Chinascope – Page 296

Mass Protests in Inner Mongolia as Officials Replace Mongolian Language with Chinese

The Education Department of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced that, starting with the new semester on September 1, all elementary and middle schools in the region will adopt what is called the bilingual teaching model. That is, the three subjects related to China, which are history, ethics, and the rule of law, will be taught in Chinese instead of the traditional Mongolian language. The move triggered a strong backlash from the locals in Inner Mongolia. Mongolian rights organizations in the U.S. also condemned China for suppressing Mongolian freedom of speech and destroying their national identity. They called it “cultural extermination” in Inner Mongolia.

The Mongolian teachers in Erenhot City launched a strike. Many Mongolian parents plan to teach their children at home instead of sending them to school. Herders also held simultaneous demonstrations in major cities across Inner Mongolia to protest the “cultural extinction.” Thousands of local students dressed in traditional Mongolian costumes participated in the demonstrations. Video footage of the protests also circulated on Twitter.

The Inner Mongolia Human Rights Information Center reported that, as the scale of the protests continues to escalate, the authorities also started to suppress the demonstrators. Hundreds of parents from the Mongolian language school in Zalut Banner gathered in front of the school and demanded the immediate release of the children detained in the school’s dormitory. The local police, however, blocked them from entering into the school. In Horqin Zuoyizhong Banner, the police beat the parents. In Hohhot, students and their parents from the Inner Mongolia Normal University Affiliated School protested in front of the school and launched a petition. Many parents said that if the appeal fails, they will not send their children to school. There are also reports that several hundred Mongolian activists were either detained or under house arrest because they participated in organizing the protests.

Source:
1. Secret China, August 30, 2020
https://www.secretchina.com/news/b5/2020/08/30/944635.html
2. Twitter Post
https:// twitter.com/lengshanshipin/status/1300070212746706945

Briefings | | August 31, 2020 | Social Stability

College Graduates Took Stability Maintenance Positions as Unemployment Worsened

China’s unemployment rate has been hit hard as the economy has continued to slow down. In the past, students who graduated from Peking and Tsinghua University used to be favorite candidates for the large companies. Now they can hardly find excellent jobs. Some of those who hold doctoral and master degrees from Peking and Tsinghua University reportedly have been applying for positions in the office of sub-districts in Hangzhou city of Zhejiang Province. Some of them have even taken positions as a stability maintenance agent.

According to the official data, there will be 8.74 million college graduates in China in 2020, an increase of more than 400,000 from last year. With COVID 19, the deterioration of US-China relations and the withdrawal of foreign capital from China, the pressure for employment in China has greatly increased. The statistics from a private institution suggest that the unemployment rate in China could reach double digit growth this year.

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 24, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/kejiaowen/ql-08242020060116.html

Briefings | | August 30, 2020 | Economy/Resources

China Owned International Academic Journal Imposes Political Censorship

Wu Ruoxuan, a Doctor from Taiwan, was shocked to learn from the editor of Eye and Vision, a medical journal that Springer Nature publishes, that in accordance with the relevant Chinese policies of the journal and the Springer Nature Group, she must use “Taiwan, China” as her nationality; otherwise her paper would not be published. After Wu posted her story on social media, it drew criticism on the issue of political censorship in the academic journal industry.

In the written correspondence that Radio Free Asia obtained from Springer Nature, it stated that, for journals that they own, the author can decide how they wish to present their academic affiliations. However, since Eye and Vision is a journal that the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University in China owns, it must comply with a “different set of regulations.” With its headquarter in London, Springer Nature is the world’s largest academic publisher. It owns more than 3,000 journals including Nature and Scientific American. In November 2017, Springer Nature was also condemned for cooperating with its Chinese partners and blocking at least several hundred articles on Taiwan, Tibet, human rights, and politics from its Chinese website.

According to the website of the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Eye and Vision is an international English journal sponsored by the Wenzhou Medical University. It was launched in October 2014. Qu Jia, the director of the Eye Optometry Hospital is the chief editor. The journal was set up under China’s initiative to “improve the international influence of China’s Science and Technology Journal” which is a plan backed by the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The goal is to “open a channel to improve the globalization of journals in the Chinese scientific research community.”

It has become a new trend for China to start publishing journals on its own, to cooperate with foreign publishers, or to acquire foreign publishers directly. “Chinese technology and culture going global” is a phrase that the official Chinese media have often used. In 2019, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Holding Company acquired the French EDP Sciences publishing house founded by famous scientists, including Madame Curie. Xinhua reported at the time that this was an important step for China Science and Technology to implement its globalization strategy.

