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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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Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Demands Hong Kong Radio Stations Play China National Anthem

Under pressure from the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) government, all three major Hong Kong radio stations announced that they will start playing the China  national anthem in the morning. Radio Hong Kong announced that it plans to start broadcasting the Chinese national anthem on its radio channels at 8 am starting on the 16th of this month. Commercial Radio and Metro Radio also said today that they will play the national anthem at 8 am.

In addition, the Education Bureau issued a notice to primary and secondary schools, telling the schools to organize activities to promote the “National Constitution Day” on December 4. The request received some concerns that the schools are already overloaded due to COVID and the request was merely a political task.

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 7, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/htm/hk-anthem-11072020065629.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Announces the Draft Maritime Police Law

On November 4, the Chinese legislature — the National People’s Congress —announced the draft of the Maritime Police Law. This draft stipulates the tasks and rights of the Chinese coast guard when carrying out surveillance activities in the waters surrounding China. It stipulates that the China Coast Guard has the authority to remove or interrogate forcibly those who are on foreign ships illegally entering China’s territorial waters.

The draft further states that if a foreign vessel conducts illegal activities in the waters under China’s jurisdiction and does not obey the order, the coast guard can use weapons to enforce the law. Regarding the maritime police’s law enforcement area, in addition to China’s territorial waters, the draft also includes the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf.

Chinese Coast Guard ships have repeatedly invaded Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa County, where China claimed sovereignty, and have even followed Japanese fishing boats.

China has included the Coast Guard in the Armed Police Force, which is under the jurisdiction of the Chinese military. With the introduction of large ships, the coast guard may further strengthen its maritime activities in the future. The outside world is worried that after the Maritime Police Law is enacted, the Chinese coast guard ships will affect Japanese fishing boats operating in the waters around the Senkaku Islands.

Source: NHK Chinese, November 4, 2020
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/zh/news/265528/

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China Increased Media Coverage as U.S. Presidential Election Is Undecided

The result of the U.S. presidential election is undecided. The Chinese state media, which originally strictly controlled the reporting on the election, recently changed and even started to report on the differences in the vote projections that different U.S. main stream media made and on the protests in different U.S. cities.

A Chinese news reporter confirmed that Beijing had previously issued orders requiring that news related to the U.S. presidential election must be “coordinated” and the source must be an official media like Xinhua. There was to be no reprinting or follow-up on foreign media reports without authorization. News reports must comply with the statements from China’s spokesperson and strictly guard against messages or actions that might instigate anti-U.S. or boycott the U.S. sentiment.

Starting on November 5, Chinese state media significantly increased coverage of the U.S. presidential election. The focus is on the delay in the counting of votes, increases in mail-in votes, and on early voters resulting from COVID 19, and the “chaos” it has created. The media also showed footage of the protests of both Trump and Biden supporters.

Although the official media deliberately amplified that the vote was undecided, some Chinese people opted to track the election process on the Internet for days. A Beijing citizen observed that state media was too slow and only suitable for seniors. If anyone really wanted to track it in real time, he could watch it on the U.S. media sites directly.

Source: Central News Agency, November 7, 2020
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202011070070.aspx

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Evidence shows that Dahua Technology Is behind Xinjiang’s Surveillance Network

IPVM, a U.S. based company focusing on video surveillance, released a video report on Thursday, November 5, which revealed a secret it discovered in the products of Dahua Technology, a partially state-owned publicly traded company based in China which sells video surveillance products and services. The report stated that the wording “EM_NATION_TYPE_UYGUR” was found in the code of a product downloaded from Dahua Technology’s website.

These English words mean “ethnic type: Uyghur.” Next to these words are the Chinese characters of “维族 (新疆),” meaning “Uyghur (Xinjiang).” One can tell that this video surveillance software has a facial recognition function for Uyghur facial features.

IPVM contacted Dahua Technology for an explanation, but Dahua declined to comment. IPVM reported that the relevant information on Dahua Technology’s website was deleted about 30 minutes after IPVM made the contact.

Dahua Technology, headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, is one of China’s largest artificial intelligence companies. As of 2019, it occupied the second largest share of the global video surveillance equipment and service market, with an annual revenue of US$3.7 billion. The company has 16,000 employees.

Governments around the world have strongly condemned the concentration camps in Xinjiang that imprison millions of Uyghur Muslims. The huge video surveillance network has enabled Chinese police to arrest and repatriate Uyghur Muslims who had fled across the country.

Dahua and many artificial intelligence companies in China have participated in the construction of this network. They use artificial intelligence technology to design facial recognition software based on the facial features of the Uighurs, and they help the police to achieve all-round control of the Uighurs. Wherever Uighurs flee, they will be located quickly, detained or deported.

IPVM discovered that more than a dozen public security units in China have installed such software. Dahua claims it has won almost $1 billion in massive Xinjiang police surveillance deals.

