Hong Kong National Security Law by July 1?; Beijing outbreak; EU-China summit; Xinjiang
It sounds like the National Security Law for Hong Kong may come into effect by July 1, the 23rd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) deliberated on the draft at the June 18-20 meeting. The NPC Standing Committee has scheduled another meeting for June 28-30, and even though the law is not listed on the public agenda the expectation is it will be pushed through then. It was also not on the official agenda for the June 18-20 meeting.
The South China Morning Post summarizes the key points we know from this weekend’s announcement:
Hong Kong government should strengthen its efforts to monitor and manage schools and societies where national security is involved
Hong Kong government will set up a commission to safeguard national security, which will be chaired by the chief executive and include an adviser appointed by Beijing
Hong Kong leader to appoint designated judges to preside over cases
Common law principles such as presumption of innocence and other human rights safeguards will be ensured
A central government agency will be set up to analyse the national security situation in Hong Kong, and ‘monitor, supervise, coordinate and support’ the local government’s efforts, collect intelligence and handle relevant cases; mainland agents are required to follow Hong Kong laws
Hong Kong will lead enforcement of the law except in a ‘very few’ cases where Beijing will retain jurisdiction
The new law will override local legislation should conflicts arise
In just over a week Hong Kong may be a fundamentally different place when it comes to the official control Beijing has over it. I would not be surprised if the authorities will move quickly to find example cases under the new law to make it clear to everyone else the costs of being on the wrong side of the CCP.
The Beijing outbreak seems to be under control, and is a good test for the approach the Party has been emphasizing of both reopening the economy while maintaining targeting epidemic prevention work. Mass testing, contact tracing and centralized quarantines are key parts of that playbook.
The upcoming Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 will have the country on an official holiday this Thursday and Friday. The Beijing region at least will not see much of a holiday or tourist bump this year given the current outbreak.
This afternoon the US State Department designated China Central Television, China News Service, the People’s Daily, and the Global Times under the Foreign Missions Act.
In a briefing for the media on this move Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David R. Stilwell said:
Xi Jinping himself has said that managing China’s message is crucial for, quote, “the future and the fate of the Chinese Communist Party and the state,” unquote. As he told state media outlets in February of 2016, quote, “All the work by the party’s media must reflect the party’s will. It must safeguard the party’s authority and safeguard the party’s unity. They must love the party. They must protect the party and closely align themselves with the party in thought, politics, and action,” unquote. And he added that the state media are actually given all the surname of “party,” dang, stressing that they are an integral part of the Communist Party facility and organization…
I would want to stress here that the Communist Party does not just exercise operational control over these propaganda entities but it has full editorial control over their content. This foreign mission designation is an obvious step in increasing the transparency of these and other PRC government propaganda activities in the United States. This determination is not intended to reduce or constrain journalistic activity by foreign media outlets. Again, these four entities are not media but propaganda outlets.
Will we see more expulsions from China of US journalists in the coming days?
I was on CNBC Squawk Box this morning to talk about the Beijing outbreak and the US-China trade deal. It was a short segment that you can watch here.
Today’s Essential Eight:
Hong Kong
Beijing outbreak
India-China
US-China
Xinjiang
EU-China summit
Espionage charges for Kovrig and Spavor
Martin Jacques and Zhang Weiwei inspirations for wolf warriors?
Thanks for reading.
The Essential Eight
1. Hong Kong
According to the explanation, the draft consists of six chapters (and 66 articles): general provisions; duties and institutions of Hong Kong to safeguard national security; offenses and penalties; jurisdiction over cases, application of law, and procedures; institutions of the central government in Hong Kong for safeguarding national security; and supplementary provisions. The explanation describes the Law as a “comprehensive statute” with provisions on both substantive and procedural criminal law as well as ones that set up new government institutions.
The Xinhua explainer of the new law. The last sentence makes it clear where the power resides: -法制工作委员会负责人向十三届全国人大常委会第十九次会议作关于《中华人民共和国香港特别行政区维护国家安全法（草案）》的说明 - 新华社客户端
The draft stipulates in the Supplementary Provisions: If the local laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are inconsistent with this Law, the provisions of this Law shall apply; the power of interpretation of this Law shall belong to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
草案在附则中规定：香港特别行政区本地法律与本法不一致的，适用本法规定；本法的解释权属于全国人民代表大会常务委员会。
The full draft of the sweeping national security law for Hong Kong will only be made public after it is passed by China’s top legislative body, sources say, with Beijing relying on officials to explain it to different sectors rather than releasing full details in advance for consultation.
The controversial legislation is effectively a done deal, with the National People’s Congress Standing Committee meeting for three days beginning on Sunday, and expected to pass it by June 30, the eve of the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule.
The detention facilities could function similar to the former “white house” the British colonial government used during the last century to hold people suspected of political crimes. It was operated by Royal Hong Kong Police Force’s Special Branch, an arm that worked in conjunction with Britain’s MI6 security service in the city, before being disbanded in 1995.
人民网评：香港居民的法定权利和自由不会受损--观点--人民网 - "关沧海"
"关沧海 Guan Canghai" in People's Daily online:
Hong Kong citizens’ legal rights and freedom will not be damaged because of the implementation of the national security law.
The summary of the national security law for Hong Kong was published on June 20. Carrie Lam issued a statement that on the same day stating the SAR Government will fully support and will perform its duties to ensure that relevant laws are effective. She later posted on social media that the opposition lawmakers have begun to stigmatize and demonize the main content of the draft, but all these actions will be in vain.
The summary of the national security law clearly shows that the legislation is to effectively prevent, stop and punish four types of criminal acts: splitting the country, subverting the state power, terrorist activities, colluding with foreign or foreign forces to endanger national security.
The Central Government has listened to the opinions of people from Hong Kong with the utmost sincerity. It has fully considered the actual situation of Hong Kong, and taken into account the differences between the two places.
Announcement of the next NPC Standing Committee meeting June 28-30, the Hong Kong law is not listed, but it was not listed for the meeting that just concluded either- 栗战书主持召开十三届全国人大常委会第六十三次委员长会议 决定十三届全国人大常委会第二十次会议6月28日至30日在京举行-新华网
China releases details of Hong Kong security law - The Washington Post
Antony Dapiran, a Hong Kong-based lawyer and author, said he was “struck by how deeply it intervenes in the government and legal system, creating a whole new government body and departments.”
The details as released, he said, undermine any notion of an independent judiciary and separation of power. Having an entire infrastructure to apply the new legislation also undermines reassurances from officials that it will only be used against a “very small minority,” he said.
Xinhua reported that on Sunday in Shenzhen, Xia Baolong head of the state council office for HK and Macau affairs, met with Andrew Leung, president of Hongkong’s legislative council, to hear his opinion on the draft of the new national security law. But it didn’t reveal any details of the discussion.
Gu Minkang, former deputy dean of the law school of City University of Hong Kong, said the draft law takes into account the characteristics of the common law and will not prejudice the existing judicial and common law systems in Hong Kong.
The common principles of the rule of law in the world are also reflected in the draft law, including no crime without the law, the presumption of innocence, protection against double jeopardy, protection of rights of defendants, and fair trial, he pointed out.
Censoring the UK on Hong Kong | China Media Project
the embassy made a Chinese-language post to its verified account on WeChat in which it tackled four assertions about Hong Kong that have been made in Chinese state media, offering factual rebuttals of each. The post was public long enough for users to actively share it on the platform, but by evening it had been removed, yielding a message that the post violated regulations.
2. Beijing outbreak
Beijing adopts targeted approach in fighting new infections of COVID-19 - Xinhua
Instead of classifying the COVID-19 risk based on districts, Beijing categorized the risks in subdistricts and townships and accordingly adjusted the classification. A subdistrict is an urban administrative division one level lower than a district and consists of several residential communities or neighborhoods. Beijing has more than 300 subdistricts and townships.
