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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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Samsung Started Moving Monitor Manufacturing Lines to Vietnam

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) recently reported that Samsung just announce that it will move its computer monitor manufacturing facilities from China to Vietnam. Vietnam’s state-run newspaper Vietnamese Youth confirmed the news. Most of Samsung’s Chinese manufacturing capabilities will be relocated to its HCMC CE Complex (SEHC) factory. Samsung expects to complete the move by the end of 2020. Samsung is currently Vietnam’s largest foreign investor, with a total investment value of US$17 billion. The monitor manufacturing move will turn Vietnam into Samsung’s largest monitor supplier in the world. According to U.S. researcher IDC, starting with the first quarter, Samsung held 34 percent of Vietnam’s 24 inch or above monitor market. With the growth of the demand on large screen monitors, the latest move will significantly benefit the region on new monitors.

Source: Sohu, June 20, 2020
https://www.sohu.com/a/403096949_161062

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

HK01: Huawei May Be Planning a 50 Percent Cut in Workforce in July

Popular Hong Kong new online media HK01 Network recently reported that, according to unverified internal sources from Huawei, the company is planning a mid-July announcement that it will cut its workforce in half. The total employee headcount will be reduced from around 190,000 to around 100,000. The recently expanded sanctions by the United States against Huawei may significantly cut off Huawei’s critical supply chain and may cause fatal damage to the company. Some senior Huawei employees said a large number of retirees decided to cash out half of their Huawei stocks and keep only the other half. The news triggered a wide discussion in the Chinese Internet community. Most had doubts about the news, since the drastic layoff could result in social stability issues. The Chinese government may not want to see such a destabilization move and may intervene. According to Huawei’s 2019 Sustainability Report, the company did have 188,000 employees by the end of 2018, among whom are 28,000 overseas employees. Huawei has kept quiet on this news and has not released any official response.

Source: HK01, June 15, 2020
https://bit.ly/2YUt9RF

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

BBC Chinese: China Brought Spy Charges against Two Canadians

BBC Chinese Edition recently reported that, right after the Canadian British Columbia High Court approved the extradition proceedings of the Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, China’s Supreme Prosecutor’s Office announced that it has filed charges of spying against former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor. After Meng Wanzhou was arrested by the Canadian authorities based on a U.S. request, on December 10, 2018, the Chinese authorities detained Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. This move was widely considered as hostage diplomacy. Not long ago, Canada also participated in the G7 announcement urging China to stop the Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which will allow residents of Hong Kong to be secretly extradited to the Mainland for trial under the name of national security. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to associate the current spy suit with the Meng Wanzhou’s case. The Canadian Consular Staff in China cannot visit the two Canadian citizens at this moment.

Source: BBC Chinese, June 19, 2020
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-53104011

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

FCC Rejects Phoenix TV’s Application

On Monday June 22, the Federal Communications Commission said it rejected the request of a radio station in Mexico to continue broadcasting Mandarin Chinese language programs to southern California and ordered it to cease operations within 48 hours. The statement reads, “The application was dismissed because the parties failed to include in their application a key participant, Phoenix Radio, which produces the Mandarin programming in its studio. Phoenix Radio is partially owned by two entities with Chinese government ownership, Extra Steps Investment Limited and China Wise International Limited. The parties have 48 hours to cease broadcast operations related to this application.”

After the rejection, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued a statement applauding the FCC’s decision. “Today’s decision sends an important message to the world that the U.S. will not allow China to exploit FCC loopholes and spread its propaganda over our airwaves. More importantly, this decision is a critical step in countering the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to control what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think.”

Source: VOA, June 22, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/fcc-dismisses-application-to-deliver-chinese-programs-across-border-20200622/5473019.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Sohu: Forging One’s Personal History and Obtaining Foreign Nationality Are New Violations for Public Officials

On June 20, the Standing Committee of the 13th National Congress reviewed and passed a Law on disciplinary measures which apply to Public Officials. Among the list of violations, in addition to corruption, bribery, abuse of power, and misuse of public funding, the following have been added and will also be considered violations: tampering with and forging one’s personal history; obtaining a foreign nationality or an overseas permanent residence; or illegally obtaining a passport for personal use.” These will also be considered violations. Moreover, falsely framing others when it results in damage to their reputation and refusing to pay child support or other obligations to family members have been added to the list as well.

Source: Sohu,June 20, 2020
https://www.sohu.com/a/403336823_260616

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Concerns over Safety of Three Gorges Reservoir as Water Level in Three Gorges River Rose above Warning Limit

Since the beginning of June, heavy rains have been reported in regions of southern China. As a power plant in the upper stream of the Three Gorges Reservoir was damaged by a flash flood and mudslide, concerns over the safety of the Three Gorges Reservoir were brought up again. On June 21, the CCTV Economy channel reported that the water level in the Three Gorges Reservoir rose to 147 meters (482 feet) which exceeded the flood control limit by about 2 meters (6.56 feet). On June 11, the Ministry of Water Resources held a press conference and stated that China has entered the flood season and there are a total of 148 rivers in the country that exceed the flood warning level. In the early morning on June 17, heavy rain upstream of the Three Gorges Dam damaged a power plant in Damba County of Ganzi, Sichuan province and resulted in a mudslide. A video posted on twitter showed the flood water and mudslide wiped out the villages along the way. Meanwhile people re-tweeted a warning from a licensed structural engineer telling the people in the Lower Yangtze River region to escape.

Wang Weiluo, a specialist on the safety of Three Gorges Reservoir and currently residing in Germany told Epoch Times that heavy rain in the Three Gorges region caused a flash flood and a mudslide. It will be disastrous if the reservoir collapses at the lower Yangtze because it is a high density populated area. Wang said that the Three Gorges Reservoir shouldn’t have been started in the first place. Many people opposed the idea. One famous irrigationist wrote three letters to Jiang Zemin, then the head of the CCP, warning of the potential risk of the project and predicting that, if the reservoir were to be built, it would be demolished in the end. Jiang and Li Peng, then Prime Minister, still went ahead with the project. The three Gorges Reservoir project started in 1994 and was completed in 2009.

Source: Epoch Times, June 21, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/20/6/21/n12201515.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

College Professor Dismissed from CCP Membership and Suspended from Teaching for Pro-Hong Kong and Japan Remarks

Liang Yanping, a professor at the School of Liberal Arts of Hubei University in China, was dismissed from her CCP party membership and suspended from teaching. Liang was alleged to have “repeatedly published and reposted erroneous remarks about Japan and Hong Kong on social media which seriously violated the party’s political disciplinary rules and the teachers’ professional ethics.” According to the official statement from Hubei University, she was also said to have had an extremely negative social impact. Liang is also the first university professor who was disciplined for openly supporting Fang Fang for her Wuhan Diary.

In her personal Weibo and WeChat account, on November 8, 2019, Liang posted an article to commemorate a Hong Kong college student who died during an anti-extradition protest. She also posted a selfie wearing a black hat and facial mask to support Hong Kong protesters. On December 9, 2012, Liang posted a comment and questioned the death toll of the Nanjing Massacre and whether 300,000 was the accurate count. Liang was also accused of being “pro-Japan.”

Fang Fang published her comments in her weibo account, calling Hubei University a disgrace to universities in China and Hubei province and made the accusation that the leftists and online thugs hijacked Hubei University, the media, and the publishers.

Source: Radio France Internationale, June 20, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD/20200620-%E6%8C%BA%E6%96%B9%E6%96%B9%E9%81%AD%E4%B8%BE%E6%8A%A5-%E6%B9%96%E5%8C%97%E5%A4%A7%E5%AD%A6%E6%95%99%E6%8E%88%E6%A2%81%E8%89%B3%E8%90%8D%E8%A2%AB%E5%BC%80%E9%99%A4%E5%85%9A%E7%B1%8D%E5%81%9C%E6%AD%A2%E6%95%99%E5%AD%A6

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics