China Articles - August 21, 2022
Friends,
Typically, August is a quiet month… not so, this year.
Another delegation of U.S. lawmakers visited Taiwan this week, which resulted in a new round of howls and intimidation. The PRC Ambassador to the United States has been working the talk shows and media outlets trying lecture Americans on why they must “correct their mistakes.”
Then on Wednesday, the United States announced that it would formally begin negotiations with Taiwan for a bilateral trade agreement (cue even greater outrage from Beijing).
It appears that the Biden Administration is set on redefining the U.S.-Taiwan relationship even if that means significantly more friction in its relationship with Beijing.
Thanks for reading!
Matt
MUST READ
1. Telling China's Story, Poorly
Kevin Schoenmakers, China Media Project, August 15, 2022
Why did four Chinese propaganda documentaries of questionable quality and dubious provenance win awards at minor, as well as fake, international film festivals?
This May, one year after the Cannes Film Festival antagonized the Chinese government by showing Kiwi Chow’s “Revolution of Our Times,” a documentary sympathetic to Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protesters, it devoted screen time to a film that took the opposite angle. In “Spring, Seeing Hong Kong Again,” China is not the autocratic oppressor but the benevolent ruler, helping the city recover from political chaos and weather its worst Covid-19 outbreak.
According to a press release published on June 1, “The audience applauded for 3 minutes after the screening.” Some, it said, were “stunned and their impressions of Hong Kong were refreshed.” It added that the film had also recently won the Best Documentary Award at the Prague Film Festival, where, according to another article, it had to be shown again to accommodate the throngs of people who wanted to see it.
Were the viewpoints of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) finally gaining ground abroad?
The story did not hold up to scrutiny. As Twitter user K Tse and Czech outlet Deník N reported, there is no Prague Film Festival, just two people showed up for a screening of the film, and promotional images were based on stock photos. While the film had been in Cannes, it had not been shown at the prestigious festival, like “Revolution of Our Times,” but at the concurrent Marché du Films, a marketplace where screenings can be bought.
2. U.S. Approves Nearly All Tech Exports to China, Data Shows
Kate O'Keeffe, Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022
Of the U.S.’s total $125 billion in exports to China in 2020, officials required a license for less than half a percent. Of that fraction, the agency approved 94% of applications for technology exports to China.
3. Hackers linked to China have been targeting human rights groups for years
Patrick Howell O’Neill, MIT Technology Review, August 16, 2022
The hackers, known as RedAlpha, have taken aim at organizations including Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights, Radio Free Asia, the Mercator Institute for China Studies, and other think tanks and government and humanitarian groups around the world. The hackers’ impact remains unclear, but judging from the sheer length of the campaign, analysts expect that the digital espionage has, broadly speaking, seen success.
Recorded Future researchers have “high” confidence that RedAlpha is sponsored by the Chinese government as all of the targets “fall within [its] strategic interests,” says Jon Condra, director of the organization’s strategic threats team.
COMMENT: I think this qualifies as interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
4. Latvia, Estonia leave China-backed East Europe forum
Associated Press, August 12, 2022
Lativa and Estonia leave the so-called ‘17+1’ grouping as the Chinese Communist Party suffers increasing setbacks across Europe.
COMMENT: How many more countries need to leave before the Party shutters the grouping?
5. Troops, Noodles and Familial Love: China Lays Out Its Ideal Taiwan
Vivian Wang, New York Times, August 15, 2022
Through a combination of displays of raw power and propaganda campaigns, China has been reinforcing its political, economic, and cultural visions of a future unified with Taiwan.
6. Crossing the Strait: China’s Military Prepares for War with Taiwan
Joel Wuthnow, Derek Grossman, Phillip C. Saunders, Andrew Scobell, and Andrew N.D. Yang, National Defense University Press, August 2022
The National Defense University published its latest report on PRC’s efforts to annex Taiwan with force.
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, August 17, 2022
The United States and Taiwan announce the formal start of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement.
Authoritarianism
8. Protest Hides in Plain Sight in Hong Kong
Jerrine Tan, WIRED, August 4, 2022
As Milan Kundera once wrote, “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” In the face of Beijing's will, this may be all that is left to those in this city who took to the streets with a passion just three years ago. But it is not nothing. Far from it. Learning to see something where nothing is there sounds paranoid, but indeed it is the only bulwark against revisionism in a city where one has to contend with doublespeak from the highest offices. Last year, two independent newspapers were shuttered within a week, and their employees were arrested. But Carrie Lam, then the chief executive of Hong Kong, claimed that while the newspapers compromised national security, their shuttering had nothing to do with the National Security Law or censorship. Addressing questions about the recent elections being a “one-man race,” where only one candidate stood for elections, Maria Tam, deputy director of China’s NPCSC Basic Law Committee, said, “Having just one person running for [chief executive’s] office does not mean we have fewer choices,” in a semantically illogical statement.
Paradoxical doublespeak in Hong Kong today occurs not only as a sprinkling of isolated incidents, but is deeply existential. Earlier this year, news broke regarding new textbooks for schoolchildren in Hong Kong that would assert that Hong Kong was never a British colony. In his speech at the handover anniversary celebrations, President Xi Jinping asserted that “true democracy” in Hong Kong only began after Hong Kong was returned to China. When questioned by a UN rights committee about press freedoms and disbanded NGOs, the secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, Erick Tsang, retorted defensively that “in fact, democracy has taken a quantum leap forward since the return to the motherland in 1997.” All this presents a crisis of rhetoric and of ideology. If Hong Kong was never a colony, it couldn’t “be returned,” but if this was so, then what was being celebrated on the first of July? Meanwhile, pro-democracy activists are deemed unpatriotic and persecuted. Is one to understand if democracy is desirable or not? And does Hong Kong have one, or not?
Read the Wired article… you will get the reference.
9. Chinese institutes at UK universities ‘screening out undesirable staff’
Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph, August 13, 2022
10. Hong Kong schools and kindergartens to receive copies of speech by Xi Jinping
Ng Kang-Chung, South China Morning Post, August 15, 2022
Teachers expected to understand key messages from speech on ‘one country, two systems’ and city’s integration into development of mainland China
11. China’s Ambassador Accuses U.S. of Exacerbating Crisis Over Taiwan
Paul Beckett, Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022
12. China suspends major platform that doubted Beijing COVID policies
Cissy Zhou, Nikkei Asia, August 10, 2022
13. As China’s Economy Stumbles, Homeowners Boycott Mortgage Payments
Daisuke Wakabayashi, New York Times, August 17, 2022
14. Expat teachers balk at Hong Kong’s quarantine strictures
Chan Ho-him, Financial Times, August 12, 2022
15. U.S., Taiwan to begin formal trade talks amid Pelosi visit’s fallout
Eva Dou and Lyric Li, Washington Post, August 18, 2022
The United States and Taiwan said they are set to begin formal trade negotiations, as Washington shows its support for the island democracy facing Beijing’s ire for hosting high-ranking U.S. congressional delegations.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it expects the formal talks on the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade to begin in the fall. Washington had excluded Taiwan from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a trade initiative widely seen as an effort to counter China’s influence in the region, despite some U.S. lawmakers lobbying for Taiwan’s inclusion.
The U.S.-Taiwan negotiations will cover 11 areas including agriculture, small and medium-size enterprises, digital trade and the environment, according to Taiwan’s Executive Yuan, the executive branch of government. The goals for the talks include “strengthening the institutionalized connection between Taiwan and other countries,” it said in a statement Thursday.
Environmental Harms
16. Chinese factories close as drought hits hydropower
Aljazeera, August 17, 2022
17. China and US spar over climate on Twitter
Ken Moritsugu, ABC News, August 17, 2022
18. China deploys cloud-seeding planes and cuts electricity use as record heatwave takes toll
The Guardian, August 17, 2022
Foreign Interference and Coercion
19. China Reliance on Taiwan Would Make Trade Retaliation Costly
Sarah Zheng, Bloomberg, August 16, 2022
20. China sanctions seven Taiwanese 'independence diehard' officials
Yew Lun Tian and Ben Blanchard, Reuters, August 16, 2022
21. What a Chinese Blockade of Taiwan Would Mean for Global Business
Chun Han and Yang Jie, Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022
22. South Korea Says Missile Shield ‘Not Negotiable’ With China
Jeong-Ho Lee, Bloomberg, August 11, 2022
23. China warns Israel not to let U.S. pressure hurt relations
Barak Ravid, Axios, August 17, 2022
24. China has encroached on Canada’s critical minerals industry, with almost no obstruction from Ottawa
Niall McGee, The Globe and Mail, August 13, 2022
25. Lessons for Latin America from PRC Moves Against Taiwan
Evan Ellis, Newsmax, August 12, 2022
26. China’s top 5 wolf warrior diplomats sinking their fangs into Europe
Stuart Lau, Politico, August 11, 2022
27. The uncomfortable economic truth behind Xi Jinping’s Taiwan threats
Jeremy Mark, Atlantic Council, August 11, 2022
Human Rights and Religious Persecution
28. Taiwan blames politics for cancellation of global Pride event
Pak Yiu, NBC, August 12, 2022
29. China forcing political critics into psychiatric hospitals: report
Pak Yiu, Nikkei Asia, August 16, 2022
30. Non-jury trial ordered for Hong Kong’s 47 democrats national security case
Hong Kong Free Press, August 16, 2022
31. Hong Kong opposition activists to face trial without jury in subversion case
Ng Kang-chung, South China Morning Post, August 16, 2022
32. UN Expert Finds Forced Labor Claims in China’s Xinjiang Credible
Bloomberg, August 17, 2022
Industrial Policies and Economic Espionage
33. Taiwan tensions force multinationals to rethink China risk
Hudson Lockett, Financial Times, August 17, 2022
34. Five State-Run Chinese Giants to Delist From U.S. Stock Exchanges
Alexandra Stevenson, New York Times, August 12, 2022
35. China’s Measures to Boost Economy Don’t Match Past Efforts
Stella Yifan Xie and James T. Areddy, Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022
36. Taiwan chip veteran says he was ‘foolish’ to work for China’s top foundry
Jiaxing Li, South China Morning Post, August 13, 2022
37. In surprise move, China cuts key interest rate by 10 basis points
Frank Tang, South China Morning Post, August 15, 2022
38. China can't afford to counter the CHIPS Act -- yet, experts say
Yifan Yu, Nikkei Asia, August 17, 2022
39. Xi Jinping’s economic revolution aims to spread growth
The Economist, August 16, 2022
40. China’s Growth Slowed Across All Fronts in July, Prompting Unexpected Rate Cut
Jason Douglas, Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022
41. Race to Lead: How China’s Government Interventions Shape U.S.-China Industrial Competition
Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, August 1, 2022
42. Trapped cash mangles China's policy plans
Samuel Shen and Brenda Goh, Japan Times, August 17, 2022
Cyber & Information Technology
43. Alibaba, ByteDance Share Details of Prized Algorithms With Beijing for First Time
Jane Zhang, Bloomberg, August 15, 2022
44. How Frustration Over TikTok Has Mounted in Washington
David McCabe, New York Times, August 14, 2022
45. Strategic Settings for 6G: Pathways for China and the US
John Lee, Meia Nouwens, and Kai Lin Tay, IISS, August 12, 2022
Military and Security Threats
46. China to send troops to Russia for joint week-long military drills
The Guardian, August 17, 2022
47. The United States Is Deeply Invested in the South China Sea
Gregory B. Poling, Foreign Policy, August 17, 2022
48. Chinese drone maker DJI asserts its products’ civilian use after Russian official calls them ‘symbol of modern warfare’
Jiaxing Li, South China Morning Post, August 15, 2022
49. German fighter jets en route to Australia as Berlin shifts focus to Indo-Pacific
Reuters, August 15, 2022
50. U.S. Lawmakers Travel to Taiwan on Heels of Pelosi Visit
Liza Lin, Joyu Wang, and Natalie Andrews, Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2022
51. VIDEO – India concerned about Chinese vessel docked in Sri Lanka
Al Jazeera, August 16, 2022
52. Can South Korea chart a path between the US and China in the Indo-Pacific?
Andrew Yeoh, Brookings Institution, August 15, 2022
53. Sri Lanka allows entry for controversial Chinese ship
Times of India, August 13, 2022
One Belt, One Road Strategy
54. Is Africa undercutting its sovereignty with China’s debt-trap diplomacy?
Sally Boyani, The Africa Report, August 15, 2022
55. China’s belt and road lending under more scrutiny after IMF tightens debt limits, experts say
Kaddy Wong, South China Morning Post, August 11, 2022
Jevans Nyabiage, South China Morning Post, August 11, 2022
57. More Chinese Military Bases in Africa: A Question of When, Not If
Eric A. Miller, Foreign Policy, August 16, 2022
Opinion Pieces
58. China’s decline may be looming. Here’s how the U.S. can win, if it so chooses
George Will, Washington Post, August 17, 2022
By next year, India will become the most populous nation. This, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s splendidly insouciant visit to Taiwan, will diminish today’s fatalism about China — the fallacious assumption that its trajectory is inevitably upward, so it must be accommodated.
59. How the Chinese Communist Party Steals U.S. Technology
Paul Dabbar, Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2022
When I joined the U.S. Department of Energy in 2017, I was briefed about how pervasively the Chinese Communist Party had woven itself into the U.S. government’s research and innovation efforts. Traditionally, labs and academic institutions around the world and their researchers work on projects together. And periodically, foreign institutions, including in China, compensate Americans for their efforts. The Communist Party began to use these interactions to recruit people for their technology-appropriation programs.
I should have known. Before I joined the department, I was in the nuclear industry in the private sector, and served on an Energy Department advisory board. Chinese state entities often invited me to attend nuclear conferences and tour the country—all expenses paid. I always said no, because I was too busy. In retrospect, I certainly am glad I was. The invitations have resumed since I left the government, and my answer is a well-informed no.
I learned that people working at the Energy Department’s National Laboratories had significant engagements with China. Some were paid by one of the many Chinese Communist Party Thousand Talents Plans while concurrently working at sensitive U.S. government labs. These agreements often required technology transfer as well as support for recruiting more members to the TTPs. This was also happening at other agencies, and it was recently disclosed that these include nonscience and international institutions such as the Federal Reserve and the Inter-American Development Bank.
The weakness in the Energy Department’s compliance rules was that there were no disclosure or conflict-of-interest policies regarding foreign engagement or research and technologies other than those involving strategic weapons. There were no rules about research in quantum computing and artificial intelligence, which will have a large economic impact and defense applications.
During my tenure, the department developed and rolled out four orders to restrict China’s recruiting and appropriation of innovation. First, mandate disclosure and develop conflict-of-interest policies for department and national-lab employees regarding countries of risk (China, Russia, Iran and North Korea), including a ban on TTP membership. Second, develop a “technology risk matrix,” a map detailing which technologies we would collaborate on with those countries, and which we wouldn’t. Third, increase oversight on interactions by any program or employee with those countries. Fourth, require that any researcher supported by a department grant (including at U.S. universities) not be a member of a TTP.
A recent report about vanadium battery technology appropriated last year from Energy Department efforts shows there are still significant gaps, but these policies were a good start.
Mr. Dabbar served as undersecretary of energy for science, 2017-21.
COMMENT: Paul Dabbar worked tirelessly to protect U.S. advantages and interests while developing a set of transparency rules which would safeguard individuals from undo suspicion.
60. When Biden Went to China
Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, August 11, 2022
Biden’s engagement with Beijing in 1979 was shaped by the superpower rivalry with the Soviets. Today, his Cold War adversary is China itself.
61. Xi: the loneliest man in the world
Salvatore Babones, Sydney Morning Herald, August 13, 2022
Xi Jinping maintains his authority through stoking conflict—ruling through a balance of enemies rather than a preponderance of friends.
62. China’s Xi Jinping Economic Slump
Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022
63. Xi Jinping’s Reach Exceeds His Grasp
Kevin Rudd, Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2022
He wants nothing less than to see China become the pre-eminent global power during his lifetime.
64. China’s Computer Chips Are Down
Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2022
65. Companies Are Fleeing China for Friendlier Shores
Elisabeth Braw, Foreign Policy, August 17, 2022
66. Nancy Pelosi Rebukes Biden’s China Policy
Michael Sobolik, Newsweek, August 17, 2022
67. Pursuing freedom and openness in the Indo-Pacific
Kaush Arha, East Asia Forum, August 13, 2022