As of 3:00 p.m. Sunday, the city had listed 37 subdistricts and townships as medium-risk zones and four as high-risk ones...
As of Saturday, nearly 2.3 million people in the city had been sampled for nucleic acid tests, according to local authorities...
To cope with the surging demand for tests, Beijing more than doubled its daily nucleic acid testing capacity in a few days, bringing it to 230,000 from 100,000 as of Saturday
张文宏：追求绝对清零不现实 莫因少数病例关闭整体经济_专题频道_财新网
Zhang Wenhong: The pursuit of absolute zeroing infected patients is not realistic. Don’t shut down the overall economy because of a few cases.
In Beijing's Coronavirus Wave, China Tries Something New: Restraint - The New York Times
Key to the government’s containment strategy is aggressive testing and contact tracing. The government set up testing stations at hospitals, park entrances, stadiums and community centers, taking and processing swabs from 1.1 million people in less than a week.
The authorities required supermarket workers, restaurant employees and health care workers to be tested, as well as all neighbors of the 183 confirmed cases. Anyone going within blocks of the shuttered Xinfadi market receives an automated cellphone text message urging an immediate test.
Two more neighbourhoods in Beijing upgraded their risk level of COVID-19 to medium. So far there are 39 medium risk level neighbourhoods in the city. 4 Beijing neighborhoods, all in Fengtai and Daxing Districts are rated high-risk level.
Beijing coronavirus cases to see 'cliff-like' drop this week: expert - Reuters
“If you control the source, and cut the chain of transmission, the number will have a cliff-like drop,” Wu Hao, a disease control expert from the National Health Commission, told state television in an interview aired late on Sunday.
Virus in Beijing’s Xinfadi from Europe, but older: China CDC - People's Daily Online
Although the coronavirus found in Beijing's Xinfadi market has come from Europe, it differs with their current outbreak, as it is older than the current European coronavirus, according to preliminary research results, said Zhang Yong, assistant director of National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention..
It is also possible that the virus may have been lurking in dark, humid environments, which have not been properly disinfected and sterilized, before it was then exposed to local residents, causing its slow evolution. "In the end, what we see is that this virus is closer to the old European virus," Zhang said.
Zhang Ying, deputy head of the Tianjin CDC, said on Monday that a preliminary investigation showed the confirmed patient contracted the virus from a chef who also works in the Conrad hotel and the chef tested IgM positive. People who test IgM positive have gained viral antibodies, according to virologists.
The chef had been to Beijing many times in recent months, and had been to several Beijing restaurants and other amusement venues, but did not show any symptoms.
PepsiCo factory in Beijing suspends production after 8 COVID-19 cases reported - Xinhua
Two of the cases from the factory in Daxing district had been to the Xinfadi wholesale market, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing center for disease control and prevention, told a press conference Sunday.
Beijing reports 9 more local COVID-19 cases - CGTN
The Beijing Health Commission said on Monday that nine more COVID-19 cases, all locally transmitted, were found in the past 24 hours, raising total infections of a local cluster to 236
Beijing tightens COVID-19 screening on construction sites - Xinhua
The commission said it had checked 435 projects in the city, and given nucleic acid tests to 1,622 people there who had visited or contacted people from the Xinfadi food market, to which a number of new infections were related.
The two construction sites, where the confirmed cases were reported, have been put under closed-off management, it said.
Mysterious Tianjin Covid-19 Case Believed to Be Linked to Neighboring Beijing - Caixin
If this is confirmed as a case of person-to-person transmission, the 22-year-old patient would be the city’s first local case linked to the outbreak in Beijing which first emerged in the Xinfadi food market.
In recent days, some citizens have complained that they have been forced into quarantine by big-data programs that have determined they traveled through the area around Xinfadi, even though they never entered the market. This is evidently a waste of already-scarce testing resources.
New Study Raises Doubts Over Whether Recovered Covid-19 Patients Are Immune - Caixin
A new study conducted by Chinese experts found Covid-19 antibodies may start to diminish within two or three months in most asymptomatic and symptomatic patients after they are initially infected, raising doubts over whether antibodies could serve as “immunity passports” for people who have recovered from the illness.
COVID-19 testing lab built with air-inflated structure goes into trial operation in Beijing - Xinhua
The mobile Huoyan (Fire Eye) laboratory was built in two days over the weekend to accommodate 14 automated COVID-19 testing machines provided by Chinese biotech company BGI Genomics
Beijing taps telecoms data in search of Covid-19 · TechNode
Beijing district officials confirmed that they are using data from mobile phone carriers to track individual movement during the city’s renewed Covid-19 outbreak, according to Xinhua News (in Chinese). Daxing District authorities told the official news agency they used location-based data to track visitors to the Xinfadi market, the outbreak’s epicenter.
When an employee in the company that mainly produces Lay's chips was confirmed to be infected on June 15, PepsiCo immediately suspended production, all stocks were sealed off and outbound transportation was prohibited, said Fan Zhimin, from the publicity department of PepsiCo in China, at the Beijing government's anti-epidemic press conference on Sunday.
3. India-China
Three separate brawls divided by time and space. Chinese troops who aren't normally deployed at Patrol Point 14. And, a young Indian Army team that took a decision to cross the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to square things up with the Chinese Army. The contours of the June 15 bloodletting have become cleared...
The men of 16 Bihar had built familiarity with the Chinese unit, and had expected to run into troops and officers they already knew. The fresh faces was the first surprise. It has been assessed during a debrief that the 'new' Chinese troops at the offending post were from a pool freshly diverted from a PLA exercise in Tibet in the second half of May...
These 'new' Chinese troops were immediately belligerent once the Indian team arrived. When Colonel Babu opened the conversation, asking why the post had been re-erected, a Chinese soldier stepped up and pushed the Indian Colonel backwards hard, with expletives in the Chinese language...
India Today TV has learnt that the tactical debrief on the ground -- a kind of First Information Report on the incident -- records 16 Chinese Army bodies handed back to the Chinese side after brawl No.3, including 5 officers. The debrief report does not specify if the Chinese Commanding Officer of the unit was among these five.
China’s Strategic Assessment of the Ladakh Clash - War on the Rocks - Yun Sun
Chinese analysts believe that India is taking advantage of Beijing by trying to make tactical gains along the border. While China is trying to ease the seemingly bottomless deterioration of relations with the United States due to the COVID-19 crisis, India’s road-building is seen as “an attempt to stab it [China] in the back while China was trying to deal with” the United States. From the perspective of China, not only is India trying to capitalize on China’s moment of distraction, vulnerability, and overextension in its foreign policy, it also puts China in a dilemma between responding to India’s road construction and being labeled “aggressive and provocative” — or acquiescing to it and losing territory in a time of weakness.
林民旺：中国起初的沉默，不过是想给印度时间，让它自己冷静下来
China’s top India expert, Lin Minwang of Fudan University wrote on Guancha that China didn’t release it casualty numbers in the border clash with India because it wants de-escalation. Lin said Modi’s speech earlier has confirmed the Chinese version of the story, that it was the Indian soldiers who moved into the Chinese side of the LAC, which led to the clash. Lin suggested that China should also do some public funeral or public event paying tributes to the Chinese soldiers died or injured in the clash, even though China needs not to play up the nationalism like the Indians did.
PLA daily reported that the Tibet military region have been having military trills since mid-June under extreme weather. Next, they will move to higher altitude for more extreme training in unfamiliar terrain.
Citing PLA Daily and others Guancha reported that the Tibet military region has recently enlisted teams of militia to help with border defense. That includes workers in telecom and mining company, helicopter pilots, hiking guides, as well as members of a local fight club.
Why India & China See Any Border Breach As A ‘Threat’ to Identity
Arunabh Ghosh, Associate Professor of History at Harvard University, writes in The Quint about how the dramatic growth of ethno-nationalism in China and India is a driving force behind their current border tensions
Confrontation with China 'suicide' for Indian economy - Global Times - Long Xingchun
India has recently intensified tensions with China following a fatal border clash. There is a campaign to boycott Chinese products and Indian authorities are reportedly mulling higher trade barriers. These are undoubtedly suicide paths for India's economic development.
The author is a senior research fellow of the Academy of Regional and Global Governance, Beijing Foreign Studies University and president of the Chengdu Institute of World Affairs
India retreats from deals with China: Global Times editorial - Global Times
The Indian government on Sunday gave "complete freedom of action" to Indian troops deployed along the China-India Line of Actual Control. This means Indian commanders will not be restricted in using firearms.
If this new approach is implemented and Indian troops shoot Chinese soldiers in the first place in future encounters, then the China-India border dispute will turn into a military conflict. This is not what most Chinese and Indian people wish to see
On June 18, two days after the violent faceoff in the Galwan Valley, the Ministry of Defence contacted manufacturers of protective gear and bullet-proof jackets worn by Army personnel in forward areas, including in Leh, for “urgent” reinforcement of supplies
The projects, with proposed investments worth over Rs 5,000 crore, were finalised at the recent "Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0" investor meet held just before the border fight.
New railway line in Tibet will reach Arunachal doorstep in 2021 - world news - Hindustan Times
China is building infrastructure at a rapid speed and encouraging wealthier provinces to make critical investments along the border areas of Tibet with Arunachal Pradesh.
On Saturday, state-owned companies completed part of a key railway bridge on the Yarlung Tsangpo, which flows into India as Siang and then Brahmaputra river, barely 30 km from the border with Arunachal Pradesh.
4. US-China
China to Speed U.S. Farm Purchases After Secretive Hawaii Talks - Bloomberg
The world’s top soybean importer intends to increase buying everything from soybeans to corn and ethanol after purchases fell behind due to the coronavirus, said two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the information is private. A separate person said China’s government has asked state-owned buyers to make efforts to meet the phase one pact.
Over the past decade and particularly under General Secretary Xi Jinping’s tenure, the CCP has reorganized China’s state propaganda outlets disguised as news agencies and asserted even more direct control over them. He has stated “Party-owned media must. . . embody the party’s will, safeguard the party’s authority … their actions must be highly consistent with the party.” In short, while Western media are beholden to the truth, PRC media are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party.
Pursuant to authorities under the Foreign Missions Act, the State Department is issuing today a new determination that designates the U.S. operations of China Central Television, China News Service, the People’s Daily, and the Global Times as foreign missions. This follows on the February 18 designation of Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corporation, and Hai Tian Development USA.
Comment: There had been reports that PhoenixTV would also be added to this list, wonder why they were not.
Comment: Stilwell makes the point more than once to "watch the outcomes here in the next couple weeks". The news this morning saying the Chinese side is accelerating purchases under the phase one deal may be part of this. That is the easiest thing to do to keep Trump happy, as Stilwell says I guess we will find out within the next couple of weeks whether there was progress on other issues.- Briefing with Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell On Readout of Secretary Pompeo’s Meeting With Poliburo Member Yang Jiechi - United States Department of State
"ASSISTANT SECRETARY STILWELL: Well, I would go back to the actions in a results-oriented relationship, and this is one of our – I’m not going to answer the question right now. However, if you watch outcomes over the next couple weeks, you can see for yourself whether U.S. concerns – which have been expressed very publicly, not just this week in Hawaii but over the weeks coming out of D.C. – about this provocative behavior, and then just a long list of things: How about reciprocity? How about journalists who can’t report freely in the PRC and yet complain shrilly when they – or anything is done to Chinese journalists in the U.S.? The relationship needs to be more reciprocal. And we raised quite a few of these issues, and I’ll leave it to you to determine whether or not they are going to comply or not. Just watch the outcomes here in the next couple weeks and see.
I’m hopeful. Again, as I – we leave diplomatic space by not talking about this in detail where they feel like they’re boxed in. We leave them the diplomatic space to make decisions that demonstrate that they understand the need for this relationship to be more reciprocal and “win-win,” to use their term, on both sides. And so I always remain optimistic. I am often disappointed, but again, we’ll see if the presentation – if our interactions this week had the desired effect"
Comment: It does not sound like any progress was made in the Pompeo-Yang meeting about the media issues.
U.S. Seeks to Assure Diplomats Returning to Beijing After Uproar - Bloomberg
The State Department is seeking to reassure dozens of diplomats who are preparing to return to Beijing that China won’t be given total control over their coronavirus testing and that children and other family members won’t be separated if they are found positive, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Fang Xinghai, a vice-chairman at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said that as China mainly relies on the US dollar payment system in international deals, it makes it vulnerable to possible US sanctions.
“Such things have already happened to many Russian businesses and financial institutions. We have to make preparations early – real preparations, not just psychological preparations,” Fang said at a forum organised by Chinese media outlet Caixin.
US diplomats staged photo to pressure China over nuclear talks: Report – POLITICO
U.S. diplomats staged a photo showing Chinese flags in front of empty seats at the start of nuclear talks in Vienna on Monday as a way to pressure Beijing over its refusal to participate, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.
The tweet:
Fu Cong, Director General, Department of Arms Control, MFA, PRC , replied on Twitter:
Tyson Foods: China halts imports from US plant over coronavirus fears - CNN
Asked for comment, Tyson did not say which plant the Chinese government was referring to — though the company told other media outlets that the announcement pertained to a plant on Berry Street in Springdale, Arkansas. The US Department of Agriculture has also used the same number to refer to a poultry plant at that location.
Comment: This is should not have any impact on China’s willingness to purchase under the phase one trade deal
Trump asked Xi for the release of Victor and Cynthia Liu, two U.S. citizens who Chinese authorities have banned from exiting the country. After visiting their grandfather, the 20- and 28-year-old have been held in China because their father is a Chinese businessman in the U.S. wanted by Beijing on bank fraud allegations.
After Xi dismissively responded Victor and Cynthia were also Chinese citizens, according to Bolton, "Trump shrugged his shoulders disdainfully and dropped the issue. So much for protecting U.S. citizens. The Chinese probably hope the dinner would go on all night."
A new report by the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre calls on Australia and the US to strengthen their capacity to counter state-backed disinformation, ahead of a meeting of both countries’ defence and foreign ministers – but also calls on the allies to get their own houses in order.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, China has been consistently grappling with rumors and conspiracies made up by some U.S. politicians. It is like trying to hit the targets in a game of whack-a-mole, where the virus and rumors test China's agility and determination. Check out this arcade game to see how China is hitting back
A screen shot from the “game”:
5. Xinjiang
Exclusive: Trump held off on Uighur sanctions for China trade deal - Axios
Asked why he hadn't yet enacted Treasury sanctions against Chinese Communist Party officials or entities tied to the camps where the Chinese government detains Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, Trump replied, "Well, we were in the middle of a major trade deal."
"And I made a great deal, $250 billion potentially worth of purchases. And by the way, they're buying a lot, you probably have seen."Trump continued: "And when you're in the middle of a negotiation and then all of a sudden you start throwing additional sanctions on — we've done a lot. I put tariffs on China, which are far worse than any sanction you can think of."..
Trump countered that he signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 on Wednesday.Between the lines: But that new law is Congress' attempt to pressure Trump to enact sanctions. Trump already had all the authority he needed to sanction China for the camps. Congress passed the Global Magnitsky Act in 2016 — a law designed to counter human rights violations like those being committed in Xinjiang, where witnesses say the Chinese government imprisons, brainwashes, and tortures ethnic and religious minorities.
China Fumes Over US Xinjiang Bill | China Media Project
While the US has steadily been the subject of official ire in China’s party-run press over the past two years, as tensions have rankled over such issues as trade and Hong Kong, a series of tough-worded commentaries and responses today are the best illustration in recent memory of what apoplectic rage looks like in the pages of the CCP’s usually dry and jargon-filled People’s Daily.
There were many more angry denunciations:
人民日报：美国霸权思维强权逻辑的又一例证——评美国“2020年维吾尔人权政策法案
Li Weijian of CASS wrote on People’s Daily last Friday saying the human rights act is another evidence of US hegemony trying to bully other.
CCTV commentary said the documentary is “iron-clad evidences” of terrorism in Xinjiang, and it “demonstrates the necessity and effectiveness of the anti-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts by Chinese government”, and it “powerfully refute the lies about Xinjiang fabricated by American politicians”. “How much longer the American politicians want to play deaf (toward the evidences)?” It asked.
Xinhua said China’s war against terrorism and secession in Xinjiang “is an act of justice” and China won’t accept “fact distortion, smearing and baseless accusation”. It said the “unreasonable sanctions” by the Americans will not sway the determination and unity of Xinjiang people.
People’s Daily front page commentary on Saturday fervently defended China’s “anti-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts” in Xinjiang, and suggested the Americans pay more attention to their human rights problems at home instead of telling lies about China.
Xinhua put out another commentary on Saturday attacking the US double standards on human rights, and said the Xinjiang people won’t allow US meddling with their happy life, a happy life secured by the government’s de-radicalization policy.
CCTV sharp commentary on Sunday continue to praise their one-hour documentary on Xinjiang for presenting facts about Xinjiang and that the US attacks are all smearing and lies.
People’s Daily front page commentary on Sunday said the Human Rights Act is “an vicious attack” on China’s Xinjiang policy, but it won’t change China’s determination to fight terrorism and racial forces in the region.
暨南大学传播与国家治理研究院针对“维吾尔人权政策法案”撰写研究报告
The Journalism school of Jinan University in Guagnzhou put out a report saying the Uighur Human Rights Act is full of logic and legality flaws. “This Act has become a semantic game, which is self-directed and self-explained by the US.” It wrote. The school did a similar rebuttal against the Xinjiang document leak on NYT last year.
Comment from one of Sinocism’s researchers: The report didn’t give the name of the author. But it is very likely authored by professor Zheng Liang, who has been talking about this in interviews with Global Times and others. He has a PhD of communication from University of Colorado Boulder.
Memories of fighting terrorism in Xinjiang - CGTN
The aim of our documentary is to shine a light on the violence that wracks the far-western region of China, and remember both the individuals who have lost their lives and the survivors in the continuing struggle against the dangerous ideologies that fuel death and despair.
This is the third documentary in our series chronicling how terrorism plagued Xinjiang and how its people have been living through the trauma in its aftermath
The documentary ”Tianshan Still Standing: Memories of Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang 巍巍天山——中国新疆反恐记忆“ on Youtube:
Xinjiang’s counter-terrorism, de-radicalization achievements undeniable - People's Daily Online
The U.S. had better reflect on its own institutional problems of human rights, and not make troubles under the banner of human right protection. If it keeps going toward the wrong direction, what lie ahead will only be discredit and self-damage.
Will Western media still remain silent after watching Xinjiang documentary? - People's Daily Online
The documentary is the third in a series released by CGTN. The previous two, which aired last December, have been played by more than 1 billion times. In non-English speaking countries such as Russia, Japan and some Middle Eastern countries, the two documentaries sparked heated discussions...
Regrettably, no mainstream Western media have covered the two documentaries. Despite constantly scrutinizing the Xinjiang issue, they have now collectively gone silent.
In addition, Youtube restricted viewer access to and removed the two documentaries for so-called violation of rules.
Professor Timothy Grose has gotten hold of a manual for cadres sent to live with Uighur families in Xinjiang:
6. EU-China Summit
Xi: China, EU should expand common interests through cooperation - Xinhua
Noting that China and the EU are partners, not opponents, Xi said the two sides do not have fundamental conflicts of interests. He added that their cooperation far outweighs competition, and their consensuses exceed differences.
He urged the two sides to respect each other, seek common ground and resolve differences, and keep enhancing mutual understanding and trust.
China wants peace, not hegemony, Xi stressed, adding that the country offers opportunities and does not pose a threat to anyone...
The world is undergoing profound changes in the wake of COVID-19, with more unstable factors and uncertainties emerging, said the Chinese president. He called for efforts to foster new opportunities amid the crisis.
China and the EU are "two major forces" and "two major markets" in the world, Xi said, adding that they are also two important forces for maintaining global peace and stability. China is willing to strengthen strategic cooperation with the EU and address global challenges, he told the EU leaders.
Xi also called on the two sides to uphold multilateralism and improve global governance.
Comment: But no joint statement from the meeting
The Chinese version of the Xinhua readout - 习近平会见欧洲理事会主席米歇尔和欧盟委员会主席冯德莱恩-新华网
China, EU reaffirm commitment to conclude comprehensive investment agreement in 2020 - Xinhua
The pledge came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held the 22nd China-EU leaders' meeting with President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen via video link Monday.
Li and the EU leaders noticed the progress made in the negotiations and reaffirmed that both sides were committed to concluding the China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement in 2020.
EU-China Summit: A complex and vital partnership - EU press conference transcript
President Michel said: "EU-China relations have evolved in recent years. Our economic interdependency is high, and we must work together on global challenges like climate action, meeting the Sustainable Development Goals or dealing with COVID-19. Engaging and cooperating with China is both an opportunity and necessity. But, at the same time, we have to recognise that we do not share the same values, political systems, or approach to multilateralism. We will engage in a clear-eyed and confident way, robustly defending EU interests and standing firm on our values.”
President von der Leyen said: “The COVID-pandemic and a number of major bilateral and multilateral challenges show clearly the EU - China partnership is crucial, be it in terms of trade, climate, technology, and the defence of multilateralism. But for our relations to develop further, they must become more rules-based and reciprocal, in order to achieve a real level playing-field.”..
"The EU raised its concerns on the deteriorating human rights situation, including the treatment of minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, and of human rights defenders, as well as restrictions on fundamental freedoms. The EU also underlined its expectation that the Human Rights Dialogue will take place in China later in the year once the COVID-19 restrictions are eased. EU Leaders raised a number of individual cases, including the reports on citizens who have disappeared after reporting/expressing their views on the handling of the Coronavirus outbreak, as well as the continued arbitrary detention of Swedish citizen Gui Minhai and two Canadian citizens – Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
Von der Leyen calls out China for hitting hospitals with cyberattacks – POLITICO
"We've seen attacks … on computer systems, on hospitals, and we know the origin of the cyberattacks," von der Leyen said after a videoconference with China's President Xi Jinping. "We put together the facts and the figures necessary to know."
"We pointed out clearly that this cannot be tolerated," she added, pointing to China's use of disinformation to distort the public debate around the coronavirus pandemic.
EU engaged with China in the hope of it becoming more like Hong Kong, but Hong Kong has become more like China, Anders Fogh Rasmussen says
Production should be moved to more ‘stable and reliable’ countries if China won’t reciprocate Europe’s market access, he argues
Written before the meeting - Opinion: China-EU Summit to offer certainty in uncertain time - Xinhua
As both China and the EU remain firm supporters of an open world economy, a joint declaration by China and the EU to revive their economies will serve as an example for others to follow.
The upcoming China-EU summit also comes at a time when the leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the global fight against COVID-19 has been undermined by U.S. withdrawal from the UN agency.
We must take off the golden blinders of economic ties and see that the China challenge isn’t just at the gates; it’s in every capital, it’s in every borough, it’s in every province.
Every investment from a Chinese state-owned enterprise should be viewed with suspicion.
Europe faces a China challenge, just as the United States does, and as – just as our South American, African, Middle Eastern, and Asian friends do too.
Comment: “At the gates” is a strange phrase
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on June 22, 2020
CCTV: US Secretary of State Pompeo attended the Virtual Copenhagen Democracy Summit on June 19. He criticized China on a series of China-related issues. I wonder if you have a comment?
Zhao Lijian: Mr. Pompeo once again leveled wanton criticism against China and attempted to sow discord between other countries and China. We are firmly opposed to this.
His remarks concerning China run counter to plain facts and basic norms governinginternational relations. They only serve to further expose his deep-seated Cold War mentality and ideological bias. The Chinese people have long seen through this. People won’t buy a word he said.
We urge him to correct his mistake, stop spreading political virus, and work to promote instead of undermining China-US cooperation.
7. Espionage charges for Kovrig and Spavor
China charges Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor with espionage - The Globe and Mail
Mr. Kovrig was charged with spying on national secrets and intelligence for entities outside the territory of China. Mr. Spavor was charged with spying on national secrets and illegally providing state secrets to entities outside the territory of China.
In both cases, the charges were made “with particularly serious circumstances,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Friday, using language that indicates a potentially harsher penalty under Chinese law. “The facts of the crime are clear, and the evidence is indeed sufficient,” Mr. Zhao said. He declined to provide any details of evidence against the men or say what they are accused of doing.
Schellenberg’s Chinese lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo, also quoted by the Globe and Mail, offers a more accurate version of how the two Canadian cases will secretly unfold, predicting that it “won’t proceed openly, there will be no observers and the verdict and case information won’t be made public.” Actually the verdict, in the sense of the court’s sentence, will very likely be made public, but the court’s opinion will be withheld, in order to deny observers insight into the judicial process and the facts. The future timelines of the cases and the fates of the two ill-fated hostages are still incredibly uncertain. Evidently, the current PRC leadership has no shame when it comes to human rights and international law.
Trudeau points to 'direct link' between detained Canadians and arrest of Huawei executive - POLITICO
“It has been obvious from the beginning that this was a political decision made by the Chinese government and we deplore it and have from the very beginning,” he said during his daily briefing. He also thanked Canada’s “friends and allies around the world” who have criticized what he called the “arbitrary detention” of the two Canadians. Adve
China to Trudeau: Stop 'irresponsible remarks' on spy case | CBC News
"There is no such thing as arbitrary detention," said the ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian.
"China urges the relevant Canadian leader to earnestly respect the spirit of the rule of law, respect China's judicial sovereignty and stop making irresponsible remarks," Zhao said.
Ms. Meng is unusually important to China, argued Chen Weihua, the European Union bureau chief for the China Daily, who frequently writes columns for the newspaper.
“People often fail to note that Meng is worth 10 Kovrig & Spavor, if not more,” Mr. Chen said in a tweet this weekend that he later deleted...
Mr. Chen says on Twitter that his opinions “are 100% my own” and, in an interview with The Globe, said, “Those who think I speak for my paper, [the Communist Party of China] or the government simply don’t understand China or they deliberately pretend not to.”
The United States is extremely concerned by the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) decision to proceed with formal charges against Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. These charges are politically motivated and completely groundless. The United States stands with Canada in calling on Beijing for the immediate release of the two men and rejects the use of these unjustified detentions to coerce Canada. Additionally, we echo Canada’s call for immediate consular access to its two citizens, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, as China has prohibited such access for almost six months, and the world has no knowledge of the two Canadians’ condition.
8. Martin Jacques and Zhang Weiwei inspirations for wolf warriors?
Xiang Lanxin, "On Wolf Warrior Diplomacy" - Reading the China Dream
Xiang Lanxin (b. 1956) is a well-known Chinese professor of international relations who has spent virtually his entire career in the West. After completing his undergraduate studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, he did his M.A. and Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He taught at Clemson University until 1996 at which point he moved to the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva...
Wolf Warrior diplomacy, in Xiang’s view, is contributing to the destabilization of the world order at a time when China has drunk its own koolaid, in other words, when many Chinese have come to believe China’s propaganda claims about the superiority of the “China model.” Xiang lays much of the blame for this on the left-wing British journalist Martin Jacques, whose 2009 best-seller When China Rules the World thrilled Chinese readers, particularly because it was written by a Westerner. The blame is shared by the Chinese “scholar” Zhang Weiwei 张维为 (b. 1957), who repackaged Jacques’s idea to sing the virtues of China’s unique “civilizational state.” Xiang’s disdain for Zhang (whom he does not name in the interview) is palpable, and in my experience is shared by many other Chinese liberals. In any event, Xiang’s point is that the danger is that China is destroying the very world order that permitted the realization of the “China dream,” apparently without a thought for the consequences, military or economic.
Xiang’s remarks make for good reading because his position as a Chinese working outside China allows him a frankness that his compatriots in China can ill afford. Otherwise, his opinions largely accord with those of other Chinese liberals of his generation who are proud of China’s rise but continue to embrace many of the universal values of the Enlightenment. Most of us would like to see such viewpoints regain the upper hand, but the Wolf Warriors surely would not be lashing out as they are without the full support of their superiors in the Foreign Ministry and above.
Business, Economy and Trade
China to support exporters explore domestic market - Gov.cn The State Council issued a circular on June 22, introducing measures to help exporters sell products domestically and help Chinese businesses in the foreign trade sector overcome difficulties to keep foreign trade stable...Local governments are urged to give priority to foreign trade enterprises in the major industry chain and supply chain, as well as micro, small and medium foreign trade enterprises, the circular noted. // The circular 国务院办公厅印发《关于支持出口产品转内销的实施意见》
China to help poor migrant workers secure jobs - Xinhua Amid the country's efforts to win the battle against poverty, some 27.51 million poor migrant workers from 25 provincial-level regions had left their hometowns for work as of May 31, accounting for more than the total last year, data showed. The circular stressed that the total number of impoverished migrant workers from less-developed central and western regions working in more developed eastern regions this year should be no less than that of last year.
China’s $3.5 Trillion Wealth Product Market Suffers Losses - Bloomberg As traders cut bets on the potential for more stimulus from the central bank, government bond yields soared this month, driving the net asset value on more than 280 low-risk, bond-linked WMPs, or about 3% of the market, below the initial 1 yuan value, according to Chinawealth.com, an official site tracking the industry.
Yicai - US Vitamin Retailer GNC Fails to Pay Dividend to Chinese Investor Harbin Pharma Harbin Pharmaceutical Group has not received a CNY171 million (USD24.2 million) dividend payment from GNC Holdings that was due on March 31, as the US vitamin and supplements retailer has been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic
Disney English quits China after 12 years - SHINE News Mahesh Samat, Walt Disney Co’s executive vice president, said: “Over the past few years, we have noticed a shift in consumer preferences toward online learning experiences and this trend has been accelerated by the global pandemic as families are hesitant to resume in-person supplemental learning classes. “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to not reopen the centers. We are ensuring that each family of a Disney English learner is refunded accordingly, and we are taking care of each and every one of our affected cast members. “
China’s top stock index is being overhauled — which hasn’t happened in three decades - MarketWatch The adjustments will allow inclusion of stocks listed on the tech-focused STAR board as well as Chinese depository receipts issued by Chinese-based companies incorporated overseas, known as red-chip companies.
China Offshore Defaults Top $4 Billion as Hilong Joins List - Bloomberg Hilong Holding Ltd., an oil equipment and services company, became the latest to default on Monday when it failed to repay a $165 million dollar bond. The company had sought to swap the debt with new debt, but failed to get sufficient investor support
Ministry, bank sign MoU to stabilize foreign trade - Xinhua China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China Construction Bank (CCB) to jointly take measures to help firms overcome coronavirus-induced challenges and stabilize the country's foreign trade
China Investor Buys Dirt Cheap Bank Stocks Nobody Else Wants - Bloomberg “The market has priced in too much pessimism,” said Zhou, whose firm oversees about 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion). His flagship fund has outperformed the CSI 300 Index by more than 150 percentage points in the past five years, according to financial data provider East Money Information Co. “We believe many people misunderstand the banking sector.”
Baowu Spearheads Fund to Develop World’s Largest Untapped Iron Reserve - Caixin State-owned steel giant Baowu is leading a consortium of steelmakers seeking to revive a long-stalled iron ore project in Guinea, taking over from Chalco as it seeks to secure supply of the main raw material used in steel production. China Baowu Steel Group Corp. Ltd. is hoping to develop the Simandou iron mine in the West African nation after acquiring shares of the project held by Aluminum Corp. of China (Chalco) in cooperation with other steelmakers, Caixin has learned, although no details of the share purchase have yet been disclosed.
Change Grinds Through Luckin Board, but Is It Real or for Founder’s Benefit? - Caixin he changes being proposed by Chairman Lu Zhengyao would also effectively hobble a special board committee that has been internally investigating Luckin’s massive fraud, a person close to the committee told Caixin. That committee’s investigation had stalled over Lu’s failure to cooperate, the person said, even as Chinese government regulators may be preparing to charge him with criminal complicity in the fraud, another source close to those regulators previously told Caixin.
China blinks on PCAOB | China Accounting Blog | Paul Gillis Caixin has reported($$ paywall) some amazing comments from CSRC chairman Yi Huiman. Yi reportedly said that: “As long as the U.S. side is truly willing to solve the problem, we can definitely find a way for China and the U.S to cooperate on audit regulation”..I suspect that Yi’s comments are a signal that China will back down on this issue, allowing joint inspections with adequate controls to protect state secrets.
Chong Sing Reveals Scale of Fraud at Its Chinese Online Payments Unit - Caixin Another domino in the troubled empire of Chinese financial conglomerate UCF Holdings Ltd., whose secretive controller died in London last year, is in danger of falling after its Hong Kong-listed unit disclosed a 1.5 billion yuan ($212 million) embezzlement at a mainland subsidiary and warned it may have to shut the business down.
China: The Bubble that Never Pops: Orlik, Thomas Thomas Orlik, a veteran of more than a decade in Beijing, turns the spotlight on China's fragile fundamentals, and resources for resilience. Drawing on discussions with Communist cadres, shadow bankers, and migrant workers, Orlik pieces together a unique perspective on China's past, present, and possible futures.
Online Event: A Book Talk on "China: The Bubble That Never Pops" | Center for Strategic and International Studies Friday, June 26, 2020 10:00 am - 11:00 am
SoftBank’s Arm Fired China CEO Wu for Starting a Rival Fund - Bloomberg Arm China Chief Executive Officer Allen Wu established a fund called Alphatecture whose aim is to invest in companies that use Arm technology, said the people, who requested anonymity discussing a personnel decision. It’s common -- and legal -- for chip companies to use investment divisions to provide financial help to fledgling companies that can’t otherwise afford their typically pricey components. But the problem in Wu’s case is that Arm Ltd. and partner Hopu Investment Management Co., which together are major backers of the venture, already have one of these funds. Wu’s move put him in direct competition with his employers, the people said.
Breakingviews - Ancient Chinese governance tech stymies SoftBank - Reuters SoftBank is finding itself stymied by ancient governance technology. Its Chinese chipmaking venture can’t get rid of its Chairman and Chief Executive Allen Wu because he won’t return the company seal. It’s a common problem in the People’s Republic
Elon Musk Sells Bel-Air Mansion to Tech Billionaire for $29 Million - WSJ The buyer is a limited liability company tied to William Ding, a Chinese billionaire businessman and the founder and chief executive of NetEase, records show.
Politics and Law
NPCSC Concludes First June Session Before Immediately Scheduling Another, Likely to Adopt Hong Kong National Security Law – NPC Observer we will briefly review the bills adopted on Saturday and preview the upcoming 20th session
NPC Standing Committee Releases 2020 Legislative Plan – NPC Observer This year’s legislative plan schedules 41 legislative projects for review in 2020, the largest batch ever included in a publicly available annual legislative plan. This year’s plan differs from its previous iterations in two notable aspects. First, it starts with a lengthy paragraph—not seen in prior plans—that puts the bills in several groups and sets forth the larger policy goals behind each group. Second, it does not assign bills to be submitted for an initial in review this year to particular sessions of the NPCSC. Because many of such bills are still being drafted, this year’s plan does away with a rigid schedule presumably to avoid the appearance of constant delay, as oftentimes drafting cannot be completed on time.
SCMP: Chinese professor banned from teaching over Hong Kong protest comments A university in central China has banned one of its professors from teaching after she expressed sympathies online for Hong Kong’s anti-government protesters and the country’s official position on Japan’s wartime activities. Hubei University’s Communist Party committee announced on Saturday that Liang Yanping, a professor of literary criticism at the university’s school of Chinese language and literature, had been expelled from the party for publishing “wrong remarks concerning Hong Kong and Japan”. Liang would be banned from teaching and supervising graduate students, according to the university. The university began investigating Liang, 59, in April after she wrote an article online in support of novelist Wang Fang, known as Fang Fang, who documented her daily life under strict lockdown in Wuhan, where the pandemic coronavirus first erupted.
What do you think of the village consolidation policy (合村并居) in Shandong? — Zhihu Digest // Expect to read more about this policy, sounds like causing a lot of problems
In China, a Lawsuit Galvanizes the Transgender Rights Movement - SixthTone Transgender Chinese face widespread discrimination at work. But some believe the courts could offer an avenue for change.
Citizen Journalist Charged for Covid-19 Reporting | China Media Project According to Chinese news reports and online posts, Shanghai-based citizen journalist Zhang Zhan (张展), who was arrested in May after posting a video criticizing the government’s epidemic response measures, was formally charged last Friday with the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” (寻衅滋事罪). This is a criminal charge often used in China against activists, dissidents and writers. Zhang is reportedly being held in the Pudong New District Detention Center (浦东新区看守所).
China's top political advisory body opens meeting on poverty alleviation - Xinhua The Standing Committee of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)...opened its 12th meeting on Monday to discuss winning the battle against poverty..Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting on invitation, and delivered a report. He said that decisive achievements have been made in the battle against poverty, with all major goals and tasks close to being completed. However, Hu said the country still faced difficulties and challenges with regard to securing a decisive victory, and urged efforts to help the poor remain within the workforce or become employed amid the epidemic // CCTV report on the CPPCC standing committee meeting - 全国政协十三届常委会第十二次会议开幕
陈一新：决战决胜扫黑除恶，重点地市一个也不能落下，必须响鼓重锤！-中国长安网 根据去年10月全国扫黑除恶专项斗争第2次推进会要求，去年11月全国扫黑办会同各省（区、市）扫黑办，按照“抓省促市”的工作思路，综合考虑三轮中央督导情况以及“举报线索、打击战果、案件查办、刑事发案、群众安全感”等因素，确定了32个专项斗争进展处于本省（区、市）相对滞后的地市作为重点推进地市。到今年5月，经综合评估，有18个重点地市改变了相对滞后的面貌。这次，根据新的情况，又确定32个重点地市，列为全国扫黑办督办对象，以后每季度动态调整，推动完善“重点地市督办”机制，形成激励后进、奋力赶超、争创一流的良好局面。
Human rights lawyer accuses China of extracting confession by torture - Kyodo News Chinese lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who was jailed for subversion as part of a nationwide crackdown on legal rights activists, has said he was beaten and kicked during interrogations and forced to plead guilty by authorities.
China’s migrant workers spurn cherished ‘hukou’ | Financial Times $$ “The essence of the hukou reform is to make sure migrant workers live comfortably in cities and their children attend good public schools,” said a Beijing-based policy adviser who declined to be named for fear of repercussions. “We have achieved neither of them.”..Analysis by the Financial Times of official data shows fewer than 8m migrant workers received urban hukou each year between 2014 and 2019. To achieve the government target of 100m by the end of 2020, 16.7m would have to register each year.
China Orders Prayer Flags Taken Down in Tibet in an Assault on Culture, Faith - RFA The campaign, described as a program of “behavioral reform,” began in June in Qinghai’s Golog (in Chinese, Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and in Tengchen (Dingqing) county in the Chamdo municipality of the Tibet Autonomous Region, a local source told RFA this week. “Government officials and police have summoned the local people to meetings, ordering them to take part in what they called an environmental cleanup drive and movement of behavioral reform,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Claiming 21st Century Marxism | China Media Project What is the significance of Xi Jinping’s claim to “Marxism for the 21st century”? In and of itself, the claim is not greatly significant. However, this can certainly be seen as another brick in the foundation of the Xi Jinping personality cult. In recent weeks, as the crisis of the Covid-19 epidemic has faded in China, there has been an uptick in aggrandizing discourse about Xi, as CMP noted earlier this month. The finish line in the marathon of discourse generation that has unfolded since Xi was declared the “core” in 2016 would be the final abridging of his banner term as “Xi Jinping Thought,” drawing him even with Mao Zedong. Noting that June 15 was also Xi’s birthday, there was speculation by some that the Study Times commentary might have been a way of “shining Xi Jinping’s shoes with Marx, giving him a ‘subtle’ ‘birthday gift.'” While this is a temptingly humorous reading, grandiose gestures like this most recent one from He Yiting might better be understood as a way of testing the waters. How far can those around the “core” go in shoring up his charismatic power?
掮客徐升 - Matters this is a crazy story about corrupt corruption investigators and the parasites that work with them to victimize and extort..quickly censored 【真理部】《掮客徐升》 | 中国数字时代 【“真理部”是网民对中国共产党中央委员会宣传部和其下属的各省宣传部，以及中共中央网信办，国务院新闻办公室，中央文明办，国家广播电影电视总局，出版总署，文化部等一系列言论出版审查机构的总称。】
Foreign and Defense Affairs
China Votes to Join Global Arms Sales Treaty Scorned by Trump - Bloomberg The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress decided to join the Arms Trade Treaty during a meeting that ended Saturday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. China had initially withheld support from the treaty, which regulates cross-border trade in several categories of conventional arms and prohibits their transfer under certain circumstances. It decided to sign it after Trump announced plans last year to pull the U.S. out.
披着学术外衣的反华“急先锋”——起底澳大利亚战略政策研究所-新华网 Xinhua attacks the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) as "anti-CHina"...quite the campaign underway to attack ASPI, guess their work has struck multiple nerves
'Like when the asteroid is heading for Earth': Why Scott Morrison sounded the cyber alarm - The Sydney Morning Herald Speculation immediately centred on China. The speculation, according to informed sources, is correct. The cyber attack is one of several elements to the Chinese Communist Party's pressure campaign against Australia. The campaign is not new, and neither is the cyber attack. It's been going on for many months.
Chinese company sanctioned by the US hosted by Victorian government - Sydney Morning Herald A company run by Daniel Andrews' former top China advisor, Mike Yang, signed an agreement with voice recognition giant iFlytek in Victorian government offices in May last year as part of its tour of Australia.
China’s Tariffs on Australian Barley: Coercion, Protectionism, or Both? – The Diplomat a new research report argues that these factors are really just triggers for a measure that China wanted to take anyway. In the case of the barley tariffs, the underlying driver is food security. High Australian barley exports over the 2010s became a serious threat to China’s food self-sufficiency and import diversification policies, which it arrested through a dubious anti-dumping case. In other words, the barley tariffs are a classic case of protectionism.
Mission - Pivot to Peace We are concerned Americans from all walks of life who have come together in opposition to the dramatically increasing drive toward confrontation between the United States and China. //quite the list if signatories, including people from United Front organizations as well as Jill Stein and Oliver Stone
The Qiao Collective and Left Diasporic Chinese Nationalism | New Bloom Magazine A NEW GENERATION of “tankies” has emerged, particularly on Twitter and other online spaces. Many are people of the Asian, and particularly Chinese, diaspora in Anglophone contexts. Fundamentally, this diasporic Chinese nationalism offers very little that is new, instead reiterating an old set of ideas that has persisted for decades among tankies—that is, leftists who back authoritarian regimes in the belief that they present an alternative to western capitalist nations.
US China cold war 'bigger global threat than virus' - BBC News The deepening cold war between the US and China will be a bigger worry for the world than coronavirus, according to influential economist Jeffrey Sachs.
Weary Russia Tries to Avoid Entanglement in U.S.-China Spat - WSJ $$ “There is an increasing realization in Russia that getting too close to the Chinese giant can lead to undesirable dependence on Beijing,” said Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank. “The most important thing for Russia is to maintain equilibrium, and not to fall into the struggle between America and China.”
Legal troubles threaten to derail Canadian launch of book about Beijing’s influence operations | The Star In the letter to Optimum, which was shown to the Star, Druces Law says it is acting on behalf of the 48 Group Club, an organization in the U.K. working to build ties and trade between Britain and mainland China. The group’s website has a 2018 story from China’s state-owned Xinhua news about the 48 Group Club’s chairman, Stephen Perry, meeting personally with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a trip to Beijing.
Chinese military improves blood support capability in peacetime and wartime - China Military military health departments also launched the pilot project for rare blood group reserves, established an emergency deployment mechanism for rare blood group inside the military, and strengthened cooperation with civil health units to establish the emergency coordination mechanism, aiming to ensure timely and sufficient blood reserve and supply for combat readiness.
China adopts revised armed police force law - China Military According to the revised law, the armed police force is an important part of the armed forces of the People's Republic of China and under the centralized and unified leadership of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Central Military Commission. The armed police force is tasked to patrol, handle security emergencies, and prevent and handle terrorist activities. They must also conduct maritime law enforcement, and take part in rescue efforts, among others.
China issues regulations on economic responsibility audit of military officials - China Military The regulations will be significant to governing the military with strict discipline in every respect, improving the systems for conducting checks and oversight over the exercise of power, and enhancing the officials' loyalty, integrity and sense of responsibility, according to the office. // 中央军委办公厅印发《军队领导干部经济责任审计规定》--党建-人民网
US would love to see tensions in Asia around Diaoyu Islands: expert - Global Times Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, blasted Japan's audacity at a routine press conference a few hours after the proposal was approved on Monday, saying the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islands are China's inherent territory. Japan's move is a serious provocation against China's sovereignty. "The bill is illegal, invalid and can't change the fact that the Diaoyu Islands belong to China… China has made solemn representations to Japan through diplomatic channels, and reserves the right to further respond," Zhao said, noting China is firmly determined to safeguard its sovereignty.
Xi sends congratulatory letter to extraordinary meeting of China-Arab states political parties dialogue - Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping...on Monday sent a congratulatory letter to the China-Arab States Political Parties Dialogue Extraordinary Meeting, expressing the CPC's readiness to intensify strategic communication with political parties of Arab states. Xi said China and Arab states enjoy an enduring friendship dating back to antiquity. Chinese and Arab peoples, erstwhile close companions along the ancient Silk Road, are working together to advance the Belt and Road cooperation to realize their common aspiration of national prosperity and rejuvenation.
NCP and China’s Communist Party interaction on party operation underway - Khabarhub Khabarhub The video conference of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to share their experiences of party operation has begun. As many as 100 NCP leaders, including its Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Chief of the NCP School Department Ishwor Pokhrel, are participating in the interaction organized by the Department and CPC’s International Liaison Department...On behalf of CPC, the Chief of the International Liaison Department, Song Tao, Deputy Chief Guo Yezhou is participating in the interaction.
Chinese expansion across Pacific faces key test in Kiribati election with island just 1,300m south of Hawaii Polls opened on Monday across the 32 atolls that are dispersed across 1.3 million square miles in the central Pacific, but the results will not be released until Tuesday. A win for President Taneti Maamau, the pro-Beijing incumbent, would be a victory for China, helping it to consolidate its hold over the strategic country, whose Christmas atoll is just 1,300 miles south of Honolulu, home to the US Pacific Command, at a time when it seeks to expand its influence over the Indo-Pacific region.
China releases report on US military presence in Asia-Pacific, warns of increased conflict risk - Global Times To be published by China's National Institute for South China Sea Studies on Tuesday, the report details US security policy, military presence and deployment, recent military activities and security relations in the region. It focuses on the changes brought by the US' return to the Cold War-esque great-power competition to China-US military relations, and evaluates the positive role of China-US military relations in stabilizing bilateral relations in the new era, according to an abstract of the report the institute sent to the Global Times on Sunday. The report notes that since the Trump administration took office in early 2017, it identified "great-power competition," reminiscent of the Cold War, for the first time in a strategy document on national security, and its Indo-Pacific strategy took shape by the end of 2018, which is ultimately aimed at protecting US supremacy in global and regional affairs, covering not only security but also political and economic issues.
How will China handle multiple debt repayment crises? – Panda Paw Dragon Claw Compared with domestic public opinion, which is relatively malleable under the state’s sophisticated control of cyberspace, international public opinion is much more worrying for China. On 7 June, a research team led by Pan Yufeng and Zhang Yan at Peking University’s School of International Studies published an interesting analysis of international narratives of Chinese debt, using data analytical tools provided by Tencent. The analysis acknowledged that debtor countries are making debt relief demands, and highlighted that “a few” of them were linking Belt and Road financing with “debt traps” (Nigeria’s congressional inquiry into Chinese loans was used as an example) and, in the more extreme cases, were legitimizing debt relief by blaming Covid-19 on China (Kenya’s former Vice President Musalia Mudavadi’s comment was used as an example). The authors warned that a coordinated push from African countries for debt cancelation is in the making: “a global consensus on debt relief is forming.”
Countries Can’t Solely Rely on for Help on Debt Relief, Former PBOC Chief Says - Caixin The G-20’s debt relief initiative can “alleviate the difficulties that have been caused and aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, but we also need to recognize that there are a number of reasons for global debt problems, many of which have nothing to do with the pandemic,” Zhou said at the Caixin Summit in Beijing.
DMO discloses facts about Chinese loans to Nigeria, states terms of the loans | Nairametrics The DMO states that the total value of loans taken by Nigeria from China as at March 31, 2020, was $3.121 billion. This represents only about 3.94% of Nigeria’s total public debt of $79.303 as at March 31, 2020. Similarly, in terms of external sources of funds, loans from China accounted for 11.28% of the external debt stock of $27.67 at the same date.
Ishigaki renames area containing Senkaku Islands, prompting backlash fears | The Japan Times The assembly changed the name of the area containing the Senkaku Islands from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku.” It was able to make the change, set to take effect on Oct. 1, as the area falls under Ishigaki’s administrative authority
Mainland urges Taiwan to jointly safeguard national sovereignty, territorial integrity - Xinhua Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in response to a new bill passed by Japan's Ishigaki municipal assembly
Foreign sub, likely Chinese, seen in Japan’s contiguous zone : The Asahi Shimbun Under international law, submarines are required to surface and display their national flag when passing through another nation’s territorial waters. But submarines are allowed to travel submerged when in the contiguous zone. Noting that in this instance the sub came close to Japanese territorial waters, one government source speculated that it might have been “trying to stir things up as another part of China’s maritime advances.”
Hong Kong and Macao
Snowden’s HK Benefactors Continue to Pay the Price - Asia Sentinel Seven years after what can only be described as an act of kindness, the people who helped former CIA contractor Edward Snowden escape through Hong Kong continue to be bedeviled by authorities and remain in a kind of limbo, with two of the seven in Canada stranded by the Covid-19 crisis and the others in Hong Kong, hoping eventually to join them.
Taiwan
观察者网：一周6次！解放军歼-10、轰-6今日进入台湾西南空域 Citing air traffic data, Guancha said the PLA air force has sent jets into Taiwan airspace nine times this month, and six times alone last week.
Tech and Media
Apple’s new Translate app works offline with 11 languages | TechCrunch The app is intended for use with speech or short written sentences, not to translate whole web pages or documents. The interface is simple, with a language selector, text field and record button as well as a few extra widgets like favorites and a dictionary. At launch Translate will support English, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Portuguese and Russian, with others to come.
Apple to Remove IPhone Games Not Approved by China Government - Bloomberg Developers and publishers in China have been told that their iOS games will need licenses to continue operating from July, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision ends the unofficial practice of allowing games to be published while awaiting authorization from the country’s slow-moving regulators.
Society, Arts, Sports, Culture and History
8 young children drown in river in southwestern Chinese city - AP The children, described as elementary-school age, had gone to play at a beach Sunday on the Fu River, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Their bodies were recovered by Monday morning.
Chinese Basketball League Resumes Season After 5-Month Hiatus - SixthTone The league’s 20 teams will play their remaining 78 games without spectators in the coastal cities of Qingdao and Dongguan over a frenetic two-week period. The top 12 teams will qualify for the playoffs, which begin with single, winner-moves-on games. The semifinals and finals will each be decided by best-of-three series.
Book Review: How the Revolution Took Tibet - WSJ Jeffrey Wasserstrom reviews Xiaoyuan Liu’s “To the End of Revolution: The Chinese Communist Party and Tibet, 1949-1959”, Benno Weiner’s “The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier” and Tsering Woeser's “Forbidden Memory: Tibet During the Cultural Revolution”
Energy, Environment, Science and Health
Yicai - China Starts to Install World’s Largest Hydroelectric Turbine The 1,000-megawatt turbine is being set up at the Baihetan Hydropower Station on the Jinsha river in the country’s southwest and may go into operation in July next year, the report said.
China to Reduce Coal Consumption Amid Economic Downturn - SixthTone In an announcement Thursday, the National Development and Reform Commission and five other government agencies said the country will eliminate substandard coal power projects and strictly control added power capacity from local coal burning. The decision is one of several steps Chinese authorities have taken in recent years to reduce coal’s contribution to the country’s energy mix to under 58% by 2020 // the NDRC announcement 【关于做好2020年重点领域化解过剩产能工作的通知(发改运行〔2020〕901号)】-国家发展和改革委员会
China's large solar telescope ready for space weather forecasts - Xinhua The Chinese Large Solar Telescope (CLST), with a 1.8-meter aperture, was developed by the Institute of Optics and Electronics under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It captured the first batch of high-resolution images of the solar atmosphere on Dec. 10, 2019.
Axios Generate - Chart of the day: China's energy rise BP's big annual energy data compendium provides a window onto the remarkable growth of China's footprint in global energy markets. The big picture: "China was by far the biggest individual driver of primary energy growth [in 2019], accounting for more than three quarters of net global growth," the report last week notes.