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SCHWEIZER
BOTSCHAFT IN BEIJING
EMBASSY OF SWITZERLAND IN BEIJING
AMBASSADE DE SUISSE EN CHINE |
Der wöchentliche
Presserückblick der Schweizer Botschaft in der VR China
The Weekly Press Review of the Swiss Embassy in the People's Republic
of China
La revue de presse hebdomadaire de l'Ambassade de Suisse en RP
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DPRK
Mongolia
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| Foreign Policy |
China-US trade deal coming soon, Huawei's Meng to be released in weeks, Communist Party insider predicts (SCMP)
2019-02-21
Tensions between China and the United States will ease in the next few months as the two sides reach consensus on a series of trade issues, while Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou could be released as early as April, according to a senior adviser to the Communist Party. But even if those things come to pass, relations between the two countries will never be the same again, he said. Speaking at the South China Morning Post's annual China Conference, which looks at China's opening up over the past 40 years and what lies ahead for the next 40, Xie Maosong, assistant to the secretary general of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, said he expected Beijing and Washington to hold further talks within the next three months based on agreements reached in Washington this week. As well as his role at the institute, which serves as a high-level think tank made up of former officials, diplomats, military generals and businesspeople, Xie is an adjunct professor at the Central Party School, which trains senior party cadres. On the subject of Meng, Xie told more than 350 government and business leaders in Hong Kong that he was optimistic she would be released in the coming weeks. "My personal assessment is that there should be some sort of deal in March and Meng Wanzhou will likely be released in April or May," he said. Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Xie said that he was confident of such a result because of the countermeasures China had taken – specifically the detention of two Canadian citizens accused of endangering state security – to put pressure on Canada. The 46-year-old daughter of Huawei's founder was detained on December 1 in Canada at the request of the US and is on bail in Vancouver. In January, US law enforcement officials announced 23 criminal charges against Huawei and Meng – including money laundering, fraud, conspiracy and intellectual property theft. Xie's comments came as China's Vice-Premier Liu He arrived in the United States for top-level trade talks on Thursday and Friday with a team led by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Liu, a special envoy to Chinese President Xi Jinping, will be discussing a possible memorandum of understanding to suspend the trade war between the two countries. Xie said he was confident the two sides would be able to resolve some of their differences but that it would not be all plain sailing. "The US won't remove all of its tariffs as it wants to leave some room for negotiation," he said. "There is likely to be another round of talks, and by June most of the tariffs on the US$250 billion worth of Chinese products will be lifted." Xie said that while China was willing to make concessions on trade – because of its huge trade surplus – it would be less flexible on structural changes. "That is China's bottom line," he said. "The US will get some benefits in trade terms, but it will have to concede on the issue of economic structure." He said it was also important for China to "gain buffer time" for its economic growth. US President Donald Trump was also likely to want to reach a deal by June to aid his re-election campaign later in the year, Xie said. "Trump will say that it was because of him that the China-US trade problems were resolved." Xie said he also expected the US economy to enter a recession cycle this year after a decade of high growth and that the stock market rout late last year was a precursor to the downturn. While its trade war with the US had exposed many problems in China, it also provided the impetus for deeper reforms over the next 10 or 20 years, he said. It also meant the relationship between the two countries had been irrevocably altered, he said. Long-term competition was inevitable and cooperation would be limited, especially if the US was unwilling to relinquish some of its global dominance. "China's rise is a nightmare for the US," Xie said. "It's a nightmare not because China will become an unpredictable or uncertain factor as the US has claimed, but because the US will lose the hegemony it has enjoyed unreasonably in many areas. "That is why it's difficult to be optimistic about China-US relations. "If the US wants to maintain the superpower status [it has enjoyed] since the second world war, there will be no win-win between the US and any other country." China-US relations had "been transformed" and "the US would use many ways to contain China", he said. Despite the scale of its conflict with the US, Beijing's primary concern is more local, Xie said. "If China can't achieve high economic growth over the next 10 years it will face many problems, so it can't let that happen." That is why the next 15-20 years will be very important, he said. "China won't be in direct competition with the US, but it also won't back down. It will find a middle path," he said. ^ top ^
Upcoming Belt and Road Forum to further promote Philippines-China relations: Duterte (Xinhua)
2019-02-21
The upcoming second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will further promote the development of bilateral relations between the Philippines and China, said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. During a meeting with Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua on Wednesday night, Duterte said he was satisfied with the current development of the relationship between the two countries. Duterte also expressed his great pleasure to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and he also looked forward to meeting with Chinese leaders again. Zhao said the Chinese government attaches great importance to Duterte's presence at the forum, adding that his attendance will help enhance the Belt and Road cooperation and boost the development of bilateral relations. The second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation is going to be held in April in Beijing. Duterte attended the first forum that was held in Beijing in May 2017. ^ top ^
China, Laos to promote cooperation on economic corridor, other projects (Xinhua)
2019-02-21
A Chinese high-ranking delegation visited Laos from Monday to Thursday to promote bilateral cooperation on the China-Laos Economic Corridor. Ning Jizhe, deputy head of China's National Development and Reform Commission, led the delegation The visit was aimed at implementing bilateral consensus on building the China-Laos Economic Corridor, steadily pushing forward China-Laos productivity capacity cooperation as well as the construction of the China-Laos railway. During his visit, Ning called on Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Deputy Prime Minister Somdy Douangdy, and held meetings with Minister of Planning and Investment Souphanh Keomixay and other officials of the China-Laos Economic Corridor working group members including the Lao Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and National Economic Research Institute. Ning Jizhe also met Minister of Industry and Commerce and Chairperson of Laos-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Committee Khemmani Pholsena and Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport Santisouk Simmalavong. The Chinese delegation, during the visit, went to the China-Laos railway project construction sites and Vientiane-Vangvieng expressway project headquarters to conduct a field research. ^ top ^
Saudi Aramco to sign China refinery deal during Mohammed bin Salman's visit, sources say (SCMP)
2019-02-21
Saudi Aramco plans to sign preliminary deals to invest in two oil refining and petrochemical complexes in China during Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's state visit to Beijing this week, according to sources familiar with the plans. The world's top oil exporter would sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build a refinery and petrochemical project in the northeast province of Liaoning in partnership with China's defence conglomerate Norinco, said three sources with knowledge of the matter. Aramco was also expected to formalise an earlier plan to take a minority stake in Zhejiang Petrochemical, controlled by private Chinese chemical group Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group, said two sources with knowledge of the deal. Zhejiang Petrochemical is building a refinery and petrochemical complex in the east China province of Zhejiang. The investments could help Saudi Arabia regain its place as the top oil exporter to China, which it has relinquished to Russia for the past three years. Saudi Aramco is poised to bolster its market share by signing supply agreements with non-state Chinese refiners. It is not clear what new details will be in the MOU, as the two companies first announced an alliance in May 2017 during Saudi ruler King Salman's visit to Beijing. Under that agreement, the firms agreed to build a refinery capable of processing 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and a facility that would make 1 million tonnes per year of ethylene, a building block for petrochemicals, at an estimated cost of more than US$10 billion. A senior Aramco executive said in June he expected the front-end engineering for the Norinco project to be finished by the middle of this year, after which the company would take a final investment decision. Norinco public affairs officials were not immediately available for a comment. Aramco officials did not reply to a request for comment. Meanwhile, the Zhejiang agreement would give Saudi Aramco control of the 9 per cent stake in the project held by the Zhejiang provincial government. The agreement follows an earlier MOU that Aramco signed in October to invest in Zhejiang's project, which is planned as a refinery to process 400,000 bpd of crude and associated petrochemical facilities in the city of Zhoushan, south of Shanghai. Zhoushan Ocean Development and Investment, which holds the 9 per cent stake in Zhejiang Petrochemical for the provincial government, was not immediately available for comment. The Saudi delegation, including top executives from Aramco, arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a two-day visit, part of the crown prince's Asia tour, during which the kingdom has pledged US$20 billion of investment in Pakistan and sought additional investment in India's refining industry. The crown prince arrived in China on Thursday morning on the latest stop of a sweep through Asia that aims to expand the kingdom's influence on the continent, following earlier visits to India and Pakistan. He is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials on Friday, highlighting Saudi Arabia's importance as one of China's top oil suppliers and a market for its exports, including military drones. His visit to Beijing also follows one earlier this week by a high-powered delegation from Saudi Arabia's chief strategic rival Iran. At a meeting on Wednesday, Xi told Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani that "China's resolve to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran will remain unchanged", regardless of the evolving international situation, Xinhua reported. ^ top ^
China-Australia relations 'will not be helped' by foreign influence register (SCMP)
2019-02-21
Australia's new foreign influence register – which comes into force on March 1 – will have a negative effect on its relations with China, analysts have said, after a former Australian trade minister walked away from his Chinese consultancy role a week before the deadline. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday that Andrew Robb – architect of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement – had left his consultancy position with the Shandong-based Landbridge Group, citing a growing toxicity between the Chinese and Australian governments. "I had been commissioned by Landbridge for well over a year to prepare a comprehensive report on ways that Australia's world-class health industry could assist with a major improvement of China's public health system," Robb said in a written response to questions from the newspaper. "Just before Landbridge had an opportunity to formally present my report to Chinese authorities, they were advised not to bother because the relationship between the Australian and Chinese governments 'had become so toxic' that the report would be binned." How the rise of China's middle class migrants is challenging Australian fears Landbridge won the bidding to operate the Port of Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory in 2015 on a 99-year lease worth A$506 million (US$360 million). Robb's announcement followed hard on the heels of a number of other Australian former political leaders who have also stepped away from their associations with companies that have close ties to China. John Brumby, a former premier of the state of Victoria, retired from the board of the local arm of China's Huawei Technologies on February 1, according to Reuters. The Chinese telecommunications equipment provider was excluded from building Australia's 5G infrastructure in September after Canberra laid out new rules. Australian Associated Press reported that former foreign minister Bob Carr recently left the Australia-China Relations Institute, a think tank set up by Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo. Treatment of Huang Xiangmo by Australia will make Chinese more cautious The Chinese tycoon donated millions to Australia's two main political parties and was photographed with key figures, including former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten. But last month – at the centre of political interference concerns – Huang was banned from re-entering the country. His permanent residency visa was revoked and his citizenship bid rejected. Concerns over covert foreign interference in its politics prompted Australia to introduce the new Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme, which requires lobbyists working for foreign governments to register and makes them liable for criminal prosecution if they are deemed to be meddling in domestic affairs. Xu Liping, an expert at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Robb's departure would have a negative impact on China-Australia relations. "Former Australian officials who participate in think tanks after retirement can help speak for China, and reduce the Australian government's misjudgment of China," Xu said, adding that it would not be in Australia's interest to sever ties with China, because China was Australia's main export market. "Australia needs to understand that many of Australia's exports to China are commodities, and there are many alternatives." Li Mingjiang, an associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said people who had been lobbying or working for Chinese interests in Australia might feel comparatively more cautious in the short-run. "The law may produce constraints on lobbying activities, and even on Australian politicians' interactions with China and Chinese entities," he said. "Decisionmakers in Beijing may feel that this is something unfriendly to China, and I think they will understand that this is partly a result of the narrative and discourse in Australia about political influence and China's political lobbying activity." But he added that concern over the new rules would diminish as people became familiar with what was within the law and what was beyond it. In his statement to The Sydney Morning Herald, Robb did not rule out a return to his role with Landbridge in the future, describing the situation as "reviewable". ^ top ^
Delayed dam project awaits resolution in Myanmar (Global Times)
2019-02-21
Though Myanmar officials have expressed their appreciation for the benefits of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese analysts noted that more practical outcomes should be delivered apart from optimistic plans, as some BRI projects still face uncertainty in the Southeast Asian country. A positive momentum to further promote the implementation of the China-proposed initiative in Myanmar has been seen recently, analysts said. During a visit to the China-Myanmar border in Southwest China's Yunnan Province from Saturday to Monday, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that the stability of border areas is directly related to joint efforts to promote cooperation under the initiative. Also on Monday, Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi said BRI could bring opportunities to Myanmar and the region, at the first meeting of the steering committee for the implementation of tasks relating to the initiative, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Projects under the initiative have been yielding progress that benefits both locals and Myanmar's industrial modernization, analysts noted. China Railway Eryuan Engineering Corporation has started a partial survey for the Muse-Mandalay-Kyaukphyu railway line. The project is expected to be one of the largest road and railway projects in the country, the Myanmar Times reported on February 1. The program comes after Myanmar and China's CITIC Group signed a framework agreement on the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Deep-Sea Port Project in November 2018. Generally speaking, BRI projects are proceeding smoothly in Myanmar and the atmosphere for cooperation is sound. The Myanmar side has attached great importance to the projects, said Song Qingrun, a research fellow at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing. The projects have improved local infrastructure, benefited residents and brought a sound image of Chinese investors, said Song. Obstacles and challenges for China-Myanmar cooperation remain and it will still take time to address them, insiders told the Global Times. They cited the complicated social and political situation in the country. For instance, negotiations on the suspended Myitsone hydropower project, one of the most important but unsolved issues in China-Myanmar infrastructure cooperation, needs a practical outcome. The abrupt suspension of such a significant project has blurred political trust between China and Myanmar, Fan Hongwei, an expert on Myanmar issues at Xiamen University, told the Global Times. Whether the issue could be addressed properly concerns the Myanmar government's credibility and its capability to provide a sound environment for foreign investors amid challenges, said Fan. Speculation is rising in Myanmar about the future of the project since the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar issued a statement on January 12 saying "if this issue fails to be resolved after a long delay, it will seriously hurt the confidence of Chinese entrepreneurs in investing in Myanmar." Relevant parties from China and Myanmar are in close contact and negotiations to "properly address" the issue, a source with inside information on the project told the Global Times. The source, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, did not elaborate on whether a preferred solution has been agreed upon. Though the project suspended in 2011 is unlikely to be re-launched in the short term, both sides are making constant efforts to find a solution that satisfies the basic interests of both sides, said Fan. "But practical outcomes, or progress, need to be seen in the negotiations," he said. "Myanmar cannot keep the Chinese side waiting forever." Since January, alternatives have been raised by the Myanmar side. Thaung Tun, chairman of Myanmar's investment commission, listed options including scaling back the dam, moving it to a different location or offering the operator an alternative project at an investment conference on January 29, Reuters reported. Despite the Western media's biased reporting to provoke nationalist sentiment in Myanmar, the project and its benefits for Myanmar are well accepted in the country, said the anonymous source. Myanmar stands to gain about $18 billion in tax revenue, free power and shares during the first 50 years of its commercial operation, according to Upstream Ayeyawady Confluence Basin Hydropower Company (ACHC), the joint venture developer established by the Myanmar government, China's State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) Yunnan International Power Investment and the Myanmar-based Asia World Company. Abolishing the project without convincing reasons or proper replacement would damage the Myanmar government's credibility and increase concern from foreign investors, analysts noted. The Myanmar government might need to repay the Chinese developer some $800 million if they cancel the project as the money has already been spent on feasibility and technical studies, bridges, electrical grid updates and other support infrastructure, the New York Times reported in 2017. "There are technical and other measures to address the environmental impact. Myanmar has an urgent need for energy and its options are very limited," said Fan. Less than 40 percent of Myanmar's population has access to electricity, according to a market overview published by the US website export.gov in November 2018. It is essential Myanmar continue reform and expand its energy infrastructure to support the country's continued economic growth, said the website, which is sponsored by US Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration. Despite the suspension of the Myitsone project, other Chinese hydropower projects are operating normally to secure electric supply for Myanmar residents and the Chinese investor is proactively fulfilling its social responsibility in Myanmar, said Fan. He noted that those efforts help clear misunderstandings among Chinese investors. More political wisdom is needed from Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) as it needs foreign investment for its political mission to practically improve people's life, said Fan. The anonymous source noted that the suspension of the Myitsone project that operates in accordance with local law and regulations has also made it harder for Chinese companies to ask for more loans from banks for their project in Myanmar. Investors will think twice before rolling out other mega-projects in the country as the issue remains unsettled, the official said. Such risks are also weighed by investors from other Southeast Asian countries such as Sri Lanka and Malaysia, said Fan. ^ top ^
China supports Tanzania's trial of ivory smuggler (Xinhua)
2019-02-20
China on Wednesday voiced support for Tanzania's sentencing of a Chinese businesswoman to 15 years in prison for smuggling elephant tusks. According to media reports, Yang Fenglan, a Chinese businesswoman dubbed the "Ivory Queen," was convicted on Tuesday by a Tanzanian court of smuggling about two tonnes of elephant tusks. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a press briefing that China has consistently attached great importance to protecting endangered wild fauna and flora and diligently complied with relevant international obligations. Geng said that since 2015, China has promulgated measures banning imports of ivory carving, imports of ivory as hunting trophies and commercial processing and sales of ivory domestically, which have won acclaim worldwide. The Chinese government shows "zero tolerance" to activities involving illegal trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora and related products, bringing relevant criminals to justice in a resolute and lawful manner, said the spokesperson. China has always demanded that its overseas nationals abide by local laws and regulations, never shielding illegal or criminal acts of its nationals, added Geng. "We support the Tanzanian authorities in conducting a just investigation and trial of the case," Geng said, adding that China stands ready to work with the international community including Tanzania in protecting endangered wild fauna and flora as well as curbing their illegal trade. ^ top ^
China expects Iran to play more constructive role in regional affairs (Xinhua)
2019-02-19
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Wang said China valued Iran's role in regional affairs and expected Iran to have a more constructive role in such affairs. "The situation in the Middle East and the world is undergoing major changes, and relations between China and Iran are also facing a new situation," Wang said. "Both China and Iran are countries with thousands of years of civilization and tradition. In the face of the periodical changes consisting of certain individual events, the two countries can maintain strategic strength, while safeguarding and promoting ties with a long-term perspective, in efforts to continuously inject new content into bilateral ties." Zarif said the Iranian side highly valued the partnership with China and regarded China as an important, all-round cooperation partner. Zarif, who is accompanying Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on a visit to China, said he expected the speaker's ongoing China tour to promote bilateral ties to a new stage. Zarif expressed the active will to take part in the Belt and Road construction, saying the Initiative was of special significance to both Iran and China. "The Iranian side welcomes China's more important role in issues concerning the Middle East region such as Syria, Iraqi reconstruction and the peace process in Afghanistan," he said. The two sides also exchanged views on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international agreement on Iran's nuclear program reached in 2015, stating that they would continue to strengthen communication and coordination and make active efforts to safeguard legitimate rights and interests, implement the agreement and defend multilateral rules. ^ top ^
Germany wrong to involve China in INF (Global Times)
2019-02-17
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed the hope on February 16 that China should be involved in international disarmament efforts. "We would of course be glad if such talks were held not just between the United States, Europe and Russia but also with China," said Merkel at the 55th Munich Security Conference. Her remarks were clearly directed against Washington and Moscow's withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, who was also present at the conference, reiterated that "we [China] are opposed to the multilateralization of INF." The INF treaty concerns Europe and Germany's interests. The US took the lead in abandoning INF, resulting in the collapse of the arms control system. It is understandable that Berlin is anxious, but Merkel's hasty call for Beijing is rather inappropriate. Her words disrespect China's interests and wishes, and objectively encourage Washington to quit irresponsibly. Washington alleged that INF failed because Moscow did not comply with INF and Beijing was not bound by the treaty. These were its main excuses for the withdrawal. Germany believes that the more countries involved in INF, the better. However, many European countries can never understand the security risks and the urgency to strengthen national defense in other regions. The INF Treaty was signed by the US and the Soviet Union. It was a compromise between the two superpowers with the same level of military power to ease their confrontations. Although China is now much stronger than it was in the past, its nuclear power and comprehensive military strength are far from being equal to those of the US and conducting negotiations on an equal footing. The Europeans are clear that the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty is part of its America First agenda and an abandonment of its international obligations. At the Munich security conference, Merkel and European countries criticized recent US security policies. But on the issue of the INF treaty, Merkel snubbed China to serve US interests, reflecting the selfishness of Germans and some Europeans. It is natural that Europeans consider more of their own interests, but they should stick to justice in major affairs otherwise double standards will prevail. Europe does not feel any threat from China's missiles. In security, Europe is caught in the middle of Moscow and Washington. Europe is not the source of China's security pressure. But Germany has dragged China into its own security plight, which not only damages China's interests, but also leads Europeans in the wrong direction for their security concerns. Globalization has remolded the existing power pattern and will also change the world's political landscape. The era that Europe's interests are tied with the Western camp is ending. America First will become the dominant principle in trans-Atlantic ties. Europe is destined to fall behind the US and needs to recalculate its orientation. As the world's second largest economy, China needs defense capabilities which should be more powerful than it has now so as to build peace in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. A peaceful and stable Asia-Pacific region will benefit Europe. The Asia-Pacific is far from reaching a balance of power. Germans are clear about the wide gap between the Chinese and US militaries. Merkel's words are nothing but a bubble in thin air. ^ top ^
New Zealand bans Huawei, China has message for New Zealand (SCMP)
2019-02-17
From offering mobile payment services such as WePay and Alipay to hiring front-desk staff proficient in Mandarin, the New Zealand Chinese Travel and Tourism Association was not short of advice for Kiwi tourism operators on how to benefit from an influx of mainland Chinese visitors to New Zealand this year. "Chinese tourists enjoy spontaneous travel so there are a lot of last minute bookings. For businesses who'd like to attract Chinese tourists, this is the major challenge for them," association chairman Simon Cheung said in a promotional video. But preparations for the 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism – a campaign by both governments to strengthen economic and bilateral ties – were cast in doubt when China postponed the launch event, which was expected to take place in Wellington next week. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday acknowledged that the country's relationship was complex and not without challenges, but dismissed talk there was a rift. But she revealed that dates for her first official trip to China, planned for the end of last year, still had not been finalised. "I have been issued with an invitation to visit China, that has not changed. We continue to find dates that would work," she said. Her admission fuelled concerns from opposition parties and the media that ties, already tense after Ardern's government blocked Chinese telecom giant Huawei from the nationwide roll-out of a 5G data network over "significant national security concerns", were deteriorating further. Last weekend, an Air New Zealand flight en route to Shanghai was turned back to Auckland, with some reports suggesting it was due to how paperwork on board the plane had referred to Taiwan. According to Bloomberg, the airline said the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was not yet certified to fly to China, but had been "unfortunately assigned" the flight. The Civil Aviation Administration of China last year told foreign firms and airlines not to refer to Taiwan as anything other than a Chinese territory on their websites. Former New Zealand government trade consultant Robert Scollay said from the point of view of those in the country, China's latest actions "raised the question of whether this is a temporary expression of displeasure or if it means something more significant". After Wellington's decision on Huawei, which it took in support of its fellow members in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, there was a debate on whether it had finally chosen a side in its long-running balancing act between the United States and China – its two most important economic partners. The US had asked other partners in the alliance – which includes Australia, Canada and Britain – to refrain from business dealings with Huawei over suspicions the tech giant could be spying on behalf of the mainland Chinese government. "China will not respond well to further actions of that kind," said Stephen Noakes, international relations lecturer at the University of Auckland. "There is no way to say what the practical consequences of that negative response might be." Earlier this week, Huawei took out full-page advertisements in major New Zealand newspapers equating the roll-out of a 5G network without its technology to a rugby competition without the world champion All Blacks team. "It's quite funny, but it also shows their ambition and confidence," said David Zhang, a registered financial adviser in Auckland who relocated from China 15 years ago. "Who is hurt the most from this?" he asked. "It's regular people, who will end up paying more for the same service." Similarly, he added, it was the same group who would suffer if bilateral ties were strained. China is a vital source of two of the largest drivers of New Zealand's economy – tourism and dairy exports. Last year, nearly 15 per cent of New Zealand's 3.8 million international tourist arrivals were from mainland China, contributing US$16 billion to the economy. China consumed over a quarter of New Zealand's dairy exports, which were worth a total of US$15 billion. Wellington and Beijing have been negotiating an update to their 2008 free-trade agreement (FTA), and New Zealand is part of the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a proposed FTA between 16 countries including the 10 Asean nations. Hongzhi Gao, associate professor of international business at the Victoria University of Wellington, said the priority in the China-New Zealand relationship had been to create "a successful economic model for China to engage with a Western country". "This has been a main theme of the relationship over the past 10 years, and that aspect of the relationship hasn't changed." On whether ties could weather the current storm, Gao said the level of demand for New Zealand dairy products in China would help – but New Zealand could help itself further if it was firm on not challenging China on behalf of the US and remained neutral. "If China is a friend to New Zealand, they can treat New Zealand really well, but if China sees New Zealand as a friend of their enemy, they will start to treat it more harshly," he said. Former trade consultant Scollay, now a professor at the University of Auckland, echoed this view. He said China had long viewed Australia as linked with the US over security concerns, but New Zealand had successfully maintained a neutral foreign policy stance. This changed somewhat when Wellington issued a defence policy statement last July outlining concerns about China's aggressive defence posture, and how it had not "adopted the governance and values championed by the [international] order's leaders". In a December speech in Washington, New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters emphasised the US' importance in countering China's influence in the Pacific, parroting what some New Zealanders see as a conservative and distinctly American world view that China's influence has no benefits for the nation. Peters and opposition leader Simon Bridges have publicly bickered over anti-Chinese remarks made on both sides, and Ardern this week excoriated Bridges for playing politics with New Zealand's relationship with one of its largest trade partners. "It is disappointing that in recent times we have seen the politicisation of our relationship, which sits directly in contradiction to our economic interests and our national security interests," she said. Beijing-based Kiwi businessman David Mahon this week told The New Zealand Herald he was worried about bilateral ties, and suggested exporters may face challenges. The New Zealand government had to mend bridges and have a clear stance on foreign investment, he said, also pointing to the country's move last year to ban most foreigners – except Singaporeans and Australians, due to FTAs – from buying homes. This came on the back of numerous reports of wealthy Chinese outbidding locals on home purchases, with Chinese real estate website Juwai.com saying mainland Chinese bought US$1.5 billion worth of residential real estate in New Zealand in 2017. "We have correctly prevented non-residents from buying houses, to reduce speculation. But in general, New Zealand is open for business? Businesses are for sale and we want people to put cash into our country," Mahon said. Meanwhile, the bilateral dust-up has precipitated a decline in public opinion about China, according to David Bromwich, national president of the New Zealand China Friendship Society. "The opportunity China presents to the world is not at all understood," he said. "It's a very sensitive area, and the current situation in New Zealand is such that it only needs one spark to ignite a reaction." Political observers say media reports that ties are frosty do not help public perceptions. Global Times, a nationalist tabloid owned by the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece People's Daily, on Wednesday published a story saying Chinese travellers were wary of visiting New Zealand, leading to questions over whether the government had told citizens not to go there. But Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Friday dismissed the suggestion, saying both countries had a common interest in ensuring healthy and stable ties. "China is willing to work with New Zealand on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit to promote the continued development of China-New Zealand relations," Geng said. Noakes from the University of Auckland said he was not convinced ties had deteriorated, despite recent events. "The really unlucky thing is that the perceived souring of ties dovetails with commonly held misperceptions of what China is and what engagement with China means for New Zealanders." Jason Young, director of New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre at the Victoria University of Wellington, had a more ominous take. "This can become a self-fulfilling prophecy," he said. "We talk ourselves into having a bad relationship with China, and that's quite dangerous." ^ top ^
Malaysia 'values China': Mahathir signs up to Xi's second belt and road summit (SCMP)
2019-02-15
Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad has become the first world leader to confirm his attendance at China's second Belt and Road Initiative summit this April, in a move analysts say is aimed at reassuring Beijing of his commitment to the project. They say the Malaysian prime minister's second visit to the country since coming to power in May 2018 will do much to assuage any doubts about the bilateral relationship that have crept in since his newly minted administration cancelled a series of Beijing-backed multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects agreed under his predecessor Najib Razak. At a press conference on Friday to announce his attendance at the summit, Mahathir stressed that Malaysia "valued" its relationship with China. "I've already said I support the [belt and road]," Mahathir said. "When [China and Malaysia] established relations [China] was a very poor country. Very backward. But now it has made tremendous progress and of course when China makes tremendous progress this influences the relationship between Malaysia and China. "We find that China is now the biggest trading partner for Malaysia. It is also a big investor in Malaysia. Our policy is of course to retain and improve the relationship between Malaysia and China," he said. Analysts say the trip to the upcoming summit – which will be hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping – will serve much the same purpose as Mahathir's five-day trip to Beijing last year, which helped to quell speculation over his perceived anti-Beijing hawkishness. "It is not much of a surprise that Mahathir will attend this meeting in Beijing. He has always stated that Malaysia continues to support [the belt and road] despite the problematic projects during the Najib era, and his visit to Beijing will reinforce that message and assure Beijing," said Ngeow Chow Bing, of University Malaya's Institute of China Studies. Malaysia's then prime minster Najib Razak at the launch of the East Coast Rail Link project in 2017. Photo: AP Mahathir has maintained that the decision to cancel the projects – which included two natural gas pipelines worth US$2.3 billion – was taken because they were too expensive or not in Malaysia's best interests, and was not meant as a snub to Beijing. However, some critics have doubted these claims, noting his pre-election rhetoric, which occasionally attacked Najib for his perceived pro-China slant. The announcement of Mahathir's appearance at the April summit comes amid heavy speculation regarding the fate of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), a multibillion-ringgit China-backed railway project. The ECRL had originally been identified by Mahathir as one of the Chinese-backed projects that should be rethought, but since then his government has given out a series of confusing signals regarding the project's fate. In late January, Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali said the project would be cancelled due to the high annual interest the government would incur – at least 500 million ringgit (US$122.8 million) – although he said Malaysia still welcomed "all forms of investment from China [on] a case-by-case basis" depending on his country's "financial capabilities". Soon after, however, the administration backtracked and Mahathir said that "no final decision" had been made and that the two nations were still discussing the matter. "Without the ECRL," said Ngeow, "there is a sense that there is not much [belt and road] cooperation anymore between Malaysia and China, which is not exactly true as other belt and road-related projects such as the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park are still ongoing. Mahathir's visit hence needs to reassure Beijing that Malaysia stays committed to the belt and road. Although one can't rule out the possibility of an announcement of new big projects during the visit, this is unlikely given the fiscal situation claimed by Malaysia's government." However, he said the ECRL could prove a thorny issue if it were still not settled by the time of the summit. "Billed as the flagship belt and road project during Najib's era, its complete cancellation would certainly cause China to lose face. There is a possibility that during the visit Mahathir will make some announcement about the ECRL." Analysts say a government decision on the rail link is unlikely before the conclusion of this year's Lunar New Year celebrations on February 19. ^ top ^
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Actor Zhai Tianlin's plagiarism scandal underlines the failures of China's university system (SCMP)
2019-02-21
Chinese film star Zhai Tianlin, who apologised publicly for his academic misconduct after being accused of plagiarism, has been stripped of his PhD by the Beijing Film Academy and expelled by Peking University from a two-year doctoral research programme at the Guanghua School of Management. This has brought to an end Zhai's persona as a "xueba", a popular Chinese term for an academic overachiever. Zhai's woes began when internet users dug up an academic paper he wrote, 40.4 per cent of which was found to have been plagiarised from another author's work published in 2006. In addition to Zhai being penalised, his adviser at the Beijing Film Academy will not be allowed to supervise doctoral candidates. While the Ministry of Education is paying attention to the matter and both implicated schools are looking into their academic review processes, this incident will hopefully be a huge wake-up call for China's higher education sector. We must first ask: what is the value system that drives people with significant achievements to pursue the halo of an advanced degree, sometimes unrelated to their own main profession, even at the expense of integrity? However, perhaps the greater question is: why can't a degree-obsessed society develop more truly world-class universities? Over the years, based on my conversations with many educators and admission specialists, and my own experience of facing endless requests from parents to help their children get into Ivy League universities, I have come to understand that the mentality of many Chinese people is diametrically opposed to what I think a good education, or a degree from a prestigious American university, involves. While these zealous parents and students are attempting to escape the trappings of the "repressive" Chinese education system, they are effectively projecting a skewed world view onto universities in the United States. The Chinese government has over the past few decades made it a priority to elevate its higher education institutions to world-class standards, with increased investment in facilities and improved teaching and research conditions. China has witnessed an exponential growth in the number of PhD graduates, having surpassed the US in 2008, and remains the top annual producer of PhDs in the world today. However, the quality of doctoral students in China remains uneven. The university system is characterised by a jam-the-system approach to academic publishing, and plagiarism and writing of low quality abounds. For many people, advanced degrees offer the prospect of good jobs or promotions; in-depth research is an afterthought. At the same time, according to China's Ministry of Education, 608,400 Chinese students studied abroad in 2017, an increase of 11.7 per cent over 2016. More students from China go abroad to study than from any other country. The irony is that while in the eyes of the Chinese public, a US degree is worth more than a domestic one, Chinese parents and students often fail to grasp the essence of what makes for a top US university education: independent thinking, freedom of academic pursuit, love of learning for its own sake and not for immediate monetary gains, and no short cuts. By projecting their own sense of "market value", Chinese students often come to the US with the baggage of their worship of diplomas over substance. In an article published in 2014 on Chinese Social Sciences Net, a website sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Xu Junzhong, then a vice-president at Guangzhou University, warned that China would continue to suffer from a "higher education deficit" if the situation was not remedied. He observed that many parents and students flock to programmes jointly offered by less-than-stellar foreign and domestic universities. In other words, people are willing to pay a premium for a "foreign education", even if it is offered domestically and merely gilded with an international pedigree. This perhaps betrays a fundamental distrust in domestic institutions. Now, with more American universities being wary of Chinese students and academics due to fears of espionage, China can no longer count on the intellectual fruits of its students' experiences abroad. I am all for Chinese students expanding their horizons by studying abroad. But China cannot fully transform itself into an innovative society without the support of a strong, indigenous education system. It is generally believed that the Zhai debacle is just the tip of the iceberg. It points to a systemic failure of multiple gatekeepers at some of China's very top universities: the double-blind peer review system, whereby manuscripts are submitted anonymously to academic journals and vetted by two experts, apparently failed to detect the obvious cheating. Educators turn a blind eye to candidates who come with money, fame and power. Chinese society's obsession with academic degrees hails from dynastic China's civil service examination. Traditionally, the imperial exam system was a social equaliser and prepared candidates for the state bureaucracy. In today's world, if academia cannot free itself from heavy-handed political intervention, the result will be a pervasive lack of confidence in educational institutions as places to develop one's true potential and integrity. Zhai's story is forcing China to confront the urgency of educational reform. ^ top ^
Civil affairs ministry unveils measures to improve livelihoods (Xinhua)
2019-02-21
The Ministry of Civil Affairs on Thursday unveiled 10 policies and measures to be taken this year to improve livelihoods. The ministry will guide local civil affairs authorities to strengthen temporary assistance, making it play a better role in guaranteeing basic living standards and relieving emergencies, said Minister of Civil Affairs Huang Shuxian at a press conference. It will step up efforts in developing a nursing system for impoverished people with serious disabilities to improve their living qualities, Huang said. The ministry will further standardize the transparency of trust in charitable organizations and mobilize and guide more social forces to participate in poverty alleviation, he said. Other measures target support for people living in dire poverty, public services in rural areas, urban and rural community-based self-governing organizations, including social organizations, vagrants and beggars. ^ top ^
Clickbait queen's social media accounts closed (Global Times)
2019-02-21
Media accounts of Mimeng, a popular Chinese blogger dubbed as China's Queen of Self-media or clickbait, were removed on multiple social media platforms. Ifeng.com announced the shutdown of Mimeng's accounts on the platforms as a result of "taking its responsibilities as the content regulator to crack down on fake information, pessimistic values, cheating for clicks and behavior that purposely splits society." Jinri Toutiao issued a similar announcement, closing five of her accounts. Her WeChat account was also revoked on Thursday, 20 days after she announced a two-month suspension of it for misconduct. Mimeng had 2.6 million Weibo followers and boasted of over 14 million subscribers on her WeChat account in January 2018. According to media reports, she charges advertisers as much as 750,000 yuan ($113,000) for an advertorial. A WeChat employee reached by the Global Times did not confirm the account was closed by the platform, but referred to a notice issued by ifeng.com and Jinri Toutiao, a news and information platform. Mimeng's team got in hot water in late January when a fake article Mimeng's team published on their WeChat account sparked widespread outrage. The article told a story of a poor boy who struggled to enter one of China's top universities, refused "grey income" at work, and finally died of cancer. The author claimed the article was based on a real story. But netizens soon discovered the story was fake, with many untenable details, and condemned the team for "fooling them for clicks and financial gain, showing no respect for life and suffering." The revocation of Mimeng's account did not come abruptly as stronger regulations of internet content started in the second half of 2018, Wang Sixin, told the Global Times on Thursday. Beijing's cyberspace affairs office shut down 110,000 social media accounts by mid-December 2018 for making sensational headlines, containing false information and disturbing public order. The Cyberspace Administration of China said on its website in November that it had punished more than 9,800 self-media accounts popular on WeChat, Weibo or news portals. ^ top ^
High tech used to detect rogue police (Global Times)
2019-02-21
Using facial recognition and drones to detect criminal suspects and unlawful acts seems nothing new, but recently, a local disciplinary watchdog in North China's Hebei Province caught delinquent police officers by using high technology. Using drones, the Commission for Discipline Inspection in Tangshan, Hebei Province recently detected several delinquent police and traffic law officers while checking on illegal vehicles on the road. Three of them were warned and eight others were reprimanded by the commission, according to an article released by the Hebei discipline inspection commission. The commission decided to use drones after discovering that on-duty officers were in cahoots with vehicle owners, which made it difficult to look into the cases. Many public security bureaus and stations across Heze, a city in East China's Shandong Province, have installed facial recognition systems to check police attendance, an unnamed police officer from Heze told the Global Times on Thursday. Zhang Xixian, a professor at the Party School of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, told the Global Times that using technology to supervise Party members and officials will be a trend. High technology methods such as big data monitoring can also be widely used in disciplinary supervision, Zhang said. Using high technology in 2018, the Tangshan disciplinary watchdog detected more than 480 clues and 321 violations of the "four forms of decadence" - formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, as well as 108 cases of violations of Party discipline. "High technology has improved the Party conduct of the city," the Hebei discipline inspection commission article said. Analysts concluded that after years of a crackdown on corruption and misconduct in the country, misconduct among Party members and civil servants has been largely curbed. According to a report from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), a total of 25,000 officials, including 29 centrally-administrated officials, were punished for violating political discipline in 2018. The CCDI and the National Supervisory Commission named and shamed officials involved in 50 cases for violating the frugality code, and 92,000 CPC members across the country were punished for such violations in 2018. ^ top ^
Nation to intensify poverty alleviation (China Daily)
2019-02-21
China plans to strengthen poverty reduction efforts, safeguard national food security and improve income levels and living conditions in rural areas, according to the first policy document of the year released by the central leadership on Tuesday. This is the 16th consecutive year in which the document, jointly issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, has focused on the development of agriculture and rural affairs. "This year and the next mark a decisive period for the country to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, and many tough tasks in association with agriculture, rural areas and rural residents, must be fulfilled," the document said. Han Changfu, minister of agriculture and rural affairs, said on Wednesday the document highlights the urgency and significance of ramping up poverty relief efforts in extremely impoverished regions and to eradicate loopholes that hamper a full coverage of social services for poor, rural families. "Also, it's crucial to develop industries to increase the income of poor rural residents and provide them with more employment opportunities," he said, adding that in this way, people could be prevented from slipping into poverty again. Sufficient food supply is also highlighted, Han said, as reflected in sections of the document, such as ensuring that grain planting areas remains stable at 110 million hectares and keeping arable land area above 120 million hectares. "We aim to hit the target of creating another 53 million hectares of high-quality farmland by 2020," he said. The country will also strive to create a better environment for rural residents through a series of strategies that focus on different aspects, including improved sewage facilities. Han added that the striking gap in terms of social services and infrastructure between rural and urban areas is still an issue in the lives of many rural residents. "Concerted efforts will be dedicated to improving a range of infrastructure facilities, covering electricity, housing, logistics, information technology and more, and to enhancing public services in aspects of education, healthcare and social security," he said. ^ top ^
China Focus: China makes new progress in anti-graft fight in 2018 (Xinhua)
2019-02-21
China's top graft-buster Zhao Leji said that new progress had been achieved in the work of disciplinary inspection and supervision in 2018. Zhao, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), made the remarks while delivering a work report at the third plenary session of the 19th CCDI of the CPC on Jan. 11. The report was made public on Wednesday. A total of 25,000 officials, including 29 centrally-administrated officials, were punished for violating political discipline in 2018, according to the work report. Reform of the disciplinary inspection and supervision system has been deepened. The adoption of Supervision Law and establishment of the National Supervisory Commission in 2018 have ensured that supervision covers everyone working in the public sector who exercises public power, says the report. Efforts have been made to implement the central Party leadership's eight-point decision on improving Party and government conduct and address the practice of formalities for formalities' sake, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance in the past year, according to the report. The CCDI and the National Supervisory Commission named and shamed officials involved in 50 cases for violating the frugality code of conduct, and 92,000 CPC members across the country were punished for such violations in 2018, according to the report. A sweeping victory in the fight against corruption has been secured. In 2018, 68 centrally-administrated officials were investigated by the CCDI and the National Supervisory Commission. Among them, 15 officials have been transferred to judicial organs for suspected crimes. Since the 19th CPC National Congress, more than 5,000 Party members involved with wrongdoing have surrendered themselves to authorities, including centrally-administrated officials. An initiative called "Sky Net" saw 1,335 fugitives being returned from overseas in 2018, recovering 3.54 billion yuan (524 million U.S. dollars). Anti-graft agencies also intensified their efforts to address corruption that occurs on the people's doorsteps, punishing 309,000 people. A total of 1,899 officials who had sheltered criminal organizations have been transferred to judicial organs. The disciplinary inspection commissions and supervision agencies have rolled out measures to strengthen self-oversight. More than 3,900 anti-graft busters were punished for misconduct and over 110 transfered to judicial organs in 2018. ^ top ^
In death as in life, Li Rui, aide to Mao turned critic of China's Communist Party, makes cadres uncomfortable (SCMP)
2019-02-20
The official funeral of Li Rui, Mao Zedong's former secretary turned Communist Party critic, took place amid tight security on Wednesday, with no biography pamphlets, no media access and no banner to announce whose life was being commemorated. Li's funeral was held at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing's western suburb – China's equivalent of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia – where many senior Chinese party officials choose to be laid to rest. The ceremony was conducted with secrecy and security rarely seen at such events. Unlike protocols for most funerals at Babaoshan, no banner with Li's name was placed outside the mourning hall. Instead, a noticeboard warned "no photographs allowed". No official obituaries were given to mourners, while journalists from overseas media were ushered away by unidentified individuals. "You are with the South China [Morning Post]," said one man, who recognised a reporter in the line outside the memorial hall. "This is an official event and not open to media. Leave now." A Post photographer was told to stop taking photos. Li was Mao Zedong's personal secretary briefly in the mid 1950s, but later became one of the leader's and party's most vocal critics. Li, who fought for political reform to his last days and warned against the dangers of one-party rule and unchecked power, died of kidney and lung complications at a hospital in Beijing on February 16. He was 101. President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang sent condolence wreaths, as did a handful of incumbent and retired senior officials, including former premier Zhu Rongji, according to people at the funeral. Li's body was covered with a flag of the Chinese Communist Party, with its hammer-and-sickle symbol. The funeral arrangements were not without controversy among Li's family. His daughter Li Nanyang, who lives in the United States, said her father was against the idea of being laid to rest at Babaoshan and a party presence of any kind at his funeral. "As [his] daughter, I need to protect his dignity," she wrote in a statement published on Saturday. "I will not participate in the memorial ceremony by the [Communist Party's] central organisation department." Li Nanyang, 68, is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. After joining in 2014, she began work on materials relating to her father's life and politics. Zhang Yuzhen, Li's widow and his second wife, denied that her husband disdained ceremony. Wu Wei, a scholar and former official at the party's political reform research office in the 1980s, said the arrangements reflected the authorities' lack of confidence in themselves and their concerns about Li's legacy. "Li was an advocate of China's political reform and constitutional democracy and he is missed by many," he said. "Even state leaders sent condolence wreaths, but they still did not dare to put a banner out in the hall … this shows their lack of confidence." ^ top ^
Xi meets Chang'e-4 mission representatives (Xinhua)
2019-02-20
Chinese President Xi Jinping met representatives of space scientists and engineers who participated in the research and development of the Chang'e-4 mission at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday afternoon. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, noted that there is no end for space exploration. Xi called on science and technology workers and space engineers in China to ride on the wave of the Chang'e-4 mission to achieve the general goal of China's lunar project, make more efforts to push forward international aerospace cause and bring more Chinese wisdom, solutions and force to the peaceful use of space and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. ^ top ^
China to include more medicines in medical insurance reimbursement (Xinhua)
2019-02-19
The government will allow inclusion of more medicines for serious diseases in the list of medical insurance reimbursement, following a successful attempt in 2018, said a senior health official Tuesday. "The government will try to lower the prices of these medicines through negotiations with pharmaceutical firms," said Xiong Xianjun, a senior official with the National Healthcare Security Administration, at a press conference held in Beijing. Seventeen types of cancer medicines were included on China's medical insurance reimbursement list last year, with their payment standards 56.7 percent lower than their retail prices on average. By the end of last year, Chinese hospitals and pharmacies purchased 1.84 million doses of the cancer medicines at the lower prices reached by the government with suppliers, according to Xiong. They paid 562 million yuan (about 83.88 million U.S. dollars) for the medicines, 918 million yuan less than if the medicines were sold at the retail price, he said. The medical insurance fund paid out 256 million yuan to the insurance policy takers for the cost of the medicines in 2018, he added. ^ top ^
Malarial trial sparks new controversy (Global Times)
2019-02-19
The Chinese medical community is facing another ethics controversy since the gene-edited twins case after a Chinese medical team reportedly conducted a malarial treatment trial on cancer, a therapy that has been opposed in the US. Patients flooded hospitals involved in such a trial after reports of it swept Chinese social media, thepaper.cn reported Friday. Some of the reports said a malaria parasite could cure cancer. The trial was conducted by a team led by Chen Xiaoping, a research fellow at the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The team on Thursday released a notice, saying that they had recruited enough volunteers and reminded patients to stay calm. "The malarial treatment is still at an early stage of research," the notice said. The first batch of volunteers had already received treatment and the second one hasn't begun, thepaper.cn reported. But medical experts questioned the ethical review of the trial. Insiders reached by Global Times said that ethics reviews of clinical trials in China should be done by the medical institute that conducts the test, not a third-party committee. The ethics review of the trial by Chen, however, was approved by the Chengdu-based Chinese Ethics Committee of Registering Clinical Trials in 2017, which is owned by West China Hospital of Sichuan University, thepaper.cn reported. Qiu Zongqi, the first Chinese laureate for the Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science, told the Global Times on Tuesday that using the ethics committee of its own medical institute ensures the trial's quality and efficiency. But Qiu noted that some ethics committees lack ethics review training and are poorly managd, which have led to the cases of edited babies and the use of a malaria bacteria to treat cancer. Liu Ruishuang, a professor at Peking University's Institute of Medical Humanities and member of the university's ethics review committee, told the Global Times on Tuesday that China is thinking of revising the ethics review regulations to meet the current scientific research demand. After the gene-edited baby experiment by Chinese scientist He Jiankui broke out, former vice minister of health Huang Jiefu said in an exclusive interview with the Global Times that a national-level authority and an improved legal system are needed to supervise biological and human experiments. As early as 1993, when US physician Henry J. Heimlich was encouraging the use of malaria to treat Lyme disease and AIDS, the practice was reviewed by disease control and prevention officials as "cannot be justified," according to a New York Times report in 2003. ^ top ^
China's social credit system shows its teeth, banning millions from taking flights, trains (SCMP)
2019-02-19
Millions of Chinese individuals and businesses have been labelled as untrustworthy on an official blacklist banning them from any number of activities, including accessing financial markets or travelling by air or train, as the use of the government's social credit system accelerates. The annual blacklist is part of a broader effort to boost "trustworthiness" in Chinese society and is an extension of China's social credit system, which is expected to give each of its 1.4 billion citizens a personal score. The social credit system assigns both positive and negative scores for individual or corporate behaviour in an attempt to pressure citizens into behaving. Human rights advocates, though, worry that the arbitrary system does not take into account individual circumstances and so often unfairly labels individuals and firms as untrustworthy. Over 3.59 million Chinese enterprises were added to the official creditworthiness blacklist last year, banning them from a series of activities, including bidding on projects, accessing security markets, taking part in land auctions and issuing corporate bonds, according to the 2018 annual report released by the National Public Credit Information Centre. The centre is backed by the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, to run the credit rating system. According to the report, the authorities collected over 14.21 million pieces of information on the "untrustworthy conduct" of individuals and businesses, including charges of swindling customers, failing to repay loans, illegal fund collection, false and misleading advertising, as well as uncivilised behaviour such as taking reserved seats on trains or causing trouble in hospitals. About 17.46 million "discredited" people were restricted from buying plane tickets and 5.47 million were restricted from purchasing high-speed train tickets, the report said. Besides restrictions on buying tickets, local authorities also used novel methods to put pressure on untrustworthy subjects, including preventing people from buying premium insurance, wealth management products or real estate, as well as shaming them by exposing their information in public. A total of 3.51 million untrustworthy individuals and entities repaid their debts or paid off taxes and fines last year due to pressure from the social credit system, the report said. The report highlighted untrustworthy problems at peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms and recent high-profile scandals in medical care that have caused public anger. A total of 1,282 P2P operators, more than half located in Zhejiang, Guangdong and Shanghai, were placed on the creditworthiness blacklist because they could not repay investors or were involved in illegal fundraising. Health care product maker Quanjian Group and vaccine maker Changsheng Bio-Technology were added to the creditworthiness blacklist because of their involvement in major health sector scandals. Quanjian was accused of making false marketing claims about the benefits of a product that a four-year-old cancer patient drank, while Changsheng, the major Chinese manufacturer of rabies vaccines, was fined US$1.3 billion in October after it was found to have fabricated records. Lawyers worry that the accelerated use of the creditworthiness system will violate an individuals right to privacy. "Many people cannot pay their debt because they are too poor but will be subject to this kind of surveillance and this kind of public shaming," a lawyer said. "It violates the rights of human beings." ^ top ^
Police embedded in grass-roots Communist Party cells as security grip tightens on Chinese capital (SCMP)
2019-02-18
Police officers in Beijing are being appointed to top positions in grass-roots Communist Party cells overseeing communities throughout the city as part of sweeping efforts to further tighten control and scrutiny of residents in the capital. In Tongzhou district alone, 239 police officers had been appointed deputy party chiefs of outlying villages and urban communities, Beijing Daily reported on Sunday. The authorities began a pilot programme of the policy in 2012 and plan to have it in place citywide this year. By July, every village and residential community in Beijing will have a community police officer doubling as its deputy party chief to "strengthen grass-roots management", the report said. A similar programme is under way in Shanghai. The capital is already keeping close tabs on its residents with volunteer neighbourhood watch groups, including ones dubbed the "Chaoyang Masses" and "Xicheng Aunties" by internet users. These volunteers are an expansive network of senior citizen informers who monitor neighbours and tip the police off about any suspected crimes, from theft, fraud and drug use to terrorism. But by placing officers in local party cells, the police will not only be kept informed, but also be directly involved in community management. Ji Zongren, a police officer appointed a party chief in Tongzhou, said that in the past, he had often encountered misunderstanding and resistance from residents during his work because some of their concerns did not fall within the scope of his law enforcement capacity, Beijing Daily reported. "As deputy party secretary, [I] can help the public better understand and support public security work. It also makes it easier for police officers to go deeper into communities to solve their problems," Ji was quoted as saying. State media has also boasted how well the policy is working in communities with many members of ethnic minorities and foreigners. In Gongcun in Haidian district in the city's northwest, police officer and deputy party chief Huang Wenzhu said he learned some common expressions in the Uygur language to help him to better communicate with Uygur residents there, according to a news website affiliated with the national police force. Huang paid frequent visits to Uygur residents' homes and helped their children enrol in school, the report said. In Qinghua Jiayuan, a residential community next to the Wudaokou bar street, deputy party chief Yan Xinzhuo taught himself simple phrases in seven languages to interact with the 800-plus foreigners living in the area, according to the report. Through the local party committee, he established a "public order defence team" to patrol the streets, catching more than 10 criminal suspects and intervening in more than 200 fights and other disputes. The policy is hailed as a golden example of the "Fengqiao experience" – a Mao-era experiment in social management to "mobilise the masses" to monitor people on site and to rectify landlords, counter-revolutionaries and other "reactionary elements" seen as the people's "enemies" without the need to hand them over to higher authorities. The phrase – which had fallen out of use by Chinese leaders – has come back to life under President Xi Jinping, who vehemently supported it as a tool for social management and stability in his "new era". The programme is also in line with Xi's repeated call to expand the party's reach and entrench its position at the grass-roots level by building and strengthening local party cells. Quoting an unnamed official from Tongzhou's public security bureau, the Beijing Daily report said the policy could improve the "political function and organising power" of local party organisations and deeply integrate party building and public security work. ^ top ^
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China bans foreign travellers from Tibet as 1959 uprising anniversary looms (SCMP)
2019-02-20
China is barring foreign travellers from Tibet over a period of several weeks that includes a pair of sensitive political anniversaries questioning the legitimacy of Beijing's rule over the Himalayan region. Travel agencies contacted on Wednesday said foreign tourists would not be allowed back into Tibet until April 1. It is not clear when the ban started, although some monitoring groups said it began this month. The ban was confirmed by the online customer service portal of the Tibet Youth International Travel Service, as well as staff at the Tibet Vista and Go to Tibet travel agencies. Both are based in the southwestern city of Chengdu, the main jumping-off point for visits to Tibet. Staff members declined to give their names or offer details. March 10 is the 60th anniversary of an abortive 1959 uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, while anti-government riots occurred March 14, 2008, in the regional capital Lhasa. Although the foreigner travel ban is an annual occurrence, the occasion of the 60th anniversary is drawing added attention. Amid heavy security on the ground, Tibet is almost entirely closed to foreign journalists and diplomats and information about actual conditions there is difficult to obtain. The 1959 uprising resulted in the flight of Tibet's traditional Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, into exile in India and the start of increasingly harsh Chinese rule over the region. Nearly five decades later, anger exploded in a series of protests in an around Lhasa that culminated in attacks on Chinese individuals and businesses in which the government says rioters killed 18 people. An unknown number of Tibetans were killed by security forces in the aftermath. China claims Tibet has been part of its territory for more than seven centuries and regards the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist. Some Tibetans insist they were essentially independent for most of that time and have protested against what they regard as China's heavy-handed rule imposed after the People's Liberation Army battled its way into the Himalayan region in 1950. More recently, traditionally Tibetan regions of western China have been racked by a series of self-immolations by Buddhist clergy and lay people protesting Beijing's rule and calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, now aged 83. Despite the suffocating level of security, Tibet is an increasingly popular destination for tourists looking for mountain adventure and monuments to its unique Buddhist culture. In 2017, more than 25 million trips from around the world were made to Tibet, an increase of 10.6 per cent over the year before, generating 37.9 billion yuan (US$5.6 billion) in tourist revenue, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Numbers of visits rose again last year to more than 33 million, a rise of 31.5 per cent, Xinhua said. While Chinese may travel to Tibet at will, foreigners are required to obtain a special permit in addition to their Chinese visas. China has at times denied closing Tibet and never offered an explanation for any such measures, but monitoring groups say it is part of a strategy of concealing the extent of repression in the region. "This most recent development is part of the overall policy of the Chinese government to restrict access to Tibet for independent observers in order to maintain an iron grip in the region while at the same time avoiding any form of external scrutiny," the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet said. ^ top ^
Chinese province defends ban on children taking 'illegal' Tibetan language classes (SCMP)
2019-02-19
Chinese authorities on Monday defended a ban on schoolchildren attending informal Tibetan language classes taught by Buddhist monks in western China, as religious and cultural freedoms in the country come under increasing pressure. A county in western Qinghai – a province with a large Tibetan population that is mostly Buddhist – in December ordered an immediate halt to informal language classes taught by monks during the winter school holidays. The lessons taught in monasteries in the province bordering Tibet have gained popularity among parents as a way for their children to learn a language that is being sidelined from the official curriculum. It follows a similar ban last summer barring Tibetan students from taking part in religious activities during their holidays. The provincial government on Monday said the lessons were "illegal" and the monasteries were "safety hazards" as well as being "ill-equipped" to teach students. "According to Chinese law … education is conducted by the government. No organisation or person can use religion as a means of obstructing the state education system," it said in a statement. It added that the classes posed a financial burden to students and their families, and contravened regulations to reduce the workload of students. Monasteries and monks who do not follow the new rules will be "dealt with in accordance with the law", the statement said. The regulations follow similar edicts by the ruling Communist Party in other regions with large ethnic minority populations, starting with a clampdown on Islam in Xinjiang, a Muslim-majority region in the far west. Rights groups have accused the Chinese government of curbing religious freedoms and cultural rights. "Qinghai authorities' responses about the ban strain credulity," Human Rights Watch China researcher Sophie Richardson said. "They fail to address previous official comments demonising these informal classes, and are reminiscent of the after-the-fact justifications for other instances of disregard for cultural rights and religious freedom." China's constitution protects free speech and religion but critics say in reality there is little room for opinions that challenge government policies. ^ top ^
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| Xinjiang |
Rising Uygur soccer player Erfan Hezim back with Chinese team after release from Xinjiang internment camp (SCMP)
2019-02-21
A promising young Uygur soccer player who was reportedly detained last spring in an internment camp in China's far western Xinjiang region has been released and returned to his soccer club. Erfan Hezim, 20, is among the increasing number of detainees who have trickled out of the camps in the past months. Hezim was detained in February last year soon after he returned home to Xinjiang from a trip to Spain and Dubai for training and matches, according to Radio Free Asia. His detention prompted a statement in June from the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro), which called for his "immediate release so that he can be reunited with his family and continue his football career". Just turned 19 at the time of his detention, the rising soccer star was among the estimated 1 million Uygurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim ethnic minorities ensnared by Xinjiang's sprawling network of indoctrination camps, where they were forced to denounce their faith and pledge loyalty to the Communist Party, according to accounts shared by former inmates with foreign media. Despite a mounting outcry from the international community, Beijing has insisted that the camps are "vocational training centres" that are necessary to counter "religious extremism" and ensure stability. While some estimated hundreds of thousands remain in custody, scholars and activists have observed that over the past months a growing number of people are being discharged. "There's been a general surge in releases towards the end of 2018 all across Xinjiang," said Rene Bunin, a writer and translator who compiled thousands of names and details of people believed to be held in the camps in the Xinjiang Victims Database. So far, the database had identified 178 people who have been released as of this month, though many has since been put under house arrest or into forced labour – with limited or even no communication to their loved ones, Bunin said. "To my knowledge, Hezim is the first well-known Uygur to be released, though there may be others that we don't know about," added Bunin, a former long-time resident of Xinjiang, where he researched the Uygur language. After months of silence, Hezim finally resurfaced on Chinese social media and returned to training – with a message of "thank you" to the party and the government for giving him "a stage to realise my dreams". On Monday, Hezim's employer, the Chinese Super League team Jiangsu Suning Football Club, released a batch of photos on Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging service, of its reserve team practising during its winter training in southern Guangdong province. Hezim is featured in two of the pictures. This came after Hezim posted a photo of himself on Weibo in January, wishing himself a happy 20th birthday – much to the relief and delight of his fans. The birthday post ended 11 months of silence on his social media account. His last post before vanishing was uploaded during his trip in Dubai, and underneath it many fans left comments expressing concern over his disappearance and wondering about his whereabouts. A number of comments suggested that he had been sent to a re-education camp. In a video circulating on the internet late last month, Hezim – dressed in a bright yellow T-shirt and seated with his soccer club – wished everyone a happy Lunar New Year. But before thanking his fans for their support, Hezim expressed his gratitude to the Communist Party. "First, I give special thanks to the party and the government. Without the party and the government's good policies, there would not be a Chinese nation living such a happy life today," he said in Mandarin. "Therefore, I need to thank the party and the government for giving me a stage to realise my dreams." He did not respond to the South China Morning Post's request for comment. Jiangsu Suning said it was "inconvenient" for it to answer any questions regarding Hezim at the moment. Hezim, who has played professionally since 15, shot to fame in 2017 after scoring a stunning overhead kick for China's under-19 team against Hungary. Two months later, he signed a five-year contract with Jiangsu Suning. It is not clear why Hezim was detained, although many Uygurs have been reported to end up in the camps after visiting Muslim countries. A spokesman for the Xinjiang government declined to comment, referring the request to the regional party propaganda department, which did not immediately reply. "He's basically been released for image reasons and is allowed to be 'free' as long as he's a productive footballer for his club, and as long as he puts on a smile and pretends that everything is great," Bunin said. "Is that 'freedom'? It isn't, and the mental damage that that kind of life must cause a person must be enormous." Of the 178 released inmates identified in Bunin's database, 10 were Uygurs and two were Kyrgyz, with the rest being Kazakhs. He said that was because most of the documentation had come from Kazakhs thanks to the work of Atazhurt, a human rights organisation in Kazakhstan that collects testimony from detainees' families. "Uygurs have also been released, but the Uygur diaspora does not have a body dedicated to documenting individual cases publicly, and so getting news from them has been hard," he said. Among the Uygurs known to have been discharged are the parents of Halmurat Harri, a medical doctor and naturalised Finnish citizen who had campaigned ferociously for their release. They were discharged from a camp in Turpan, an oasis town in the east of Xinjiang, on December 24 and were temporarily living with Harri's cousin. Harri announced the news on Facebook on December 27, smiling in relief in a video. However, just two days later, he wrote again on Facebook after a phone call to his parents, saying they were "most likely" under house arrest. "They are only allowed to talk to me under someone's supervision in somewhere called 'office'. I still don't know their physical and psychological status, if they are healthy or not. Maybe they will never be able to go back to their normal life," he wrote. International media reports have also highlighted cases where the released were sent to work in textile factories after leaving the camps. Some have been threatened with being sent back to the internment camps if they did not comply. In an interview with the official Xinhua News Agency in October, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of Xinjiang's government and the country's highest-ranking Uygur official, said some "trainees" had come close to or reached the standards for completing the training and were expected to "complete their education" by the end of the year – suggesting they may soon be released. He said the government was busy preparing job placements for the graduating "trainees", to ensure a "seamless transition from studying to employment". ^ top ^
Beijing backs 'patriotic actions' of Chinese students who reported Uygur activist in Canada (SCMP)
2019-02-16
Beijing backed the "patriotic actions" of Chinese students who reported a Uygur activist's talk at a Canadian university to the consulate, but said they were not told to do so by officials. "We strongly support the just and patriotic actions of the Chinese students," the Chinese embassy in Ottawa said in a statement on Saturday. "Safeguarding sovereignty and opposing separatism are the common position of the international community, and they are also the position that the Canadian government upholds," it said. "[But] what happened recently at the University of Toronto and McMaster University has nothing to do with the Chinese embassy and Chinese consulate general in Canada." Earlier this week, a group of Chinese students at McMaster University in Ontario were infuriated when they found out Rukiye Turdush – a Uygur woman they considered a separatist – had been given the opportunity to deliver a speech on campus about the mass internment of Muslims in the Xinjiang region, in China's far west. They took to Chinese social network WeChat to rally support, then attended the event, filming and taking photos, which were later sent to the Chinese consulate in Toronto. Also this week, a Tibetan woman seeking to become student union president at the University of Toronto at Scarborough was targeted in a petition signed by nearly 10,000 people who were unhappy about her pro-Tibet stance. Beijing is facing a growing outcry from the United Nations and Western governments over its treatment of the mostly Muslim Uygur minority in Xinjiang. The UN has said it received credible reports that as many as 1 million ethnic Uygurs were being held in mass internment camps there. At a regular UN review of the country's human rights record last year, Beijing characterised the far west region as a former hotbed of extremism that had been stabilised through "training centres" that helped people to gain job skills. The embassy statement repeated Beijing's explanation of its treatment of Uygurs, saying there had been no human rights violations in Xinjiang and dismissing the Uygur activists' movement in Canada. It added that the training centres had been set up to protect China's national security from the "three evils" of terrorism, extremism and separatism. "The Chinese government protects the freedom of religious belief and all related rights of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet and Xinjiang in accordance with the law," the statement said, adding that the authorities had taken "necessary measures to counter terrorism and extremism in Xinjiang". "Canada is a multicultural country advocating freedom of speech … People who oppose [separatism] should also be entitled to enjoy the freedom of speech," it said. "We hope that the Canadian people could correctly view the relevant issues and will not be misled by the wrong information." A large number of Chinese students are enrolled at Canadian universities. According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education, there were more than 140,000 students from China in Canada in 2017. As the number of Chinese students at foreign universities has grown, the Washington Post reports that educators have expressed concern that student activism carried out with the support or direction of Chinese officials could corrode free speech by making students and scholars, particularly those with family ties to China, afraid to criticise the Communist Party line. ^ top ^
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| Hongkong |
Hong Kong National Party ban upheld by panel which says it doesn't trust group not 'to resort to violence' in independence bid (SCMP)
2019-02-21
The Hong Kong National Party's appeal against an unprecedented ban has been turned down by the city's leader and her cabinet, with officials saying they believed the outlawed party could "resort to violence or advocate violence" in pursuit of a "Republic of Hong Kong", the Post has learned. In a three-page response to party founders Andy Chan Ho-tin and Jason Chow Ho-fai, officials said the primary objective of the party, an independent Hong Kong, was unlawful. While Chan has always maintained that the party opposed violence, his statement in 2016 that HKNP would use "whatever effective means" to split from China has come back to haunt him. Confirmation of the ban came on Thursday as Wang Zhimin, the head of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong, revealed that a former security minister, and two former police chiefs, had given their "professional opinions" regarding the ban. A legal source confirmed that a three-member panel – barrister and lawmaker Martin Liao Cheung-kong, former stock exchange chairman Chow Chung-kong, and former Monetary Authority chief Joseph Yam Chi-kwong – appointed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and the Executive Council, had dismissed the appeal. The HKNP could still take the matter to court and Chan, the party leader, has previously indicated he could explore this option. Chan said he had to consult his lawyer before making a decision. Last September, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu banned the HKNP and accused it of posing a threat to national security and public order. Chan appealed and said the ban was unnecessary, claiming party members were only speaking of "political expressions" when discussing the city's independence. But in its response, which the Post has obtained, the Exco secretariat said Lam and her cabinet accepted the panel's observations, and confirmed the ban. Lam agreed with the findings that the objectives of HKNP to establish a "Republic of Hong Kong" was unlawful as it was against the Basic Law and the principle of "one country, two systems", China's ruling principle over the city. The council rejected Chan's claim that the HKNP had always objected to the use of violence. "The [Chief Executive in Council] accepted … that in view of the history of the HKNP, and its words and deeds to date, there is no reasonable guarantee that the HKNP would not resort to violence or advocate violence, as a means to achieve its primary objective of the independence of Hong Kong," the Exco secretariat wrote. Exco also rejected the belief that Lam's previous opposition towards independence created procedural unfairness, a claim the panel said had no merit. The Post previously reported that Chan refused to take any questions during the appeal, in protest against the rejection of his lawyers' request to postpone the hearing. Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang, spokesman for the pro-independence Hong Kong National Front, said the result was expected. "I think Andy Chan will take the matter to court next," he said. Leung added that independence advocates will continue with their activities, though he did not expect the government to ease its pressure on them. Constitutional law expert Johannes Chan Man-mun said HKNP could have a case by arguing it had not incited violence, if Andy Chan did launch a judicial review against the ban. "The courts may have to rule on whether peaceful advocacy of independence is accepted," Chan said. "This could hinge on freedom of expression, which is a core value of our society." In a separate development, Wang met with the Hong Kong delegates to the National People's Congress, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body, on Thursday evening. Sources told the Post that Wang mentioned the ban, and said Lam and the government had done a good job of making their stance on independence clear. He also praised attendants for supporting the government and voicing opposition to "Hong Kong independence". Among the more than 100 delegates who attended the meeting, Wang named three of them for giving "professional suggestions" regarding the ban. They were two former commissioners of police Tang King-shing and Andy Tsang Wai-hung, as well as former secretary for security Lai Tung-kwok. The trio were appointed CPPCC delegates, or advisers to Beijing, after they stepped down from their work in government. ^ top ^
Hong Kong legislators seek details from Carrie Lam on Beijing's 'Greater Bay Area' plan (SCMP)
2019-02-20
Legislators from across Hong Kong's political divide on Wednesday sought more details on the central government's "Greater Bay Area" plan from the city's leader. But Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor gave no concrete answers, causing opposition lawmakers to express disappointment at the lack of specifics. The much ballyhooed blueprint, released on Monday, laid out Beijing's vision for a cluster of 11 world-class cities in the nation's south, including Hong Kong and Macau, to drive innovation and growth. But it has been noted for a lack of policy specifics. At the Legislative Council, the chief executive was asked if detailed policies would come within the year. But she told Jonathan Ho Kai-ming of the pro-government Federation of Trade Unions that some policies were already in place. She noted, for instance, that about 100,000 city residents had applied for mainland residency under a scheme rolled out in September last year. "With the permit, they can enjoy some conveniences at their place of residence," Lam said. Under the scheme, people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan can access 18 public schemes and services on the mainland, if they have been living there for more than six months. During the same session, Lam was grilled by pro-democracy legislators on whether the city's autonomy was intact under the bay area plan. Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai said Lam's earlier call for cooperation among bay area cities could weaken Hong Kong's traditional advantages. "This equates to giving up Hong Kong's leadership role in the bay area, gradually degrading Hong Kong's economy and making us more like the mainland," Wu said. But Lam said the administration's approach was to create a win-win situation, and was "never about destructive competition or simply to cooperate with the mainland". Speaking after the session, pan-democrats said Lam had sidestepped their questions. Council Front lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching warned that the scheme could potentially end "one country, two systems", the principle under which the city is governed by Beijing but allowed a certain amount of autonomy. As she arrived at the Legco chamber, Lam was greeted by an opposition protest about a controversial proposal to allow case-by-case extradition arrangements between Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan and Macau. "Sending people back to the mainland, Carrie Lam you've sold us out!" lawmakers chanted outside the chamber. Wu asked if the proposal had opened a "back door" in Hong Kong's legal system. "If the central government asked to you hand over a person, would you dare refuse?" Wu asked. Lam did not directly answer the question, but urged Wu and critics to look more closely at the proposal. "The chief executive would only start extradition procedures," Lam said, before she was interrupted by Wu, meaning she could not finish. Under the proposal, Hong Kong authorities would need to get an order from the chief executive and get a warrant from the judiciary before arresting an alleged fugitive. The fugitive could contest the extradition process in open court. Speaking after the session, Wu said the extradition proposal would dent international confidence in Hong Kong's rule of law. The government had hoped to put the bill to the vote before July. ^ top ^
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| Taiwan |
President Tsai Ing-wen will seek re-election in 2020 to 'complete' Taiwan vision (SCMP)
2019-02-19
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen says she intends to run for a second term in 2020, as the self-ruled island comes under growing pressure from Beijing. Tsai announced her plan to join the election race during an interview with CNN, saying she wanted to "complete" her vision for Taiwan and was "confident" she could win. "It's natural that any sitting president wants to do more for the country and wants to finish things on his or her agenda," Tsai told CNN during an interview aired on Tuesday. "This is something I have prepared for," Tsai said, speaking while aboard her presidential plane. "It's again another challenge. Being president, you're not short of challenges. At good times you have challenges of one sort, and in bad times you have challenges of another sort." Tsai resigned as chairwoman of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party in November after a crushing defeat in the island's local elections by the opposition Kuomintang, which favours closer ties with Beijing. But she told CNN that soured relations with Beijing were not the key factor behind her party's poll setback – rather, it was the tough reform agenda she has been pushing since she took office. "You get attacks, you get criticism – the people don't feel the result of the reform so much when you've just started," Tsai said. She revealed her decision to seek re-election as politicians on the democratic island are poised to begin campaigning for the 2020 presidential race in the next few weeks. Former New Taipei mayor Eric Chu, who was defeated by Tsai in 2016, has also said he would seek nomination from his party, the KMT, to run for president in 2020. Other possible candidates include Wang Jin-pyng, a KMT heavyweight and former legislative speaker, and KMT chairman Wu Den-yih. Independent Ko Wen-je, the popular mayor of Taipei, has also been widely tipped as a strong contender to challenge Tsai, though he has yet to indicate whether he will join the race. Tsai announced her re-election bid at a time when relations between Beijing and Taipei have become one of the thorniest geopolitical flashpoints between China and the United States, which has stepped up support for the island amid growing mainland assertiveness. In December, US President Donald Trump signed into law the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, calling for continued arms sales and more official exchanges between Washington and Taipei – a move that infuriated Beijing, which accused Washington of interfering in its internal affairs. Cross-strait relations deteriorated after Tsai took office in 2016 and refused to accept Beijing's view that Taiwan, with a population of 23.5 million, is part of China. Beijing responded by cutting official contact with the Tsai government and ramping up pressure on the island, including by poaching five of Taipei's diplomatic allies. Last week, a group of US specialists on Chinese affairs released a report urging Washington to be ready to deter Beijing aggression towards Taiwan and to help the island develop a strategy to tackle the mainland's expansion in the region. Tsai now has strong support from within her party to run for a second term, according to Shih Cheng-feng, a political science professor at National Dong Hwa University. "There had been criticism of her policies from some DPP heavyweights, but those politicians did not do well in the November 24 local elections, making it hard for them to continue to criticise her," Shih said. "Also, her stern rejection of Chinese President Xi Jinping's calls for unification using the 'one country, two systems' model under the one-China principle in January was welcomed and supported by the public, increasing her popularity and reaffirming her status as the Taiwanese leader who dares to challenge Beijing." ^ top ^
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| Economy |
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| DPRK |
China expects smooth 2nd DPRK-US summit with positive outcomes (Xinhua)
2019-02-21
China expects the upcoming second summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States to be held smoothly and achieve positive outcomes, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday. "It is China's consistent stance that direct contact and dialogue between the DPRK and the US is key to resolving the Korean Peninsula issue," spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a daily press briefing, adding that China always supports the DPRK and the US to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiations. Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump agreed to hold their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27-28. Geng expressed hope that the summit would inject new impetus to realizing denuclearization and lasting peace on the peninsula. "China will continue to make its own efforts and contributions to realizing this goal," he added. ^ top ^
Nervous Kim Jong-un, rattled by defections and spying allegations, shuffles North Korea's team for nuclear talks with US (SCMP)
2019-02-21
Veteran North Korean diplomats are being sidelined from nuclear talks ahead of a second summit with the United States as recent defections and allegations of spying undermine the trust of leader Kim Jong-un, South Korean officials and experts say. Kim has purged and replaced many top diplomats and officials who served his father and grandfather with new, younger advisers as he gears up to meet US President Donald Trump in Vietnam next week. Among the most significant changes, Kim has appointed little-known Kim Hyok-chol to spearhead working-level talks with US nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun. A former ambassador to Spain who was expelled in 2017 after North Korean nuclear and missile tests, Kim Hyok-chol has been working at the State Affairs Commission, a top governing body chaired by the young leader, a South Korean official said. He replaced Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, who led negotiations in the run up to the first Trump-Kim summit in Singapore in June. "It's a big boys' game and many diplomats are being neglected, as they face fierce inter-agency rivalry and questions about their ideological faithfulness given their experience in richer, capitalist nations," the South Korean official said, asking to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue. "Kim Hyok-chol is a career diplomat too, but he apparently has passed a loyalty test to become the point man in the negotiations." The promotion of Kim Hyok-chol, believed to be in his late 40s, was partly influenced by the 2016 defection of Thae Yong-ho, a former deputy ambassador to Britain, and the recent disappearance of Jo Song-gil, a senior diplomat in Italy, the official said. Adding to Kim Jong-un's mistrust in veteran diplomats, Han Song-ryol, who was vice foreign minister in charge of US relations until early last year, has been purged on charges of spying for the United States, two sources with knowledge of the situation said. Han was one of the best known and highly respected North Korean diplomats in the United States, having for years manned the so-called "New York channel," a key diplomatic conduit between Pyongyang and Washington, before returning home in 2013. But Han has been out of the public eye for the past year, with state media last mentioning him in February 2018. South Korea's Unification Ministry removed his name in its annual "Who's Who" in North Korea directory, released last month. A diplomatic source in Seoul, citing North Korean officials, said Han was purged last year after being accused of spying for the United States and pocketing funds. Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert at the Washington-based Stimson Centre who regularly speaks with sources inside the country, said two people told him Han faced "espionage charges" and disappeared last July. Thae also said Han had been purged, which means he was likely to have been sent to a labour camp for reeducation or possibly executed. South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper also reported last month, citing an unnamed source, that Han was sent to a labour camp after making an unspecified proposal on the nuclear talks against the ruling Workers' Party's guidelines. An official at the Unification Ministry said the information on Han could not be confirmed. "There were financial problems, but the biggest thing was his spy allegation. Several other diplomats, especially those who were close to Han, were investigated," said the first source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. In a 2017 report based on interviews with 20 elite defectors, the North Korea Strategy Centre, a defector-run think tank in Seoul, said more than 70 officials have been executed since Kim took power in late 2011. Thae said at least 10 diplomats were killed under Kim, and replaced by younger aides and loyalists. Many other diplomats and officials have been sidelined. In a Facebook post last week, Russia's Embassy in North Korea confirmed Kwon Jong-gun was the new director of the foreign ministry's North America Department, a post that has been vacant since Choe became a vice foreign minister. Choe's boss, Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, a former nuclear envoy who was widely expected to be US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's counterpart, has never had a chance to show his credentials as Kim continued to rely on Kim Yong-chol, a former spymaster specialised in inter-Korean affairs. Thae, the former diplomat in London, said the unorthodox new breed of negotiators was aimed at driving a wedge between the freewheeling Trump and his team of technocrats, who were mostly cautious and sceptical about North Korea's claims of pursuing denuclearisation. "North Korea's diplomacy has taken an unprecedented tactical course, which is tailor-made for Trump," Thae told a news conference in Seoul on Tuesday. "By appointing Kim Hyok-chol, Kim Jong-un was trying to give the impression that there's no one between them, so that Trump will talk to him and shut his ears to his own staff." ^ top ^
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| Mongolia |
President sends official letter on calling extraordinary Parliamentary Session (Montsame)
2019-02-21
On February 20, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga sent an official letter to Chairman of the State Great Khural G.Zandanshatar about summoning an extraordinary session of the Parliament. The official letter says, "In regard to the circumstances that arose after the recent halt in the functions of the State Great Khural for over 40 days, caused by disagreement between the chairman and members, which resulted in the failure to discuss majority of the 23 originally scheduled draft bills and resolutions during the fall session of 2018, leaving critical social and economic challenges unresolved, I sent the official letter No. E/03 on January 22nd, 2019, to the Parliament Speaker, proposing to delay the fall session recess. However, the fall session recessed on the day specified by the law. The inefficiency of the highest organ of State power will undermine discipline and accountability on all levels and become the reason for deceleration of social growth and escalation of existing problems. Therefore, it is necessary to recompense for the times wasted and take urgent steps towards immediate resolution of the pending issues that our country and people face. The people are waiting for and demanding substantial policy and solution that will help build a fair society where "the law is equitable and resolute" from the ruling party, the Parliament, the Cabinet, and the corresponding institutions and officials. In this regard, some parliamentarians and civil society organizations forwarded a proposal on February 14th, 2019, demanding that the Parliament be summoned for an extraordinary session in the time frame of 14 days to resolve certain matters. Therefore, in accordance with Section 3 of Article 27 of the Constitution of Mongolia, Section 1 of Article 12 of the Law on the President of Mongolia, and Section 2 of Article 16 of the Law on the State Great Khural of Mongolia, a proposal is hereby forwarded to call an extraordinary session of the Parliament regarding the matters urged by the parliamentarians before March 1st, 2019. I request you to consider and resolve this matter in accordance with the law." ^ top ^
Cabinet meeting in brief (Montsame)
2019-02-20
At its regular meeting on February 20, the Cabinet approved the 'National Program on e-governance' which aims at protecting individual's data, esteeming transparent, accountable, citizen-centered and highly productive governance, relying on fruitful cooperation of government, citizens and businesses, ensuring information safety and being available for those with disability to get public service by online. The program will be realized in 2019-2020. -The Cabinet backed a Bill to amend the Law on Science and Technology and decided to submit it to the parliament. ^ top ^
Foreign Minister participates in the Munich Security Conference (Montsame)
2019-02-18
Minister of Foreign Affairs D.Tsogtbaatar participated in the 55th Munich Security Conference held on February 15-17. On the first day of the conference, Foreign Minister met with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and expressed gratitude for the long-term support and contribution to the development of Mongolian economy. He also pointed out the Government's aspiration to continue the cooperation. Mrs. Christine Lagarde emphasized the importance of strengthening positive changes in the Mongolian economy and the crucial role of budget and financial discipline. The Foreign Minister participated in the meeting of Higher Level Investors, delivering presentation on investment opportunities in Mongolia and responded to the questions of participants. Heads of the Government of 35 countries, foreign and defense ministers of over 50 countries gathered at the conference. Seizing this opportunity, Minister Tsogtbaatar met with his Kyrgyz counterpart Chingiz Aidarbekov and talked about bilateral cooperation. Minister Tsogtbaatar also participated in the panel discussions titled 'The Future of Defence Cooperation: Joining Forces?' and 'Impact of International Trade on Security' and exchanged views on the influence of developing countries on international trade and economic relations. On the second day, Foreign Minister held meetings with his Russian, Omani, Czech counterparts and other officials participating in the conference. Foreign Minister met with Deputy Foreign Minister of Germany Niels Annen on the last day of the conference and talked on the conference, international security, security in East Asia and bilateral relations. In his closing remarks, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger highlighted that the international law must protect humans, not the dictators or forces as it is now. The next conference will take place on February 14, 2020. ^ top ^
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LEW Mei Yi
Embassy of Switzerland
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The Press review is a random selection
of political and social related news gathered from various media
and news services located in the PRC, edited or translated by
the Embassy of Switzerland in Beijing and distributed among Swiss
Government Offices. The Embassy does not accept responsibility
for accuracy of quotes or truthfulness of content. Additionally
the contents of the selected news mustn't correspond to the opinion
of the Embassy.
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