— Part II: Government Policies —
{Editor’s Notes: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has adopted and, for many years, has carried out its strategy of “Culture Going Global.” The following is a report that Chinascope has created focusing on that strategy, on related government policies, and on the implementation of the CCP’s efforts. Continue reading
Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) recently reported that U.S.-based Shen Yun Performing Arts 2019 global tour has been enjoying sold-out shows around the world in over 150 cities such as New York, Mexico City, Berlin and Toronto. Calling Shen Yun a miracle is not an exaggeration. The Show brought its popularity to people in all walks of life with different religious backgrounds and different political views. It is quietly changing the world. What’s truly unique about the company is that the performers have tried to influence other people by improving themselves. Three-time Emmy Award Winner Rita Cosby described them as having very strong power by simply demonstrating inner peace. The Show has been recognized as waking up the traditional values in people’s souls. Values like freedom, compassion and kindness are very meaningful for today’s world.
Source: LTN, April 10, 2019
https://market.ltn.com.tw/article/5875
Xinhua recently reported, based on newly released CAAM (China Association of Automobile Manufacturers) data, that China’s March domestic automobile sales suffered a year-over-year decline of 5.2 percent. Passenger car sales declined by 6.9 percent. The market has been sliding for nine consecutive months. It is estimated that the automobile market will not recover in the first half of the year. Commercial vehicles saw a mild growth due to increased government spending. One special market characteristic worth noting is that domestic brands are losing market share. In March, domestic sales dropped by 16.4 percent, reaching a market share of 41.3 percent, which represents a 4.7 percent decline. Domestic brand SUV sales declined the most. They suffered a year-over-year decline of 13 percent. Foreign brands demonstrated more flexibility in promotions.
Source: Xinhua, April 13, 2019
http://www.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2019-04/13/c_1124361340.htm
Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that Viettel, Vietnam’s largest telecommunications company has developed a plan to provide its 5G high-speed wireless services in 2021. The company announced that it has been investing heavily in developing its own 5G chips as well as its own equipment that will utilize the chips. Viettel, which has a military background, holds more than half of Vietnam’s high-speed telecommunications market. Most of its 4G technology came from China’s Huawei. However, Viettel decided to take a different approach for the 5G journey. The company decided to depend more on its self-developed technologies. It may also absorb some Western technologies. Viettel’s native design focused on the core 5G chipsets, but for establishing a nationwide network, a large number of different chips are required. Viettel may not be able to self-develop those immediately. The company may have to depend on Intel, Xilinx, Broadcom, Skyworks and Qorvo. In case its internal test results are not satisfactory, Viettel will sync with Washington by importing from Nokia or Ericsson, instead of Huawei.
Source: Sina, April 11, 2019
https://t.cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/5904298558/15fec723e00100h00c
— Part I: The “Culture Going Global” Strategy —
{Editor’s Notes: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has adopted and, for many years, has carried out its strategy of “Culture Going Global.” The following is a report that Chinascope has created focusing on that strategy, on related government policies, and on the implementation of the CCP’s efforts. Continue reading
According to an article that Sputnik News published, U.S. Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) recently reported that, as China is unable to solve the African swine fever issue, African swine fever could drive up the global prices of protein since China consumes 40 percent of the pork in the world. China’s problem may also cause shortages in other countries’ food markets.
African swine fever is an acute viral infection in pigs that is not transmitted to other animals and humans. In August 2018, the African swine fever epidemic broke out in Liaoning Province for the first time and the virus spread rapidly to other provinces in China. Now Chinese officials have confirmed that more than 120 cases of African swine fever have been recorded in 30 provinces and autonomous regions. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, nearly one million pigs have been slaughtered, but China has still failed to control the spread of the dangerous virus of African swine fever.
In an interview with Chinese media, Chinese agriculture minister Han Changfu reported that the African swine fever virus has been brought under control and the occurrence rate has decreased. From the beginning of 2019, only 23 new cases were recorded. However, the U.S. CNBC pointed out that the price of achieving this result was that healthy pigs were slaughtered. Many farms slaughtered all of their pigs because they were worried about the spread of African swine fever.
According to estimates from the Shanghai JCI Consulting Company, China’s pork production will be reduced by 16 percent in 2019, or 8.5 million metric tons, which will result in a pork shortage of around 7 million metric tons. Under the current conditions, a rise in pork prices will be inevitable. The issue of African swine fever has caused active discussions on Chinese blogs. One blogger whose name is “Tangshan Wangzi” wrote, “What happened to China’s pig industry? Take a look. People’s lives are ruined.” Another blogger named “Musalaisi” wrote, “African swine fever can be spread in a number of ways. Prevention is the key. Sterilization of tools is very important. Once this is over, the price of pork will definitely rise.” The blogger named “I am Lin Shu” wrote, “The production of Chinese pork has been cut back, but there is imported pork. Now the domestic pork prices are very bad.”
Washington hopes that China will once again increase imports of U.S. pork in light of the shortage of pork in China. According to Reuters’ data, 90 percent of U.S. exports of pork in 2017 were sold to China. After China imposed a 70 percent responsive tariff on US pork products in 2018, the US exports of pork products to China dropped by 55 percent.
Source: Sputnik News, April 12, 2019
http://sputniknews.cn/opinion/201904121028177192/
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education of China, there were 492,000 foreign students studying in China in 2018. Among them there were 50,000 from South Korea which is the highest in the world; the second were from Thailand, Pakistan, India, and the U.S., each country had between 20,000 and 30,000 students studying in China. Among these foreign students, there were 60,304 people who had received scholarships from the Chinese government, accounting for 12.81 percent. The number of foreign students studying for a college degree was 258,122 or 52.44 percent and rest of them were there for training programs. These foreign students were studying at 1,004 colleges and universities in 31 provinces and autonomous regions across China, an increase of 3,013 people over 2017, with an annual growth rate of 0.62 percent. The regions include 88,786 people in Beijing, 61,400 in Shanghai, 45,778 in Jiangsu, 38,190 in Zhejiang, and 27,879 in Liaoning.
Source: Central News Agency, April 13, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201904130072.aspx
Zhang Pancheng, a former security guard at Peking University, went missing because he posted a video on the Internet last November criticizing China’s human rights situation and Xi Jinping for giving out generous foreign aid to 3rd world countries. Zhang’s friends and lawyers have recently confirmed that the authorities arrested Zhang for allegedly “Picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” According to Zhang’s mother, Zhang Pancheng has been held in the Xicheng District Detention Center in Beijing for more than four months. The family member received a notice of the arrest. An attorney that the Zhang’s family hired had gone the detention center to visit him. The lawyer told Zhang’s family that Zhang refused to admit he made a mistake, refused to write a letter of guarantee, and refused to sign the lawyer’s power of attorney.
In the video Zhang made, Zhang said: “I am a simple, ordinary Chinese, but I also have my dreams, my ideals, my self-esteem, and my rights as a person. In China under today’s totalitarian rule, no one has personal safety. A private entrepreneur could die any time and anyone could disappear for no reason. He (Xi Jinping) could give away $60 billion in foreign aid but did he go through any approval process? . . . One million innocent Muslim compatriots are being held. What crimes have they committed? Please release them and send them home immediately.”
Source: Radio Free Asia, April 10, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/nu-04102019102548.html