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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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A Chinese Surveyor Detained for Comments Made Online

Sina.com published an article about a person who was detained for 5 days for his online posting. A few online comments on the article are translated below. According to the article, a person whose last name is Ye works as surveyor in Xi’an. Ye was on a work assignment in the Town of Tongmu in Xunyang County of An Kang City in Shaanxi. On March 9, Ye went to the Tongmu town hall to process some paperwork but he felt that the town personnel gave him a hard time. He then took a picture of the town hall building using his cell phone and shared the posting of the photos with his friends and asked, “How many years of a jail sentence would I get if I were to bomb the town hall building? I am thinking of doing it!” The article stated that, a few days later, the public security bureau of Xunyang County detained Ye for five days for “threatening to bomb and disrupting public order.”

Below is a list of comments posted in reaction to this article:
– I wanted to condemn his action when I read the title of the article but after I read the contents I chose to support his action.
– Here is a big question, “For whom is the power used?”
– Justice naturally inhabits man’s heart.
– I bet you his circle of friends turned him in.
– Why didn’t the article mention why he made those comments?
– He was just venting his anger, but now he might be transformed.
– I want to blow up the sun and let the earth be destroyed by pieces from the explosion. … How about asking the entire world to arrest me?

Source: Sina.com, March 17, 2017
http://www.sina.com.cn/midpage/mobile/index.d.html?docID=fycnpiu8966350&url=news.sina.cn/sh/2017-03-17/detail-ifycnpiu8966350.d.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

German Manufacturers Complain about Increase in Counterfeit Products Sold through Alibaba

According to an article that the Chinese Edition of Deutsche Welle carried, many German companies have complained about the increase in the number of counterfeit products made in China and sold through Chinese E-Commerce giant Alibaba. The article said that VDMA, an association of German companies in the engineering industry, conducted a survey which found that 28 percent of German equipment manufacturing companies, including Siemens and SKF, the ball and roller bearing manufacturer, were aware that their products had been counterfeited and sold through the e-commerce Alibaba platform. One manufacturer commented that “Alibaba is famous for providing a large number of fake products!” The article stated that the counterfeiting activities range from trade name infringement to unsafe fake spare parts and equipment, especially in regard to automotive products. One VDMA lawyer told Deutsche Welle that China is the major source of fake products but it has made progress in dealing with counterfeiting issues. However there has been little development on copyright protection issues. According to the article, Alibaba has initiated efforts to deal with the counterfeiting issues. In 2016, with assistance from Alibaba, Siemens branch in China successfully located 150,000 fake sockets and remote controls which were worth several million euros.

Source: Deutsche Welle, March 18, 2017
http://www.dw.com/zh/山寨太多德国制造业向阿里巴巴开炮/a-38006874?&zhongwen=simp

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Global Times: U.S. Tells South Korea to Stop Using Chinese Company’s 5G Mobile Products

On March 13, Global Times, a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper People’s Daily, reported in its Technology Section that the U.S. has told South Korea to stop using 5G mobile products from China’s No. 1 telecom equipment manufacturer, Huawei. The report’s title reads, “The U.S. Comes Up with Another Provocation, Urging South Korea to Stop Using Huawei’s 5G Products.”

It cited overseas reports, without listing any of their sources, that the Pentagon received a letter last December from three members of Congress to investigate the role Huawei plays in South Korea’s 5G networks and to assess the security risks that Huawei poses to American facilities and military forces because of its close relationship with the Chinese government.

Global Times pointed out that this letter indicated the Pentagon intended to stop Huawei from helping South Korea build a new wireless network, while South Korean wireless vendors apparently are unwilling to have any confrontation with Huawei as they speed up building the 5G network.

According to the report, Huawei has signed contracts with organizers of the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. In addition, Huawei and LG U+ have worked closely together to use Huawei’s NB-IoT equipment on 4G networks. There have been no reports about Huawei products deployed by LG U+ having any security loopholes.

Global Times cited market watchers that Huawei’s products are reliable in quality and priced competitively, which raised U.S. concerns about its competitive advantage.

Shortly after the publication of this report, Global Times took it offline, but it can still be accessed at other online portals which carried the original report, including at China Finance Online, a financial services site based in the South-East Chinese city of Fuzhou.

Sources:
Global Times, March 13, 2017
http://tech.huanqiu.com/comm/2017-03/10301456.html
China Finance Online, March 13, 2017
http://news.cnfol.com/it/20170313/24423177.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

China Telecom’s Former Chairman Chang Xiaobing Prosecuted

On March 9, The Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China released the news that Chang Xiaobing, the former Chairman of China Telecom Group was prosecuted for “bribery.”

Prosecutors from Baoding in Hebei Province revealed that the litigation against Chang Xiaobing was for making illegal profits for other people and taking bribes while on his post as Deputy Director of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Chairman of China Unicom.

Chang Xiaobing was the Chairman of China Unicom for 11 years before being transferred to China Telecom Group in August of 2015. It is widely known that Chang Xiaobing is a close associate of Jiang Mianheng, Jiang Zemin’s eldest son. “Jiang Mianheng is considered China Unicom’s “boss” behind the scenes.”

Source: Sina, March 9, 2017
http://www.sina.com.cn/midpage/mobile/index.d.html?docID=fychhus0251466&url=tech.sina.cn/t/2017-03-09/detail-ifychhus0251466.d.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Guo Wengui: “I Feel That the Live Organ Harvesting Truly Exists”

In his interview with Mingjing (see Chinascope’s briefing Interview with Guo Wengui), Guo Wengui mentioned Falun Gong and live organ harvesting. Afterwards, he felt that he didn’t make his point clear on this issue, so he took another interview with the Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty TV to clarify.

According to Guo, Li You (李友), the CEO of the Founders Group (北大方正集团), built the Peking University International Hospital in 2014. It is the largest among all first-class hospitals in China. Li wanted to use it as a connection building vehicle to serve the old officials and also do organ transplants.

Li felt that it is very profitable to do organ transplants in China. There are a lot of people in China. The laws in China are not sufficient enough to regulate organ transplants. Also Li had the connections (via corruption) that would help him to do this business.

Before Li could start his organ transplant business, he was diagnosed with liver cancer. Li received a few dozen offers of livers (candidates for live organ harvesting), but Li was arrested before he could have the operation.

“I was very surprised. Falun Gong practitioners have been talking about (how the Communist regime has conducted) live organ harvesting (of Falun Gong practitioners’ organs). This really happened. It was really true. I heard it from a person whose family member works in the Public Security system. I was told that people in the Public Security system offered most of the liver sources [to Li You]. I came to the realization why it was from Falun Gong practitioners. It was because the Public Security offices are the ones who detained them. From this case, I feel that the live organ harvesting truly exists.”

Reporter: “What do you use as the basis to conclude that the liver sources offered to Li You were from Falun Gong practitioners?”

Guo Wengui, “It was not my suspicion. Those people heard them saying that some were from Falun Gong practitioners. They told me that.”

Source: Epoch Times, March 11, 2017
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/17/3/11/n8899579.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Interview with Guo Wengui

Guo Wengui (郭文贵) is a business tycoon from China. He is the founder of Zenith Holdings Co., Ltd. (政泉控股). Guo got into a fierce financial battle with Li You (李友), the CEO of the Founders Group (北大方正集团), eventually resulting in Li being arrested and sentenced, while Guo himself escaped to the U.S.

Guo and Li used to be business partners. Both of them have strong connections with many high-ranking officials. Li was connected to Ling Jihua (令计划), one of the major tigers taken down during Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. Guo was linked to Ma Jian (马建), Deputy Minister of State Security, who was also taken down for corruption. Guo is believed to have more connections to even higher officials.

Wang Qishan wants to bring Guo back to China.

