Chinascope – Page 390

RFA: Why the CCP Wants Private Companies to Set up Party Organizations

People’s Daily published a long article on Wednesday saying that millions of private enterprises across the country have set up party organizations. The article reported that, by the end of last year, 1.58 million private enterprises in China had established party organizations, which indicates that more and more private entrepreneurs recognize the importance of party development work. Currently there are more than 32 million private companies in China and more than 76 million private individually owned businesses. They contribute more than 50 percent of the tax revenue, more than 60 percent of GDP, and more than 70 percent of technological innovations, accounting for 80 percent or more of urban labor employment and more than 90 percent of the number of companies.

RFA questioned why, in the early days of reform and opening up, the CCP reduced the influence of party organizations, whereas now, it requires the private enterprises to set up party organizations?

According to the comments in an RFA article, after seeing Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu become influential and powerful enterprises, the CCP felt it was losing control. The growth of private enterprises in China does not benefit the CCP’s control. Even though private entrepreneurs do not want to see party organizations set up in their companies, they also don’t want to see their families destroyed. While the head of Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu stepped down, these private enterprises in China always relied on collaboration with the government to grow their businesses. However, even if they are established, they cannot survive on their own for too long. It is impossible for China to return to the public ownership of the Mao Zedong era. China’s current trend is similar to that of Nazi Germany’s state capitalism. Private companies exist in nominal terms, but the government can do whatever it wants to these companies.

Source:
People’s Daily, October 15, 2019
http://dangjian.people.com.cn/n1/2019/1015/c117092-31401211.html
Radio Free Asia, October 16, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/jingmao/nu-10162019121221.html

Briefings | | October 20, 2019 | Government/Politics

BBC Chinese: Chinese Reporters Are Required to Take Online Test on “Xi Jinping Thoughts”

The China National Press and Publication Administration recently announced that tens of millions of its media reporters working at national news agencies, radio and television stations, journals, and newspapers are required to take an online test on “Xuexi Qiangguo App,” which is a mobile application that the Publicity Department launched in January of this year. The test must be taken between October 28 and November 10. A BBC article reported that the purpose of the online test is to “test their loyalty to the party’s policies and to Xi Jinping.” Reporters who do not take the test or do not pass the exam will not be able to renew their media pass. A BBC reporter took a simulation exercise and found that the content of the test covered many issues. The subjects of journalism, communication, and legal issues accounted for about one-third. More importantly, the test is on the party’s policies and on the talks that Xi Jinping has given on publicity work in the media.

Below is an example from a practice test:

“What is the duty and mission of the party’s publicity work in the media?”

If you choose to “stay firmly on the truth of the news,” a wrong symbol will appear on the screen of the mobile phone immediately, suggesting that the correct answer should be “strongly adhere to positive publicity.”

The online test has to be taken at a testing site which has a surveillance camera. It is also required that, prior to the exam, each media needs to have a minimum of 24 hours of study sessions. It must hire experts and well known reporters or conduct experience sharing among the participants.

“Xuexi Qiangguo” is widely interpreted to be the ideological propaganda platform that Xi Jinping implemented to govern the country after he took office.

At first, all of the CCP members were asked to download and read the articles regularly. In February, it was the most downloaded app in Apple’s China app store. Today, the download requirement has been extended to civil servants, state-owned enterprise employees and public school teachers. Even some non-party members are required to download it.

Source: BBC Chinese, October 14, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-50039867

Briefings | | October 20, 2019 | Government/Politics

Comac C919 Aircraft Development Benefited from Secrets Hacked from Western Companies

Crowdstrike, a U.S. cybersecurity research and consulting firm, recently released a report that examined China’s series of aggressive and frequent hacking operations that occurred during the years when Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. (Comac) was developing its C919 commercial aircraft. Officials from China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), underground hacking groups and personnel, cyber security researchers, and employees (moles) of multiple companies in many countries were involved in the operations. The purpose of these hacking operations was to assist Comac’s development of the C919 commercial aircraft, obtain a large number of intellectual property rights from foreign companies, narrow the gap between China’s aviation industry and foreign manufacturers capable of making large passenger aircraft, and eventually to be able to compete with industry giants Boeing and Airbus.

Crowdstrike’s report revealed that MSS designated the Jiangsu provincial State Security division to carry out hacking attacks, while the Jiangsu division appointed two coordinators. One coordinator led the hacking team and the other was responsible for recruiting people from aerospace companies in different countries. Between 2010-2015, the hackers attacked a list of companies including U.S. electronic instruments and electromechanical devices manufacturer Ametek, U.S. multinational conglomerate Honeywell that produces engineering services and aerospace systems, French multinational aircraft engine, rocket engine, aerospace-component and defense company Safran, U.S. gas turbine manufacturer Capstone, and General Electric.

These hacking operations are different from similar actions in the past. They attempted to recruit and utilize China’s underground hacking gangs whose mission is to gain access to the target company’s network and install malware such as Sakula, PlugX, and Winnti, use these software to find the proprietary intellectual property and trade secrets of the target company, and send the information to the remote servers. If these practices were unsuccessful, another MSS team would try to recruit Chinese employees in the target company and have them install malware on the company’s computer network.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 15, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/nu1-10152019122804.html

Briefings | | October 18, 2019 | Defense/Military

China Built Another Railway in Kenya

On October 16th, a new railway was put into operation in Kenya. China built another railway at a cost of US$1.5 billion. The track connected the capital city Nairobi with Naivasha, a small town in the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta hosted the opening ceremony of the railway.

The railway is an extension of a rail line built earlier to connect Nairobi and Mombasa, the second-largest city in the country. The Nairobi-Mombasa railway, which cost US$3.2 billion, started operating in 2017. China funded and built that as well.

Kenya’s railway development has been part of China’s “Belt and Road” initiative. It includes multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects designed to enhance overland and maritime trade between China and Europe, Asia and Africa.

Kenyatta was re-elected in 2017 for anther five-year term. He pledged to develop infrastructure in Kenya, and railway construction has always been his favorite project. The Kenyan government has been borrowing in order to fund infrastructure projects. The national total public debt is currently about 55 percent of GDP. It was at 42 percent when Kenyatta took office in 2013.

Source: Voice of America, October 16, 2019
https://www.voachinese.com/a/Kenya-Opens-Chinese-Built-Railway-20191016/5126354.html

Briefings | | October 17, 2019 | Geo-Strategic Trend

LTN: Kazakhstan President Ordered Investigation of One Belt One Road Project

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered an investigation into the US$1.5 billion light rail project under China’s One Belt One Road initiative. The project was supposed to be completed in 2017. Not only is it still not completed; it is financially dead. The Tokayev administration said that the project “should never even have been established.” Also, it was financially “suspicious.” Tokayev asked for an anti-corruption investigation that would carefully examine the officials in the previous administration. The previous CEO of the light rail company has already fled overseas due to corruption charges. Kazakhstan is the first country on the west side of China to have joined the One Belt One Road initiative. Observers have widely expressed the belief that Tokayev’s public position may damage the image of China’s One Belt One Road grand plan.

Source: LTN, October 8, 2019
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/2940775

Briefings | | October 16, 2019 | Geo-Strategic Trend

As Subsidy Ebbs, China’s Electric Vehicle Sales Down by 34 Percent

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China’s auto sales in September were 2.271 million. This represents the continuation of a decline stream that has lasted 15 months in a row and is down 5.2 percent from the same period last year. The sales for the first nine months of the year were 18.371 million, down 10.3 percent year-over-year. In September, the national sales volume of passenger vehicles was 1.933 million, down 6.3 percent year-over-year. As the Chinese government scaled down its car subsidies, the electric vehicle sales for September was 80,000, down 34.2 percent from the same period last year, seeing a third consecutive month of decline.

In March of this year, China announced it would reform its subsidy system and limit the scope of subsidies to a few top brands. Back in 2017, the Chinese government provided a total subsidy of 22 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) to electric vehicle manufacturers.

Contributing to the decline is the slowdown in the overall economy and the plummet in consumer confidence amid the US-China trade war. The market once expected that large cities would relax their traffic restrictions or the government would provide new subsidies to new car buyers. However, those expectations failed to materialize and the industry suffered a blow.

Source: Central News Agency, October 15, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201910150158.aspx

Briefings | | October 16, 2019 | Economy/Resources

DW Chinese: US Competitiveness Rank Fell to Second Place

Deutsche Welle Chinese Edition recently reported that The World Economic Forum (WEF) just released its annual Global Competitiveness Report. The United States fell from number one to number two this year. The top five globally are Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. China ranked number 28 globally and number 8 in the Asia-Pacific region. Compared to last year, Germany’s rank suffered a very big decline globally, from the third to the seventh place. This was mainly due to the low implementation rate of fiber network deployment (number 72) and mobile bandwidth (number 58). The slide in the U.S. rank was primarily the result of trade tariffs and the worry about their long-term investment impact. However, Singapore’s move to the top was largely due to the increased port benefits at the time of a trade war between the two largest economies. The WEF report is based on data in categories of infrastructure, health, the labor market, the financial system, market openness, and the ecosystem for innovation.

Source: DW Chinese, October 9, 2019
https://bit.ly/2VBqXfU

Briefings | | October 16, 2019 | Geo-Strategic Trend

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

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