this research station will be open to all interested national and international partners.

There is no detailed plan or timetable for the construction of the station. A reference may be the construction process of the International Space Station (ISS), which is now in operation while orbiting about 400 kilometers from the Earth. This space station, with the participation of 15 countries, took a total of 10 years to accomplish.

This cooperation between China and Russia is of considerable importance to each side. Russia’s space program is clearly lagging behind in comparison with the many projects such as the United States and China’s exploration of the Moon and Mars in recent years. By joining forces with China, Russia has a chance to return to the ranks of the leading nations in space technology. If this cooperation with Russia is successful, it could be one of the largest international collaborations in China’s space history. In short, Russia wants to rebuild its former glory in space technology, and China wants to catch up with the United States’ dominance.

Source: BBC Chinese, March 10, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-56346151

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Xi Jinping’s True Intention Leaked: (China) Must Bring Down the United States

On February 25, 2021, the Propaganda Department of the Qilian County (of Qinghai Province) Party Committee published a speech on its Qilian News website that County Party Committee Secretary He Bin had given. He Bin made the speech at the seminar on studying and implementing the Fifth Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee.

He Bin stated that Xi Jinping announced the political judgment: “A strong West and a weak East is now history … the rising East and the declining West” will be the future. He Bin claimed he understood this message after studying Xi Jinping’s important speech and the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee sentence by sentence.

Regarding the China-US strategic competitions, He Bin revealed that Xi Jinping made these major statements, “The biggest source of chaos in the world today is the United States” and “the United States is the biggest threat to China’s development and security.”

After the news was reported, the article disappeared and is no longer available on the Qilian News website.

Source: NTDTV, March 7, 2021
https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/mkt_ipad/2021/03/07/a103068633.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China to Push a New Policy to Attract Overseas High-end Talent: The “Thousand Talents Plan” 2.0?

China’s 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), which concluded on Thursday March 11, adopted the resolution on the 14th Five-Year Plan and the long-range objectives through the year 2035. The second part of the resolution indicates that China will bring in more high-end talent from overseas to help the development of cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, life sciences, aviation and aerospace. The purpose is to achieve the goal of making China a science and tech super power.

The resolution also mentions that, in the next five years, China will “implement a more open talent policy and build a research and innovation highland that gathers outstanding talent from home and abroad.” At the same time, China will “improve the policies for foreign high-end talent and professionals to reside in China while doing work, research and exchanges and it will improve the policies on permanent residency for foreigners and explore its technical immigration policy.” The policies include a sound system of remuneration and benefits, children’s education, social security, and tax concessions that will attract foreign talent. In addition, the document also considers establishing an international technical organization and allowing foreigners to work in China’s state-run technology institutions.

Cheng Xiaonong, a Chinese economist living in exile in the U.S. told Radio Free Asia that the new policy of introducing talent in the new five-year plan is an extension of the “Thousand Talents Program” that China has done. The essence is to steal foreign intellectual property and advanced technology by poaching talent from other countries.

China’s Thousand Talents Program (TTP) was launched in China in 2008. Afterwards, some TTP scholars have come under the scrutiny of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for alleged espionage in the U.S. Since 2018, the FBI has been increasing the number of arrests and prosecutions of TTP scholars. At the same time, the U.S. Department of State began applying tougher restrictions on Chinese students by shortening from 5 years to 1 year the duration of visas for those planning to study aviation, robotics, and advanced manufacturing.

In September 2018, a working group for the Thousand Talents Program asked related Chinese organizations not to mention the wording “Thousand Talents Program” to the public in order to protect the safety of overseas talent. The word “Thousand Talents Program” and other related words have long been blocked on the Internet in mainland China.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 11, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/kejiaowen/bx-03112021113226.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Chinese Scholar Expressed Concerns over Facial Recognition Technology

China’s state media Science and Technology Daily Quoted Cai Xiaohong, a researcher with the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who criticized the widespread abuse of facial recognition technology. The problem prevails in shopping malls, scenic spots, and office buildings, where people unknowingly have their facial information collected.

It has been reported that China’s facial recognition market has been growing at an average annual rate of 50 percent over the past few years, and is expected to break $50 billion this year.

The theft of facial information, which cannot be changed or replaced, triggers multiple risks and problems in technology ethics, public safety and law. In December last year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that real estate agents scanned the faces of a number of homeowners in Guangxi province in southwest China. These homeowners later found out that their properties had been transferred to others without their knowledge.

In other news that the official China Central Television reported, an artificial intelligence security research team at Tsinghua University revealed a security vulnerability of facial recognition. The team invented a special eyeglass that can break the algorithm of facial recognition devices, and were quickly able to unlock 19 cell phone models on the market.

Source: Central News Agency, March 7, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202103070051.aspx

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology