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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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RFA: Chinese Internet Surveillance Technology Can Reach Overseas

RFA reported that China has expanded its Internet surveillance technology overseas. Zhongkedianji Beijing Technology (http://www.zkdj.com), a big data firm in Beijing disclosed that a software it developed called “junquanyuqun” (http://junquan.com.cn) is capable of detecting more than 8,000 “sensitive” websites in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. In addition, it has established 18,000 information outlets in China which can monitor news, forums, blogs, microblogs, pictures, and videos. It can even collect information in 53 languages including English, French, Spanish, and the languages of ethnic minorities in China. According to the company’s website, the surveillance system can carry out public opinion analyses, information warnings, and hot spot analyses. It can collect negative public opinion, public opinion trends, briefings, analyses, forwarded information, and do statistical analyses for the government. It can monitor news, forums, blogs, Weibo, pictures, videos, QQ groups and it has search and documentation capabilities. According to YicaiGlobal.com, Zhongkedianji Beijing Technology was founded in 2007. Its customers include a wide range of industries such as state-owned enterprises, governments, military organizations, and private companies. Recently, in November 2017, it secured US$15.15 million in financing. The company is worth US$150 million.

The RFA article also reported that, during the recent 2018 Procuratorial Technologies and Equipment Exhibit held on May 15 in Beijing, a scanner that Beijing HiSign Technology Company developed could recover Facebook and Twitter messages that had been deleted from a mobile phone. Meiya Pico from Xiamen City claimed that their handheld scanner could break into a mobile phone within seconds to retrieve customer data. The RFA article reported that, because of the latest technological developments, overseas Chinese have become very concerned that they could be subjected to retaliation if they publish any opinions that criticize the Chinese government.

Sources:
1. Radio Free Asia, June 28, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/ql2-06282018100614.html
2. Yicai Global.com, November 24, 2017
https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/big-data-firm-zhongkedianji-bags-usd15-million-round-financing-valued-usd150-million

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Global Times: The U.S. Asked the World not to Buy Iranian Oil. How should China Respond?

Global Times recently published a commentary offering some strategic suggestions on how to respond to the U.S. position of asking the world to ban Iranian oil. The commentary started with the fact that most EU companies decided to stop doing business with Iran. However, China and India are the largest buyers of Iranian oil. The U.S. exit from the Iranian Nuclear Deal was in itself a betrayal to the promise the U.S. made as a government – or should people call it bullying. However just like other nations, China faces the choice of losing the profitable business with Iran or losing more business with the U.S. Global Times suggested: First, the U.S. position has no basis in international law – and China should not just agree. Second, China should not stick its head out to lead the opposition against the U.S. since China does not have the power to lead in such a case. Third, China should strengthen coordination with other large Iranian oil buyers to negotiate with the U.S. jointly. In a case of not touching China’s core strategic interests, China should avoid being recognized as “the leader of the united front-line against the United States.”

Source: Global Times, June 28, 2018
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2018-06/12370186.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources US-China Relations

Duowei News: Australian Parliament Passed New Laws Aimed at Preventing Foreign Interference

Duowei News quoted a news article that the BBC had published. On June 28, the Australian Parliament passed new laws aimed at preventing foreign interference in Australia. According to the BBC report, the laws were first passed in the Senate on the 28th. They target espionage, as well as foreign interference in politics and other domestic affairs. The laws specified that industrial espionage for a foreign country will be categorized as a criminal offense. They also require that lobbyists for foreign governments must register their identity. In December 2017, Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia, first announced his plan to introduce a new foreign espionage law while he criticized China for interfering in Australia’s politics. The Duowei article stated that, even though Turnbull denied that the new laws target China, the timing of the laws has intensified the foreign relations between the two. An ABC report suggested that the laws are the explanation for the development of the recent diplomatic conflict between Australia and China.

Sources:

1. Duowei News, June 28, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/global/news/2018-06-28/60067420.html
2. BBC, June 28, 2018
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-44624270

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Taiwan CNA: Official Think Tank Report Warns of Possible Financial Panic in China

Taiwan Central News Agency reported that the National Institute for Finance Development, a senior think tank in China, recently published an internal report on China’s economy. The report was circulating on the Internet on June 24, and was carried by online websites, including Sohu. The report stated that China’s defaulting on bonds, tightening liquidity, and the fall in the exchange rates and stock markets have occurred one after another this year. Meanwhile the increase in the interest rate in the U.S. and the threat of a US-China trade conflict all suggest that the Chinese people are very likely to experience a financial panic very soon. The report concluded that, in the next several years, “preventing the occurrence and spread of financial panic” is the most important task for financial institutions to undertake. The report relied on the official May economic data which showed that the economy is getting weaker: industry added value came in below expectations, capital investment was the lowest since 2000, consumer spending continued to decline, and the increase in the total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods was only at 8.5 percent, the lowest since July 2003. The report also mentioned that the financial environment is alarming with a lack of growth in credit, tightened financing for companies, increases in credit defaults, and increased risks in the financial stock market. It further suggested that the Central Administration should come up with a crisis management plan to deal with the panic. All financial institutions and the Public Security Bureau should have plans so they do not repeat the same mistake when many institutions did not take action during the stock market turbulence in China in 2015 and the financial crisis in the U.S. in 2008. At the same time, the report recommended that China should take measures to minimize the impact of any foreign currency like the U.S. dollar. The report also indicated that financial panic is different from a financial crisis, but it will lead to a financial crisis if the investors feel lost and start to panic. According to the report, China must not ignore the fact that, in 2008, the financial crisis in the U.S. turned out to be a financial crisis globally.

Source: Central News Agency, June 27, 2018
http://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201806270203-1.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

CCP Membership Approaches 90 Million

According to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Organization Department, at the end of 2017, CCP membership reached 89.5 million, 117,000 more than the year before. The number of the Party’s grassroots organizations increased to 4.6 million, 53,000 higher than the year 2016.

It is said that the CCP has been exerting quantity control so that the annual growth rate of the membership fell by 1.5 percent. In 2017, about 2 million people became new CCP members. Among them, about 1 million or 50.8 percent are working “at the front line of production and work,” 860,000 or 43.4 percent hold a college degree or above, and 1.6 million or 81.4 percent are under 35 years old.

Among the existing 89.5 million CCP members, 43.3 million or 48.3 percent hold a college degree or above, 23.9 million or 26.7 percent are female, and 6.5 million or 7.3 percent are from ethnic minorities.

The grassroots CCP organizations continue to expand across every corner of the country. 99.7 percent of government organizations have CCP organizations installed in them and the proportion among non-governmental institutions is 95.2 percent. About 92.8 percent of the state-owned enterprises and 73.1 percent of the non-public enterprises are covered by CCP branches.

Source: Xinhua News Agency, June 30, 2018
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2018-06/30/c_1123059502.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chinese Scholar: China Should Reflect on Its Overall Strategic Direction

{Editor’s Note: The United Morning Post, a Singapore news media, published an article that Yu Zhi authored. Yu is a Professor of Economics at the, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Yu argued that the series of economic actions that the U.S. recently took against China are a result of China’s competing for the world’s leadership. Continue reading →

Reports | | |   Government/Politics Report US-China Relations

CRN: Competition for Chinese and American AI Talent Intensifies

China Review News (CRN), a Beijing sponsored media based in Hong Kong, reported on how the world-wide competition for artificial intelligence (AI) experts has intensified. The areas involved include driverless cars, consumer data analysis, voice recognition, and facial recognition systems.

The “universal language” at the artificial intelligence conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in February of this year appeared to be Chinese. Chinese Internet companies such as the Alibaba Group and Tencent actively recruited talent.

According to the White Paper on Global Artificial Intelligence that Tencent’s research department published, companies around the world need about one million people who are experts in the area of artificial intelligence, but there are only 300,000 professionals who are actually active in this field. About 370 educational institutions around the world have the relevant research capabilities. Each year, they can produce around 20,000 experts. To fill such a serious talent gap, companies have gone abroad to search around the world for talent.

China and the United States are engaged in a fierce competition in the field of artificial intelligence. China’s state-issued plan for the “Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy,” released in 2017, pointed out that by 2020, the overall technology and application of artificial intelligence will be synchronized to the world’s advanced level. By 2030, the artificial intelligence theory, technology, and applications will reach the world’s leading level.

By 2025, the amount of data that the world generates will reach 10 times that of 2016. How to utilize this huge data will involve the work of how to get those who are talented in artificial intelligence and who have mastered high-level mathematics, statistics, and information processing knowledge.

Source: China Review News (CRN), June 26, 2018
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1051/1/4/4/105114402.html?coluid=58&kindid=1212&docid=105114402

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Hong Kong Oriental Daily News Commentary: Beijing Assisted Pyongyang to Resist Peaceful Transformation

On June 25, Hong Kong Oriental Daily News published a commentary report that was titled, “Beijing Assisted Pyongyang to Resist the Peaceful Transformation.” Below is a translation of the commentary.

Following the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, Kim Jong Un made his third visit to China in less than 100 days. During his meeting with Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping delivered the following three commitments: No matter how the international and regional situations change, the firm position of the Chinese government and the Party to engage in the development of China-DPRK relations will not change; the Chinese people’s friendship with the Korean people will not change; and China’s support for socialist North Korea will not change. Among the three “no change” commitments, the first two are relatively vague but the last one, “China’s support for socialist North Korea will not change,” carries more substance. It means that, on the issue of the reunification of South Korea and North Korea that may take place in the future, Beijing will be on the side of socialist North Korea. This is in response to the fact that, when the U.S. and South Korea have tried to denuclearize in the Korean Peninsula and achieve permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, some people have always wanted to use force or “peaceful transformation” to get rid of the Pyongyang regime. The U.S. and South Korea have always wanted Pyongyang to repeat how West Germany reunited with East Germany.

This is the biggest concern for the Kim family. For more than 20 years, Pyongyang has been desperately trying to develop nuclear weapons with the purpose of just protecting the regime’s lifeblood. For this reason, they will not hesitate to fight a nuclear war. Now that Pyongyang has nuclear weapons, it uses its military power to protect its regime while warning Uncle Sam not to act irrationally. Going forward, Pyongyang should be particularly on guard against the “sugar cannonballs” that the U.S. and South Korea have launched when dealing with peace issues. In this regard, the former Soviet Union and the European Socialist camp suffered painful lessons. China, on the other hand, has had very rich political, economic, military, cultural, and diplomatic experiences and opposing methods. Therefore Kim Jong-un should seriously learn and consult with China.

As for Beijing, it ought to understand Kim Jong-un’s concerns fully and should try to dispel his worries. Only in this way can Pyongyang “put aside burdens and move forward with lightness.” Then it can deal with the U.S., Japan, and South Korea to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and secure a peaceful environment for a long time to come.

This kind of situation is in line with China’s strategic interests and will help China win more time and space for peaceful development before it can come back to counter the U.S..

Source: Oriental Daily News, June 25, 2018
http://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/commentary/20180625/bkn-20180625000424038-0625_00832_001_cn.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics