Politburo meeting; Trump-Xi meeting; Financial stress; North Korea
Apologies for the late newsletter today, the Internet outage here delayed things.
Xi chaired a Politburo meeting Monday. The publicly announced topics discussed were regulations on institutional staffing and Party work in rural governance.
There was no mention in the official Politburo readout of a schedule for the 4th Plenum, so I would not expect one in July. Given the annual Beidaihe shindig in August it will probably not be held that month either. So if there is to be a 4th Plenum this year September is probably the earliest date. If that is the case they would have gone 18 months or so between Plenums. When was the last time the gap was so long?
The upcoming G-20 meeting may be overshadowed by the planned talks between President Trump and General Secretary Xi. There has been strange messaging in recent from the US, on the one hand again delaying a second speech on China by Vice President Pence speech while on the other hand adding five more organizations to the Department of Commerce Entity List. Did the commerce move not require presidential approval and so Trump did not know it was coming?
My guess for the outcome of the Trump-Xi talks is that in the best case the two leaders find a way to spin a new round of talks while putting a delay on Trump’s threat to add tariffs to the remaining $300B+ in imports from China. Perhaps we will be surprised, but the Chinese propaganda seems to have dug them into a position from which real concessions will be extremely hard to give, unless the US President caves quite significantly.
I do not have a good read yet on the real substance of the Xi’s short trip to North Korea, but I have heard from the Chinese side that the trip, although mooted for a while, came together quite quickly for this date just before the G-20 and the Trump-Xi meeting. Sinocism intern Huang Yufan has some interesting observations about the composition of the PRC delegation, I think we should certainly expect the PRC to push up even harder against the limits of the current sanctions regime:
Reminder: I am taking our kids to camp tomorrow so there will be no newsletter Tuesday June 25th or Wednesday June 26th. See you on Thursday.
Thanks for reading.
The Essential Eight
1. Politburo meeting
CPC reviews work rules on staffing of institutions, rural areas - Xinhua
The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee reviewed two sets of regulations on the Party's work related to the staffing of institutions, and rural areas, at a meeting Monday...
It stressed that the work related to the staffing of institutions should keep serving the general cause of the CPC and the country, to provide solid institutional and organizational guarantee for securing the decisive victory in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, fully building a modern socialist China, and realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation...
Enacting the rules on the Party's work related to rural areas is significant for strengthening overall leadership of the Party over rural work, consolidating the foundation of the Party's governance in rural areas, and ensuring the correct political direction of rural work for the new era, according to the meeting.
China issues guideline for enhancing rural governance - Xinhua
By 2020, China aims to develop an institution structure and policy system for modern rural governance, with the primary-level CPC organizations playing a leading role, self-governance by villagers further enhanced, consultation systems about village affairs better established and the level of rural governance raised, according to the document.
By 2035, the country plans to advance rural public services, governance and public security, and perfect the Party-led rural governance model which combines self-governance, rule of law, and rule of virtue.
Official readout of Politburo meeting
2. US-China trade
China says US-China trade teams in contact ahead of G-20 - AP
The sides were seeking to “consolidate the important consensus reached between the two leaders” in a telephone call last week, Wang Shouwen, a Commerce Ministry vice minister, told reporters. Wang gave no details about specific issues under discussion.
Pence puts off China speech ahead of Trump-Xi talks - Reuters
“There is room for progress, and even if incremental, we didnt want to step on that potential,” a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity about why the speech was called off.
Vice-Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen, a top deputy in the negotiation team, laid out China’s position ahead of the talks between the two leaders, suggesting that Beijing should not be the only side to make concessions in efforts to end the year-long trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
“We should meet each other halfway, which means that both sides will need to compromise and make concessions, and not just one side,” Wang said during a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.
People's Daily Zhong Sheng says unilateralism has no future, only by maintaining international justice and morality can the world prosper together
Wuyuehe wrote again on People’s Daily Saturday that the US should respect China’s concerns and only through “equal dialogue” the trade dispute can be resolved. If the US sticks to the trade war, China will see it through.
利者，义之和也。解决国家之间的经贸问题，只能通过平等对话。可以肯定的是，如果美方强行违背民意选择继续打下去，中国将不得不奉陪到底，中国既能扛得住，也能耗得起。选择谈，就要有诚意，关键是要照顾彼此的合理关切，美方加征的关税必须全部取消。互利共赢是人心所向、大势所趋。
People's Daily Online Commentary: China will not make concessions - People's Daily Online
The trade tensions between the two countries are not as simple as they look, and are not even all about trade itself. Data shows that the U.S. benefited handsomely from the bilateral trade, while China profited from it at the cost of human resources and the environment. What is the root cause of today's trade dispute? The reason lies in the fact that the U.S. wants to force China to compromise on issues relating to its core interests. Core interests refer to China's innovation-oriented development, which means achieving its economic growth using hi-tech innovation instead of cheap labor and without sacrificing environmental resources...
lying behind the trade feud is America's intention to stifle China's development. The U.S. wants to be a permanent leader in the world, and there is no way for China to avoid the "storm" through compromise.
A fly-on-the-wall account of what China tells American bigwigs - Chaguan - The Economist $$
Chinese policy types obsess over the idea that Team Trump is not engaged in a sincere negotiation, but is seeking to contain a rising China. They complain about shifting American demands. At first China was told that the problem was the trade balance, and offered to buy American goods. Then economic rules and norms were called the crux of the dispute. So China prepared to negotiate, drawing up a 150-page draft agreement. Then, as the Chinese side tells it, Mr Xi realised that America’s plan amounted to an assault on Chinese sovereignty, rejected it and has since been cheered within his own system for his stand. There is muttering, in contrast, about Mr Xi’s chief economic aide and trade envoy, Liu He. Mr Liu, a deputy prime minister, is accused of lacking political sense.
Poll: Voters fear Trump China tariffs would hurt their states' economy - USA Today
Close to half of those surveyed in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, 47 percent, predicted that ratcheting up tariffs on Chinese goods would harm the economy in their state; just 19 percent said it would help.
China, US have more in common than what divides them: Neil Bush - People's Daily Online
Some US politician is putting trade barriers on as a political weapon to bully countries into doing what he is demanding, said Neil Bush, son of former United States president George H.W. Bush.
The US and China have so much in common than what divides the two countries, Bush, who is Founder and Chairman of George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China relations, said in an interview with People’s Daily.
Commentary: Throwing mud at China will not resolve trade problems - Xinhua
In an interview with Fox Business, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro once again brought up unjustified blame on China for "forcing technology transfers" and "hacking our computers."
Navarro also said "the theft of intellectual property and trade secrets" is the central reason the United States has taken an aggressive stance against the trade imbalance with China.
It is not a new trick for some U.S. officials to defame China with groundless accusations. By sticking to a zero-sum mentality, they overlook China's great achievements in strengthening intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.
3. Technology
U.S. Targets China’s Supercomputing Push With New Export Restrictions - WSJ $$
U.S. national security officials have long raised concerns in particular about a 2016 deal between AMD and Sugon to create a pair of joint ventures in China to produce chips licensing the U.S. firm’s x86 technology—one of its and Intel’s crown jewels...
The Commerce rule also adds another alias for National University of Defense Technology to the entity list: Hunan Guofang Kei University. NUDT was added to the entity list back in February 2015...Since then, NUDT has procured items under the alias, the department found...
The Trump administration is also seeking to block Chinese access to U.S. technology by restricting the number of licenses granted for Chinese nationals to work on advanced engineering projects in the U.S.
U.S. Blacklists More Chinese Tech Companies Over National Security Concerns - The New York Times
The entities are one of China’s leading supercomputer makers, Sugon; three subsidiaries set up to design microchips, Higon, Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit and Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology; and the Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology. They lead China’s development of high-performance computing, some of which is used in military applications like simulating nuclear explosions, the Commerce Department said.
China Defiant in Face of Latest U.S. High-Tech Blacklistings - Caixin
The action prompted Sugon’s listed entity, Dawning Information Industry Co. Ltd., to announce a suspension of trading of its shares on the Shanghai stock exchange on Monday, citing the U.S. action. It added the suspension would continue through July 1 at the latest.
Meantime, CGTN, the English-language channel of national state-owned broadcaster CCTV, said the Commerce Department’s latest move could be a strategic one to give the U.S. “new leverage” ahead of a planned meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping
刘鹤调研中科院：加强核心技术攻关，加强与发达国家科技合作_中国政库_澎湃新闻-The Paper
Liu He visited Chinese Academy of Science, urged for innovation to strengthen efforts to take control of key technolgies, called for more science and technology cooperation with developed countries
The top economic aide to China’s President Xi Jinping has told researchers at the country’s leading scientific institution to keep a “low profile” and stay down to earth.
The comments by Vice-Premier Liu He were published on the website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Monday but Friday’s visit was not reported in state media.
CAS statement: 刘鹤副总理在中科院调研指导工作:
刘鹤强调，科技领域要全面加强党的领导，树牢“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、坚决做到“两个维护”，认真开展“不忘初心、牢记使命”主题教育，深刻理解初心、积极践行使命。同时，要把扎实开展主题教育和扎实做好科学研究紧密结合起来，反对形式主义、官僚主义，发扬优良传统和科学精神，坚持问题导向，倡导扎实、专注、低调的工作作风，努力产出标志性成果，取得关键领域技术突破。
Fears of 'digital iron curtain' spread as US and China dig in - Nikkei Asian Review
Paul Triolo, head of geotechnology research at U.S.-based research firm Eurasia Group, is skeptical about China's ability to achieve technological independence. China, he says, "will remain heavily dependent on U.S., Japanese, and European suppliers, and on Taiwan for the fabrication of cutting-edge chips," he said.
The belief in Beijing that the U.S. is lowering a "digital iron curtain" between the two countries is prompting an even more intense focus on becoming self-sufficient, Triolo notes. But he says it is "simply not possible for China to completely disengage" from global supply chains.
Comment: Don't forget, China decoupled its Internet over a decade ago, by its own choice
U.S. Considers Requiring 5G Equipment for Domestic Use Be Made Outside China - WSJ $$
A White House executive order last month to restrict some foreign-made networking gear and services due to cybersecurity concerns started a 150-day review of the U.S. telecommunications supply chain. As part of that review, U.S. officials are asking telecom-equipment manufacturers whether they can make and develop U.S.-bound hardware, which includes cellular-tower electronics as well as routers and switches, and software outside of China, the people said.
4. Xinjiang
A newly prepared sanctions package has gained working-level consensus across several departments, but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is said to have held up the action due to concern that it could disrupt trade negotiations, which have resumed in advance of the meeting next week between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Japan at the G20 conference...
“The sanctions are ready,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They’re ready to go.”
That account was confirmed by people recently briefed by the government, including Omer Kanat of the Uygur Human Rights Project.
US to Religious Freedom Violators: 'You Will Be Held to Account' | Voice of America - English
The State Department added a special section on what American officials said are the “staggering scope of religious freedom abuses in Xinjiang” to this year’s report on China.
“In Xinjiang province in particular, the mass detainment of more than 1 million Chinese Muslims is an outright atrocity,” Pompeo said.
U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said he “fully supports” placing sanctions on Chinese video surveillance companies using security cameras and facial recognition systems against Uighurs — Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
5. G-20
China says will not allow Hong Kong issue to be discussed at G20 summit - Reuters
China’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Jun said on Monday that China will not allow the Group of 20 nations to discuss the Hong Kong issue at its summit this week...
“What I can tell you for sure is that G20 will not discuss the Hong Kong issue. We will not allow G20 to discuss the Hong Kong issue,” Zhang said, when asked whether Trump and Xi would discuss Hong Kong at the G20.
China to uphold multilateralism, oppose protectionism at G20 Osaka summit - Xinhua
"It shows that China attaches great importance to G20 cooperation and global economic governance," Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Jun told a press briefing.
During the Osaka summit, President Xi will participate in discussions on topics ranging from world economy and trade, the digital economy, inclusive and sustainable growth, infrastructure, climate, energy to environment, elaborating on China's standpoint toward world economic situation and offering solutions for the current problems, according to Zhang...
Echoing Zhang, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen told the press briefing that China is expecting the upcoming summit to further build up consensus on supporting the multilateral trading system as well as opposing unilateralism and protectionism...
6. Financial stress
Not like June 2013, but still ugly
China overnight repo rate falls to 4-year low as PBOC tries to calm funding jitters - Reuters
“The fact is that the central bank has kept pouring liquidity, but the transmission is not functioning well,” said a trader at a medium-sized Chinese bank, adding the recent generous cash injections by the central bank should not be interpreted as a sign of a change in its monetary policy stance.