Guo Wengui recently took an interview with an overseas Chinese media Mingjing. In the interview, he talked about some officials being corrupt and even provided evidence. The interview was published on YouTube, but since has been taken out.

During the interview, Guo said that, earlier this year, Xi Jinping ordered an investigation into Fu Zhenghua (傅政华) after Guo exposed Fu’s corruption. Fu is the Deputy Minister of Public Security.

Guo said that the Vice President Li Yuanchao (李源潮) was in trouble.

Guo also exposed Wu Zheng (吴征) as a very high-ranking spy in the Communist regime. Wu founded the Sunshine Media Investment Group (阳光媒体投资集团), the largest private media in China. He established Sun TV in Hong Kong in 2000 but later sold it due to big financial losses. Guo said that the intelligence group recruited Wu when he was young. Wu works for the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Sources:
1. Mingjing, March 10, 2017
http://www.mingjingnews.com/TV/video/V000014555
2. Duowei, March 12, 2017
http://blog.dwnews.com/post-940923.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Global Times Proposes to Enhance China’s Nuclear Weapons to Counter U.S.-Korean “THAAD” Deployment

As elements of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense “THAAD” anti-missile system, such as the launch pad and other equipment, have been shipped to South Korea, China’s sanctions against South Korea have also become more earnest. However, the United States is the initiator and the biggest promoter of “THAAD” in Korea. How to deal with the U.S.’s strategic attack on China is a more critical question. It is difficult for China to implement economic sanctions against the United States. To punish the “THAAD” producer, Lockheed Martin, is also beyond reach. If China targets the U.S. economy, China is in the strategic disadvantage in the fight. The U.S. economy is too large in scale.

Korea and the United States are completely different objects. South Korea’s economy is small and highly dependent on China. It has a big trade surplus with China. China has numerous ways to launch sanctions against Korea. Economic sanctions are always a tool a big country uses to target small countries. We will target whoever is weaker.

However, the United States is deploying the anti-missile system at China’s doorstep. It must pay the price. So how can we make the United States pay?

China’s counter measure is to let Washington feel the strong deterring power of our nuclear weapons. China only has a small number of nuclear warheads and is the only country that has declared that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons. However, China has ample financial resources to expand its nuclear arsenal. Our more advanced strategic missiles continue to come out. The United States comes to the door of China to engage in an anti-missile game. It has broken the original strategic balance. Then China should curb the U.S. with a larger number of nuclear warheads and with strategic nuclear missiles that have a more penetrating ability. We should not only recoup the loss that “THAAD” has caused and restore the balance; but also create a new surplus of our strategic nuclear forces.

Beijing should clearly tell Washington that deploying the “THAAD” anti-missile system around China will lead to China’s increase in nuclear power. If the United States anti-missile action and strategic suppression intensifies, China may also need to reconsider the basic national policy not to be the first to use nuclear weapons.

Source: Global Times, March 9, 2017
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2017-03/10277556.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China Successfully Tested the Wing Loong II

On February 27, 2017, China successfully tested the Wing Loong II Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) developed the Wing Loong II. It is China’s first reconnaissance and attack integrated UAV.

The Wing Loong II is 11 meters long and 4.1 meters tall with a wing span of 20.5 meters. It can reach a top speed of 370 km per hour and service ceiling of 9,000 meters. It has an endurance of 20 hours and a payload of 480 kg.

The Wing Loong II’s standard configuration includes synthetic aperture radar, laser guided missiles and GPS guided bombs. It can be used for reconnaissance, monitoring, and air-to-ground attack. It can also be expanded for information collection, electronic warfare, and search and rescue.

Li Yidong, the chief designer of the Wing-Loong platform, claimed, “China has become a country which, after the U.S., has the ability to research and develop the new generation of reconnaissance and strike integrated UAVs.”

He also mentioned that, even before the test flight, China received its biggest UAV foreign order for the Wing Loong II.

Source: People’s Daily, February 28, 2017
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0228/c1011-29113159.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military