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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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Sichuan Province Proposed New Law to Safeguard Food Supply

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) recently reported that the Sichuan provincial people’s congress proposed a new law to regulate all aspects of the food supply, including agricultural production, storage, distribution, quality assurance, emergency safeguards, and legal responsibilities for key players. A major addition to the traditional cycle is to encourage restaurants and catering businesses as well as individual families to maintain a certain level of food inventory based on their regular consumption level. Sichuan Province is one of China’s primary food (mainly rice) producing provinces that supply the whole nation. The local congress also issued a report which indicates there has been a sustained “gap” between supply and demand in the province, especially after the COVID pandemic outbreak. The proposed new law also establishes new regulations on protecting agricultural land, in terms of both quantity and quality. (Editor’s note: Traditionally the Chinese socialist system depends on the government instead of private entities for its food inventory.)

Source: Sohu, September 27, 2020
https://www.sohu.com/a/421278720_115362

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Social Stability

The U.S. Issued Three Major Measures against the CCP around China’s National Day

The U.S. released three major measures against the CCP around October 1, which is China’s National Day. On October 2, the U.S. Immigration Service issued a policy announcement prohibiting Communist Party members and those who have joined the Communist Party from applying for U.S. immigration status. On October 1, U.S, Congressman Scott Perry and three other Congressmen jointly introduced legislation to “add the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the Top International Criminal Organizations Target (TICOT) List and to provide United States law enforcement agencies a strategic directive to target the CCP’s malign activities.” On September 30, the Republican China Task Force of the U.S. House of Representatives released the results of an expansive survey on the CCP and an action plan to address the growing danger of the CCP. The Task Force mentioned that the CCP, like the Soviet Union, will be a threat to the United States for generations. The report stated that the United States’ diplomatic strategy towards the CCP has failed, and Washington must respond to the CCP’s challenge and reverse the failed strategy of engagement with China.

Mr. Zhang Lin, a well-known democracy activist from Anhui Province who is now living in the U.S., told The Epoch Times that both the Republican and Democratic parties in the U.S. have become more aware of the evil nature of the CCP. Since the U.S. has increased its sanctions against the CCP, the CCP has been facing mounting pressure from the U.S. Every year around October 1, there used to be a meeting of pro-communist leaders to organize the China’s National Day celebration in the U.S. This year, however, it was quiet. In the parade Zhang Lin organized in Flushing on September 27, the pro-CCP groups did not make any trouble at all. They did not even hold up the CCP national flag, which would have been unheard-of in the past.

Source: The Epoch Times, October 3, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/10/3/n12450833.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

U.S. Bans CCP Members from Immigrating to the U.S.

On October 2, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a policy manual to “address inadmissibility based on membership in or affiliation with the Communist Party or any other totalitarian party. Membership in or affiliation with the Communist Party or any other totalitarian party is inconsistent and incompatible with the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America, which includes pledging to ‘support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States.’” The policy also states that “unless otherwise exempt, any intending immigrant who is a member or an affiliate of the Communist Party or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate), domestic or foreign, is inadmissible to the United States.”

The past immigration laws have regulations on the immigration of Communists and members of totalitarian political parties. The latest guidelines mainly indicate that the requirements of the federal immigration law must be strictly enforced. They clearly stipulate that Communists and related personnel should be prevented from obtaining immigration or permanent resident status in the U.S.

It has been reported that some Chinese immigrants and students studying in the U.S. have gone through the procedures to withdraw from the Communist Party through relevant means. Such means include proving proof that they have withdrawn from the Communist Party through a newspaper.

Since the beginning of this year, the conflicts and disputes between the U.S. and China over issues such as the trade war, COVID 19, Huawei, and Hong Kong have escalated step by step. In addition, in recent years, many Chinese scholars and international students have stolen U.S. technology secrets, forcing the U.S. to launch a series of espionage cases. Sanctions contain the gradual tightening of visas for certain individuals and international students. In early July, citing violations of human rights, the U.S. Department of the Treasury added four Chinese officials, including Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, to the sanctions list, banning them from entry into the U.S. and freezing their assets.

Washington’s recent sanctions target not only high-ranking officials in the Chinese government, but also personnel from key companies and organizations. U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo stated on July 15 that the U.S. will “impose visa restrictions on certain employees of Chinese technology companies like Huawei that provide material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally.” Prior to this, the U.S. began to impose visa restrictions on China’s official media reporters. At the beginning of June, the U.S. also announced that it would no longer issue graduate visas to international students related to the Chinese military, and that visas already issued will also become invalid.

Source: Voice of America, October 3, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/USCIS-new-policy-guidance-indamissiblity-based-on-party-membership-20201003/5607582.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

SMIC Stockpiling Supplies Far More Than One Year’s Needs

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is the Chinese partially state-owned publicly-listed semiconductor foundry company. The U.S. Department of Commerce has placed an export restriction on its suppliers. It is scaling up its procurement from upstream suppliers in the United States, Europe, and Japan, with a size exceeding a full-year’s demand for 2020. The procurement items include etching, lithography and wafer cleaning equipment. The purchase of consumables used to maintain the operation of the equipment is also more than one year’s need. SMIC is even cooperating with other Chinese chip manufacturers to establish a shared reserve of such parts, and has established a central warehouse to store these products.

A source from a U.S. chip equipment manufacturer said that SMIC is eager to stock up on equipment. The company ordered more equipment than needed for its current expansion plan. At the end of last year, ASML (ASML.US), Europe’s largest chip manufacturing equipment manufacturer, shipped an advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) chip production tool to SMIC. However, the transaction has been put off.

SMIC relies heavily on foreign semiconductor equipment suppliers, including U.S. based Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA, Taradyne, ASML in the Netherlands and Tokyo in Japan.

Source: Sina.com, October 4, 2020
https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2020-10-04/doc-iivhvpwz0355862.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Embassy Returns Former Mongolian President’s Letter to Xi Jinping on Replacing Mongolian Language

Former Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj recently wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping to protest against the authorities’ push for the use of Chinese teaching materials in Inner Mongolia. Elbegdorj tweeted on September 25th that the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia returned the letter. Elbegdorj also posted a message on Facebook saying that he will not retract this letter to the Chinese leader and that this letter will attract more and more attention.

In the content of the letter that Elbegdorj posted on his Twitter account, he mentioned that China’s Constitution stipulates that “all nationalities have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written language.” He pointed out that this is now flagrantly infringed upon with respect to the Mongolian children in Inner Mongolia.

He also said, “I write to you (Xi Jinping) as I could not sit idle hearing that the tens and hundreds of thousands of Mongolians and their children that wish to exercise their rights that the Constitution has granted are experiencing indescribable anguish.”

The Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Chai Wenrui said that he noticed that Elbegdorj recently made remarks on the issue of bilingual education reform in Inner Mongolia. Chai added that the views in his letter to the Chinese leader are completely wrong, and China does not accept them.

The Chinese authorities are accused of suppressing the Mongolian mother tongue and culture in Inner Mongolia, triggering a backlash in public opinion in Mongolia. When Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Mongolia a few days ago, more than one hundred demonstrators gathered in Sukhbaatar Square in front of the Mongolian Government Palace, shouting, “Defend our mother tongue” and “Wang Yi go away.”

Source: Central News Agency, September 26, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202009260207.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xi Jinping’s Name Written into the “Work Regulations” of the CCCCP

A recent politburo meeting in China decided to include General Secretary Xi Jinping’s name in the “Work Regulations” of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP), an important document of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), alongside its Constitution. It is believed that as long as the “Work Regulations” remain in effect, Xi Jinping will remain as the core of the party.

On Monday September 28, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP) held a meeting to study and formulate the 14th Five-Year Plan for the nation’s socioeconomic development, and goals to be achieved by the year 2035. General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the meeting, which also discussed the “Work Regulations” of the CCCCP. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the formulation and issuance of the “Work Regulations” is an “inevitable requirement for firmly safeguarding the authority and centralized leadership of the CCP Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core. It is also a major move for upholding and improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and for promoting the modernization of the national governance system. It therefore carries great and far-reaching significance for winning the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.”

Bao Tong was the political secretary of former CCP general secretary Zhao Ziyang, who lost power because he showed sympathy for the students in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Bao told Radio Free Asia, “If Xi Jinping must be maintained as the core in the ‘Work Regulations,’ it is the official party document stating that he will always be the core of the Central Committee, unless this document is abolished. As long as this document stands, he is the core.”

Bao added that it was Deng Xiaoping, the former CCP leader, who first put forward the idea of “core.” “His (Deng’s) definition of the ‘core’ is ‘having the final say.’ …  In the past, Mao Zedong was the core, and Mao had the final say. … Therefore, the ‘core’ is connected with the words ‘final say.’ I think the ‘core’ can only be explained this way, and there is no other explanation.”

This is the second time that Xi Jinping’s name has been written into an official document of the Central Committee of the CCP, after it appeared in the CCP Constitution in 2017.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 29, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/ql2-09292020061358.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People’s Daily: U.S. Presidential Debate Should Not Discuss China

Hours before the September 29, 2020, presidential debate, People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), published a commentary titled, “The U.S. Election Should not Manipulate the ‘China issue’ as in a Spectacle.”

 

The author of the commentary was Zhongsheng, a homophonic abbreviation of the “Voice of China” which is generally viewed as representing the opinion of the CCP leadership on international issues.

 

The commentary stated, “It must be emphasized that the U.S. election is an internal affair of the United States. China is not interested in it and has never interfered with it. Distractions and shifting conflicts cannot resolve the problems that the United States faces. The biggest ‘enemy’ of the United States is itself.”

 

The commentary further stated, “As an independent country, China has the right to safeguard its sovereignty, security, and development interests. It will not sacrifice its principles to cooperate with the U.S. election game. Some U.S. politicians should immediately stop playing tricks that drag China into American domestic politics.”

 

Source: People’s Daily, September 29, 2020

http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-09/29/nw.D110000renmrb_20200929_2-03.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics US-China Relations

Chinese Fishing Fleet Leaves Galapagos and Heads for Peru

In June of this year, about 300 Chinese fishing boats arrived near the Galapagos Islands, one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, to fish for giant squid in international waters.

Ecuador’s naval operations commander, Daniel Ginez, said this week that the size of the Chinese fleet is larger than in previous years. He said these fishing boats can be classified as vessels that are preying on fishing resources. “With such a large number of fishing boats we have the risk that certain species will be diminished,” Ginez explained.

At present, the Chinese fishing fleet is heading south to the waters near Peru.

With large fishing fleets, both Peru and Ecuador are highly dependent on seafood for their livelihoods and foreign exchange. World Bank data shows that in 2018, the two countries caught 4.5 million tons of fish, but that was only 25 percent of China’s ocean catches.

According to the statistics of Oceana, an organization that tracks fishing activities, the fishing time of Chinese fishing vessels between July 13 and August 13 totaled more than 73,000 hours, accounting for 99 percent of the fishing activities around the reserve.

The excessive fishing that Chinese ocean vessels conduct in international waters has spurred accusations from coastal countries and opposition from the international community. U.S. President Trump specifically mentioned in his speech at the United Nations on Tuesday September 22 that “China dumps millions and millions of tons of plastic and trash into the oceans, and fishes excessively in other countries’ waters.”

Soon afterwards, the US Embassy in Peru sent a tweet accusing the Chinese fleet of changing the name of the vessel and turning off GPS tracking, so as to restrict surveillance of its activities. The tweet said, “Overfishing can cause huge ecological and economic damage. Peru cannot afford such a loss.”

Last month, the U.S. Coast Guard coordinated with the Ecuadorian Navy to send ships to the area to patrol more than 3,000 miles in international and Ecuadorian waters to monitor this huge Chinese fishing fleet. Ecuador is also reportedly cooperating with neighboring countries such as Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia to establish a corridor of marine reserves to restrict commercial fishing.

China’s global fishing fleet is enormous. Estimates suggest it has 17,000 vessels, far exceeding other countries in the world. It is almost impossible to be thorough in monitoring these vessels. Now that it has nearly depleted the waters near China, China’s ocean fleet has been sailing further and further around the globe. Many underdeveloped countries that rely on fishery resources lack the ability to protect their maritime sovereignty.

Source: Voice of America, September 24, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-fishing-iuu-security-20200924/5596670.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend