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CCP Mouthpiece Ta Kung Pao Warns of Legal Action Against Hutchison Whampoa’s Sale of Overseas Port Rights to U.S. Firm

Ta Kung Pao, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) mouthpiece newspaper in Hong Kong, published an article on March 13, scolding Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing’s plan to sell the operating rights of 43 overseas ports, including two key ports in the Panama Canal, to the U.S. investment firm BlackRock {see https://chinascope.org/archives/36960}.

On March 21, Ta Kung Pao once again commented on the plan, threatening legal action:

“In recent years, the United States has labeled China as its ‘primary competitor’ and ‘most significant geopolitical challenge,’ employing measures such as technology blockades, trade wars, and supply chain decoupling to hinder China’s peaceful rise. Controlling global critical infrastructure is a key U.S. strategy, with ports being a primary target. The Panama Canal is a crucial maritime chokepoint, handling approximately 6 percent of global trade annually and serving as a key trade route between China and the Americas, making it highly significant to China’s national interests.

“This transaction is not merely an ‘ordinary commercial deal’ between enterprises but rather a perfect alignment with the U.S. strategy to contain China. If the ports in question are transferred to U.S. ownership, it could directly increase logistics costs for Chinese companies, weaken their international competitiveness, pose long-term threats to China’s manufacturing and foreign trade, and even impact the advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative.

“The Hong Kong law has this statement: ‘The highest principle of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ policy (in Hong Kong) is to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests.’ It is a legally binding provision. This transaction’s consequences – damaging China’s national security and development interests – directly violate this fundamental legal principle. Violating such a legal principle is, in itself, a violation of the law.

“Both the central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region have legal mechanisms to address so-called ‘legal transactions’ that harm national interests.

“For entities and individuals who disregard the law and engage in activities detrimental to national security and development interests, their path will only become increasingly narrow.”

Meanwhile, despite scolding by Ta Kung Pao, it appears that Li Ka-shing has not entirely fallen out of grace with the CCP. Sound of Hope recently reported that Richard Li, Li Ka-shing’s younger son, was invited to attend the recent China Development Forum held in Beijing on March 23 and 24. As one of the representatives of the Chinese business community, Richard Li was photographed with Chinese Premier Li Qiang following a speech delivered by Li Qiang. The photo was released by national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), featuring Li Qiang in the center of the front row and Richard Li standing in the back row.

Source:
1. Ta Kung Pao, March 21, 2025
https://www.takungpao.com/opinion/233119/2025/0321/1070411.html
2. Sound of Hope, March 24, 2025
https://www.soundofhope.org/post/877436

Briefings | | |   @CS US-China Relations

Chinese Supporter of Taiwan Reunification Faces Deportation from Taiwan

A mainland-born Chinese Liu Zhenya who lived in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese resident was denied residence in Taiwan on grounds that she promoted a “Chinese takeover of Taiwan by force.”

Liu runs a Chinese social media channel on Douyin (a platform similar to TikTok, owned by ByteDance and operated in mainland China). Her channel, called “Yaya in Taiwan (亚亚在台湾),” has 475,000 followers. Among the over 300 videos she has posted, the most-watched one, with 2.77 million views, featured her daughter loudly shouting, “I am Nezha, and I’m here to take you all in!”  {Editor’s Note: Nezha, a child-god from a Chinese fairy tale, was good at fighting. The statement hinted taking Taiwan over by force.}

The rest of Liu’s content mainly consists of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “positive energy” videos promoting messages such as “Cross-strait reunification,” “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and “Returning to our mother’s embrace is the more realistic choice” {a euphemism for Taiwan returning to mainland Chinese control}.

Born in Hunan Province, Liu married and had two children in China. She divorced her husband and married a Taiwanese man, thus becoming a “mainland spouse.” This status allowed her to obtain a residence permit in Taiwan.

In Taiwan, she gave birth to her daughter, her third child, who is legally Taiwanese. She divorced her Taiwanese husband (and there were suspicions that the marriage was fake to begin with and that she married only to get Taiwanese residence status). She returned to mainland China and remarried her original husband. Then she came back to Taiwan to raise her Taiwanese-born daughter, and she managed to bring her parents, her mainland-Chinese husband, and her two mainland-born children from mainland China to Taiwan.

On March 15, Taiwan’s immigration authorities revoked Liu’s dependent residence permit because of her “Yaya in Taiwan” channel’s open advocacy for forceful reunification of mainland China and Taiwan.

After her permit was revoked, Liu immediately deleted her previous videos and started to praise Taiwan’s culture, people, and medical system on her channel. She said in a media interview that her three children were too young and that she needed to stay in Taiwan with them. She filed an appeal against the immigration authorities’ decision. Taiwan’s High Court sustained the authorities’ decision after watching her three videos promoting the “CCP’s reunification with Taiwan by force.” Liu is now required to leave Taiwan by March 25.

Some netizens left sarcastic remarks on the internet regarding Liu’s enjoyment of the benefits of life in Taiwan while supporting the CCP. One such comment read, “The most remarkable consensus in this incident is that both people on the mainland and in Taiwan unanimously support her return to the mainland; but the most ironic part is that the only person who doesn’t want to go back is her, despite her continuously saying that Taiwan should be returned to mainland China’s embrace.”

Two other “Mainland Spouses” who also advocated for “reunification with Taiwan by force” are also facing deportation.

Sources:
1. China Digital Times, March 22, 2025
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/716799.html
2. X Platform, March 23, 2025
https://x.com/xinwendiaocha/status/1903754992911302969
3. Wenxue City, March 22, 2025
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/mychina/1093226.html
4. Yahoo, March 22, 2025
https://tw.news.yahoo.com/亞亞聲請停止執行被駁回-限3-25前離境-另2中配也遭廢居留許可-003641063.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend Government/Politics

China’s Trade Data Reflects Trump’s Tariff Hikes

The Trump administration raised tariffs on Chinese goods by 20 percent in February. On March 10, Zhong Zhengsheng, chief economist at Ping An Securities, stated that the impact of these tariff hikes has started to show in Chinese trade data. In the first week of March, there was a decline in the year-on-year growth rate of operating capacity in sectors of the Chinese economy such as steel plates, textiles, and automobiles. The decline is linked overseas tariffs and general reduced demand for Chinese exports.

Zhong pointed out that freight indicators also reflect these effects. According to the Chinese Ministry of Transport, as of the week ending March 2, port container throughput (about 50 percent of which is foreign trade, typically involving exports of transporting machinery, textiles, home appliances, and light industrial products) increased by only 2.8 percent year-on-year, a 4.3 percentage-point drop from the previous figure year’s rate of change. International cargo flights (primarily used for high-value products like consumer electronics and cross-border e-commerce) saw a 25.8 percent year-on-year increase, a 1.2 percentage-point drop from the prior year’s figure. Port cargo throughput (about 30 percent of which is related to foreign trade) rose by 2.5 percent year-on-year, a 2.2 percentage-point drop from the previous figure.

Data recently released by China’s General Administration of Customs showed that, in dollar terms, China’s exports grew by 2.3 percent year-on-year in January and February, short of the expected 5 percent growth and was a significant slowdown from the 10.7 percent growth rate recorded in December.

Source: Epoch Times, March 13, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/3/13/n14457529.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Economy/Resources US-China Relations

CCP Scolds Li Ka-shing for Selling Panama Port Operations to the US

On March 13, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council reposted a commentary from Ta Kung Pao titled “Don’t Be Naïve, Don’t Be Confused.” Ta Kung Pao is the CCP’s mouthpiece in Hong Kong.

The article’s key points are as follows:

“Currently, the world is undergoing accelerated changes unseen in a century, and the strategic rivalry between China and the United States is becoming increasingly intense. The situation is turbulent, with high winds and rough waves. The U.S. views China as its primary competitor and is making every effort to contain and suppress China’s development.

Recently, a particular development has sparked strong reactions from various parties: Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings Limited announced that it had reached a preliminary agreement with a consortium led by BlackRock to sell 80 percent of its assets in Hutchison Ports. This deal involves transferring ownership and operation of 43 ports and related logistics networks across 23 countries—including the Balboa and Cristóbal ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.

Netizens have widely criticized and condemned this transaction and CK Hutchison, viewing it as a spineless surrender driven solely by profit, disregarding national interests and betraying the Chinese people. Such public sentiment is entirely understandable.

Faced with a matter of such great importance and principle, the company in question must think carefully. It must seriously consider the nature and key implications of this issue and reflect on which stance it should take and whose side it should stand on.”

Source: Sina, March 16, 2025
https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2025-03-16/doc-inepuytu1080379.shtml

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics US-China Relations

American Students Share Experiences Regarding CCP-Organized Exchange Program

During his visit to the U.S. in November 2023, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping announced in San Francisco that China would invite 50,000 American youths to visit China for “exchange and study.”

Two students from Duke University shared their experiences after participating in a CCP-organized exchange camp last summer. Kyle Abrahm said, “Every city we visited had some kind of innovation museum. When you walked into these museums, they were spotless, and besides the tour guides, we were the only people there. That’s when I started to feel that everything was artificially staged and controlled because we didn’t actually experience any real cultural exchange. What we got was exactly what the regime wants to show us.” He added, “The guides always talked about China’s strengths, China’s resilience, and China’s innovation: ‘Look at what we are doing,’ and they constantly compared their data to the U.S. It all felt like they were trying to say, ‘This is how we are beating the U.S.’”

Matthew Rodriguez recounted an incident during a discussion at the Kunshan Chinese Opera Museum. An American student raised a question about Shen Yun Performing Arts, a group whose performers are mainly practitioners of Falun Gong that showcases traditional Chinese culture predating the CCP’s rule. (Editor’s Note: the CCP has been persecuting Falun Gong for 26 years since 1999.) The Chinese hosts quickly avoided the sensitive topic, which then led to an argument at the event.

Source: Epoch Times, March 10, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/3/10/n14454651.htm

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics US-China Relations

President of Taiwan Labels China as Hostile Foreign Force and Brings Back Taiwanese Military Tribunal System

Amid worries that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increasingly infiltrated Taiwan’s military with spies, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te convened a high-level national security meeting on March 13 and officially announced the restoration of the Taiwanese military tribunal system. This system will handle major cases involving active-duty soldiers accused of treason, espionage, and aiding the enemy. He stated that “China is intensifying its infiltration and espionage activities within our military. Last year, 15 active-duty and 28 retired military personnel were prosecuted for involvement in CCP espionage cases, making up 66% of all such cases.”

Lai went on to call China a “hostile foreign force,” the first time he had used such language. Lai stated that the CCP is “using various means to undermine Taiwan’s national defense and even develop armed organizations within the island, drawing widespread attention.”

Source: VOA, March 14, 2025
https://www.voachinese.com/a/taiwan-to-restore-military-court-in-response-of-spies-in-its-army-20250313/8009636.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Geo-Strategic Trend

Xiamen City Implements Neighborhood Monitoring Program

Xiamen City of Fujian Province has implemented a “Neighborhood Monitoring (近邻监督)” program, where certain residents are hired as “Neighborhood Supervisors” to monitor the daily activities of people around them. In May 2023, 307 “Neighborhood Supervisors” were officially appointed in Xiamen’s Tong’an District. Recently, a photo circulating on Chinese social media showed a group of people seated around a long table for a tea discussion, with a sign behind them reading “Neighborhood Monitoring Office, Zhenhai Community, Zhonghua Street, Siming District”.

Public critics of the program refer to it as an escalation of state surveillance, calling it a CCP method of inciting citizens to spy on and turn against one another.

Editor’s Note: The CCP’s “Neighborhood Monitoring (近邻监督)” program differs from the “Neighborhood Watch” programs in the U.S. The intention of the former is to induce neighbors to monitor each other and to report on (criminalize) each other over “suspicious speech or actions,” i.e. speech or actions that are not in line with what the CCP desires; the latter is intended to have the neighbors watch out for each other to prevent incidents or crime that could be harmful to residents.

Source: NTDTV, February 4, 2025
https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2025/02/04/a103955756.html

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Taiwan National Security Report: CCP Employing Increasing Numbers of Gangsters and Military Personnel for Espionage

Taiwan’s National Security Bureau released a report on January 13 titled “Analysis of Espionage Infiltration Methods.” The report stated that the number of individuals prosecuted for espionage in Taiwan increased from 48 in 2023 to 64 in 2024, showing a significant rise compared to 2021 and 2022. The number of espionage cases prosecuted also surged from three in 2021, to five in 2022, to 14 in 2023, and to 15 in 2024.

Among those prosecuted in 2024, 15 were retired military personnel, accounting for 23 percent of the total cases, while 28 were active-duty personnel, accounting for 43 percent.

The report identified five primary infiltration channels used by Beijing in 2024:

  1. Criminal gangs
  2. Underground money laundering networks
  3. Front companies
  4. Temple organizations
  5. Civil associations

Additionally, the report detailed four main espionage tactics employed by Beijing:

  1. Recruitment of active-duty soldiers by retired military personnel
  2. Online recruitment
  3. Financial bribery
  4. Debt coercion

The report accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of:

  • Colluding with criminal gangs to establish armed internal supporters within Taiwan, including recruiting gang members to raise the Chinese flag and engage in sabotage if China launches a military invasion.
  • Using gang members to recruit retired military personnel and form “sniper teams” to target military facilities and foreign institutions in Taiwan.
  • Encouraging retired military personnel to set up shell companies, underground banks, and gambling operations, coercing active-duty military officers into spying, signing loyalty pledges to the CCP, or even defecting with military helicopters.
  • Funding temple organizations in Taiwan, using religious activities to connect with active-duty soldiers and persuading them to wear military uniforms while holding the Chinese flag to record “surrender videos” or hand over classified defense plans.
  • Organizing all-expenses-paid trips to China for local village chiefs during Taiwan’s elections, attempting to influence voter support for specific candidates, and, manipulating social media by spreading false news and poll data to sway election outcomes.
  • Leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook, Line (a popular social media used by Taiwanese), and LinkedIn to offer online loans to active and retired military personnel, then pressuring them to provide classified information or recruit others to settle their debts. Payments were allegedly made through cryptocurrency to evade detection.

Source: VOA, January 13, 2024
https://www.voachinese.com/a/taiwan-s-spy-agency-says-china-is-working-with-gangs-shell-companies-to-gain-intelligence-on-taiwan-20250113/7934728.html

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