Late June usually sees strong demand for cash in China as financial institutions have to shore up their balance sheets to meet half-year end regulatory requirements.
In Depth: How Baoshang Takeover Shook Secretive Corner of Bond Market - Caixin
The falling dominoes of the Baoshang takeover are now hitting the most secretive corner of China’s bond market ― the market for so-called structured bonds. Analysts said nonbanks that are distanced by lenders are those that have most often used structured bonds as loan collateral...
Structured bond issuance is known as a creative way for some Chinese companies to secure funding they couldn’t otherwise obtain based on their credit ratings. Under this practice, bond issuers buy a portion of their own offerings to inflate issuance sizes and create a better image to attract investors. Structured bond issues aren’t technically illegal, though some top regulators this month voiced misgivings...
It is difficult for banks to distinguish which bonds are structured or involve unqualified issuers that may lead to toxic loans, so they just tighten controls altogether, said a fixed-income manager at First Capital Securities. The total amount of toxic assets may not be large, but the contagion effects are terrible, the manager said, citing the 2008 sub-prime crisis as example...
It is difficult for banks to distinguish which bonds are structured or involve unqualified issuers that may lead to toxic loans, so they just tighten controls altogether, said a fixed-income manager at First Capital Securities. The total amount of toxic assets may not be large, but the contagion effects are terrible, the manager said, citing the 2008 sub-prime crisis as example.
Bank of Beijing to Cover $360 Million Debt of Citic Guoan - Caixin
Amid rising concerns from the market and creditors, Citic Guoan has asked its former parent Citic Group for help, Caixin has learned. Citic Group reported Citic Guoan’s debt situation to the Ministry of Finance before the Lunar New Year holiday and has created a team to help negotiate a restructuring plan. Details of the plan, however, have not been disclosed.
7. PRC head for UN Food and Agriculture Organization
China's Qu elected new head of UN food agency FAO - Xinhua:
Qu Dongyu, China's vice minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was elected as new Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome on Sunday.
Qu, 56, was chosen during the ongoing 41st FAO Conference, the highest governing body of the Rome-based agency.
The Chinese candidate received a large majority of 108 votes, winning over French Catherine Geslain-Laneelle, who received 71 votes, and Georgian Davit Kirvalidze, who got 12 votes.
Qu Dongyu becomes first Chinese national to head UN food and agriculture agency | AFP
Chinese nationals also run the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the UN Industrial Development Organisation and the International Telecommunication Union, as well as leading the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs..
Qu has 30 years experience, from developing digital technologies in agriculture, to introducing microcredit in rural areas.
China’s Qu Dongyu beats EU candidate for FAO leadership – EURACTIV.com
He becomes the first Chinese national and the first person from a Communist country to hold the FAO director-general’s chair.
“I’m very grateful to my motherland. Without 40 years of successful reforms and open-door policy I would not have been where I am,” he said in his first speech...
According to a diplomatic source quoted by French newspaper Le Monde, there was “intense Chinese pressure” on other FAO ambassadors to get Qu elected. African candidate, Médi Moungui from Cameroon, abandoned the race after receiving a bribe of €62 million, the source claimed...
The diplomatic source quoted by Le Monde also said that China did not hesitate to exert economic and political influence over South American countries, threatening to block agricultural exports from Brazil and Uruguay if they did not vote for Qu.
Comment: Nasty allegations...legit? Is he not qualified?
8. Migrant worker’s stories
The Picun Writers Group first started its community writing classes on September 21, 2014. Every week, volunteer teachers and fellow workers would discuss how to use writing to record and reflect on their lives. The workers gradually started to write and let their voices be heard. Nowadays their works have been successively published in a variety of nonfiction venues, and rising numbers of readers are paying attention to them and the communities they represent. This post is the first of two (the second will follow next Friday) that will bring some of their writings into English for the first time.
Comment: Fascinating reading, happy Sinocism could help sponsor another translation of an excellent story, so important to surface more Chinese voices in English
Business, Economy and Trade
China central bank says lending small firms jumps 21 percent in January-May - Reuters The number of outstanding loans to small and micro enterprises rose to 10.3 trillion yuan ($1.50 trillion) at the end of May, up by 21% year on year, said Zou Lan, deputy head of the People’s Bank of China’s financial markets department.
China Meat Imports Hit Record as Pork Prices Jump on Swine Fever - Bloomberg China bought 556,276 tones of meat and offal in May, up about 45% from a year earlier, according to official customs data published on Sunday. That brings total imports in the first five months to 2.2 million metric tons, a 23% increase from last year.
Carrefour sale shifts the balance of power in China’s new retail battle | TechCrunch Carrefour, which is Europe’s largest retailer, sold a majority 80% stake in its China-based business to Chinese retailer Suning, according to an announcement made this weekend. The deal is worth €620 million — that’s RMB 4.8 billion or $705 million — and it is set to close by the end of this year..Suning has had close links to Alibaba. The e-commerce giant owns a 20% stake in Suning courtesy of a $4.6 billion investment in 2015 and Suning, in turn, invested 14 billion yuan ($2 billion) in Alibaba — a deal that kickstarted Alibaba’s ‘new retail’ strategy..
Sneaker Fever in China: Domestic and American Resellers Want to Share a Piece of Cake- PingWest Sneaker Con, known as "the greatest sneaker trading and reselling trunk show on Earth," was held in Shanghai on May 18-19, for which tickets sold out in minutes. Alan Vinogradov, co-founder and CEO of Sneaker Con, said it will be the biggest show they've ever produced, and China is going to continue to have a greater influence in the sneaker market.
Urbanization rate to reach 70% by 2035: Study - China Daily according to a report published by the National Academy of Economic Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
New appointments to PBOC monetary policy committee - Gov.cn Zou Jiayi was appointed as a new member of the monetary policy committee. Liu Wei, chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund, will leave the committee. // Comment: Before her appointment as a vice minister of finance in 2018 Zou was a member of the standing committee of the CCDI and a deputy director of the Ministry of Supervision
China asks FedEx to offer proper explanation on Huawei - CGTN The FedEx Corp. should offer a proper explanation on Chinese telecom giant Huawei and it should take responsibilities for its own actions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told reporters at a daily news briefing on Monday. The remarks came after an American computer magazine said FedEx refused to ship a Huawei Technologies phone from Britain to the United States.
China Bananas Imports Surge to Record - Bloomberg Imports of bananas surged to a record 227,199 tons in May, according to China’s general administration of customs. That helped lift total shipments of fruits and nuts to 720,000 tons, an almost 8-fold increase from the same period last year. Restrained by limited farmland and a destructive banana fungus known as the Panama disease, China has been increasing its reliance on supplies from Southeast Asia and South America
China Mengniu Dairy, Coca-Cola sign Olympic deal to 2032 - Reuters While some reports put a $3 billion price tag on the agreement, there were no financial details available and both Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey and Mengniu Chief Executive Jeffrey Lu refused to comment on the size of the deal.
Politics and Law
China moves to suspend some history tests for U.S. college credit by 2020 - Reuters The suspension of Advanced Placement (AP) tests will hit secondary school students looking to ease the academic workload at U.S. universities by earning credit for some college courses, enabling them to graduate faster...The tests affected are in U.S. History, World History, European History and Human Geography, said the International Exchange and Cooperation Centre in Educational Measurement (IECC), a Chinese body authorised to administer the exams. // Too much historical nihilism in the AP exams?
中石油系统年内已10人被查，或涉新疆独山子、长庆油田旧案_能见度_澎湃新闻-The Paper The Paper reported that at least 10 former or current officials at China National Petroleum Corporation have been put under investigation for corruption since beginning of this year, may be related to old cases in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia
Family of Jailed Chinese Rights Lawyer Promised Visit After Long Delays - RFA The wife of jailed human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang says she has been informed that he will be allowed a visit from relatives on Friday. Li Wenzu has repeatedly demanded a meeting with authorities at the Linyi Prison in the eastern province of Shandong, and has been regularly shouting her husband's name from outside the prison walls since being told all visits were canceled due to the remodeling of the visitor facility.
中央“不忘初心、牢记使命”主题教育领导小组印发《关于抓好第一批主题教育学习教育、调查研究、检视问题、整改落实工作的通知》————头条——中央纪委国家监委网站 The staying true to our founding mission" campaign leading group issues Notice on learning education, investigation and research, inspection of problems, and implementation of rectification about the first batch of theme education
Body Buried in School Soccer Field Leads to Arrests - Sixth Tone Police have detained a former secondary school principal along with more than 10 others in central China’s Hunan province after investigators discovered a body buried in the school’s soccer field, The Beijing News reported Thursday...According to a police statement published that evening, the remains may be those of a former administrator at the school, surnamed Deng, who disappeared in 2003.
Foreign and Defense Affairs
China, DPRK join hands for brighter future of ties - People's Daily Online The DPRK welcomed Xi with an unprecedented level of reception courtesy. Xi was the first foreign leader in more than 50 years to publish a signed article on the DPRK’s official newspaper Rodong Sinmun. He was also the first foreign leader being welcomed at the square of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang.
Chinese ex-official Qiao Jianjun arrested again in Sweden – this time at request of US | South China Morning Post One of China’s most wanted fugitives has been arrested at the behest of US authorities, days after he was released following a Chinese extradition hearing in Sweden’s Supreme Court. Qiao Jianjun, whom Beijing accuses of embezzling millions of dollars, was arrested again on Sunday and remained in police custody near Stockholm. The arrest stemmed from a number of charges, including money laundering, mounted by the US Department of Justice in 2015,
Chinese VP meets heads of African delegations to coordinate cooperation - Xinhua Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan Monday morning held a group meeting with the heads of African delegations attending the Coordinators' Meeting on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The meeting, which is held in Beijing from Monday to Tuesday, gathers over 80 African ministerial-level officials.
Speculation rife about DF-17 after video shows hypersonic vehicle - Global Times The animated video, released by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) on its social media platform Douyin account, shows the launch of multiple boost-glide vehicles, which reenter the atmosphere and hit an underground command center. This is the first time the company has shown a simulated animation on a boost-glide vehicle, Passion News, a media outlet under k618.cn, a news portal run by the Communist Youth League of China Central Committee, reported on Sunday.
CMC revises supplementary provisions to implement regulations of CPC on disciplinary action - Xinhua The 30 provisions focus on enhancing political and organizational discipline. They also aim to promote stricter discipline in military work and life. The supplementary provisions reflect characteristics of the army, tighten political discipline and rules of the Party, and regulate responsibility fulfillment and self-discipline of Party officials. 中央军委印发新修订的《军队贯彻执行〈中国共产党纪律处分条例〉的补充规定》
Jeffrey Bader: Part One - U.S.-China Dialogue Podcast He shares key insights into the inner workings both of the U.S. government and the Chinese Communist Party on everything from security issues, sanctions, Tibet and Xinjiang, and market access to arms sales and the media. Bader offers a piece of advice for U.S. officials on drafting joint statements: "Don't get lazy."
Sinica Podcast: A voice of reason within the Beltway: Ryan Hass vs. the so-called bipartisan consensus on Apple Podcasts Ryan Hass, who served as the Director for China on the National Security Council during President Barack Obama's second term, is alarmed at the direction that the U.S. policy toward China has been taking, and offers good sense on what we could be doing instead. While clear-eyed about Beijing, he warns that the path Washington is now on will lead to some dire outcomes. Ryan joins Kaiser in a show taped at the Brookings Institution, where Ryan now serves as a Rubenstein fellow with the John L. Thornton China Cente
China No Match For Japan in Southeast Asia Infrastructure Race - Bloomberg Japanese-backed projects in the region’s six biggest economies -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam -- are valued at $367 billion, the figures show. China’s tally is $255 billion...The figures underline both the rampant need for infrastructure development in Southeast Asia, as well as Japan’s dominance over China...Vietnam is by far the biggest focus for Japan’s infrastructure involvement, with pending projects worth $209 billion -- more than half of Japan’s total
Derek Scissors Testimony: The Belt and Road is overhyped, commercially Perhaps the most important mistake is that the BRI represents a growing Chinese footprint globally. It did in 2016, not now. More countries are joining the BRI in name but the extent of activity is shrinking. Moreover, inadequate foreign currency reserves means Beijing will be hard pressed to keep the BRI afloat as a global commercial effort. It is therefore likely to devolve toward a talk shop with substantial resources assigned only to a small set of priority countries.
Hong Kong and Macao
Hong Kong Police, Once Called ‘Asia’s Finest,’ Are Now a Focus of Anger - The New York Times “Dirty cops are becoming like dogs,” read a large banner that protesters unfurled in front of the police headquarters on Friday. “They’re learning to be the People’s Liberation Army,” it continued, referring to the military that serves China’s governing Communist Party.
