Matt Turpin's China Articles - September 17, 2023
Friends,
It has happened again… in less than two months another Chinese minister has gone missing.
This time it’s the defense minister, General Li Shangfu.
Late Thursday night, our friends at the Financial Times and Washington Post broke the story that Li is under investigation for corruption, according to several U.S. officials. He was last seen in public on August 29 giving a keynote address at the China-Africa Peace and Security Forum, just after he had returned from a trip to Moscow and Minsk.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and PRC Defense Minister General Li Shangfu meeting in Minsk on August 17, 2023. Likely Li’s last trip outside of the PRC.
Li’s disappearance follows on the heels of the disappearance and removal of the PRC Foreign Minister, as well as the entire leadership of the PRC’s nuclear forces.
I know Xi Jinping and his associates were really upset that the U.S. imposed CASTSA sanctions (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) on General Li back in 2020 when he was the Chief of the PLA’s Procurement Department. It was likely that sanctioning that convinced Xi to make Li the defense minister.
Perhaps now, with a bit of reflection, Xi can appreciate that Washington was trying to help him out.
So what’s next for General Li…
When I made this montage of images for the July 23rd Issue of China Articles, I didn’t think I’d have an opportunity to recycle it so soon, but here we are.
Li Shangfu likely faces the same fate as General Fang Fenghui, who at one-time was the PLA’s top General until he disappeared after returning from a trip to Washington in 2017. Two years later, the world learned that Fang Fenghui was sentenced to life in prison for corruption.
***
This week shows how the Chinese Communist Party is stepping up its information warfare campaigns. Beijing’s efforts to demonize Japan over the release of treated water from the Fukushima accident site, as well as attempting to blame the Maui wildfires on a secret U.S. Government “weather weapon,” are just two of the latest examples.
We should expect to see these campaigns escalate as several important elections take place next year in Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Japan, the European Union, and the United States. It is starting to come to light that Beijing waged significant political interference campaigns in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian national elections and this should make everyone nervous (finally, after months of dragging its feet, the Trudeau Government has dropped its opposition to a public inquiry into these assaults on Canadian sovereignty).
Both Moscow and Beijing believe that our political systems are deeply vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. They each believe that they can sow division within our societies which will result in the kind of chaos that will benefit them strategically.
As Chris Zappone pointed out in an OpEd I highlighted last week, simply “defending democracy” by policing social media is insufficient in the face of this authoritarian alliance. He asks the right question: “how do we ensure that our own freedoms aren’t used by adversaries to undermine our society and its interests?” For Zappone, democracies should go on the offensive in the information domain.
Beijing invests significant resources in maintaining “social stability,” in fact the Chinese Communist Party only feels comfortable in pursuing aggressive strategies abroad when it believes it has sufficient stability at home. The latest episode of the “Talking China in Eurasia” podcast (#15) highlights how Beijing tries to help its ally in Moscow with maintaining its own social stability and as David Bandurski pointed out last year, the Ukraine War has given them an incredible opportunity to join forces in their shared campaigns to undermine democratic unity.
We should be going on the offensive in the information domain. If Beijing and Moscow want to continue to interfere on the internal affairs of democracies, then we should respond in kind given that their political systems are far more vulnerable.
Thanks for reading!
Matt
MUST READ
1. Chinese defence minister under investigation by Beijing, US believes
Demetri Sevastopulo, Financial Times, September 14, 2023
Li Shangfu has not been seen in public for more than two weeks.
The US government believes Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu has been placed under investigation in the latest sign of turmoil among elite members of Beijing’s military and foreign policy establishment.
Three US officials and two people briefed on the intelligence said Washington had concluded that Li, who has not been seen in public for more than two weeks, had been stripped of his responsibilities as defence minister.
The move comes two months after China’s president Xi Jinping removed the two top generals at the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, which oversees the country’s rapidly expanding arsenal of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.
China’s former foreign minister Qin Gang also disappeared from public view for a month before he was removed from his position in July.
2. China’s defense minister under investigation for corruption
Ellen Nakashima and Cate Cadell, Washington Post, September 15, 2023
The expected purge of Li, who has been noticeably absent from public view for more than two weeks, in the wake of other dismissals will heighten a sense of uncertainty over how China’s day-to-day foreign policy is being managed.
It will also further call into question President Xi Jinping’s leadership as he consolidates power, analysts say. They note that the narrowing of his inner circle to yes-men has deprived him of opinions and advice that could avert damaging decisions.
One Chinese official said that Li’s dismissal was imminent, but said it was for “health issues,” not corruption. Two people involved in the Chinese defense industry, however, said there is broad consensus that Li’s absence is related to corruption charges relating to his previous position as head of military procurement.
COMMENT – Fitting with CCP behavior, when asked about these reports on Friday during a press briefing, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said she “didn’t know about the situation mentioned.”
I suspect that she wasn’t lying, the Chinese Foreign Ministry is kept in the dark deliberately, particularly about military matters.
It is very likely that Chinese officials across the Government and in their embassies around the world have only learned about these purges through foreign media outlets.
Imagine yourself as a mid-level diplomat at a Chinese embassy in Europe, nobody inside your own system acknowledges that senior ministers are going missing and that government officials, reporters and average citizens in other countries seem to know more about the inner-workings of the PRC Government than you do… that must be very, very disconcerting.
Let me state the obvious: this is an incredible opportunity for foreign intelligence services that want to recruit assets inside the CCP and PRC government institutions. (Recall the comments by CIA Director Bill Burns at the Aspen Security Summit in July when asked about rebuilding its human intelligence networks inside China: “Yeah. We've made progress and we're working very hard over recent years to ensure that we have strong human intelligence capability to complement what we can acquire through other methods.”)
3. AUDIO – Drum Tower: Nuclear reaction
The Economist’s Drum Tower, September 12, 2023
COMMENT - For months, if not years, the Chinese Communist Party has been preparing to wage a global information warfare campaign centered on Tokyo’s efforts to clean up the waste that resulted from the nuclear accident in Fukushima in March 2011. The Party’s campaign is meant to demonize the Japanese in the eyes of the Chinese people and populations around the world. The hosts do an incredible job of shining a light on Beijing’s desperate attempts to manipulate public opinion for its own narrow interests.
As countries wrestle with the Party’s aggression and coercion, this experience provides a valuable lesson on the playbook Beijing will employ.
4. China Sows Disinformation About Hawaii Fires Using New Techniques
David E. Sanger and Steven Lee Myers, New York Times, September 11, 2023
Beijing’s influence campaign using artificial intelligence is a rapid change in tactics, researchers from Microsoft and other organizations say.
When wildfires swept across Maui last month with destructive fury, China’s increasingly resourceful information warriors pounced.
The disaster was not natural, they said in a flurry of false posts that spread across the internet, but was the result of a secret “weather weapon” being tested by the United States. To bolster the plausibility, the posts carried photographs that appeared to have been generated by artificial intelligence programs, making them among the first to use these new tools to bolster the aura of authenticity of a disinformation campaign.
For China — which largely stood on the sidelines of the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections while Russia ran hacking operations and disinformation campaigns — the effort to cast the wildfires as a deliberate act by American intelligence agencies and the military was a rapid change of tactics.
Until now, China’s influence campaigns have been focused on amplifying propaganda defending its policies on Taiwan and other subjects. The most recent effort, revealed by researchers from Microsoft and a range of other organizations, suggests that Beijing is making more direct attempts to sow discord in the United States.
COMMENT - The Fukushima campaign against Japan and the Maui wildfire campaign against the United States shows that Beijing can both plan deliberate efforts against known events months in advance AND deploy campaigns rapidly to take advantage of immediate events.
5. Meet the Canadian lawmaker targeted by China
Kyle Duggan, Politico, September 12, 2023
A Canadian parliamentarian who was targeted by a Chinese political interference campaign will warn U.S. lawmakers today that international cooperation is urgently needed to check China’s aggressive operations against democracies.
Michael Chong, who serves as the Conservative Party’s foreign affairs point person, has been a vocal opponent against the Chinese state’s abuses against the Uyghur minority. He learned earlier this year from press reports that a Chinese diplomat was clandestinely collecting information on him and his family.
One of several witnesses to appear before the congressional-executive commission on China for hearings on countering “China’s global transnational repression campaign,” Chong will tell his story to lawmakers in a rare in-person appearance by a Canadian member of Parliament.
