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Duowei: China States Core Interests in the Economic Field for the First Time; Accelerates the Pace of Building an Anti-U.S. Front

Duowei, a Chinese news media that the Chinese government set up in North America, reported that, “China, in the face of the unreasonable demands that the United States has made on China in trade negotiations, emphasized its  ‘core interests’ and showed that it has the will never to yield to the United States. At the same time, China has accelerated the pace of its building a counter-U.S. front with neighboring countries.”

The report said, “China’s state media Xinhua News Agency published a commentary on May 25, stating that ‘the U.S.’ dissatisfaction with China’s economic structure violates China’s core interests.’ The Chinese government has always used the term ‘core interests’ to emphasize territorial sovereignty on issues such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. ‘Core interests’ first appeared in the economic field after the Chinese government released the ‘China’s Peaceful Development’ white paper in September 2011. It has since received much attention.”

“South Korea’s East Asia Daily reported on May 28 that, in response to their common enemy, Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The report said that the leaders of China and Russia met at the ‘Belt and Road’ International Cooperation Summit held in Beijing on April 26 and will meet again in June. This time China is a country that the United States has also sanctioned. Therefore, at the summit, Xi Jinping will listen to Putin’s advice on the Sino-U.S. trade war response plan .”

“At the same time, China is advancing the summit between Xi Jinping and Modi. It is reported that China will discuss the plan for separate talks between the Chinese and Indian leaders at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in June. The China-India summit plans to issue a joint statement supporting free trade based on the World Trade Organization (WTO), which will become a symbolic move by China and India to respond to the ‘America First’ policy that U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed. In addition, Xi Jinping also plans to upgrade Iran to a full member state at this SCO summit. Earlier, Iran has been attending the SCO meeting as an observer. This is not only a warning to the United States, but it is expected to further enhance the SCO’s international status. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post commented that, in the face of the United States’ unrelenting attacks, China began to unite with neighboring countries to explore ways to deal with the United States.”

Source: Duowei News, May 28, 2019
http://news.dwnews.com/global/news/2019-05-28/60135401.html

Huanqiu Editorial: The Narcissistic U.S. Elite Attempt to Drive Away Chinese Companies

On May 29, 2019, Huanqiu published an editorial on how the U.S. Wall Street is trying to kick out Chinese companies. “As the U.S. trade war with China widens, the call to drive Chinese companies out of Wall Street is rising considerably in the United States. Extremists, who advocate depriving Chinese companies of their right to be listed in the U. S. stock exchanges, claim that Chinese companies have raised tens of billions of dollars from the U.S. stock market over the years and that it is another pipeline, in addition to the trade surplus, for China to take advantage of the United States. They are eager to push Washington to cut off the pipeline and decouple China and the United States in the financial market.”

If that happens, the State media reasoned, it would merely reduce the financing sources available to Chinese companies, but it would have a much greater impact on the U.S. investors wishing to benefit from Chinese economic growth.

To the extent the United States shuts out Chinese companies from its financial market, Huanqiu believed, “There will be many capital markets in the world that welcome China’s promising companies. The United States has closed down one road through which China opens up to the outside world and cut off its financing links with the world’s largest developing market. It would be an interesting question whether that causes more harm to China or to the United States.”

Finally, the State media concluded, “In our view, the arrogance of some Americans towards China has become abnormal; they increasingly live in all kinds of fantasies and (act on) impulse. They really seem to believe that the lifeline of China’s prosperity today is in the United States and that no matter how tall the big tree of China grows, most of its roots are deeply embedded in the United States. They imagine that as long as they cut those roots, China’s modernization will be struggling and eventually collapse. The arrogant American elite should go recalculate it.”

Source: Huanqiu, May 29. 2019
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2019-05/14960143.html?agt=15422

Chinese Communist Party Membership Suspended for Staying Overseas over Five Years

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party recently issued the new “Regulations on the Education and Management of Party Members of the Chinese Communist Party.” The Regulations consist of 10 chapters and 46 articles. They provide details on the basic tasks of party members, the main methods for daily management, the management of party membership and party organizations, as well as the supervision and discipline of party members.

It is worth noting that, in chapter 5, which is about the management of party membership and party organizations, the regulations stipulate that party members who have not returned to China due to long-term settlement abroad or studying abroad for more than five years are generally suspended from party membership.

In addition, in chapter 8, which is about information-based party member education and management, article 38 states that party organizations should educate and guide party members to discipline their online behavior. The party members should fight against erroneous cyber opinions and must not produce, publish, or disseminate information that violates the party’s disciplinary regulations and state laws and regulations.

Source: Central News Agency, May 22, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201905220258.aspx

CCP Secret Document: Crackdown on Christian Churches

The United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of Public Security of the Liaoning Provincial Government, issued a secret document directing the local governments to crack down on foreign-related Christian churches and demonize religious groups in order to legalize the CCP’s suppression.

The document, titled, “Work Plan for Investigating and Handling Foreign Christian Penetration in Accordance with the Law,” is a special action for local governments to implement. The main task of the special action is to require government agencies to “resolutely crack down on foreign religious believers, resolutely destroy the religious activities of foreign religious groups in the local area, and resolutely prevent organizations from attending training in neighboring countries and regions.” It also directs the tightening of restrictions on the use of foreign Internet websites to conduct online missionary work.

In addition to targeting the “Jehovah Witnesses” and several Korean Christian churches that have been suppressed before, the CCP’s secret document also named the Young Disciples of Jesus, Cru, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Bo Ai Church, the Ai Xin Church, the Canaan Christian Church, and a number of others.

