Beijing made April 15 the “State Security Education Day for All People.” On that day, the CCTV had a high-profile promotion asking the general public to look for or report “spy” activities. People can report those activities via phone, online submission, mail, or directly going to corresponding government offices. The corresponding office will give out rewards, on three levels, based on the effect of the tips. The highest reward is 500,000 yuan (US $ 74,000).

An observer of Beijing’s affairs has commented that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been looking for spies in the name of “state security” and the result has been that students have reported their teachers and friends have reported on each other. “The CCP faces three big conflicts: the conflicts between the officials and the general public; the conflicts among the ruling group, and the conflicts between the CCP and Western countries. These conflicts have led the CCP to a feeling of great insecurity. To secure its power, the CCP has been looking for ‘spies.’ First, it wants to identify the insiders in the CCP system who are not loyal to the CCP. Second, it wants to arrest members of the general public who are against the CCP. Third, (it wants to identify) the ‘infiltration forces’ from countries overseas.”

Source: Epoch Times, April 18, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/4/18/n11195737.htm

On Sunday April 28, tens of thousands of Hong Kong citizens took to the streets to protest the Hong Kong court’s verdict on the leaders of the Chinese occupation movement and the Hong Kong government’s amendment of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance. Numbers of groups, including the Civil Human Rights Front in Hong Kong, organized the protest. According to news from the Hong Kong police, during the peak time, 20,000 participated in the protest. The protesters came from a wide background, including Hong Kong’s famous singers Anthony Wong, Yiu-ming, and Denise Ho.

The slogan of the protest was mainly to ask the government to withdraw the revised plan for the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and safeguard the rule of law and freedom of speech in Hong Kong. Since March, the Hong Kong Government has been promoting the revision of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, which has caused widespread concern. If the proposal of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance becomes law, for the first time, there will be an extradition arrangement between Hong Kong and the mainland. A large number of politicians in Hong Kong believe that the Chinese government may use this bill to extradite political prisoners from Hong Kong to the Mainland. However, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at the beginning of April that the revision of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance will be promoted. The Hong Kong government established a special committee and held its first meeting last week. The tough stance of the Hong Kong Government has left the people of Hong Kong worried. According to Radio France Internationale, in the parade held this Sunday, some people kept shouting “Carrie Lam should step down!” A spokesman for the Hong Kong Government said, in response to the demonstration, that the amendment of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance is in line with the spirit of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in Hong Kong.

This protest is the second demonstration within one month and the scale was even larger than the previous one.

Source: Radio Free Asia, April 28, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/9-04282019163051.html

Epoch Times reported that the 2nd “Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit” concluded on April 27 in Beijing. However, the Summit was described as lacking transparency as most of the meetings were held behind closed doors. As the media was not invited, they were not able to cover the meetings. The reporters were neither notified of the time of the opening ceremony nor were they given the chance to ask questions during the press conference at the closing ceremony. According to an article the BBC published, on April 27, Xi Jinping participated in a round table discussion with leaders from 37 countries.  After that discussion, Xi held a press conference and declared that agreements in the amount of US$64 billion had been signed during the summit. However, Xi did not mention the scale of the debt that will be owed to China, nor did he say when the next “Belt and Road” summit will be held. Taiwan’s Liberty Times reported that, during the summit, even though China was trying to give answers to the criticism about the “debt trap,” “(China) exercises influence (in foreign countries)” and the entire summit just looked like it lacked transparency. There were also fewer reporters at the summit compared to the last time. Meanwhile unlike what was done in the past, the large screen in the press center was airing Xi’s entire speech. Reporters felt like they were watching the official CCTV version. In addition, China’s largest trading partners, the U.S. and India, were absent from the summit. None of the leaders from the U.S. G7 industrial countries including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Britain, and Germany were present at the summit. Even the Sri Lankan Prime Minister and the Indonesian President, China’s close partners, did not attend the summit.

The Epoch Times article stated that Western democratic countries are worried that the “Belt and Road” project that China proposed will cause the underdeveloped countries participating in the project to fall into a debt crisis. Since there is lack of transparency in the projects and in the funding, it will lead to corruption involving the officials in the hosting countries. China also can use the “Belt and Road” project to export its dictatorship and its party culture to the outside world.

Source: The Epoch Times, April 28, 2019
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/19/4/28/n11219915.htm