“Beijing’s targeting of me has only further emboldened me,” he tells POLITICO.
“The fact that Beijing has decided to target people like me, who are outspoken about their violations of international law, means that they’re very worried that we are being effective, and they have clumsily tried to silence us. But the opposite is the effect.”
Chong plans to call for sharing best practices among intelligence allies about when to make public information about China’s foreign interference activities. He will also advocate that allies work together to create foreign agent registries — something Canada still lacks — and share other information.
In testimony to the Canadian Parliament, Chong criticized the Canadian national security and intelligence systems and blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for not improving them. But the thrust of his message to Washington. will be forward-looking: This is happening across allied democracies, and it must be dealt with quickly.
“I’m going to highlight not just what happened to me, but also the numerous incidences of transnational repression we’ve seen directed by the People’s Republic of China toward pro-Hong Kong democracy activists, human rights activists, people speaking out defending the rights of Tibetans, Uyghurs and other minorities in Canada.”
Chong’s entanglements with China began when Beijing sanctioned him in 2021 after he became a vocal critic on the Uyghur issue and Chinese telecom Huawei. It later emerged that a Chinese diplomat had been gathering information to target him and his extended family in Hong Kong since 2020. The diplomat was later expelled from Canada.
COMMENT - Over the past year it has come become public that the Canadian Government under Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party, knew of these political interference campaigns and did little to respond as they seemed directed at the Liberal Party’s domestic opponents.
6. The China-Russia Axis Takes Shape
Bonny Lin, Foreign Policy, September 11, 2023
The bond has been decades in the making, but Russia’s war in Ukraine has tightened their embrace.
In July, nearly a dozen Chinese and Russian warships conducted 20 combat exercises in the Sea of Japan before beginning a 2,300-nautical-mile joint patrol, including into the waters near Alaska. These two operations, according to the Chinese defense ministry, “reflect the level of the strategic mutual trust” between the two countries and their militaries.
The increasingly close relationship between China and Russia has been decades in the making, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has tightened their embrace. Both countries made a clear strategic choice to prioritize relations with each other, given what they perceive as a common threat from the U.S.-led West. The deepening of bilateral ties is accompanied by a joint push for global realignment as the two countries use non-Western multilateral institutions—such as the BRICS forum and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)—to expand their influence in the developing world. Although neither Beijing nor Moscow currently has plans to establish a formal military alliance, major shocks, such as a Sino-U.S. conflict over Taiwan, could yet bring it about.
China and Russia’s push for better relations began after the end of the Cold War. Moscow became frustrated with its loss of influence and status, and Beijing saw itself as the victim of Western sanctions after its forceful crackdown of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. In the 1990s and 2000s, the two countries upgraded relations, settled their disputed borders, and deepened their arms sales. Russia became the dominant supplier of advanced weapons to China.
When Xi Jinping assumed power in 2012, China was already Russia’s largest trading partner, and the two countries regularly engaged in military exercises. They advocated for each other in international forums; in parallel, they founded the SCO and BRICS grouping to deepen cooperation with neighbors and major developing countries.
When the two countries upgraded their relations again in 2019, the strategic drivers for much closer relations were already present. Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 damaged its relations with the West and led to a first set of economic sanctions. Similarly, Washington identified Beijing as its most important long-term challenge, redirected military resources to the Pacific, and launched a trade war against Chinese companies. Moscow and Beijing were deeply suspicious of what they saw as Western support for the color revolutions in various countries and worried that they might be targets as well. Just as China refused to condemn Russian military actions in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, and Ukraine, Russia fully backed Chinese positions on Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang. The Kremlin also demonstrated tacit support for Chinese territorial claims against its neighbors in the South China Sea and East China Sea.
Since launching its war in Ukraine, Russia has become China’s fastest-growing trading partner. Visiting Moscow in March, Xi declared that deepening ties to Russia was a “strategic choice” that China had made. Even the mutiny in June by Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin that took his mercenary army almost to the gates of Moscow did not change China’s overall position toward Russia, though Beijing has embraced tactical adjustments to “de-risk” its dependency on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
COMMENT - While the Sino-Russian relationship won’t look like the formal treaty alliances we have become used to, make no mistake: Xi and Putin are allies.
7. It’s no longer a given that China will become the world’s largest economy
Mohamed El-Erian, Financial Times, September 8, 2023
COMMENT - Over the past 15 years, business leaders, investors, and politicians have consumed a steady diet of forecasts and predictions that the PRC’s economy was on the brink of becoming the world’s largest, triggering an avalanche of changes across the globe. It appears less and less likely that will happen, forcing those decision-makers to reassess their assumptions and plans.
Authoritarianism
8. It is for China to explain Xi's absence from G20 summit, US official says
Nandita Bose, Reuters, September 9, 2023
9. Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer Ahead of the G20 Summit
The White House, September 9, 2023
Now, some have speculated that China’s absence indicates that it is giving up on the G20, that it is building an alternative world order, that it will privilege groupings like the BRICS.
I would just point out that the three democratic members of the BRICS — India, Brazil, and South Africa — also happen to be the current and next two chairs of the G20. They are committed to the G20’s success, so is the United States. We will host after those three. And if China is not, that’s unfortunate for everyone, but much more unfortunate, we believe, for China.
COMMENT – Jon Finer, the Principal Deputy National Security Advisor, comments on the Chinese Communist Party’s decision to skip the G20 Summit and the speculation that Beijing seeks to sideline the G20 so that it can realize its dream of building an alternative world order around its own institutions like BRICS.
10. Chinese Premier Li G-20 Debut Eclipsed by Xi in State Media
Bloomberg, September 10, 2023
Although Xi didn’t engage in official meetings over the weekend, state media gave his earlier trip to Heilongjiang province wall-to-wall coverage.
China's President Xi Jinping dominated China’s news agenda despite his absence from the Group of 20 summit in India, with Li Qiang’s attendance in his place receiving scant coverage by official media.
Although Xi didn’t make a public appearance or engage in any official meetings over the weekend, state media gave his earlier trip to northeastern Heilongjiang province wall-to-wall coverage. Reports highlighted the Chinese leader’s inspection of a military facility, while newspapers gave letters Xi sent to world leaders and others prominent play.
On Sunday, Xi monopolized the first two pages of the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece. In contrast, Li, the first Chinese premier to attend a G-20 summit, was relegated to page four for a speech he delivered and meetings on the sidelines with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
The first 20 minutes of a half-hour evening news program on state TV were devoted to Xi, whereas Li got less than four for his dealings at the leaders’ summit.
Xi’s decision to skip the G-20 gave Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a chance to boost his nation’s influence. India founded a biofuel alliance with the US and Brazil, while the US signed an agreement with India, Middle Eastern countries and the European Union to link them via a network of railways and sea routes.
Li also held just four bilateral meetings, with Meloni, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, von der Leyen and Charles Michel, president of the European Council, according to statements from China’s Foreign Ministry. US President Joe Biden said during a trip to Vietnam on Sunday that he also met with Li at the G-20.
In contrast, Xi met 11 heads of state at the G-20 summit in Bali last year. Symbolizing the low profile Li kept at the summit, he was left out in a video clip that Modi posted on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, that showed heads of states arriving for the opening of the event.
The few meetings that Li held didn’t yield any wins for China. Meloni told him that Italy plans to withdraw from Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative while still looking to maintain friendly relations with Beijing, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. At a press conference, Meloni said she spoke to Li about the BRI but a decision had yet to be made.
Sunak told Li he was concerned about “interference” from Beijing, hours after it emerged that two men had been arrested in the UK for allegedly spying for China.
Scant coverage
While Li’s arrival in New Delhi was streamed on the official summit feed and reposted by some users on social media platform Weibo, the Chinese embassy in India simply posted a photo of an airplane to announce Li’s landing.
The summit itself didn’t get much play in Chinese official media. State broadcaster CCTV had a one-liner on the summit opening. The addition of the African Union to the bloc was given some airtime, although the joint communique adopted a day earlier was only picked up by state television on Sunday afternoon, after the summit’s close.
Hours before the gathering began, a think tank linked to China’s Ministry of State Security published a strongly worded criticism of India, accusing the G-20 host of pushing its own agenda and causing disagreements.
Xi has also hogged the news limelight with letters and messages. On Saturday, he sent a congratulation letter to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on the 75th anniversary of the country’s founding. He also wrote to some teachers ahead of the annual celebration for the profession on Sunday, as well as to a forum on China-Central Asia cooperation.
COMMENT – It makes sense that as the Chinese Communist Party seeks to build an Anti-American bloc and portray the liberal international order as failing, that they must downplay events and examples that demonstrate Beijing’s weakness.
At Bali during the 2022 G20 Summit, Xi Jinping came across as isolated and ineffectual… narratives that the Party’s media outlets are desperate to refute.
11. China seeks to criminalize 'hurting the feelings' of its people
Pak Yiu, Nikkei Asia, September 8, 2023
12. Elusive Ernie: China's new chatbot has a censorship problem
Stephen McDonell, BBC, September 09, 2023
13. No hope China will rejoin the world, top Beijing-based businessman says
Latika Bourke, Sydney Morning Herald, September 10, 2023
One of Europe’s top business figures in China says there is no hope that anyone can influence President Xi Jinping to retreat from his aggressive foreign policy.
Joerg Wuttke, the president emeritus of the EU Chamber in China, is in Australia to address the Asia Society on Monday about the economic trajectory of the world’s second-largest economy.
He said its days of blockbuster economic growth were over because Xi was willing to exchange growth for ideology.
He said he did not believe this would lead to conflict over democratically ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own and Xi has threatened to take control of, with military force if necessary.
Wuttke said that although Xi had to service his domestic crowd with patriotic statements, he would assess the risks and costs of starting a war as too great. Xi was “not a man in a hurry when it comes to Taiwan”.
“I really don’t see any military conflict in Taiwan, everything I hear here is too rational,” Wuttke said in an interview over Zoom from Beijing, where he has been based since 1997.
“He’s a man who doesn’t gamble. Unlike Putin, he’s a man that wants security and controllable security – and a war in Taiwan is anything but.
“I guess that he will not make the mistake of going down the road that has unintended consequences as he has seen from the US in Iraq and Afghanistan: it is easy to start a war and it’s very difficult to end it and win it.”
Wuttke counts Kevin Rudd among his friends and described Australia’s former prime minister and current ambassador to the US as one of the world’s top thinkers on China.
Rudd’s 2022 book The Avoidable War argues China and the US can coexist without military conflict in the form of “managed strategic competition”.
The Biden administration has been trying to calm relations with Beijing, but China has refused to re-establish a hotline for their militaries to use to prevent skirmishes or accidental escalations.
Xi boycotted the weekend’s G20 summit in neighbouring India, in a major snub to the host country and rival for leader of the non-Western-aligned countries, sometimes referred to as the Global South.
Western diplomats say it was yet another example of China obstructing multilateral attempts to reach consensus on issues of global concern, including the war in Ukraine and climate change.
Asked if there was anyone who could persuade Xi to adopt a more collaborative posture, Wuttke said it was impossible.
14. China turns to AI in hopes of creating viral online propaganda, Microsoft researchers say
AJ Vicens, CyberScoop, September 07, 2023
15. AUDIO – Inside The Investigation That Shows China And Russia’s Growing Cooperation On Censorship
Reid Standish, Talking China in Eurasia Podcast, RFE/RL, September 13, 2023
16. China’s Police Are the New Earners for Cash-Strapped Governments
Chun Han Wong, Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2023
17. China Denies Banning iPhones, but Cites Unspecified Security Concerns
David Pierson, New York Times, September 13, 2023
18. China May Ban Clothes That Hurt People’s Feelings. People Are Outraged.
Li Yuan, New York Times, September 11, 2023
19. US expects Blinken will host China's top diplomat Wang Yi before year-end
Reuters, September 12, 2023
20. The cold war holds lessons for America’s rivalry with China, say Condoleezza Rice and Niall Ferguson
The Economist, September 7, 2023
Environmental Harms
21. China Coal Giant ‘Seizing’ Window of Opportunity for New Plants
Bloomberg, September 4, 2023
22. China’s new coal power spree continues as more provinces jump on the bandwagon
Flora Champenois, Lauri Myllyvirta, Qi Qin, and Xing Zhang, CREA, August 29, 2023
Coal power continues to expand in China, despite the government’s pledges and goals. In the first half of 2023, construction was started on 37 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power capacity, 52 GW was permitted, while 41 GW of new projects were announced and 8 GW of previously shelved projects were revived. Of the permitted projects, 10 GW of capacity has already moved to construction.
Permitting continued apace in the second quarter and in some provinces, newly permitted power plants are moving rapidly into construction, while in others, developers might be securing permits “just in case” and not hurrying to break ground. Of plants permitted in 2022, about half (52 GW) had started construction by summer 2023.
Key findings:
The coal power plant permitting spree that started in summer 2022 has continued in the first half of 2023 and into July. From January to June, construction was started on 37 GW (gigawatts) of new coal power capacity, 52 GW was permitted of which 10 GW already moved into construction, while 41 GW of new projects were announced and 8 GW of previously shelved projects were revived. All of these parts of the project pipeline are currently running at a pace of more than one coal power plant per week.
Most of the new projects don’t meet the central government’s requirements for permitting new coal: the provinces building most new coal aren’t using it to “support” a correspondingly large buildout of clean energy; the majority of projects are in provinces that have no shortage of generating capacity to meet demand peaks; and most new project locations already have more than enough coal power to “support” existing and planned wind and solar capacity. This shows that there is no effective enforcement of the policies limiting new project permitting.
152 GW has been permitted and 169 GW announced since the start of the current spree in early 2022. This means that China is accelerating the additions of new coal power capacity during the current five-year plan period (2021–25) compared to either of the preceding two five-year plan periods.
China now has 243 GW of coal power under construction and permitted. When projects currently announced or in the preparation stage but not yet permitted are included, this number rises to 392 GW. This means that coal power capacity could increase by 23% to 33% from 2022 levels, implying either a massive increase in coal power generation and emissions or a massive drop in plant utilization, implying financial losses and potentially asset stranding.
Unless permitting is stopped immediately, China won’t be able to reduce coal-fired power capacity during the 15th five-year plan (2026–30) without subsequent cancellations of already permitted projects or massive early retirement of existing plants.
COMMENT – As Beijing continues at this pace, CO2 emission cuts by the U.S., Europe, and Japan will be irrelevant.
I know that some readers will NOT like hearing this, but we should consider shifting away from climate change “prevention” to climate change “mitigation” and “adaptation.” I know that some will interpret that as capitulation, but we need to face reality: we will not succeed in cutting overall global CO2 emissions even if the U.S., Europe, and Japan make all of their planned reductions.
Beijing’s actions alone are going to bust through the thresholds we’ve set in various Climate Conferences. That doesn’t even account for India and the rest of the Global South (85% of the world’s population) who will continue to rely on cheaper and more available fossil fuels, sold to them by Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States, to achieve their own development goals.
At this point, the resources and political capital that Europeans and Americans are applying to “prevention” would be better spent on “mitigation” and “adaptation.”
European and American obsession with preventing climate change has only exasperated the divisions between developed countries and developing countries in the Global South, as the latter interpret climate change prevention policies as being directed at undermining their economic development and preventing their citizens from benefiting from more energy intensive lives… things like household appliances, air conditioning, automobiles, etc.
Beijing is NOT a partner or ally in these efforts, instead Beijing and Moscow team up and take advantage of these concerns to drive wedges between the G7 and the Global South, as well as drive wedges between domestic political factions within G7 countries. A perfect example of this is the trip just announced by the California Governor who is going to Beijing to pursue his own climate negotiations. Beijing is absolutely giddy about the opportunity that Newsom is giving them to widen domestic political divisions within the United States ahead of the 2024 elections.
I understand that leaders in Europe and the United States see their efforts as being directed at global public goods and informed by the best science… but these policies are interpreted by developing countries as measures to lock-in geopolitical advantages that developed countries already have.
The UAE will host the next UN Climate Conference (COP 28) in late November and early December… and it is unlikely to achieve any significant breakthroughs in “prevention.” Europe and the United States should use COP 28 as an opportunity to pivot: embrace the development goals of the Global South and shift their resources to mitigating the likely impacts of climate change.
23. Can India Challenge China for Leadership of the ‘Global South’?
Damien Cave, Mujib Mashal, and David Pierson, New York Times, September 12, 2023
24. Europe’s solar industry warns of bankruptcies over Chinese imports
Alice Hancock, Financial Times, September 12, 2023
Foreign Interference and Coercion
25. China spy claims as Parliament researcher arrested
Nick Eardley, BBC, September 10, 2023
A researcher at the UK Parliament has been arrested under the Official Secrets Act, amid claims he was spying for China.
Police have confirmed two men, one in his 20s and another in his 30s, were arrested under the act in March.
Sources have told the BBC one of them was a parliamentary researcher involved in international affairs issues.
As first reported in the Sunday Times, it is understood the researcher had access to several Conservative MPs.
On Sunday morning, No 10 said Rishi Sunak had expressed concerns about Chinese interference to a senior official from China.
A spokesperson said the prime minister had met Chinese Premier Li Qiang during the G20 summit in India, and "conveyed his significant concerns about Chinese interference the UK's parliamentary democracy".
COMMENT – There has been some confusion in the United States over this story. I’m starting to see American media outlets raise questions about why the individuals accused of spying for the PRC in this story aren’t being named in the UK press, despite their arrests happening last March.
Given defamation laws in the UK, media outlets avoid naming individuals who have been arrested until charges are brought. If charges are not brought against an individual, that individual could sue a newspaper for defamation.
The most important point of this whole case is that the PRC Government specifically sought to recruit assets inside an organization set up by members of the UK Parliament to analyze UK-PRC relations.
26. Alleged Chinese spy advised MPs on Beijing before arrest
Latika Bourke, Sydney Morning Herald, September 10, 2023
27. Beijing’s top political adviser picked to lead Taiwan reunification group, stresses fight against ‘separatist forces’
Vanessa Cai, South China Morning Post, September 12, 2023
28. China unveils Taiwan economic ‘integration’ plan as warships conduct manoeuvres off coast
Helen Davidson, The Guardian, September 13, 2023
29. Taiwan cultural rise on world stage threatened by China: minister
Thompson Chau, Nikkei Asia, September 11, 2023
30. Papal envoy Zuppi heads for China on Ukraine peace mission
Alvise Armellini, Reuters, September 12, 2023
Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi will be in China from Wednesday to Friday this week as part of a diplomatic push to facilitate peace in Ukraine, the Vatican said, confirming Italian media reports.
"The visit represents a further stage in the mission desired by the Pope to support humanitarian initiatives and the search for paths that can lead to a just peace", the Vatican said in a statement on Tuesday.
The cardinal already visited Kyiv and Moscow in June and travelled to Washington the following month as part of the Holy See's attempts to bring Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table.
Italian daily La Repubblica said Zuppi was likely to meet "top institutional leaders" in Beijing, including Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
The Vatican statement did not give details about his agenda.
Zuppi has said the initial focus of his mission is to help the repatriation of children that Ukraine says have been deported to Russia or Russian-held territories, rather than a full-scale mediation effort.
COMMENT – While on the surface this appears helpful, I’m skeptical of the Vatican’s involvement.
This will sound harsh, but Pope Francis and his diplomatic corps have shown themselves to be complete amateurs when it comes to dealing with Beijing.
31. China think tank says India is 'sabotaging' G20 for its own agenda
Reuters, September 9, 2023
32. China, Europe should 'unite and co-operate', Premier Li says at G20
Yew Lun Tian, Reuters, September 10, 2023
33. US, Canada sail warships through the Taiwan Strait in a challenge to China
The Associated Press, ABC News, September 9, 2023
34. Canada calls public inquiry into foreign interference
Kyle Duggan, Politico, September 7, 2023
Months of intraparty negotiations determined terms of the long-awaited probe.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is launching a sweeping public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada, setting the stage for the next arm of a yearslong political fight over how the government has handled the charged issue.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the formal independent inquiry Thursday after months of backroom negotiations between Canada’s main political parties over who will lead it and how it will work, and public jabs over whether the government was dragging its heels.
The federal government has tapped a Quebec appeals court judge, Marie-Josée Hogue, to lead the independent probe starting later this month, granting her access to an extensive range of classified documents with an eye to wrap up by end of next year.
It comes amid high tensions with China, following its targeting of a high-profile Canadian member of Parliament that led to a Chinese diplomat getting kicked out of Canada in May.
But Trudeau described Canada’s current relationship with China as “stable” and “not deteriorating right now” during a talk with Bloomberg in Singapore on Thursday.
