Xinhua reported that the Central Foreign Affairs Working Conference was held in Beijing on June 22 and 23. It established the guiding position of “Xi Jinping’s diplomatic thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era,” which provided a new direction for diplomatic work. During his speech, Xi summarized China’s achievements in foreign diplomatic relations over the past five years and proposed ten diplomatic thoughts. They included “safeguarding the authority of the Central Administration and strengthening the Party’s uniform leadership in diplomatic work” and “China should actively participate in leading the reform of the global governance system and create a more comprehensive global partnership network.” According to Xinhua, the participants included seven members of the Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairmen Wang Qishan, the members of the entire Politburo, the Secretariat of the party, and the highest ranking leaders of the following: the National People’s Congress, the State Councilor, the Central Publicity Department, the Central Foreign Liaison Department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Development Committee, the leaders of the reform commission, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Joint Chiefs of the Central Military Commission.

The Duowei News article quoted reports from The Nikkei, a Japanese newspaper, which reported that the participants at the conference were not allowed to take notes and the discussions were not fully disclosed. According to Nikkei, Xi told the participants that “we shouldn’t feel lost in the chaotic international climate” and that “China needs to understand our position and role in the changing world and scientifically set foreign policy guidelines.”

An Epoch Times report commented that the conference was held just as the U.S. is changing its China policy, a possible Trade War will take place between China and the U.S. and the Western world has started to guard against China’s infiltration. It is unusual for Beijing to hold such a high level conference on Foreign Diplomacy work. The intent of this meeting was to set the direction for foreign diplomatic work, which must be consistent with the Central Administration and ensure a unified coordination of action among the different departments.

Source:
1. Xinhua, June 24, 2018
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2018-06/24/c_1123026158.htm
2. Duowei, June 25, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/global/news/2018-06-25/60066517.html
3. Epoch Times, June 24, 2018
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/18/6/24/n10509002.htm

According to Securities Times Online, Hainan Province recently introduced a Three-Year-Plan (from 2018 to 2020) to improve the Hainan Tourist Business using international standards. The goal is to increase foreign tourism by 25 percent and reach over two million tourists by 2020. The Plan would also create a special Internet zone for foreign tourists in cities like Haikou and Sanya and allow them to use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The news caused anger among Internet users in China. They criticized the Plan because it discriminates against Chinese citizens and uses a double standard to treat Chinese citizens as second class citizens. The link to the Plan can no longer be found on the official website of Hainan Province (http://www.hainan.gov.cn) and an article that the Paper.com published on this topic was also disabled. According to an article that Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported, the Plan will advertise Hainan tourism using WhatsApp and Wechat. It will also produce a Hainan tourism TV program to be aired on the BBC, CNN, and CNBC with over 2,000 minutes of air time.

The full article on the Plan can be found on WordPress.com: https://wo3ttt.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/%E6%B5%B7%E5%8D%97%E6%8B%9F%E5%AF%B9%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD%E6%B8%B8%E5%AE%A2%E5%BC%80%E6%94%BE%E4%BA%92%E8%81%94%E7%BD%91-%E7%BD%91%E7%BB%9C%E7%82%B8%E9%94%85-%E6%B6%88%E6%81%AF%E8%A2%AB%E5%88%A0/

Sources:
1. Security Times Online, June 22, 2018
http://kuaixun.stcn.com/2018/0622/14336897.shtmlto

2. RFA, June 22, 2018
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/hj-06222018105712.html

Voice of America (VOA) reported on the results of a survey conducted on 532 European companies that are members of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. The survey found that European companies with operations in China are dealing with a difficult business environment. Close to 50 percent of the companies that took the survey said that the environment has gotten worse in the past year; 20 percent of the companies said that they were the victim of forced technology transfer; close to 50 percent of the companies believed that the trade barriers in China will get worse over the next five years; and 25 percent of the companies believed that they would never see China’s market “open in any significant way.” The areas that these companies complained about the most include the uncertain legal environment, higher labor costs, and regulatory problems, as well as the “Great Firewall.” According to the article, some companies felt that China didn’t make progress in certain areas but rather it had taken a step backward. The examples were the introduction of the new Internet Security Law which forced these companies to spend more money on company registration fees, as well as using a low efficiency VPN system. The VOA article quoted a statement that the President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China made. He said that the trade tension between China and the U.S. resulted from China because it is not fully open and hasn’t carry out the speedy reform that it had promised. … China claims that it is the leader in globalization but its Internet Security Law is creating problems for these foreign companies.

Source: Voice of America, June 20, 2018
https://www.voachinese.com/a/news-eu-chamber-of-commerce-on-china-20180620/4446674.html