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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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Apple Daily: Maoming Protesters Won Their Fight against the CCP

Apple Daily reported that citizens in Maoming City, Guangdong Province forced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader to yield to their demand in four days.

The Huazhou City government, which is under the management of Maoming City, Guangdong Province, triggered the event when the Huazhou government started a land purchase program in Wenlou Town in Huazhou, claiming to build an ecological park. However, it didn’t disclose its real purpose, which was to build a funeral house and a crematorium there.

After its secret agenda was exposed, the residents of Wenlou Town held a fierce protest. Protesters planned to go to the government office on November 28, but a large group of riot police blocked the road. Clashes exploded between the police and protesters. The protesters cut trees to make road blocks to prevent the addition of police reinforcement. They then surrounded the riot police, threw bricks at them, and overturned a police car. Many residents held sticks and even forced the police to retreat to a hill.

The police kept firing tear gas and water cannons. Many protesters were injured, including old people and children.

The standoff inside the city last two days, during which the authorities arrested 200 people. The standoff outside the city continued, with many people holding banners and shouting slogans.

The government softened its position on December 1. Li Weihua, the CCP Party Secretary of Wenlou Town, promised the protesters that the ecological park and funeral house will never be built in Wenlow. In the afternoon, the arrested citizens came back in two buses, though some were said to be on bail awaiting trial.

Source: Apple Daily, December 1, 2019
https://tw.appledaily.com/new/realtime/20191201/1671268/

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Replacing Freedom of Thought, Party Control Bumps into Chinese University’s Charter

On Tuesday December 17, the Chinese Ministry of Education released a statement of its approved amendments to the school charters of Fudan University, Nanjing University, and Shaanxi Normal University. The revised charters of the three universities emphasized, “adherence to the (Chinese Communist) Party’s comprehensive leadership.” They stated that, “The School’s Party committees are the core of school leadership.” They also inserted expressions such as, “making it our mission to achieve the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” People became concerned that the CCP is further strengthening its control over universities and that academic freedom was declining again.

The amendments to the charter of Fudan University, known for its liberal arts, have attracted much attention. The BBC Chinese reporter compared the 2000 version of Fudan University’s charter with the revision that the Ministry of Education published. The new version removed expressions such as “freedom of thought,” “management of academic affairs by teachers and students,” “democratic management,” “independence,” and “the school is a community with scholarship at its core.”

The Party’s leadership stands out in the new charter. Added political expressions emphasize that the Party committee is above the school president, and that the university serves the Party. To name some specifics, it insists on “arming the minds of teachers and students with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” “cultivating and practicing the core values of socialism,” “realizing the historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” and “the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

The new charter places more emphasis on “ideological and political education.” It thus makes a change from “in undergraduate education, the school builds general education as the foundation” to “in undergraduate education, the school makes ideological and political education the key and general education as the foundation.”

The new charter strengthens the party’s leadership over universities and adds “adhering to the principle of the Party in control of cadres” and “adhering to the principle of the Party in control of talent.” Multiple texts involving the election and selection of personnel were changed to “in accordance with the principle of democratic centralism.” The Ministry of Education’s announcement attracted strong attention and concerns over cyberspace in China. Relevant content regarding the amendment of the charter of Fudan University was deleted from social network sites and accounts. On Wednesday December 18, netizens posted Fudan University’s school song on social networks as a silent protest.

In recent years, China’s disciplinary authorities have descended on university campuses to examine the “political discipline” of higher education institutions, including ideological issues and the infiltration of Western values, including democracy and freedom of speech. A Financial Times article three years ago stated that China’s president Xi Jinping called on universities to strengthen the Party’s leadership and stop using imported teaching materials that contain Western values.

Source: BBC Chinese, December 18, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-50836094

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Czech Tycoon Paid for a Campaign to Promote Communist China

The Czech media website Aktualne.cz broke a story on December 11 that there is “a network of experts, journalists, and politicians,” which has been seeking to “influence the Czech society” by spreading pro-Beijing opinions. The news caught the attention of several members of the Czech Parliament, who announced on Sunday, December 15, that they intend to ask to set up a parliamentary committee to investigate the matter.