Over 100 Hong Kong anti-extradition law protesters occupy Revenue Tower foyer | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP Over 100 anti-extradition law protesters occupied the foyer of the Revenue Tower in Wan Chai on Monday, in a fresh act of civil disobedience to hinder the government’s operations.
Taiwan
Solomon Islands Plans Due Diligence Tour on Taiwan Ties - Reuters The Solomon Islands, one of Taiwan's remaining allies in the Pacific, will send a delegation to study Chinese aid in neighboring countries as it considers a potential diplomatic switch to Beijing, the delegation leader said on Monday. The Solomons has recognized Taiwan since 1983 and would be a prized chip should it swap diplomatic ties as China seeks to expand its influence and presence in the Pacific.
Protesters gather in Taipei, asking 'red media' to leave Taiwan | CNA Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Taipei in heavy rain Sunday, calling for the departure from Taiwan of "red media" outlets, which are perceived to be influenced by China. The main organizers, YouTube celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢) and New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), said the protest was not just against the "red media" in Taiwan, but also in opposition to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) authoritarian rule in China.
Red Infiltration: The Reality of China's Global Media Expansion (Part 1) - Ketagalan Media Dr. Flora Chang, a professor with National Taiwan University’s Media Research Center, has summarized this as the “China Factor” in Taiwanese media. She observes that “Chinese control is exercised by companies with close ties to the CCP that are technically private enterprises, which can invest in media companies through legal channels.” Legal as they may be, Dr. Tai Yu-hui of Taiwan’s National Chiao Tong University discovered that these Chinese private investors were in fact acting under the direction of the CCP, which also provided the necessary funds through state-owned banks.
Tech and Media
Huawei Goes on Offensive in Ongoing Clash With Washington - Caixin The latest Huawei lawsuit, which is unrelated to the blacklisting, involves equipment that was sent by the company to the U.S. in 2017. According to the lawsuit filed on Friday in Washington D.C., Huawei sent the unspecified equipment from its China headquarters to the U.S. for testing in an independent lab around July 2017. After the tests were complete, Huawei’s U.S. subsidiary sent the equipment from San Francisco back to the company’s headquarters in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. But the equipment was seized by an export arm of the Commerce Department for potentially violating U.S. technology export laws
Women in tech: How Esther Wong rose from IT support in America to senior management at China’s AI champion SenseTime | South China Morning Post Shanghai-born Wong graduated with an associate’s degree in hospitality administration and management from the Swiss-based Glion Institute of Higher Education in 1996. She then studied at Stony Brook University in New York, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree with a double major in economics and political science and minor in physics in 1998
“2019北京网络媒体红色故土福建行”探访上杭：重温红色记忆 传承革命精神 -东南网-福建官方新闻门户 Beijing cyber administration brought a group of CEOs from tech companies on a trip to Fujian to study CCP history and ideology
Baidu Offers More News Search Options After Journalist Accuses It of Bias - Caixin Global Users looking for news articles on China’s biggest search engine can now choose to block Baidu’s own news aggregation service from their search results, after critics blasted the company for prioritizing its own content.
Society, Arts, Sports, Culture and History
From a Tibetan Filmmaker, an Unvarnished View of His Land - The New York Times Mr. Tseden, 49, is thought to be the first Tibetan filmmaker working in China to shoot a film entirely in the Tibetan language and the first Tibetan director to graduate from the prestigious Beijing Film Academy. He is an example of an increasingly rare type in China: an art-house director who has managed to work within the censorship-heavy system while still producing films and stories that resonate with audiences far beyond the system’s confines.
The Yico Zeng Controversy: Chinese Singer Falls from Grace after Beijing Airport Misconduct | What's on Weibo Chinese singer Yico Zeng seems to have fallen out of favor with Chinese netizens after refusing to comply with Beijing airport security rules and exposing the personal details of an officer on her Weibo account.
Energy, Environment, Science and Health
Buenos Aires Times | China eyes Argentina in global nuclear roll-out Four years after formally agreeing to its construction, Argentina is moving forward with the Atucha III plant that will likely become operational in 2021. In April, President Mauricio Macri’s administration signed a letter of intent with China’s National Energy Administration. The contract, which is expected to be signed in the coming weeks, will include a US$10 billion loan from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which will cover 85% of the plant’s construction costs.