China Articles - May 23, 2021
Friends,
Below is this week’s collection of articles and reports on the malign activities of the Chinese Communist Party.
Thanks for reading!
Matt
MUST READ
1. Only an international effort can put an end to China’s crimes in Xinjiang
Jewher Ilham and Sophie Richardson, The Guardian, May 16, 2021
Jewher Ilham, the daughter of the Uyghur intellectual Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economist who has been imprisoned for life, and Sophie Richardson, the China director for Human Rights Watch, call for action in The Guardian. Their article describes the PRC’s crimes against their own Uyghur citizens and the need for the international community to intervene.
“Pursuing such action is an extraordinary challenge, but the Xi government’s abuses – from silencing human rights activists and journalists, to destroying Hong Kong’s democracy, to its increasingly global surveillance efforts – make clear that a Chinese leadership unchecked by international law and accountability will only be further emboldened.”
2. How China plays on inter-race ties in the US
Dhurva Jaishankar, Hindustan Times, May 19, 2021
3. China’s position on the Gaza-instigated war reveals long standing Chinese interests
Clarice Witte, Sino-Israel Global Network and Academic Leadership, May 19, 2021
4. Mosques disappear as China strives to ‘build a beautiful Xinjiang’
Cate Cadell, Reuters, May 14, 2021
5. Investigate the origins of COVID-19
Jesse D. Bloom, Yujia Alina Chan, Ralph S. Baric, et al., Science, May 14, 2021
Authoritarianism
6. Scientists Call for Deeper Investigation into Covid-19 Origin
Amy Dockser Markus and Betsy McKay, Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2021
In a letter published Thursday in the journal Science, an international group of 18 biologists, immunologists and other scientists criticized the findings of a report released in March by a World Health Organization-led team into the pandemic’s origin and called for a more extensive evaluation of the two leading hypotheses: that the pandemic virus entered the human population and began spreading after escaping from a lab or after jumping to humans from infected animals.
The WHO-led team, which included scientists from China and several other countries, reported no definitive proof of either hypothesis. Yet, the scientists wrote, the team nevertheless concluded that an animal origin for the pandemic was the likelier scenario and devoted only four out of the report’s 313 pages to the possibility of a lab accident.
7. Hong Kong to Freeze Jimmy Lai’s Assets, Citing Security Law
Felix Tam, Bloomberg, May 14, 2021
8. MSCI China Enters Bear Market After Tech Selloff; Alibaba Slumps
Jeanny Yu, Bloomberg, May 13, 2021
9. China bars foreign curricula, ownership in some private schools
Reuters, May 17, 2021
The new law, which comes into effect on Sept. 1, halts the teaching of foreign curricula in schools from kindergarten to grade nine (K-9) and prohibits the ownership or control of any private K-9 schools by foreign entities.
10. Morgan Stanley cautions against Chinese ADRs as delisting looms
Reuters, May 14, 2021
11. How much support does the Chinese Communist Party really have?
Dexter Tiff Roberts, Atlantic Council, April 14, 2021
12. China's Ruling Party Cancels Maoist Gatherings on Cultural Revolution Anniversary
Radio Free Asia, May 17, 2021
13. Hong Kong Rights Group Leaders Say They Are Prepared For Jail
Radio Free Asia, May 17, 2021
14. How missing CCTV footage turned a Chinese family’s tragedy into a national conspiracy
Vincent Ni, The Guardian, May 15, 2021
15. Pro-China Lawmakers in Hong Kong Find a New National-Security Target: Art
Joyu Wang and Yoko Kubota, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2021
16. Censorship, Surveillance and Profits: A Hard Bargain for Apple in China
Jack Nicas, Raymond Zhong, and Daisuke Wakabayashi, New York Times, May 17, 2021
Mr. Cook often talks about Apple’s commitment to civil liberties and privacy. But to stay on the right side of Chinese regulators, his company has put the data of its Chinese customers at risk and has aided government censorship in the Chinese version of its App Store. After Chinese employees complained, it even dropped the “Designed by Apple in California” slogan from the backs of iPhones.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is increasing his demands on Western companies, and Mr. Cook has resisted those demands on a number of occasions. But he ultimately approved the plans to store customer data on Chinese servers and to aggressively censor apps, according to interviews with current and former Apple employees.
17. China Planning 'Unprecedented' Tiananmen Memorial Crackdown: Report
John Feng, Newsweek, May 18, 2021
18. As census numbers puzzle, China upgrades birth data by 1m per year
Iori Kawate, Nikkei Asia, May 19, 2021
19. Firm founded by son of China finance tsar invests heavily in tech
Tom Mitchell, Tabby Kinder, and Demetri Sevastopulo, Financial Times, May 18, 2021
Environmental Harms
20. Kerry says trusting China on climate would be 'stupid and malpractice'
Politico, May 12, 2021
21. China April crude steel output hits record despite production controls
Min Zhang and Shivani Singh, Reuters, May 17, 2021
22. ‘Catastrophic’: Sierra Leone sells rainforest for Chinese harbour
Karen McVeigh and Kabba Kargbo, The Guardian, May 17, 2021
23. UK's COP26 president Sharma: We need more urgency from China on climate promises
Reuters, May 18, 2021
Foreign Interference and Coercion
24. U.S. will not leave Australia alone to face China coercion -Blinken
Daphne Psaledakis and Simon Lewis, Reuters, May 14, 2021
25. After hiking prices, China now sending sub-standard oxygen concentrators to India
Geeta Mohan, India Today, May 14, 2021
26. Philippines' Duterte says won't withdraw ships from contested waters
Reuters, May 14, 2021
27. How the Chinese Communist Party ‘positions’ the United Kingdom
Matthew Henderson, Council on Geostrategy, April 22, 2021
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views and ‘positions’ foreign powers positively or negatively according to whether they contest or support its revisionist aim to supplant the United States (US) as the dominant global power. The CCP uses a specific form of ‘discursive statecraft’, including positioning operations, within its ‘unrestricted warfare’ strategy, whose purpose is to divide and degrade rivals without the use of military force.
28. Hong Kong Closes Trade Office in Taiwan Amid Spat Over Visas
Iain Marlow and Natalie Lung, Bloomberg, May 18, 2021
29. US to send vaccines to Latin America after Taiwan ally warns of pivot to China
Michael Stott, Kathrin Hille, Demetri Sevastopulo, Financial Times, May 18, 2021
Human Rights and Religious Persecution
30. VIDEO — Spotlight on China: propaganda and lies about the Uyghur genocide
Irwin Cotler, Mehmet Tohti, and David Mulroney, Foundation for Genocide Education, May 10, 2021
31. In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour and Global Solar Supply Chains
Laura T. Murphy and Nyrola Elimä, Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice
32. Family De-planning: The Coercive Campaign to Drive Down Indigenous Birth-rates in Xinjiang
Nathan Ruser and Dr. James Leibold, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, May 12, 2021
33. China Occupies Sacred Land in Bhutan, Threatens India
Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter, May 17, 2021
34. Pelosi calls for ‘diplomatic boycott’ of 2022 China Olympics on human rights grounds
Kevin Breuninger, CNBC, May 18, 2021
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday called for a “diplomatic boycott” of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in response to China’s human rights record.
“We cannot proceed as if nothing is wrong about the Olympics going to China,” Pelosi told Congress’ Human Rights Commissionand the Congressional-Executive Commission on China during a hearing on the games.
35. Israel accuses Chinese state TV of ‘blatant antisemitism’
Associated Press, May 19, 2021
Industrial Policies and Economic Espionage
36. Truss: When will WTO treat China as developed country to stop Beijing's unfair trade practices?
Stefan Boscia, City AM, May 19, 2021
37. China clamps down on auto data collection by Tesla and others
Shunsuke Tabeta, Nikkei Asia, May 13, 2021
United States Department of Justice, May 14, 2021
“In yet another case involving the Chinese government’s Thousand Talents program, Song Guo Zheng will spend the next 37 months in a federal prison because he chose to lie and hide his involvement in this program from U.S. research funding agencies,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers for the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “American research funding is provided by the American taxpayer for the benefit of American society — not as an illicit gift to the Chinese government. The American people deserve total transparency when federal dollars are being provided for research, and we will continue to hold accountable those who choose to lie about their foreign government affiliations in an attempt to fraudulently gain access to these funds.”
39. U.S. trade chief: new legal tools needed to combat future China threats
David Lawder, Reuters, May 14, 2021
Cyber and Information Technology
40. Tech-tonic shift in Sino-Russian cooperation
Nivedita Kapoor, Observer Research Foundation, May 12, 2021
41. Huawei’s Global Cloud Strategy
Jonathan E. Hillman and Maesea McCalpin, Center For Strategic and International Studies, May 17, 2021
Katrina Northrop, The Wire China, May 16, 2021
43. Ants in a Web: Deconstructing Guo Wengui's Online 'Whistleblower Movement'
Graphika, May 17, 2021
44. Why is Huawei still in the UK?
Zoe Kleinman, BBC, May 17, 2021
45. Cloud becomes new front line between China and the west
Alice Kantor, Financial Times, May 17, 2021
Military and Security Threats
46. China’s irresponsible behaviour: A threat to space security
Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Observer Research Foundation, May 12, 2021
47. Chinese Nationalism and the “Gray Zone”: Case Analyses of Public Opinion and PRC Maritime Policy
Andrew Chubb, United States Naval War College, May 2021
48. Chinese buying up land around military bases in Japan: report
Apple Daily, May 14, 2021
Japan has unearthed at least 700 Chinese-funded instances of plots of land changing hands near military bases, in a government investigation prompted by security concerns, a newspaper reports.
49. The Drone Dealer
Eli Binder, The Wire China, May 16, 2021
50. Hawaii’s Fishermen Are Worried About China’s Fleet. So Is The Military
Kevin Knodell, Honolulu Civil Beat, May 17, 2021
51. How China’s military–civil fusion policy ties into its push for world-class universities
Audrey Fritz, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, May 19, 2021
One Belt, One Road Strategy
52. China Loan at Risk as Nigeria Faces New Claim Over Power Deal
William Clowes, Bloomberg, May 14, 2021
53. Chinese contractors win majority of mega projects in Africa
Jevans Nyabiage, South China Morning Post, May 17, 2021
54. China Just Gave Kenya Two Luxury Buses and a New Foreign Ministry HQ
Eric Claude Olander, The China Africa Project, May 17, 2021
55. The BRI in EU-China Relations: Geostrategic Stakes
Mercy A. Kuo, The Diplomat, May 19, 2021
Opinion Pieces
56. Trading One Dependency for Another
Nadia Schadlow, War on the Rocks, May 12, 2021
57. When and Why China Might—or Might Not—Attack Taiwan
Jacob Stokes, Defense One, May 11, 2021
58. A Middle Class Foreign Policy Must Address Universities' China Dependence
Amanda J. Rothschild, Newsweek, May 14, 2021
59. U.S. Can Stop the Pandemic and Counter China
Ben Sasse, Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2021
Holger Bingmann, Handelsblatt, May 15, 2021 — ORIGINAL IN GERMAN
61. India Draws a Line in the 5G Sand
Harsh V. Pant and Aarshi Tirkey, Foreign Policy, May 18, 2021