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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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CCP, Master of Hostage Diplomacy

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Charity’s Plan to Donate to Government Sparks Backlash in China

The Beijing Hemophilia Rare Disease Home Care Center recently announced plans to donate 1 million yuan ($143,000 USD) to the Chinese government and 100,000 yuan ($14,300 USD) to the Beijing government for construction purposes. This announcement from the charity organization, which relies on donations for its operations, sparked an outcry of criticism and skepticism online, with some saying “It seems the country has a rare disease.”

According to reports, the Center posted an official document on March 25th stating its decision to donate 1 million yuan to the People’s Republic of China for national construction. The next day, they announced a 100,000 yuan donation to Beijing for municipal construction. The Beijing Hemophilia Care Center was registered as a non-profit in 2012 and is a member of the Beijing Charity Association. It mainly provides aid for hemophilia patients and helps families by providing education, medical care, psychological counseling, and employment. Audits show that the group had total revenue of 24.7 million yuan in 2019. The revenue came almost entirely from donations, with zero government subsidies.

The organization’s announcements drew criticism online, with some questioning the legality of donating funds raised for unrelated purposes without obtaining donors’ consent. Some netizens joked that “It seems the country has a rare disease,” implying that the country is facing financial difficulties.

Legal experts stated that, under China’s charity laws, government agencies cannot directly receive donations meant for public welfare and must transfer such donations to approved charitable groups. Beijing authorities said they had received inquiries on the matter and had ordered the donation announcement to be retracted, which the Hemophilia Care group has now done. Some lawyers argued that the donation likely cannot proceed since no eligible recipient department within the government has been identified, and the charity failed to follow proper procedures like soliciting feedback from donors.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), March 27, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202403270418.aspx

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Unveils J-15D, a Carrier-Based Electronic Warfare Aircraft

China’s state media CCTV recently named and reported on the J-15D electronic warfare aircraft. The new aircraft is based on the Chinese J-15 carrier-based fighter jet. The J-15D is still in testing, and it is expected to appear on the deck of China’s Fujian aircraft carrier in the near future. It is unclear if mass production is planned.

Prior to the unveiling of the J-15D, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army only had one very expensive electronic warfare aircraft, the J-16D. As there is no carrier-based version of the J-16, China’s aircraft carriers lacked an electronic warfare aircraft.

According to footage from CCTV and China Global Television Network, the carrier-based J-15D is equipped with a weapons system similar to the J-16D. Promoted as a fighter jet combined with an electronic warfare aircraft concept, the heavy-duty twin-engine J-15D can carry more air-to-air and air-to-sea/ground munitions than the J-35, serving more of a multipurpose role.

The CCTV report quoted Tencent as stating that the main reason why the Chinese navy chose the J-15 as the base for developing this new electronic warfare aircraft was that the J-15 has mature aircraft carrier capabilities, suitable for integrating electronic warfare capabilities with aircraft carriers.

As the J-15D relies on its own power, it may struggle when taking off from the ski-jump decks of the Liaoning and Shandong carriers. For this reason, analysts suggest that the Fujian carrier, which has an electromagnetic launch system, will be a more suitable host for the J-15D.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), March 31, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202403310208.aspx

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

RFA: Fiji Asks Chinese Police to Leave the Country

Radio Free Asia (RFA) recently reported that Beijing’s influence in the South Pacific is growing as China increases its investment and diplomatic relations in the region. This situation has caused concern in Fiji. Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka stated recently that he has asked the Chinese police stationed in his country to leave, and that he will review the police cooperation agreement signed with China. He said that the judicial systems and police investigation methods of the two countries are not the same, and that he is uneasy about China’s deployment of public security in the Fiji police force.

Fiji is retaining its police cooperation agreement with China for the time being, allowing senior police officers to continue to receive training in China. The agreement will be under review, however. Rabuka said Chinese diplomats have accepted his decision.

China’s recent investment in the Solomon Islands has attracted attention across the region, and leaders of many South Pacific Island countries are worried that China’s growing influence will lead to the erosion of their democracy and values. Rabuka reminded leaders of relevant countries to be vigilant and consider the price they will have to pay for accepting Chinese investment. Fiji’s decision will likely lead neighboring countries to examine their options in the geopolitical tussle between the United States and China. It appears that China’s policy of using economic aid to promote influence has begun to show cracks.

Source: RFA, March 29, 2024
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/ec-03292024033831.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Lianhe Zaobao: China Bans Government Use of Intel and AMD Chips

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that China is reportedly phasing out the use of U.S. chips and operating systems for government computers.

Following official procurement standards released last year, Chinese officials are winding down the use of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) components in government computers and servers. At the same time, China is also trying to eliminate the Microsoft Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic software. State-owned enterprises are required to complete the transition to domestic technology by 2027.

China’s Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released seven government procurement standards on December 26 last year. They clearly required that the Communist Party and government agencies at or above the township level comply with the standard of “safety and reliability.” On the same day, China’s Information Security Evaluation Center announced the first list of “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems. All of the recommended processors and operating systems are produced by Chinese companies, including Huawei and Phytium.

In the context of the China-US technology war, China has continuously encouraged government agencies to use domestically produced tech products in recent years. In 2022, government agencies and state-owned enterprises were asked to replace foreign-brand computers with domestic equipment. Mandates for equipment replacement at that time did not include hard-to-replace components such as processors, however. In addition to computers, China is also requiring employees in government agencies and state-owned enterprises to switch to domestically produced mobile phones. As of December last year, at least 10 provinces, including Beijing, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu, had implemented such requirements.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, March 24, 2024
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/china/story20240324-3209230

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

Xinhua: U.S. and Japan Plan Largest Upgrade of Security Alliance in Over 60 Years

Xinhua recently reported that the United States and Japan are planning to counter China by implementing the biggest upgrade to their security alliance since they signed a security treaty in 1960. According to five people familiar with the matter, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will announce plans to reorganize the U.S. military headquarters in Japan during Kishida’s visit to the United States in April. The goal is to strengthen combat planning and joint military exercises.

Currently, the Japan Command of the U.S. Forces, based at Yokota Base, does not have command authority over the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet or the Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa. The command of these forces lies with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii. It is expected that after the planned upgrade, command authority of the aforementioned forces will still be retained by the Indo-Pacific Command, but authority of the Japan Command will increase. It will gain more authority in U.S.-Japan joint military exercises, intelligence sharing, supply dispatching, and coordination with the Unified Operations Command of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.

In recent years, the United States and Japan have been promoting military cooperation between the two countries, publicly stating that the move is aimed at countering China. U.S. Defense Secretary Austin claimed in June of last year that the U.S. and Japan were working hard to further modernize military relations in order to prevent China’s so-called “coercive behavior.”

Source: Xinhua, March 25, 2024
http://www.news.cn/mil/2024-03/25/c_1212345412.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Secretariat of China-Central Asia Mechanism Launched

The launching ceremony of the Secretariat of the China-Central Asia Mechanism (CCM) was held in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province on March 30. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — sent congratulatory letters.

Wang Yi stated that the CCM was established four years ago, helping cooperation between China and the countries of Central Asia to develop at a rapid pace. China’s Xinhua news agency stated that “The launch of the secretariat marks the implementation of the heads of states’ consensus and once again demonstrates to the international community the firm determination of the six countries to work together to pursue development and promote cooperation side by side.”

Source: Xinhua, March 30, 2024
http://www.news.cn/politics/leaders/20240330/4b872c0eb352441989dd9063866fafd3/c.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Chinese Social Media Celebrates Baltimore Bridge Collapse

The Francis Scott Key bridge, located in Baltimore, Maryland, collapsed on March 26th after being rammed by a cargo ship, the Dali, which lost control of its steering. Much of the bridge sank into the river within seconds of being rammed.

The accident immediately drew attention on Chinese social media. On Weibo, for example, a video of the accident has been viewed more than 1.2 million times. On Chinese social media platforms, where anti-American sentiment is prevalent, many netizens celebrated the incident. A Weibo blogger named “Air Sky Toner” wrote: “This is a really beautiful sight, like watching a movie; this bridge is free from now on.”

The bridge was named after Francis Scott Key, the author of the lyrics of the U.S. national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Some Chinese netizens inferred that the bridge collapse signaled the decline of the United States. “It is not a good sign that this bridge collapsed,” one blogger wrote.

Some social media users also used the bridge collapse to mock American democracy. On the Chinese video website Bilibili, a commentary video with 24,000 likes said that the “a ship of democracy” caused the collapse of “a bridge of democracy.” The video went on to criticize the U.S.’ infrastructure problem.

False information about the accident spread widely on Chinese social media. A number of bloggers with large numbers of followers have claimed that the captain of the Dali was from Ukraine and that the accident was staged by the U.S. government. Some bloggers posted photos of the alleged Ukrainian captain’s credentials. The Associated Press found that a Ukrainian captain did indeed pilot the Dali years ago, from March 19 to July 27, 2016.

Some Chinese bloggers also claimed that CNN incorrectly reported that the collision was an attack from China. They posted screenshots with captions reading “A cargo ship loaded with Chinese goods attacked our bridge!” However, unlike Chinese media that often use the term “our country” to refer to China, American media, including CNN, rarely use that term to refer to the United States. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the screenshot was not from CNN, but from NBC’s local channel in Baltimore. In a statement to AFP, CNN said that it had never run a story like that; the image was fake, and the caption, font, and style are not CNN’s either.

Source: VOA, March 31, 2024
https://www.voachinese.com/a/baltimore-china-disinformation-20240329/7549288.html

Briefings | | |   @CS US-China Relations