The US government sanctioned Dahua in October 2019 because of its complicity in human rights abuses against Uyghurs. In response, Dahua bragged about how this showcased its “strong technology.” South China Morning Post reported that, last month, the company changed its product brand and still promoted its products on Amazon.

Dahua Technology’s main competitors are Hikvision, Megvii Technology, SenseTime and Yitu Technology. All of them have participated in the Xinjiang video surveillance network projects. Several of them are also on the United States’ sanctions list.

Source: Voice of America, November 5, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/Dahua-racist-Uyghur-tracking-revealed-20201105/5649563.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Chinese Officials Sacked for “Carrying Politically Problematic Books”

China’s Hunan provincial government website announced on October 29 that Chen Zehui, a former deputy mayor of Changsha city, was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and transferred to the procuratorial organ for investigation and prosecution. The notice alleges that Chen violated political discipline and that he purchased books and periodicals from abroad, which had serious political problems, stored them privately, and read them for a long time. Other charges include the violation of the CCP’s code of conduct, the acceptance of gifts of particularly large amounts, and suspicion of taking bribes.

A highlighted charge is about purchasing and reading “banned books.” A civil rights activist Huang Xiaomin told Radio Free Asia that, “The purpose is definitely to nip it in the bud and punish a few individuals as an example to others. It is to intimidate officials who wanted to spread views dissenting from those of the CCP.  …  One main reason is that some open-minded officials are increasingly aware of the problems in the current Chinese society.”

Similar incidents occurred in Huainan city of Anhui province. According to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s website, in June, Li Zhong, the former deputy mayor of Huainan City along with a member of the CCP committee of the city government, were investigated and disciplined for violating political discipline, bringing in books and magazines with serious political problems into the country without permission, as well as embezzling public funds.

Another mainland Chinese newspaper Beijing News reported in March that Li Bin, a mid-level officer at Chongqing city’s police bureau, was probed for “serious violation of discipline and the law.” The authorities accused Li of “losing his ideals and secretly bringing books with serious political problems into the country and reading and storing them.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 2, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/QL-11022020035358.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Global Times: China Announced Sanctions against U.S. Companies

Global Times recently reported that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced sanctions against U.S. companies including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Raytheon. The sanctions were in response to the U.S. Arms sales to Taiwan. This happened five days after the United States announced its US$1.8 billion defense sales to Taiwan for a HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response) extended range air-to-surface missiles, F-16 fighter jet new reconnaissance pod, and more. The Chinese announcement indicated these U.S. companies (and individuals) played a very ugly role in threatening China’s national interests. The deal may also extend to General Atomics’ unmanned aircraft and Boeing’s land-based harpoon anti-ship missiles, which may add another US$24 to the sales. China took this as a serious violation of the ‘One China’ principle and the provisions of the three Sino-US Joint Communiqués. It was also a serious interference in China’s internal affairs.

Source: Global Times, October 26, 2020
https://world.huanqiu.com/article/40RU7MbCRhr

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China’s State Banks’ Profits Fall and Bad Debts Rise

China’s big five state banks announced their financials on Friday October 30 and stated that their profits and debts have continued to deteriorate.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which has the largest number of assets, posted a 4.7 percent decline in third-quarter profits.

The Bank of Communications (BoCom) reported a drop in net profits of 12.36 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters. The bank’s non-performing loan ratio was 1.67 percent, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the end of the previous year.

The Bank of China’s net profit dropped 8.7 percent year-on-year, and the group’s asset impairment losses were nearly 100 billion yuan, an increase of 60 percent year-on-year. The total debt was 22.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.68 percent over the end of the previous year. The non-performing loan ratio was 1.48 percent, an increase of 0.11 percentage points over the end of the previous year.

According to Chinese media, in the first half of this year, at least 1,300 bank outlets and branches were closed. A total of 26,000 state bank employees were laid off.

China’s Securities Daily newspaper quoted Pan Helin, a professor from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. He stated that, although only a small portion of the publicly listed banks disclosed their third-quarter financial reports, they are the best performers in the industry and their profitability is stronger than the unlisted banks. Among the large number of unlisted banks, based on the financial reports of nearly a hundred companies that have already disclosed their financial performances, profits have fallen sharply. According to Securities Daily, the proportion of loss-making companies is as high as 75 percent. 31 companies saw a double digit drop in net profits.

Reuters reported that Guo Yi, an analyst with Wanlian Securities, said the degree of economic recovery will impact expectations for the asset quality of banks, with banks likely to see corporate loan repayment pressure peaking around mid-2021.

Earlier in the year, the Chinese government asked banks to lower mortgage standards in order to reduce corporate losses and curb the impact of the epidemic. The government also asked banks to delay corporate loan repayments to increase economic liquidity. It is hard to tell how many bad loans will be brought to the banks through the use of this measure. Experts believe that the consequences will be unraveled in the next few months.

Source: Voice of America, October 30, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/China-banks-seen-facing-persistent-bad-loan-pressures-after-third-quarter-earnings-drop-20201030/5641898.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources