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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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China’s Top 500 Enterprises Cut 314,600 Jobs in 2023

On October 15, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, a semi-official institution, released a report stating that China’s top 500 enterprises generally have strong risk resilience. However, by end of 2023, these companies employed 10.66 million people, cutting 314,600 jobs from the previous year.

The job cutting trended continued in this year. In May, several leading companies announced layoffs. Alibaba’s mid-May financial report revealed a reduction of over 14,000 employees. JD.com laid off 12,000 employees on May 21. Lenovo Group’s financial report indicated a reduction of 7,500 employees. Li Auto reduced its workforce by 18%, amounting to at least 5,600 employees.

Source: Sound of Hope, October 15, 2024
https://www.soundofhope.org/post/845372

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua Commentary: US Struggles in Rebuilding Its Manufacturing Industry

Xinhua News Agency published a commentary on the U.S.’ failing to integrate global warming efforts in bringing manufacture businesses back to China.

Recently, Boeing announced plans to cut approximately 17,000 jobs globally, which stands in stark contrast to the high demand for global aviation manufacturing. This incident reflects several issues within American manufacturing: high labor costs, a shortage of skilled technical workers, and supply chain disruptions.

Since the 1960s, the offshoring of U.S. manufacturing has sparked widespread discussion about America’s “deindustrialization.” To address this problem, following the 2008 global financial crisis, various policies were introduced to revitalize the manufacturing industry, from Obama’s “reindustrialization” to Trump’s “America First” and now Biden’s “supply chain resilience” policy.

During this process, the U.S. has pursued protectionist trade policies and “long-arm jurisdiction” measures to forcibly bring manufacturing back. These actions have led to rising production costs, pressure on fiscal expenditure, high inflation, and damage to the supply chain, resulting in further decline of already hollowed-out industries.

According to a recent survey by the Financial Times, over two years into the Biden administration’s ambitious plan to reshore manufacturing, many projects, particularly in the clean technology and semiconductor sectors, are struggling to get off the ground.

Source: Xinhua, October 17, 2024
http://www.xinhuanet.com/20241017/b99368fad2d74d4b856b4e647b3bbaff/c.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Israeli Politicians Attended ROC’s National Day Celebration But Not the PRC’s

YNET, the electronic newspaper of Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s largest media group, published an article titled: “A paragon for Taiwan, a sting for China: this is how the war affected Israel’s perception towards the two rivals.”

Itamar Eichner, a senior Israeli diplomatic correspondent, wrote the article. He discussed that when Republic of China (Taiwan) hosted its National Day reception at the Taipei Representative Office in Israel this year, hundreds of guests attended, including eight cross-party members of the Knesset from the ruling Likud party, the opposition Yesh Atid party, and the National Unity party, as well as five mayors of major cities. On the contrary, when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) hosted its National Day reception at the Chinese Embassy two weeks ago, only Uri Makleb, Deputy Minister of Transportation of Israel, attended as a representative from Israel; no elected members of the Knesset attended. There were only 70 guests in total.

The report analyzes the reasons. Since the Hamas terror attack on Israel, China (PRC) has completely ignored Israel’s concerns. On the one hand, China has aligned itself with the so-called “Axis of Evil,” including Iran, by continuously condemning Israel’s efforts to rescue hostages in Gaza, and on the other hand, it disregarded Israel’s request for China to assist in rescuing Israeli hostages with partial Chinese ancestry. Meanwhile, Taiwan has consistently supported Israel in its resistance against Hamas since the war began, standing firm in its shared values with Israel.

Source: Central News Agency, December 13, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202410130137.aspx

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend

Hikvision Cuts R&D Operations Amid Declining Profits and Government Spending

Hikvision, China’s leading surveillance camera manufacturer, is reportedly undergoing major organizational restructuring, including significant cuts to regional R&D departments that could affect over 1,000 employees. The company is reducing its R&D regions from 32 to 12, maintaining only core areas.

According to employee reports on recruitment website Maimai, R&D departments are heavily impacted, with some regions, like Hunan, being completely eliminated, though headquarters areas like Hangzhou haven’t yet been affected. The company is offering N+2 compensation packages to laid-off employees.

Following public discussion of these layoffs, Hikvision responded by denying any large-scale layoffs, stating that this is merely a strategic adjustment to optimize R&D resources in headquarters and key sales cities.

The company’s financial performance has been declining for three consecutive years, with its H1 2023 financial report showing total revenue of 41.21 billion yuan (up 9.68% YoY), profit of 5.064 billion yuan (down 5.13% YoY), and public service sector revenue of 5.693 billion yuan (down 9.25% YoY).

The decline is primarily attributed to poor local government finances, resulting in reduced spending from public security and traffic police sectors. Senior VP Huang Fanghong acknowledged that industries dependent on local government funding are struggling, noting that both government and enterprise customers are now favoring cost-effective products over innovative, high-performance options.

Hikvision, known for its surveillance technology and crucial role in China’s “Skynet” monitoring system, has grown to become a global security industry leader over the past 20 years.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 11, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202410110414.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

German-Funded, Chinese-Built: Namibia’s Largest Solar Project Highlights Complex Global Energy Partnerships

In September 2024, Namibia’s national power company signed an agreement with two Chinese companies to build the country’s largest solar power station. Notably, 80% of the project’s funding (70 million euros) comes from Germany’s KfW Development Bank, while the remaining funds will be provided by Namibia’s national power company.

The project, located in Rosh Pinah in southern Namibia, will be built by China’s Jiangxi International Economic and Technical Cooperation Company and Chint New Energy Development Company. Expected to be operational by Q2 2026, the plant will increase Namibia’s total photovoltaic capacity from 500,000 to 600,000 kilowatts, significantly reducing the country’s dependence on imported electricity from Zambia and South Africa.

Industry insiders revealed that only three Chinese companies and one Indian company bid for the project, with no German companies participating despite German funding. One anonymous German solar company operating in Namibia noted that this pattern of “German money, Chinese construction” is common in such energy projects.

The situation raises questions about China’s growing influence in Africa, particularly given that the EU has designated China as a systemic competitor. However, KfW board member Christiane Laibach emphasized that the bidding process followed international standards and was objective and economical.

Namibia, with its sparse population of 3 million and abundant desert regions, has become an attractive location for green energy facilities due to its dry subtropical climate and abundant sunshine. Germany, Namibia’s former colonial ruler, is heavily investing in green power projects in the country, partly to produce hydrogen for its own energy transition, though these projects have raised environmental concerns about their impact on fragile desert ecosystems.

Source: Deutsche Welle, October 9, 2024
https://p.dw.com/p/4lZhQ

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China Unveils Ambitious Space Science Development Plan for 2024-2050

On October 15, 2023, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Space Administration, and the manned space engineering office jointly released China’s first national space science plan, titled “National Space Science Medium and Long-term Development Plan (2024-2050).”

The plan outlines five major themes and 17 priority development directions, along with a roadmap for space science development leading up to 2050, divided into three phases:

Phase One (up to 2027): Focus on operating the Chinese space station and executing manned lunar exploration, the fourth phase of lunar exploration, and planetary exploration missions. This phase aims to assess and initiate 5-8 space science satellite missions and produce several significant original outcomes with international influence.

Phase Two (2028-2035): Building on achievements from Phase One, this phase will maintain the operation of the space station and pursue additional scientific tasks, including manned lunar exploration, establishing a lunar research station, and exploring the outer solar system. About 15 space science satellite missions will be planned.

Phase Three (2036-2050): By this phase, China aims to reach a leading global level in key areas of space science. It will evaluate and implement 5-6 large-scale missions, along with approximately 25 medium-sized and opportunistic projects.

Overall, the plan aims to position China as a key player in global space science by establishing a comprehensive and ambitious framework for future exploration and research.

Source: Sputnik News (Russia), October 15, 2024
https://sputniknews.cn/20241015/1062052529.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

RFI Chinese: Indonesia Asks Google and Apple to Block Temu App

According to Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition, Indonesian Minister of Communications and Information Budi Arie Setiadi recently stated that Indonesia has asked Google and Apple to block the Temu app so that it cannot be downloaded in Indonesia. The Temu e-commerce platform is a product of Chinese cross-border e-commerce vendor PDD Holdings. The move by the Indonesian government is aimed at protecting the country’s small- and medium-sized businesses from having to compete with cheap products offered on the Temu platform.

Temu’s rapid overseas growth has triggered scrutiny in several countries. It’s low-cost business model involves sending packaged goods to customers by direct mail from China. The platform connects consumers directly with factories in China to significantly reduce cost by taking advantage of loopholes in the international small package mailing system.

Budi called the business model “vicious competition.” He said “we are not here to protect e-commerce, but small and medium-sized companies. We must protect millions of Indonesian businesses.” Budi also stated that the Indonesian government would block Temu from making any investment in Indonesia’s local e-commerce sector.

The Indonesian government is planning to impose similar blocking measures on Shein, another Chinese e-commerce platform. Last year, Indonesia forced TikTok to shut down its e-commerce services in the country with the aim of protecting the data of local merchants and users.

Source: RFI Chinese, October 11, 2024
https://tinyurl.com/rsp3h93k

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Lianhe Zaobao: Movie Market Very Weak During China’s National Day Holidays

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that, during China’s National Day holiday period right after the Chinese stock market recently soared, movie consumption (an important part of the holiday economy) was particularly weak.

According to latest statistics, this year’s China National Day period (October 1st to 7th) box office totals reached RMB 1.82 billion yuan (around US$258 million), including pre-sold tickets. This year’s “Golden Week” number was not only dramatically lower than the RMB 2.734 billion yuan (around US$397 million) for the same period last year, but also less than half of the RMB 5.049 billion yuan (around US$715 million) seen in 2019. Moreover, this year’s box office results were achieved with the help of heavy official subsidies.

In order to attract people to watch movies, many local governments launched programs such as movie-viewing-coupon initiatives. For example, the Beijing Film Bureau issued RMB 10 million yuan (around US$1.42 million) in movie viewing subsidies to more than 250 theaters in the city, while the Shanghai government issued 30 million yuan (around US$4.25 million) in movie consumption vouchers.

In recent years, China’s consumer spending as a share of GDP has declined, rather than increasing. Analysts expressed the belief that the government will have a hard time effectively stimulating consumption unless the financial pressure on ordinary people from the “three big mountains” (housing, education and medical care) is removed.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, October 6, 2024
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/finance/china/story20241006-4954583

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources