Geo-Strategic Trend - 5. page

A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Argentina said on August 6 that the U.S. embassy there has been revoking visas to block Argentine companies from partnering with Huawei, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. The spokesperson claimed Washington has been “deliberately stoking the China threat narrative” and broadening the concept of national security to “blatantly obstruct” normal cooperation between Argentine firms and Huawei. These characterizations reflect the Chinese embassy’s own framing of the dispute rather than an independently verified account. The spokesperson called the U.S. approach arrogant, a disrespect for other countries’ sovereignty, and a violation of free-market principles, urging Washington to abandon what it termed “hegemonic behavior and political manipulation.”

Huawei entered the Argentine market in 2001 and has built a substantial presence there. In March, Argentina’s Córdoba provincial power utility EPEC signed a memorandum with Huawei to advance private wireless networks and smart power distribution. In July, Huawei signed an agreement with the Argentine Agricultural Cooperatives Federation aimed at supporting the digital transformation of 36,000 local farmers.

Separately, Xinhua reported that the People’s Bank of China and the Central Bank of Argentina have renewed their bilateral currency swap agreement, valued at 130 billion yuan (roughly US$18.2 billion) against 28 trillion Argentine pesos. The agreement runs for five years and can be extended by mutual consent. The People’s Bank of China said the renewal — reported via China’s own state news agency — would deepen financial cooperation between the two countries, promote bilateral trade, and help maintain financial market stability.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), August 6, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202608060132.aspx

A Chinese embassy official in South Korea has publicly criticized South Korean media for portraying Chinese tourists as the key growth engine for Korea’s foreign-only casino industry, calling the practice deeply objectionable.

South Korean outlets and brokerages have repeatedly argued this year that Chinese visitors have again become the most important growth driver for casinos in Korea reserved for foreign nationals. Shinhan Securities reportedly noted that future profits for Korea’s three major foreign-only casino operators depend heavily on increases in Chinese tourist numbers, with analysts suggesting that further easing of visa-free policies for Chinese travelers could serve as a new growth catalyst. Data cited in the report showed roughly 2.56 million Chinese tourists visited Korea between January and May this year, a year-on-year increase of about 25 percent.

In response, Tang Liang, an official at the Chinese embassy in Seoul, published a signed article in the Korea Times titled “Do Not Do Unto Others What You Would Not Have Them Do Unto You.” The article stressed that Chinese law enforces “zero tolerance” toward gambling, and that Chinese citizens who gamble abroad are also violating the law. It criticized casinos for specifically targeting Chinese tourists for recruitment and accused some media of glorifying this as an “economic growth driver.” The piece noted that Korean law itself bars most Korean citizens from entering casinos, showing Seoul is well aware of gambling’s social harms. China said it would step up efforts to educate its citizens against gambling abroad, and urged South Korea to fulfill its regulatory responsibilities and curb casino solicitation of Chinese tourists for the sake of bilateral relations.

Since September 2025, South Korea has piloted visa-free entry for Chinese tour groups of three or more, later extended through the end of 2026, and from March 2026 began offering five-year multiple-entry visas to Chinese citizens with prior visit history.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), August 4, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202608040150.aspx

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has hailed a court ruling against Lin Hsueh-feng, a former Kuomintang candidate for Chiayi City councilor, as highly significant. Lin was sentenced to four years in prison under Taiwan’s Anti-Infiltration Act after the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal.

Lin was accused of accepting funding from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to organize trips to mainland China for village and neighborhood chiefs in Chiayi County, during which he allegedly urged participants to support a specific candidate in elections.

At a regular press briefing, MAC Deputy Chairman and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh said the ruling’s significance lies in the court’s formal recognition that the CCP constitutes a “hostile external force.” He noted that some have recently argued the CCP does not fit this designation, but said the court’s clear ruling would likely carry major weight for similar cases going forward.

According to the Chiayi District Court’s original verdict, Lin had argued during the first trial that the CCP was a “friendly force” toward Taiwan rather than a hostile external one. The court rejected this, citing Beijing’s continued refusal to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, its increasingly frequent deployment of military aircraft and ships near Taiwan, and military exercises intended to intimidate the island. The court concluded that the CCP government advocates non-peaceful means to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty and maintains an armed standoff with Taiwan, meeting the legal definition of a hostile external force under the Anti-Infiltration Act — with the Taizhou Municipal Taiwan Affairs Office identified as its affiliated infiltration source.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), July 30, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202607300367.aspx

Kazakhstan and China have finalized agreements to fully integrate their payment systems, with China’s alternative to SWIFT, known as CIPS, expected to launch in Kazakhstan this November. The announcement came from Binur Zhalenov, deputy head of Kazakhstan’s central bank, who is currently visiting Beijing.

Zhalenov said on Instagram that Kazakhstan and the People’s Bank of China have confirmed an agreement for comprehensive integration of the two countries’ payment systems. By the end of this year, the two countries plan to achieve interoperability between their QR code payment systems. Kazakhstan has reportedly become a core access point, or service center, for China’s CIPS network, which is set to launch in the country in November.

The two sides also plan to launch a pilot settlement program linking Kazakhstan’s digital tenge with China’s digital yuan, with implementation expected to begin in 2027.

SWIFT is an international secure financial messaging network used by banks worldwide to transmit financial information and process payments. CIPS, developed by the People’s Bank of China, is a cross-border payment system built to handle transactions in yuan and is widely viewed as an alternative to SWIFT, part of Beijing’s broader push to reduce reliance on Western-dominated financial infrastructure.

The report notes that Instagram is banned in Russia, where it has been designated as belonging to a platform owned by an organization classified as extremist.

Source: Sputnik News, July 30, 2026
https://sputniknews.cn/20260730/1072573453.html