In order to achieve the goal, the document recommends that the local governments first send out undercover agents to conduct detailed investigations on these religious groups, such as the scope of their activities, the status of get-togethers, personnel composition, background, funds, and the scale of their activities. The document recommends surveillance of relevant WeChat and QQ groups; in addition to recording all the believers’ information; establishing a “Resistance to the Overseas Christian Penetration Work Database,” as well as the use the big data analysis to keep abreast of church activities.

In terms of crackdowns, the document calls for the shutdown of church meeting places, training centers, and seminaries; the taking of a number of measures to combat the believers’ beliefs, such as criminal prosecution, education transformation, pressure on their work units and relatives, and cutting off welfare protection; “investigating and handling some, registering some, controlling some, and transforming some.” The document holds local CCP committees and governments responsible for the education transformation so as to eliminate completely any possibility of restoring religious activities.

Moreover, before each crackdown action, local authorities are required to demonize religious groups and guide public opinion to legalize the CCP’s suppression of them.

The document also requires that government propaganda departments should produce critical articles and videos to incite the masses. Internet censorship departments should control “harmful and sensational public opinion. Education departments need to strengthen the management of teachers and students with religious backgrounds. The document also requires that the crackdown work should not be conducted during the time when there are major domestic political activities or important sensitive anniversaries.

The document requires confidentiality. It is strictly forbidden to release crackdown documents on the Internet or notify personnel of their crackdown assignments through WeChat and other social media channels.

Source: Bitter Winter, May 27, 2019
遼寧機密文件內容曝光 全國性打擊涉外教會行動已開始

Another Major Apple Supplier Is Moving Out of China

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu recently reported that, in June, major Apple supplier Pegatron will start Apple production assembly lines in Indonesia. The initial products include the MacBook and the iPad. Pegatron is the second largest Apple manufacturer after Foxconn, which already announced that, later this year, its mass production of iPhones will be in India. It was first reported in January that Pegatron had a tentative plan to move out of Mainland China. Potential locations included India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. According to Indonesian local reports, Pegatron selected Indonesia instead of Vietnam based on a better supply of labor. Given the Trump administration’s earlier tariff increase, as well as the Huawei case, it is reasonable that Pegatron would prefer to move its manufacturing facilities out of China. Pegatron did not officially confirm which customers the Indonesian factories will serve. However, all products will ship to the United States.

Source: Sohu, May 24, 2019
http://www.sohu.com/a/316055021_553580

UDN: South Korean Industries Push New Laws to Prevent Core Technologies from Leaking to China

United Daily News (UDN), one of the primary Taiwanese news groups, recently reported that South Korean industrial associations are pushing new laws to impose heavy punishment for leaking the nation’s core technologies. In the past years, major South Korean industries like semiconductors, displays, and automobiles have been seeing a severe outflow of core technologies and key talent to China. The proposed new laws include a redefinition of core national technologies and information protection, as well as punishment for leaking the core technologies. The damage from losing technologies and talent to China is having a more and more significant impact. The proposal also asked for establishing limitations on the movements of core people and for a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to be a required document for talent working on core technologies to sign.

Source: UDN, May 18, 2019
https://udn.com/news/story/6809/3820027

BBC Chinese: Cut of Game of Thrones Final Episode Caused Major Debate in China

BBC Chinese recently reported that the popular U.S. TV series Game of Thrones is also very popular in China. However, when the Chinese fans were eager to watch the final episode on May 20, the broadcaster Tencent cut the show off one hour before airing citing technical difficulties, without providing a new air time. Tencent is the sole distributor of Game of Thrones in China, and many fans paid extra for the VIP access to watch the show. The cut-off caused nationwide anger online, especially when Tencent’s version of the show had already passed China’s official screening. A large number of Chinese netizens questioned whether this is part of the public opinion war against the United States. Once the trade war restarted recently, China’s media have been engaged in a wave of anti-American activities. Many normal TV broadcasts were replaced by old movies covering the Korean War. Tencent stock dropped 3.88 percent instantly after the event. Both Tencent and HBO refused to respond to this matter. Game of Thrones is very popular among China’s top leadership members as well, including President Xi himself. They typically watch a much-compressed edition called the “diamond version” in order to save time.

Source: BBC Chinese, May 21, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-48345861

Baidu Reported Massive Loss in Q1

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the Chinese search engine giant Baidu reported a massive loss in its just-released first quarter financial report. The report indicated that Baidu suffered a net loss of RMB 327 million (around US$49 million) in the first quarter. Last year, in same time period, Baidu reported a net profit of RMB 6.694 billion (around US$967 million). This is the first time since Baidu went public in 2005 that it has reported a loss. Immediately after the report was released, its stock price dropped by 16 percent and reached a three and a half year low. Instantly, the market value shrank by US$8.7 billion. Baidu’s Sr. Vice President who is Chief of the Search Engine Business Group Xiang Hailong resigned at the same time that the report was released. Baidu’s search engine represents the company’s core business and enjoys a near monopoly position in China’s search market, with government backing as well as a Google ban. Market experts expressed their belief that, by examining reports from other similar companies, Baidu’s report indeed reflected the adjustments in the economy.

Source: Sina, May 19, 2019
http://finance.sina.com/gb/usstock/usstock_news/sinacn/2019-05-19/doc-ifzikfzn1690342.shtml