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 26, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/jt-08262020113515.html

Briefings | | August 30, 2020 | Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Central Bank’s Digital Currency Enables Cross-Border Payments without Settlement Risk

A Chinese scholar recently told Russia’s Sputnik News that China’s central bank’s digital currency (CBDC) can achieve cross-border payments without settlement risk.

Due to the Chinese government’s promotion and rapid development of related technologies, China may become the first country in the world to issue legal digital currency. The Ministry of Commerce recently announced that it will carry out digital RMB pilot programs in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the central and western regions where conditions permit. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will formulate a set of policy support measures.

Regarding the cross-border circulation of digital currency, Liu Yihua, a researcher with the Taihe Institute, a government affiliated think tank, said that traditional currency cross-border circulation is mainly reflected in international trade settlement under the current account, in international investment and financing under the capital account, and in international reserves. This is usually done by domestic and overseas banks through the international CLS FX clearing system. Although this model meets the needs of cross-border payments, it lengthens the cross-border payment chain. At the same time, cross-border transactions under this model are highly dependent on bank accounts. Taking RMB cross-border payment as an example, overseas banks need to connect to domestic correspondent banks, clearing banks, domestic fund custodian banks and other institutions to conduct RMB business. Overseas residents and overseas institutions need to open RMB deposit accounts to complete RMB cross-border payments.

Liu said that the central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the PBOC belongs to the monetary base (M0), which is the central bank’s direct liability to the public (including overseas residents and institutions). The public owns and uses CBDC by opening a CBDC electronic wallet. In this process, the public directly establishes a creditor-debt relationship with the central bank. For the central bank, domestic and overseas (including offshore) CBDC wallets make no difference; for the public, any two CBDC wallets can initiate peer-to-peer transactions, and there is no difference between domestic and overseas (including offshore). For operators of CBDC electronic wallets such as commercial banks, they only perform management functions, and the CBDC in the electronic wallet does not enter their balance sheet. In CBDC transactions, the flow of funds only involves both parties to the transaction. Because CBDC uses a loosely coupled account model (transfers can be realized without a bank account, and the transaction is settlement) to complete the transaction, compared with traditional cross-border payments, CBDC can realize cross-border payment with almost no settlement risk.

Liu pointed out that, for foreign residents and institutions to participate in CBDC cross-border payments, they only need to open a CBDC wallet. As the requirements for opening a CBDC wallet are much lower than opening bank accounts (especially offshore bank accounts), it is beneficial for overseas residents and institutions to own and use CBDC.

Source: Sputnik News, August 27, 2020
http://sputniknews.cn/china/202008271032040233/

Briefings | | August 30, 2020 | Economy/Resources

Cypress Papers: China’s Riches Quietly Emigrate Overseas

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has obtained copies of documents that were leaked and which reveal that Cyprus, an EU country, approved 1,400 “golden passports” between 2017 and 2019, among which more than 500 were issued to Chinese. The project started in 2013, when Cyprus launched a “Cyprus Investment Plan.” According to this plan, through the purchase of real estate and other forms of investment in the local area amounting to at least 2.15 million euros, a foreigner could apply for a so-called “golden passport.” A Cyprus passport brings benefits including no requirement of a local residence and the freedom to live and work in the other 26 EU countries.

Al Jazeera discovered that most of the people who obtained the “golden passports” were Russians, Chinese, and Ukrainians. By selling citizenship, the Cyprus government received 7 billion euros in revenue within two years, a good boost for a sluggish economy.

Among about 500 naturalized people from China, Al Jazeera released the information on eight individuals, including Yang Huiyan, a property developer and the majority shareholder of Country Garden Holdings. In 2007, her father, Yang Guoqiang largely transferred the stake to her. She is the richest woman in Asia. It is legal for a Chinese to apply for a passport or permanent resident status of another country, but China does not recognize dual citizenship. In theory, after Yang Huiyan obtained the Cyprus passport on October 23, 2018, she could not continue to remain Chinese as her nationality.

The Chinese who have acquired Cyprus citizenship include a few representatives of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in provincial and city governments. Lu Wenbin, a representative of the Chengdu Municipal People’s Congress, obtained a Cypress passport in July 2019. Chen Anlin, a member of the CPPCC in Huangpi District, Wuhan City, became a Cypress citizen in July 2018. Fu Zhengjun, a former member of the CPPCC in Jinhua city of Zhejiang Province, was naturalized in November 2017. Zhao Zhenpeng, a member of the CPPCC of Binzhou City, Shandong Province, received a Cyprus passport in February 2019. The South China Morning Post pointed out that once these people are found to have foreign citizenship, they will be disqualified as representatives of the NPC or the CPPCC.

According to the South China Morning Post, people holding important positions in state-owned enterprises are not allowed to have foreign passports. Tang Yong, executive director and president of the state giant China Resources Power, is on the list that Al Jazeera disclosed. Tang obtained a Cyprus passport in January 2019. Then in December, he was transferred to China Resources Power as its president.

Being rich is not the only condition for investing in Cyprus to obtain a passport. The Cyprus government requires strict verification of the background of the applicants. Those with criminal records cannot be naturalized. However, the “Cypress Papers” show that Zhang Keqiang, a businessman from China, was sentenced for equity trading. Another Chinese businessman, Li Jiadong, was sanctioned by the United States for laundering more than US$ 100 million. Both of them bought Cyprus “golden passports.” In 2019, Cyprus revised relevant laws so that it now requires a strict investigation of investors and allows cancellation of passports already issued.

The “Cyprus Investment Plan” is an ongoing project. According to Al Jazeera, out of more than 500 people from China, only eight “politically public figures” have been disclosed. Most of the rest have no important political background or criminal history.

The European Commission once gave out warnings about some EU countries carelessly issuing EU visas and even granting EU citizenship for money, claiming that this approach contains risks.

Source: Deutsche Welle, August 25, 2020.
https://p.dw.com/p/3hUXA
Al Jazeera, The Cyprus Papers.
https://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/cypruspapers/

Briefings | | August 28, 2020 | Social Stability

China Held Online Seminar with the Ruling Party of Panama

China’s state media People’s Daily reported that, on August 25, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Democratic Revolutionary Party (RPD) of Panama held the opening ceremony of an online seminar for party cadres. Song Tao, head of the CCP’s International Liaison Department, said that, under the joint promotion of General Secretary Xi Jinping and Panama’s leader, over the past three years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, there have been “fruitful cooperation results.” The purpose of this online seminar was to “implement the important consensus of the two heads of state, and contribute to the development of Sino-Panama relations.” Song discussed the content of the third volume of Xi Jinping’s writings on State Governance. Fujian’s provincial CCP Committee Secretary Yu Weiguo talked about Fujian’s social economic development under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought and expressed willingness to strengthen cooperation with Panama in areas such as the “Belt and Road Initiative.”

Panama’s RPD reportedly agreed with Xi Jinping’s idea of a “community with a shared future for mankind,” and stated that it firmly adheres to the one-China principle and is willing to participate actively in the “Belt and Road Initiative.”

Source: People’s Daily, August 26, 2020
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-08/26/nw.D110000renmrb_20200826_6-03.htm

Briefings | | August 27, 2020 | Geo-Strategic Trend

People’s Daily Attacks Pompeo, Again

On August 25, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece newspaper People’s Daily, in three full pages out of a total of 20, published an extremely lengthy opinion that runs through a barrage of criticisms against U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as a response to his speech on July 23, 2020, at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in California.

The first two paragraphs read:

“A few days ago, U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo delivered a speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in California. He totally negated China-U.S. relations, maliciously attacked the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and China’s political system, drove a wedge between the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people, and made groundless accusations on China’s domestic and foreign policies. Pompeo spread the ‘China Threat Theory’ in an attempt to provoke and piece together an international anti-China alliance and contain China’s development.”

“Pompeo’s remarks, ignoring history and reality, are full of strong ideological prejudice and a Cold War mentality. Not only did the Chinese people condemn Pompeo’s remarks, but also rational people in the United States and the international community criticized and opposed them.”

It then dug out 26 statements from Pompeo’s speech and ran a point-by-point rebuttal. The 34,000-Chinese-character-long article, if put into Word with a font size of 12 and normal margins, would be 30 pages long.

Source: People’s Daily, August 25, 2020
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-08/25/nw.D110000renmrb_20200825_1-10.htm

Briefings | | August 26, 2020 | US-China Relations

China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

College Graduates Took Stability Maintenance Positions as Unemployment Worsened

China Owned International Academic Journal Imposes Political Censorship

China’s Central Bank’s Digital Currency Enables Cross-Border Payments without Settlement Risk

China Held Online Seminar with the Ruling Party of Panama

People’s Daily Attacks Pompeo, Again

Articles

Topics