Chinascope – Page 373

Global Times: Hong Kong Sees First Deficit in 15 Years

Global Times recently reported, based on the new projections that Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po issued, that the city government is expecting a current fiscal year deficit. This will be the first in the past 15 years. With the social stability concerns in the background, tax revenues and government land sales suffered a sharp decline this year. The bailout cost for the current economic downturn added to the loss. The Hong Kong government report showed multiple economic sectors are stepping into “deep winter,” such as building construction, retail, food services and tourism. Unemployment and bankruptcy rates are growing rapidly. According to some local lawmakers, more and more employers are planning to close down their businesses. Next year is expected to be very challenging also.

Source: Global Times, December 2, 2019
https://china.huanqiu.com/article/9CaKrnKo6iv

Briefings | | December 11, 2019 | Economy/Resources Geo-Strategic Trend

CNA: Prague City Council Approved Establishing Sister City Relationship with Taipei

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that Beijing’s former sister city, Prague, will soon become the sister city of Taipei. After cutting its close ties with Beijing, Prague’s mayor Zdenek Hrib announced that Taipei will be Prague’s new sister city starting in January 2020. The Prague City Council just passed the new sister city agreement. The former relationship between Prague and Beijing was severed after Beijing rejected the friendliness Prague had towards Taiwan. Beijing revoked the panda lease to Prague and unilaterally stopped a few cultural exchange event contracts. Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je is scheduled to visit Prague in January. The two cities are planning to strengthen their relationship in key areas like trade, culture, tourism and education.

Source: CNA, December 3, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/201912030012.aspx

Briefings | | December 11, 2019 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Oriental Daily: Hong Kong Businessman Refused Entry to U. S.

Primary Malaysian Chinese language newspaper Oriental Daily recently reported that only a few days after Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, a wealthy Hong Kong businessman with Mainland background was refused entry to the United States once his private jet landed in the U.S. The well-known pro Mainland Hong Kong newspapers Takungpao and Wenweipo both publicly confirmed that their reporters also face U. S. Visa restrictions. One of the primary points of the new U. S. Hong Kong Act was that the U. S. Government be authorized to refuse entry, restrict visas, and freeze assets of certain individuals who obstruct Hong Kong freedom. Hong Kong democracy activists said the new bill is a major milestone and they will work actively with local residents to come up with recommendations to add to the U. S. blacklist. They are also working with law makers in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, and Germany to pass similar laws.

Source: Oriental Daily, December 3, 2019
https://www.orientaldaily.com.my/news/international/2019/12/03/317194

Briefings | | December 11, 2019 | Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

People’s Daily Builds A Media Lab to Strengthen Propaganda for the Party

At an event on December 8, Xu Zhengzhong, deputy editor-in-chief of the People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that the “National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Content for Communication” had been established. The lab has a mission to “spread the voice of the CCP wider and farther.”

The lab is under People’s Daily’s supervision and uses People’s Daily’s online platform. The lab will focus on artificial intelligence research and focus on three main directions: scientific theory and the computation of the accurate dissemination of mainstream values, intelligent content review and risk management, and national cyberspace governance in terms of content dissemination.

Xu said that the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CCP proposed “to build a mainstream public opinion landscape that integrates online and offline contents and coordinates domestic and foreign propaganda; and also to establish an all-media communication system based on content production, supported by advanced technology and innovation management.”

According to Xu, the lab is also to implement the spirit of the “1.25” speech of Xi Jinping. In the future, the technology of media fusion will be used to “expand the coverage of mainstream values and to spread the Party’s voice wider and farther.”

Xi Jinping delivered the “1.25” speech on January 25 this year at the 12th study session of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee. Xi said, “We must use the achievements of the information revolution to promote the in-depth integration of media, scale up and strengthen mainstream public opinion, and consolidate the common ideological basis of the people, of the Party, and of the nation, so as to provide spiritual strength and public opinion support for achieving the goal of ‘two hundred years’ and achieving the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

Source: Central News Agency, December 8, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201912080073.aspx

Briefings | | December 10, 2019 | Government/Politics

Facial Recognition: Anxiety among Chinese People

Starting in December, whenever the Chinese people had to register their new mobile phone numbers, they also had to undergo facial scanning. However, a survey showed that Chinese respondents were very concerned about the security of facial recognition. During October and November of this year, a research center affiliated with the Guangzhou based Southern Metropolis Daily conducted a survey on facial recognition. The center released an online questionnaire to investigate the problems and concerns of the public when using facial recognition. Among the respondents, 57 percent were worried that their personal whereabouts were recorded while nearly 50 percent were worried that criminals may use fake information to perform fraud or theft. Nearly 84 percent of the respondents want operators of the facial recognition system to provide them with a channel to view or delete facial data. 74 percent of respondents want to choose whether to use facial recognition or traditional methods. However, the survey also showed that about 60 percent to 70 percent of respondents believe that facial recognition makes public places safer.

