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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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Chinese Pork Market Price Skyrocketed

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) recently reported that, since the end of December, pork prices have seen a significant increase across China, especially in Eastern China, Southern China and Southwestern China. The daily pork price increase rate reached 0.43 Chinese Yuan. The Imported pork price reached 36.02 Chinese Yuan (per half kilogram). In Northeastern China, the daily price increase reached 0.6 Chinese Yuan and the domestic pork price was almost 20 Chinese Yuan (per half kilogram). With the new year’s price hike, it is widely expected that the upcoming Chinese New Year (early February) will have another major increase in the price of pork. Many retailers now refuse to sell pork in hand and hope to make much more money by waiting just a few days, even if this means the breach of a contract where a compensation deposit was received. China is currently suffering a decline in imported pork volume due to the pandemic. Pork holds two thirds of Chinese meat market and its price significantly impacts the CPI (Consumer Price Index), which is a major indicator of an economy.

Source: Sohu, January 4, 2021
https://m.k.sohu.com/d/507690233?channelId=3&page=5

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability

RFA Chinese: Multiple HK Poll Indicators Reached Record Lows

Radio Free Asia (RFA) Chinese Edition recently reported on a poll sponsored by the Hong Kong government. The year-end poll showed that Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam once again scored lower than ever before. The record of the Public Sentiment Index recorded “extremely low.” Residents’ Happiness Level reached the lowest since 1992. In the past year of 2020, Hong Kong suffered a deepening antagonism between the government and the people; a greater division in its society, and the young generation’s growing distrust in the government. The researchers interviewed 250 middle school students during the pandemic. The result showed that 87 percent of the students lost confidence in the government. The same poll in 2019 showed an answer of 40 percent on the same question. The researchers called for the government to listen to the young people instead of seeing them as trouble. Analysts in the education field expressed their worry that Hong Kong seems to be entering Culture Revolution 2.0, which encouraged people to distrust each other under the new HK National Security Law. Some basic moral standards and social justice were also shaken. The Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam was given a score of zero by 44 percent of the people polled. Her approval rate is only 18 percent and her disapproval rate is 69 percent. Nearly all indicators of the poll reached record lows.

Source: RFA Chinese, January 5, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/hj-01042021165712.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Xi Jinping Orders PLA to Be Ready for War at Any Given Time

The recent military orders that Beijing introduced appear to suggest that China might be preparing to launch a war in the South China Sea or Taiwan or against U.S. military targets. On January 4, Xi Jinping signed the first Central Military Commission order of 2021. That order stressed that the PLA should use Xi’s thought as the guide while strengthening the party’s leadership in the military. It stated, “Focus on preparations for war.” “Comprehensively improve real time combat training and the ability to win,” and the PLA must practice combat training to ensure it is ready to fight at any time. Prior to this, there were two other orders that went into effect on January 1: “Regulations on Military Logistics” and the Amendment to the “National Defense Law.” In the Amendment to the “National Defense Law,” it gave legal grounds to launch a war if China feels that there is threat to its national interest.

Coincidentally, on January 4, the same day that Xi signed the first military order, U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo and Billingslea, the Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control, published a joint opinion paper urging Beijing to come clean on the nuclear weapons threat and buildup. It warned that the U.S. has the knowledge of Beijing nuclear development despite Beijing’s secrecy about its activities. It called for China’s transparency and for it to join the U.S. and Russia in crafting a new arms control agreement. In the opinion paper, it stated that “over the past four years, the Trump administration has awakened the world to the China challenge. Beijing’s two-decades-long asymmetric arms race is a core part of that challenge. It endangers the American homeland, our strategic positions in the Indo-Pacific, and our allies and partners. It is of concern to all peace-loving nations. We’ve briefed allies, partners and even the highest levels of the Russian government on China’s nuclear buildup.”

Source:
1. Xinhua, January 4, 2021
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/leaders/2021-01/04/c_1126944155.htm
2. Newsweek, January 4, 2021
https://www.newsweek.com/chinas-nuclear-madness-opinion-1558342

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

354 Tested Positive and 11,708 Quarantined in Shijiazhuang

At a press conference on January 8, 2021, the Hebei Province authorities stated that, from January 6 to January 9, 2021, Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, tested 10,251,875 residents for COVID-19. There were 354 positive results and 11,708 residents were quarantined.

Of the 354 positive cases, 298 were from in the Gaocheng District. Gaochen is one of eight districts of the prefecture-level city of Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province.

In Shijiazhuang, local stores are operating online exclusively to serve residents in the 537 residential communities. They include 90 produce wholesale markets, 59 medium to large supermarkets, 359 chain convenience stores, and 1,200 community convenience stores.

According to the local authorities, as of 8 am on January 9, 2021, Shijiazhuang had quarantined 11,708 people and has activated 120 quarantine facilities. The epidemic has not shown a clear turning point, and the risk of spreading still remains.

Source: Sina.com, January 9, 2021
https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-01-09/doc-iiznezxt1528200.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Sister of Imprisoned and Missing Human Rights Lawyer Committed Suicide

China’s famous human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been missing for more than three years and the Chinese Communist authorities have yet to issue any notice to Gao’s family. At the beginning of 2021, it was learned that Gao’s elder sister was in despair and committed suicide. Gao Zhisheng’s wife Geng He, now living in exile in the U.S., said that his sister attempted suicide twice before, because of the terror and the pressure due to what happened to her brother.

Gao Zhisheng, one of China’s top lawyers, represented cases of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in China. Between 2004 and 2005, Gao published three open letters to the then head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, exposing the stories of torture and mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners in labor camps and asking the authorities to change their unlawful policy toward Falun Gong. In 2006, Gao had his lawyer’s license revoked for speaking out for the marginalized and persecuted groups. He was subsequently abducted from his sister’s house in Shandong and sentenced to three years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.” In 2017, after serving his sentence, he disappeared .

Now Gao has been missing for more than 1,200 days. According to his wife, Geng He, that is the longest period of disappearance for Gao. She is worried that Gao has been tortured badly and is also deeply worried about his health.

On the first day of the new year, Geng He tweeted that in May 2020, Gao Zhisheng’s elder sister in Shandong committed suicide by jumping into the river due to prolonged and deep fear, depression and despair about her brother’s situation.

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 4, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/bx-01042021155959.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

NYSE Delists China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom?

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) reported on New Year’s Day that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) officially announced it will suspend trading of the stocks of China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom (Hong Kong) from January 7 to January 11, and delisting these three stocks has started. The action is to comply with the executive order President Trump signed in November, which was to ban investment in companies related to the Chinese military. The executive order does not allow U.S. investors to buy the stock of the companies that made it to the list that the Pentagon provided. This event is a sign that the United States is upping its game on the economic sanctions against China. It is expected that more Chinese companies will be forced out of the U.S. stock market in the future.

On January 5, Singapore’s primary Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported that the NYSE decided to stop the delisting process of the three Chinese companies. This was right after the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s statement on the willingness to take the “necessary steps” to counter the delisting. The report did not explain why the NYSE changed its mind.

Again on January 5, the BBC Chinese Edition reported that the NYSE decided to change its opinion for the second time and would continue the delisting of the three Chinese telecommunications giants. The new announcement said the decision was made based on the latest detailed instructions from the Department of the Treasury. This sudden and unexpected change caused stock market volatility.

China Mobile is China’s largest telecommunications provider with 946 million customers. It also has the world’s largest mobile network and customer population. China Telecom is China’s second largest telecommunications provider, with 346 million customers. The U.S. FCC withdrew China Telecom’s license to operate in the U.S. on December 10. China Unicom, also serving Hong Kong, is China state-owned and is the world’s fourth largest telecommunications company.

Sources:
(1) NetEase, January 1, 2021
https://www.163.com/dy/article/FV8NGKTD0534TJBN.html
(2) Lianhe Zaobao, January 5, 2021
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20210105-1113936
(3) BBC Chinese, January 5, 2021
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-55545795

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Four Officials Punished or Expelled from the Party

On January 4, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced the punishment of four officials. Hu Wenming, the former chairman of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, who was “involved in serious violations of discipline and the law,” was expelled from the CCP. His pay and benefits were cancelled, the proceeds from violations of discipline and the law were confiscated, and he was sent for prosecution. The CCDI criticized Hu for “loss of faith, ineffective implementation of major decisions of the CCP, malpractice for personal gain, abuse of power, and causing the major loss of assets of a state-owned company.” Hu Wenming was the commander-in-chief of the development of China’s first domestically-made aircraft carrier, the Shandong.

Wen Guodong, former deputy governor of Qinghai Province, was dismissed from public office and expelled from the party. The CCDI accused him of losing his ideals and beliefs; he also acted in a perfunctory manner on major decisions of the party. In addition, Wen was charged with acting as a “protective umbrella” for illegal coal mining.

Deng Huilin, former deputy mayor of Chongqing city, was also dismissed from public office and expelled from the party for serious violations of discipline and the law. His problems included ganging up inside the party, harvesting political capital, being interested in political speculation, making arrogant comments on major policies of the CCP, engaging in superstitious activities, and illegally accepting gifts and banquet invitations.

Luo Jiamang, former chief accountant of China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO), is the fourth official under CCP discipline. CCDI accused him of losing his ideals and beliefs, having little political consciousness, interfering with inspection work, and opposing organizational review.

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 4, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/cadres-01042021054000.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics