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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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Shanghai’s Police Chief Ousted

Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) disciplinary authority is investigating Gong Daoan, deputy mayor of Shanghai city and head of the city’s Public Security Bureau. The website of the CCP’s Commission for Discipline Inspection did not specify the date of the probe. However, according to Jiefang Daily, the mouthpiece newspaper of Shanghai’s CCP committee, Gong’s last public appearance was on July 31, when he participated in a national video conference that the State Council held.

Ranking number six among the eight deputy mayors of Shanghai, Gong is in charge of public security, judicial administration, stability maintenance, and traffic safety. He is the head of the Public Security Bureau, the Judicial Bureau and the Municipal Prison Administration.

Born in November 1964, Gong Daoan is the first deputy ministerial official in Shanghai that has been ousted since the 19th CCP National Congress. According to media reports, he is also the third senior public security official under investigation this year. The other two were Sun Lijun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Public Security, and Deng Huilin, Deputy Mayor and head of the Public Security Bureau of Chongqing city. All three individuals were investigated for “serious disciplinary violations.”

Source: Voice of America, August 18, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/deputy-mayor-shanghai-director-municipal-public-security-bureau-under-investigation-20200818/5548113.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Sends Soft Signals to the U.S.

An unverified source recently disclosed that the CCP leadership has decided to adopt “three soft and three hardline policies” amid the contention between the US and China. “Three soft” means China needs to show a soft stance towards the U.S. and the west and take a soft approach on China’s own actions. “Three hardline policies” refers to displaying a hard grip domestically, continuing a hard propaganda campaign and holding a hard position against Hong Kong.

Recent signals from senior CCP officials and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also appear to indicate that the CCP wants to take a soft stance against the U.S. On Wednesday August 12, in an interview with Chinese media, Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said that the next few months will be critical for Sino-US relations and that the U.S. and China need to work with each other no matter how difficult and complicated the issues are. He said he wants China to “stay focused without being swayed by any extreme forces, to keep to the right direction of the bilateral relationship and to prevent it from spiraling out of control or getting derailed.” He said he is ready to have a dialog with the U.S. Earlier this month, Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of Foreign Affairs, published an article on Xinhua calling for a dialog between the U.S. and China and the expansion of a mutually beneficial cooperation in a number of fields. Hua Chunying, Spokesperson for China, stated the following on her twitter account on August 8, “Respect history, look to the future, and firmly safeguard and stabilize China-US relations.” As to the news related to U.S. sanctions of 11 Hong Kong officials, CCTV aired the news which lasted about 90 seconds. The People’s Daily used a corner space of a page to “strongly condemn” the sanctions that the U.S. imposed. This is in sharp contrast to CCTV ‘s airing 12 consecutive segments of counter-attacks after the U.S. Senate passed the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act” in November of last year.

A Chinese official media reporter broke the news to Radio Free Asia that the Chinese media have received instructions to stop posting the attacks on the U.S. that have been going on for several months and to prohibit verbal abuse and attacks on the U.S., especially the use of rumors to attack the U.S., so as not to trigger a greater backlash. If they violate the order, the Publicity Department could strip them of their salary and bonus pay.

Source: Secret China, August 14, 2020
https://www.secretchina.com/news/b5/2020/08/14/942894.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Hong Kong Apple Daily Circulation and Stock Price Jumped after Founder’s Arrest

After Hong Kong police arrested Jimmy Lai, the founder of Next Digital, and several other high-level officials for violating the “Hong Kong National Security Act,” the Hong Kong people launched an action to buy Apple Daily, a newspaper under the Next Digital Group. On Tuesday, August 11, Hongkongers could be seen lining up on the street late at night to buy the Apple Daily newspaper. Many people bought dozens of copies and let other people take some free of charge or distribute them to their neighbors. People stated that they would buy the newspaper even if it was a blank sheet of paper. On Tuesday, total circulation for Apple Daily jumped from its normal 70,000 to half a million copies. The front page of the paper reads, “Apple Daily Must Fight On.” At the same time, Next Digital stock also jumped more than 330 percent in just two days.

Source: Radio Free Asia, August 11, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/htm/hk-apple-08112020065417.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Lianhe Zaobao: Mainland Banks in HK Complied with U.S. Sanctions

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that large Chinese state-owned banks operating in Hong Kong have taken actions to comply to the latest U.S. sanctions of the top Hong Kong government officials, including the top Mainland official dispatched to Hong Kong to oversee the implementation of the new Hong Kong National Security Law. Those large Chinese banks which conduct a good amount of U.S. business stayed very conservative on allowing the opening of accounts by those who were sanctioned, including even the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam – at least one bank completely stopped such service. Foreign banks in Hong Kong also tightened up reviews on their customers’ accounts. Experts expressed the belief that these cautions were taken to safeguard the channels to obtain U.S. dollars and the banks’ international network. According to data that Bloomberg released, by the end of 2019, the four largest Chinese state-owned banks had a total U.S. dollar-based financing volume of $1.1 trillion. The banks and the Hong Kong government declined to comment on this matter.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, August 14, 2020
http://http//www.uzaobao.com/bolg/20200814/76481.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

China’s Public Security Controls its Health Code Data

Recently, Epoch Times has obtained several internal Chinese Communist Party documents showing that, in the CCP virus pandemic, China’s Ministry of Public Security controls the digital QR code or “health code” data people provide through WeChat. There are concerns about people’s privacy and their personal information. Such data includes those foreigners who visit China by flying there on Chinese airlines.

At present, people in mainland China must scan and register their local “health code” when entering major shopping malls, hospitals, and other public places. The “health code” is a QR code that mainland Chinese generally apply for through Tencent’s WeChat or Alibaba’s Alipay. The “health code” has three colors, green, yellow, or red, which indicates the person’s health status. A green code enables its holder to move about unrestricted. Someone with a yellow code will be asked to stay home for seven days. The red code means a two-week quarantine.

Epoch Times has obtained government pandemic control documents from the Baoding City, Hebei Province; Anxin County, Hebei Province; and Heilongjiang Province Health Commissions. These documents raise concerns about privacy and the security of personal data.

These documents show that WeChat is used for the designated application for the “Health Code” in Hebei Province. China’s Ministry of Public Security and its local departments control WeChat’s “Health Code” data. The government document obtained for Anxin County states that, while the local Pandemic Prevention and Control Team is responsible for organizing and coordinating related work and work promotion, the Public Security Bureau is responsible for big data analysis, mining, and the in-depth application of the “health code.”

Heilongjiang Province launched the international version on March 17. This version requires users to enter data through the WeChat program, and then tie the health code that is given to the mobile phone number which performs real-name authentication. Tencent stated that “the international version brings foreigners into the unified health management system.” The Heilongjiang Provincial Health Commission’s document issued on March 23 reveals that when using the health code system, it is necessary to communicate actively with the Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Department and Tencent.

The state media China News Weekly reported on April 27, 2020, that, according to a Hangzhou City Health Code official, “The moment you open the health code, the big data in the background has undergone countless calculations and comparisons.”

Source: Epoch Times, August 13, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/8/14/n12329397.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

HKET: U.S. Reconnaissance Aircraft Challenged China’s Bottom Line

Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET), the leading financial daily in Hong Kong, recently reported that U.S.-China tensions just intensified in the South China Sea, right after the trade meeting got postponed for one month. According to the surveillance data that Beijing University’s South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) released, on August 15, the U.S. Navy EP-3E Reconnaissance Aircraft reached the closest point of 50.19 nautical miles (around 93 kilometers or 58 miles) from China’s Canton Province. SCSPI also identified that another EP-3E “potentially” entered Taiwan’s airspace. The SCSPI platform summarized that, in three days, the U.S. dispatched seven P-8A, P-3C, RC-135 or EP-3E aircraft to the region. Taiwanese media described this as “testing China’s bottom line.” In the meantime, according to an announcement from the U.S. Navy, the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier returned to the South China Sea for exercises, joined by the USS Antietam, the USS Mustin and the USS Rafael Peralta cruisers as well as the Fifth Carrier Aircraft Wing. The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier just had two exercises with the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier last month. The Chinese military called these activities a “major threat” to the Taiwan Strait area.

Source: HKET, August 16, 2020
https://bit.ly/3h3dF5O

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military US-China Relations

Taiwan: CCP’s Response to U.S.’s Taiwan Visit and Drone Sale

The United Stated made two major moves regarding Taiwan. The first was that, on August 9, 2020, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar visited Taiwan and, on August10, met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. This is the highest ranked U.S. official to visit Taiwan. The second one was that the U.S. and Taiwan are in negotiation for the U.S. to sell Taiwan at least four MQ-9B SeaGuardian surveillance drones which have a range of 6,000 nautical miles (11,100 km).

China’s Foreign Ministry issued a standard protest. People’s Daily and Xinhua didn’t comment much on either event, but Huanqiu and some other media commented on it, either cursing the U.S. or trying to downplay the event.

#1: On August 5, Wang Wenbin, Spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, stated at the press conference, that China urges the US to abide by the one-China policy and the provisions of the three Sino-US Joint Communiqués, to stop all forms of official exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan, to handle Taiwan-related issues carefully and properly, and to refrain from sending any wrong signals to the “Taiwan independence” forces so as to avoid serious damage to Sino-US relations.

On August 5, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, stated at a press conference, that it is very dangerous for the Democratic Progressive Party authorities to collude with foreign countries and willingly play the role of a U.S.’ pawn.

On August 5, Lu Xiang, an expert on American issues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times reporter that in 2000 and again in 2014, the U.S. had sent high-ranking officials (Department of Transportation and Environment Protection Agency) to visit Taiwan. They were sent during those two President’s second terms when they no longer considered re-election. This time, the HHS Secretary ranked higher than those two who were sent previously, based on the order of succession of Department heads to take the president’s seat if the current President is unable to perform his duties. In addition, Trump sent him to Taiwan in his first presidential term. This showed that Trump is gambling. Under the Coronavirus pandemic and economic pressure, Trump does not know how to play the chess game anymore. He just throws chess pieces onto the board. Now he has run out of pieces and throws bricks instead. (Global Times)

#2: Global Times said there was a huge controversy and debate in Taiwan regarding Azar’s visit. It said that some Taiwan netizens furiously claimed that Azar would put Taiwan into two bad areas: the pandemic (brought from the U.S.) and a crisis over the strait (between Taiwan and China). (Global Times)

#3: The Taiwan Strait Net commented that “jointly fighting the pandemic” is just a cover (for Azar’s visit). The U.S. has only one “strategy” to fight the pandemic: Blame China. Taiwan’s “magic operation (against the coronavirus)” was nothing but avoid testing. It said that quite a few people were worried, “(Azar) came from the U.S.? Shouldn’t he be quarantined?” (Taiwan Strait Net)

#4: Sina commented on the U.S. selling drones to Taiwan. “As the presidential election is coming up, the political in-fighting in the U.S. has intensified. Some politicians in the U.S. view playing the ‘Taiwan card’ as a measure that is low cost and has a quick return. However, playing the “Taiwan card” shows the U.S. lacks self-confidence and worries about its China policy. (Sina)

#5: Global Times said that some Taiwan netizens identified this drones transaction as Taiwan paying a “protection fee” to the U.S. “In the American’s eye, sending the HHS Secretary over to bring back $600 million is definitely worth it.” “The U.S. just takes Taiwan as an ATM machine.” (Global Times)

#6: Back on May14, 2020, Global Times commented on Taiwan’s purchasing 4 MQ-9 Reaper drones as not getting enough for the mainland to shoot down and claimed that these drones are nothing but target drones to be killed. (Global Times)

Related postings on Chinascope:

Hot Topics | | |   US-China Relations

Chinese Consulate in Houston Intervened in US Political Movement

Radio Free Asia (RFA) published an article explaining the reason that the U.S. closed China’s Consulate in Houston.

The article stated that the U.S. has known that the staff members at the consulate were conducting suspicious activities, but, for a while, it did not take any action. The Second Department of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is the PLA’s intelligence unit, sent staff members from a large network company, with fake IDs, to China’s Consulate in Houston. Those technicians used a large video platform’s backend data to identify people who might participate in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and ANTIFA’s protests and then created and sent them customized videos on how to organize riots and how to do promotions.

The purpose was to “weaponize” big data technology. It delivered relevant materials precisely to those people who were most likely to participate in the protests, while other people could not even find those videos.

RFA did not spell out the company names. A Twitter account said the technicians were from Huawei and the video platform they used to identify candidates and push videos to was TikTok.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, August 7, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/ear/ear-straw-08062020081345.html
2. Twitter, @Raymond999USA

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations