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RFI Chinese: Hong Kong Government Removes Books from Public Libraries

Radio France Internationale (RFI) Chinese Edition recently reported that the Hong Kong government asked all departments to strengthen the protection of national security. The Hong Kong public library system has removed many books from the library. This has included books by at least four former Legislative Council members and scholars belonging to the moderate democrats. In addition it has included the well-known late pro-democracy veteran Szeto Wah. The public library system, which is operated with public funds and managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, has refused to reveal the number of books removed from shelves due to national security concerns. Some commentators worry that this may be the beginning of the “Hong Kong Cultural Revolution.” A Ming Pao investigative report found that, since the end of 2020, the newspaper’s collection of materials in public libraries has been consolidated, among which 468 audio-visual materials and books involving political themes and figures have been taken off the shelves. At least 195 items, that is, 40 percent, have been removed in the past two and a half years. 96 of them, which accounts for nearly half of the total number of removals, were removed in the past year. The subject matter of many removed books has nothing to do with national security. The authorities seem to be searching and removing books from the shelves based on the author’s name. Some local commentators are worried that the frontline bureaucrats of the Hong Kong government do not understand Chinese politics. They only know how to carry out orders involving a book list and a few names.

Source: RFI Chinese, May 15, 2023
https://bit.ly/3IvTInT

Hi-IQ Crimes Are Surging in China

An Internet article talked about how the current economic downfall in China has caused a spike in crimes, many of which are high intelligence crimes.

According to official numbers, 30 key cities in China have taken in more than half of China’s total fiscal income. Among these 30 cities, except Beijing, Shenzhen (in Guangdong Province), and Chengdu (in Sichuan Province), all other cities had poorer housing sales in April than a year ago. More than half of these cities saw that the total square footage sold dropped 30 percent or more.

Many other products are also having had difficulties being sold and their inventories have skyrocketed. Huawei and its subsidiary Honor have 10 million mobile phones in stock. BYD cars are piled in garages. Jiuguijiu, a famous strong Chinese liquor containing around 50 percent alcohol, currently  has over 1,000 tons of liquor in stock, while its annual sales in 2022 was just 1,147 tons.

The economic problem has led to a surge in crime. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate published its first quarter data, showing that the procuratorate system approved the arrest of 10,923 people for crimes of fraud in this period. It also sued 18,146 people in court on fraud charges, making fraud crime the fifth largest crime type in the first quarter. This implied that there were at least 100,000 criminal cases brought to court in the first quarter.

Searching the key words of “government” or “bank” on the People’s court website returned many results. This indicates that many local governments or banks have defaulted.

The websites for crimes of fraud have frequently been updated in terms of their styles and content, expanding from telemarketing fraud, financial fraud, and loan fraud to senior housing fraud, medical insurance fraud, and collectible fraud. Many fraud rings are well organized, with a clear division on work and strict hierarchical management. Criminals have evolved from using only the telephone to using the Internet, and even Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data analysis.

Source: VCT News, May 10, 2023
https://vct.news/news/d879a7cc-eaa4-4ea9-96f4-26d5ba2a95ec

Why Did Russia Offer the Vladivostok Port to China?

Recently, Russia announced an offer of the port of Vladivostok, its most important unfrozen port in the Far East, to China as an internal port. Russia claimed that it has completed the preparation for China’s mass shipping needs.

China plans to  open the port officially on June 1. It hopes this will boost the economy at the Northeastern provinces, especially for Heilongjiang and Jilin, which have no access to the sea and have to transport their goods entirely over land, or partially to the port of Dalian and then ship them over the sea. Once Vladivostok becomes available, they can transport their goods to this seaport first (which is at a much shorter distance) and then ship the goods out. Also China’s foreign trade goods can go through Vladivostok without tariffs and other taxes.

One analysis said that Russia previously planned to develop its Far East region with Japan and South Korea as partners.  It was afraid that China might dominate the Far East as its power grows. However, this plan didn’t get very far. Now Russia finally agreed to offer it to China, showing it truly takes China as its best partner in developing the Far East. This will also trigger more trade between China and Russia.