According to Aktualne.cz, this campaign was launched in April 2019 and is funded by Home Credit, an international non-banking financial institution owned by the Czech Republic’s richest man Petr Kellner. The article said that Kellner, who was close to the Czech president, secretly funded a media public relations agency called “C&B Reputation Management” to carry out activities to improve China’s image in Czech. C&B is responsible for external communications for the Sinoskop Institute for Contemporary China, a pro-Beijing think tank that was set up in June 2019. Czech media regularly interviews the head of Sinoskop, who has ties with the Czech President and Petr Kellner.

In addition, Tomas Jirsa, who owns C&B, started to operate the Czech’s major website Info.cz in January 2019. Since then, the site has published several advertisement like pro-China articles, paid by Home Credit. Several journalists who oppose this have stopped working for the website. One of them publicly stated on Czech public television that the site “publishes less and less criticism of China, and the cooperation with an important think tank that criticizes Beijing has also been suspended.”

Under the “Belt and Road” framework, China has been interested in central Europe for years. Czech President Milos Zeman has always wanted to make his country “a gateway to Europe.”

At the same time, however, Czech’s civil society is showing strong resistance to China’s attempts to influence the Czech Republic. For example, the Mayor of Prague questioned the cooperation agreement with Beijing based on the one-China principle. In addition, at the end of November, the Czech intelligence service officially regarded China’s influence as a “threat” to the Czech Republic’s national security.

Source: Radio France International, December 17, 2019
http://rfi.my/53sg.T

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Swiss Media Launched a Column for the Chinese Ambassador

Die Weltwoche, a Swiss weekly magazine based in Zürich and founded in 1933, has invited the Chinese Ambassador to Switzerland Geng Wenbing to open a “China Perspective” column to promote China’s national policy. Geng opened the column on April 4 of this year. He published his first column titled, “Autonomy and Prosperity.” The article adopted China’s propaganda tone and said that Tibet “under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, went from serfdom to openness,” without a single word mentioning Beijing’s high-pressure policy in Tibet. Roger Köppel, the owner of Die Weltwoche, wrote an introduction for Geng Wenbing and praised China’s development saying, “China is highly questioned in the West, and the Western media has given a one-sided voice to critics and dissidents. China’s official views are absent in the Western media.” As a result, the magazine launched “the world’s first platform for the representatives from the Chinese government.”

Roger Köppel, a member of the Swiss Federal Assembly, took ownership of Die Weltwoche in 2006. Since then, assisted by the Chinese embassy in Switzerland, the newspaper has seen a surge in advertising. Its stance has also become increasingly pro-Beijing.

Later, Geng successively published articles promoting China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” defending the “Xinjiang Concentration Camps,” protesting the “U.S. Trade War,” criticizing “Hong Kong Protesters,” and chanting the “70th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Regime.” Not long ago, when China’s internal documents regarding Xinjiang were exposed, Geng, in one of his articles, said that the Beijing government was “committed to promoting and maintaining ethnic diversity and solidarity.” Two weeks later, a Chinese company Saurer ran a full-page advertisement on Die Weltwoche.

In fact, since March 28 of this year, Die Weltwoche published eight full-page advertisements, including China Construction Bank, under the name “China Week,” with each advertisement valued at over 10,000 Swiss francs (US$10, 200). Coincidentally, seven days after the Chinese advertising campaign at the end of March, Chinese Ambassador Geng Wenbing’s column officially opened. The email that the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a German-language daily newspaper, obtained showed that the commerce staff at the Chinese Embassy coordinated the advertising campaign and Die Weltwoche was aware of the arrangement.

Ralph Weber, a China expert in Switzerland, believes that the Die Weltwoche is a standard model of the Chinese Communist Party’s expansion of its influence abroad. Its not an isolated case in Europe. In October this year, a German media disclosed a joint “Dialogue” program and cooperation between Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Northern German Broadcasting), a Hamburg based German public radio and television broadcaster, and the China Global Television Network group.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 17, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/sz-degrade-12172019090424.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s November Trade Numbers Remain Challenging

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that official trade numbers showed no recovery for China’s imports and exports. In December, China’s export growth rate declined 1.1 percent, year-over-year. Exports to the U.S. in December dropped by 23 percent, year-over-year. The U.S tariff is having an effect. China’s export growth rate to the EU declined by 3.8 percent in December, the rate to Japan declined by 7.8 percent, and to Hong Kong it declined by 7.2 percent, year-over-year. The exports to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) increased by 18 percent in November.

Among all exported goods, cellphones, apparel, suitcases, and furniture saw the most significant decline. In terms of imports, the total from the U.S. had a major increase of 2.7 percent. The Chinese imports of U.S. soybeans especially, increased by 40.9 percent, year-over-year. Among all imported goods, integrated circuits (IC) and automobiles saw the most significant growth. The Chinese international trade surplus reached US$38.7 billion, which is a decline from October’s US$42.8 billion level.

Source: Sina, December 8, 2019
https://bit.ly/2PpwCnX

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Beijing News: Stable Economic Growth May Not Require Six Percent GDP Growth Rate

Famous Chinese economist Guan Tao authored a commentary which Beijing News recently published. The commentary started by advising that stabilizing economic growth should depend on reforms and adjustments, instead of stimulation. Guan’s recommendation was made in the context of the annual Central Government Economic Work Conference, which normally takes place near the end of the year, deciding the critical plans for next year. Guan proposed that the government has no need to forcibly keep the six percent GDP growth rate in order to maintain economic stability. With its great potential, the Chinese economy may continue to slow down next year. Using this year’s growth rate as next year’s “red line” is not reasonable. It is perfectly acceptable, given the size of the Chinese economy, to have a slower growth rate, as long as the investments into improving people’s living quality and job security are sufficient.

Source: Beijing News, December 11, 2019
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/finance/2019/12/11/660348.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China’s Domestic Software Push Is Hard to Implement

Taiwanese online news site Storm recently reported that China’s central government established a three-year plan to replace all foreign hardware and software in the entire government system. Although the Chinese government did not confirm the existence of such a plan, the news was verified via multiple channels. It is relatively easy for the Chinese government to switch entirely to Chinese vendors like Lenovo, which is a preferred supplier today anyway. However, nearly all software in use today in the government system was designed to run on either Microsoft Windows or Apple MacOS. It is expected to be very challenging to replace U.S. made operating systems and the day-to-day software packages that run on top of them. Chinese domestic operating systems attempted this in the past decade or two and failed multiple times. There are hardly any software developers who are willing to develop for the domestic operating systems. Analysts expressed the belief that the new policy will have a major impact on the Chinese IT industry. However, the private sector may not go along with the government to replace IT environments. Even in the hardware space, with strong domestic vendors’ support, it is very hard to overcome the fact that critical components like CPU and memory are almost all made outside of China.

Source: Storm, December 9, 2019
https://www.storm.mg/article/2041930

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Russia Concerned about China Copying Russian Weapons

Voice of America quoted a statement from an official in charge of intellectual property protection at a Russian technology group. He said that China has been copying Russian weapons and equipment on a large scale, from aircraft engines to Sukhoi fighters and from carrier-based aircraft to air defense missile systems and to portable air defense missiles. The official said that even the short to medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon system Pantsir-S1 (NATO reporting name: SA-22 “Greyhound”) saw its copycat in China.

China has been a major buyer of Russian weapons and equipment for many years. Piracy is also a major problem in military and technical cooperation between the two countries. In the past two or three years, Russia’s major arms trading projects with China have included the Su-35 fighters and S-400 air defense missiles. However, China has purchased a very limited number of these weapons. Military analysts believe that the main purpose of China’s procurement of these weapons was imitation.

The Military-Industrial Courier, a weekly Russian newspaper, has published a long article saying that China developed the J-11B fighter on the basis of the Su-27 fighter aircraft and it also developed the J-15 on the basis of the carrier-based aircraft Su-33. The Xian H-6 bomber also comes from the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 bomber. Furthermore, the armored fighting vehicles that started to equip the Chinese army in 2012 are also reminiscent of the two models of infantry fighting vehicles from the Soviet Union and Russia. China’s Yuan-class conventional-powered submarine also uses Russian technology.

Zvezda (Red Star), a Russian state-owned nationwide TV network that the Russian Ministry of Defense runs, has published a long story, detailing how China has been copying Soviet and Russian weapons and equipment since the 1950’s. The report said that 95 percent of current Chinese weapons and equipment have elements from Soviet or Russian weapons.

Source: Voice of America, December 15, 2019
https://www.voachinese.com/a/russia-concerns-weapons-chinese-military-pirated-20191215/5206556.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military