An IT website, Comparitech, once conducted a study on the scope and depth of the use of biometrics and surveillance systems. China, the worst among the 50 surveyed countries, lacks public attention to the privacy of people’s biometric data. The study showed that China has no laws to protect the biometrics of citizens and emphasized “the lack of protection for employees in the workplace.”

According to Chinese media, the metro system in Zhengzhou city of Henan province started “riding with face” (using facial recognition in the metro system) in early December. China Daily reported that riders can use facial recognition to authorize payment automatically instead of scanning the QR code on their mobile phones. Currently, passengers can voluntarily choose whether to use facial recognition.

Source: BBC Chinese, December 6, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-50685535

Briefings | | December 9, 2019 | Information/Technology

Chinese’ Companies Default Problems

On December 6, Epoch Times’ YouTube Channel “Crossroads of the World” had a discussion on companies in China that are defaulting on their debt.

Host Tang Hao listed the following recent default cases in China:

October 24, Xiwang Group Company Limited, China’s largest corn oil producer, was unable to pay back its 1 billion yuan (US $140 million) short-term bond.
November 11, Guirenniao, a Chinese sneaker company could not pay its 500 million yuan bond.
November 19, Dongxu Optoelectronic Technology Co Ltd, China’s largest LCD glass substrate manufacturer, couldn’t pay its 2 billion yuan debt.
November 27, Xiwang Group couldn’t pay another debt of 861 million yuan.
December 2, The Beijing University Founder Group, the largest college-owned enterprise in China, defaulted on a 2 billion short-term bond. The company had 370 billion yuan in assets.
December 3, Guirenniao defaulted again, on a 647 million yuan debt.

Tang Hao gave three reasons for these defaults: One, many companies followed the government to take on excessive debts to seek high-expansion. Two, the trade war with the U.S. hurt China’s economy. Three, the owners of the companies, who have low moral values, do not feel any social obligation to pay back their company’s loans. They may just spend the money lavishly or put the borrowed money into their own pockets.

As a result, companies’ credit problems have also dragged down the banks:

In May, Baoshang Bank Co., Ltd. had a severe credit risk and the People’s Bank of China and the Banking Regulatory Commission took it over.
In July, the Bank of Jinzhou had a high cash risk and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China had to infuse it with money.
In August, Hengfeng Bank in Shandong Province had a cash crisis and the Shandong government took it over.
In October, Yichuan Rural Commercial Bank in Luoyang City, Henan Province suffered a bank run that lasted three days.
In November, Yingkou Coastal Bank in Liaoning Province suffered a bank run.
In November, the government took over Harbin Bank in Heilongjiang Province.

Source: YouTube, December 6, 2019

Briefings | | December 9, 2019 | Economy/Resources US-China Relations

Huawei’s “Wolf Culture” in Canada

Chinese people recently have been using the term “wolf culture” to describe a company or a person who behaves like a wolf, who is willing to take any measure to win, and who ignores human nature and morality.

Epoch Times interviewed some former employees of Huawei’s subsidiary in Toronto who took the opportunity to expose Huawei’s “wolf culture” in Canada.

1. Taking down Nortel: Huawei offered prices 40 percent below market so it could quickly grab the global telecom market. It was able to do so because of the Chinese government’s subsidies and the People’s Liberation Army’s “gift contracts.” In addition, from 2004 to 2009, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) hackers had been consistently hacking into Nortel’s system to steal its secrets. Nortel filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Huawei was able to hire all of Nortel’s top five 5G experts and make them work for Huawei.

2. Operations in Canada: Huawei maintains a tight central control over its financial operations. It is the Chinese Headquarters in Shenzhen that makes the calls on major financial decisions for its overseas branches. The Shenzhen Headquarters must review all overseas branches’ pricing of equipment proposals and solutions. The Shenzhen headquarters has over 10,000 staff member managing its financial operations globally.

3. Discrimination on “Chinese Faces”: A former Huawei employee said that Huawei Canada has been discriminating against employees because of their race and age. This was the company’s culture in China.

Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou visited Huawei Canada in Toronto in 2016. She was reported to be unhappy when she saw so many “Chinese faces” in the office there.

A former employee said, “(Huawei) prefers non-Chinese people for non-technical positions, such as the public relations positions,” so that the company can appear more “Westernized.”

A former Huawei employee recalled that a high-ranking executive did not like the high labor cost and said that he expected the salary of employees of Chinese origin to be much lower.

4. Discrimination on age: A high-ranking executive sent from China to Huawei Canada in 2016 launched a policy to “make employees younger.” Meng Wanzhou further strengthened this policy.

Chinese media have widely reported Huawei’s “age of 35” policy: If an employee reaches the age of 35 and has not become a manager, Huawei puts that person in a human resource database at the Headquarters in China; if no department wants the person, Huawei will let that person go.

“We often heard that so and so was fired for age,” a former employee said, “Though there is no written evidence, people have been discussing it.”

Another employee who was diagnosed with cancer and took sick leave was let go due to her age. Another employee, in her 50s, was let go too, despite the fact that she maintained a high performance rating. She complained to Huawei management that their action was age discrimination. Huawei denied discrimination but increased her severance pay. She protested again. Huawei increased severance pay again, but still didn’t offer to bring her back. She is considering taking legal action.

5. Communist Study: About 10 percent of the people at Huawei Canada’s Headquarters are from the Shenzhen Headquarters. They must participate in the CCP study every Saturday morning.

6. “Wolf Culture”: All employees, including those hired in Canada or sent from China, must follow the “wolf culture” that Huawei’s Founder Ren Zhenfei has promoted: employees must have the hungry wolf’s nature of being fearless and blood-loving, and must keep fighting in a tough team environment. “There are instructions (about ‘wolf culture’) on Huawei’s internal site for everyone to read and follow. Their idea is that, no matter what, you must fight for success, even if it means to step on your fellow coworkers. They asked us to read the ‘wolf culture’ articles and write learning reports to send to China’s Headquarters.”

“Employees work an average of 10 hours a day. It is normal for people to resume work after dinner. There is no overtime pay. Occasionally you hear a story that someone complained about it and was then fired. The company didn’t give a reason for the firing, but everyone knew why.”

If Huawei wants to fire someone, it creates a tough situation at work for that person, for example, increasing his workload and giving him a low rating, to force that person to leave.

Source: Epoch Times, December 7, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/12/7/n11707767.htm

Briefings | | December 9, 2019 | Economy/Resources Information/Technology

China Decided to “Teach the United States a Hard Lesson.”

People’s Daily reported on December 2 that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a ban on U.S. military vessels and aircraft. They are now prohibited from using Hong Kong for logistics. At the same time, China also announced sanctions on a number of U.S. NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) that China identified as “playing an evil role in the Hong Kong riots.” The People’s Daily commentary suggested that it’s about time to “teach the United States a hard lesson.”

Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) reported on December 3, along with several Taiwanese media companies, that the Mainland ban should be considered an opportunity for Taiwan to extend an invitation to the U.S. Navy to dock at a Taiwanese port for logistical supplies. The U.S. never truly had a dependency on Hong Kong, and Taiwan can offer much better reliability for supplies.

Global Times published a commentary on December 6 that maintained the region is facing a historic change of military balance. China now has a far superior military power over the Taiwan Strait. The commentary explained that, if the U.S. and Taiwan get closer, Mainland aircraft can attempt flying over the Taiwanese presidential palace and the Mainland navy also has the option of entering the Taiwanese coastal line. The cost for the U.S. to intervene in a Taiwan Strait conflict is rapidly growing. So if Taiwan wants more collusion with the U.S., just go ahead.

Sources:
(1) People’s Daily, December 2, 2019
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n1/2019/1202/c1003-31486087.html
(2) CNA, December 3, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/201912030145.aspx
(3) Global Times, December 6, 2019
https://m.huanqiu.com/article/9CaKrnKobF2

Briefings | | December 8, 2019 | Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend US-China Relations

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

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.