Some people suggested that Russia has been forced to give China Vladivostok. Being that it is suppressed and sanctioned by the West for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia can only look east and rely on China.

Following this model, Russia may also open a seaport on the Japan Sea to the Chinese navy, allowing China to set a foot into the Japan Sea and counterbalance the U.S., Japanese, and Korean naval forces.

Some background information is that China’s history claims that Vladivostok, whose Chinese name Haishenwai (海参崴), was under the Qing Dynasty’s rule and was ceded to Russia in 1860 as the Qing government was no military rival to Russia.

Sources:
1. Sohu, May 18, 2023
https://www.sohu.com/a/676627195_121470982
2. Net Ease, May 16, 2023
https://www.163.com/dy/article/I4SQNHJC05561Y1A.html

Massive Price Reduction on Pre-Owned Houses Is Expected

The week of May 1 (China’s Labor Day) used to be one of the hottest real estate sales weeks. However, this year, the sales volumes of both new houses and pre-owned houses have been low. For example, among the largest four cities with the highest housing prices in China, only 13,928 pre-owned housing units were sold in Beijing in April, a drop of 37 percent from the 22,192 units in March. Shanghai dropped by 27 percent and Guangzhou and Shenzhen were down by 14 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, a number of pre-owned housing units have kept coming on the market. Shanghai has around 200,000 units listed for sale. Approximately 13,000 units have been added each week for the past two months. However, only 17,000 units were sold in the entire month of April.

China had 606,000 foreclosed housing units auctioned off in 2022, an increase of 35.7 percent from 2021. Unlike the U.S. where a person can stop makjng payments on his mortgage and owe the bank nothing after declaring bankruptcy, Chinese law says that even if a person chooses to declare  bankruptcy or stop making payments on his mortgage, he is still liable for the remaining debt. Therefore, once a person is unable to make his mortgage payment, not only does he lose the down payment on his house as well as the subsequent payments, but he still has to pay the remaining debt and will be put on many spending restrictions until he clears his debt. This tough law gives people a great incentive to sell their house instead  of declaring bankruptcy if they do not want to continue their mortgage payments. China announced on April 25 that it implemented a nationwide real estate registration. Many people felt this was a step to prepare for adopting a real estate property tax, which is bad news to those who own many properties.

The “landlord tax” even came out faster than the property tax. Three provinces including Hebei, Hunan, and Yunan piloted the tax last year. The government will collect a 10 percent tax on rent if an individual rents out part of his own residence and 20 percent tax on rent from a non-residence.

All these factors will drive more people to sell their houses. A price reduction is unavoidable.

Source: VCT News, May 15, 2023
https://vct.news/news/f26f9d83-7acb-4ebc-99dc-88c82ffb3bd1

Population Decline in China’s Major Cities Sparks Response from Official Media

China’s state-run newspaper, People’s Daily, has recently published articles addressing the country’s population issues in the wake of negative population growth in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

In the first article titled “Comprehensively Understanding and Correctly Viewing the New Situation of China’s Population Development,” the author, who goes by the pen name Zhongyin, notes that China’s aging population will become a permanent reality and that it is a global problem faced by many developed countries. The article stresses that China should focus on developing high-quality human resources to support its modernization process.

The second article, titled, “Focusing on Improving the Overall Quality of the Population”, emphasizes the need to improve the overall quality of China’s population while striving to maintain a moderate birth rate and population size. It suggests that China should create a modern human resources system with high-quality and abundant resources that are optimally distributed.

These articles highlight the challenges faced by China due to its aging population, declining birth rates, and the need to develop high-quality human resources.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), May 16, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202305160355.aspx

Chinese Dissidents Protested at the Chinese Embassy in Finland; The Embassy Falsely Accused them and had them Arrested

Two Chinese exiled dissidents protested in front of the Chinese Embassy in Finland and were subsequently arrested and detained for two days after the embassy staff reported them to the police for “multiple serious crimes.”

Last Friday, Wang Jingyu arrived in Finland and joined another exiled dissident, Zhao Yunting, in protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy. The embassy filed a complaint stating that the protesters were disrupting their normal operations, but the police released the two protesters after questioning them. On the following day, Wang Jingyu and Zhao Yunting continued their protest in front of the embassy. Subsequently, police officers arrived and arrested them. The next day, they were officially detained and informed that they were suspected of serious crimes. During the interrogation, Wang Jingyu was informed that a Chinese Embassy staff member named “Zhang Kui” had reported them for carrying explosives, extortion, and robbery. Based on these charges, Wang Jingyu and Zhao Yunting could potentially face a one-year prison sentence.

With the assistance of their lawyers and the Finnish Central Criminal Police, Wang Jingyu and Zhao Yunting were released after being detained for two days. On Wednesday, Wang Jingyu recounted the events and said, “On May 7th, the Finnish police formally arrested and detained us.. A police officer said that Zhao Yunting and I were suspected of serious criminal offenses. On May 8th, the Finnish police interrogated me again and told me that a person named ‘Zhang Kui’ from the Chinese Embassy had called them and accused us of planting bombs in Helsinki and robbing their diplomatic property, as well as extortion. After investigating, the Finnish police confirmed that we did not commit these acts.”

Wang Jingyu also mentioned that he had been subjected to death threats and harassment for over a year, with Chinese overseas police officers falsely reporting him numerous times. He believes this incident follows the same pattern and indicates a connection between the Chinese Embassy and illegal Chinese overseas police agencies.

The Chinese Embassy in Finland was contacted multiple times by the media, but they stated that there is no person named “Zhang Kui” in the embassy. Currently, Finnish lawyers are preparing to seek state compensation for the actions of the police. Wang Jingyu urged the police to  disclose the information about  the individual who made the false bomb threat publicly and called for a public condemnation statement.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 11, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/bomb-05112023112424.html

Dutch Resistance: 2 Provinces and 8 Cities Sever Friendship Ties with China

According to a Dutch media report, in the past two years, several provinces and cities in the Netherlands have ended their sister province and sister city relationships with China . China has been using these relationships as a means of external influence and penetration, but China  is facing increasing resistance.

The investigation by the Dutch newspaper NRC revealed that one-fourth of the sister friendly cooperation relationships, established between local authorities in the Netherlands and China in the past two years, have been canceled. Furthermore, several other municipal institutions are also preparing to end such cooperative relationships, while some municipalities are reevaluating their relationships with Chinese sister cities.

The report states that Dutch municipal authorities often cite China’s persecution of the Uighur ethnic group as the reason for terminating these relationships. Ahmed Marchouc, the mayor of Arnhem, said, “We must respect the principles of democracy, the rule of law, press freedom, and freedom of speech… (but) maintaining (friendly) relations with Chinese cities creates an image that disrespects these principles.” The city ended its relationship with Wuhan in 2021.

Some cities also mentioned that the economic benefits derived from these sister city relationships with China were not significant, which contributed to their decision to end them.

Source: Radio Free Asia, May 8, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/9-05082023154300.html

CBN: LinkedIn to Shut Down Chinese Jobs App

China Business Network (CBN) recently reported that Microsoft’s workplace social media network, LinkedIn, just announced layoffs and that it will shut down its job-seeking application service in China. The company further said it plans to cut 716 jobs as demand fluctuates. It is worth noting that LinkedIn continues to downsize its business in China. The company decided to withdraw most of its Chinese business in 2021, and it shifted its business focus in China to meet the needs of job hunting and recruitment, and no longer produce content. After the latest business adjustment, LinkedIn said that, due to fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic environment, it will take its only remaining application InCareers offline on August 9. However, a company spokesperson said LinkedIn would maintain a presence in China to help companies with operations in China recruit and train workers abroad. LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky said in a letter to employees, that the company will be offloading more work to external partners in the future, who will then take on some of LinkedIn’s current work. The company also said the move to cut positions in sales, operations and support teams is aimed at simplifying the company’s operations and will move towards a more flattened management structure for faster decision-making. Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016 for an estimated US$26 billion. According to Microsoft CEO Nadella previously revealed that, in 2021, LinkedIn’s global annual revenue was about US$10 billion.

Source: CBN, May 9, 2023
https://www.yicai.com/news/101751217.html