Relations have not markedly improved since Beijing released two detained Canadians, Trudeau said, a reference to the plight of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.
He attributed slow progress at mending relations to “real concerns around foreign interference” in Canada.
Now is not the time for rapprochement with China, Trudeau said.
The inquiry will stretch far beyond China’s activities — something the left-wing New Democratic Party pushed for in backroom interparty talks.
Hogue is tasked with also examining interference by Russia and other foreign states, and even non-state actors — and any potential influence on the integrity of the past two federal elections.
“China is not the only foreign actor that seeks to undermine democratic institutions in Canada or other Western democracies,” LeBlanc told reporters at a press conference Thursday on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
“This challenge is not unique to Canada,” he said, adding that he spoke in June with a British Cabinet minister about some of the “very challenges” that country faces. “This is a global challenge for democracies.”
COMMENT – Prime Minister Trudeau’s intransigence over this issue has done real harm to Canadian citizens’ faith in their electoral system with 65% of Canadian voters believing that the PRC either “definitely” or “probably” interfered in Canadian elections… that goes up to 82% if one includes voters who think it might have happened:
More than 40% of Conservative Party voters and a third of Bloc Québécois voters believe that the Liberal Party “stole” the 2021 election due to PRC interference.
Charts from “China, Canada and Challenging Diplomacy: Two-in-three Canadians believe Beijing did attempt election interference,” Angus Reid Institute, March 1, 2023.
35. American Universities Shouldn’t Cut All Ties with China
L. Rafael Reif, Foreign Affairs, September 13, 2023
Since the United States and China reopened diplomatic relations in the late 1970s, the leaders of both countries have recognized the value of having their universities work together in research and education, to promote prosperity and friendship. Today, however, U.S. policymakers are so concerned about the potential transfer of advances in science and technology from American university laboratories to China that, step by step, sometimes intentionally, sometimes inadvertently, they are discouraging academic exchanges. Research papers authored jointly by U.S. and Chinese scientists fell in 2021 for the first time in decades, the number of American scientists of Chinese descent leaving the United States for China has ticked upward, and surveys of Chinese students thinking of studying abroad suggest that the United States is becoming a less desirable destination for many of them.
In late August, the U.S. government continued to signal its wariness about academic engagements with China by waiting until the last minute to renew the landmark U.S.-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement, which dates back to 1979. The agreement commits each country to encouraging contacts between their people and organizations, and paves the way for joint research and the exchange of scientists and students. The Biden administration has extended it for only another six months, and some lawmakers on Capitol Hill would like to see it expire.
Although China clearly pursues its own interests when working alongside the United States in scientific explorations, maintaining connections between the two countries’ scientists may be more important than ever. The Beijing-Washington relationship has deteriorated into something akin to a new Cold War, setting up a dangerous rivalry that could damage both countries, and the world. Universities can contribute to stabilizing this relationship without increasing the United States’ vulnerability to Chinese espionage or other efforts to benefit unduly from U.S. research—as long as they do not underestimate the risks posed by engaging with their counterparts based in a rival nation. But universities—and the U.S. government—should avoid exaggerating the risks, as well.
COMMENT – In my personal experience, I’ve found the former President of MIT to be nearly blind to the threats posed by the PRC to academic institutions. In their obsession with raising revenues from education exports, he and other university leaders have ignored how the Chinese Communist Party manipulates academic freedom and threatens Chinese students on their own campuses.
While wrapping themselves in the legitimacy of scientific research and portraying themselves as above petty geopolitical squabbles, many of these administrators are just running a business (in this case an Education business that makes outsized profits on exports) in which they seek to maximize their own revenues and institutional prestige.
The U.S.-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement should be scrapped, as it is no longer in the interest of the United States to “encourage” collaborations that the Chinese Communist Party manipulates for its own advantage.
Perhaps schools like MIT could spend more resources and energy on providing opportunities to the other 6 billion people that live in other parts of the world, rather than obsessing about protecting ties to its cash cow.
36. One subject hung over Biden’s Asia trip: China’s influence
Courtney Subramanian and Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2023
37. Xi Jinping’s G20 snub sparks concern of retreat from international diplomacy
Joe Leahy, Financial Times, September 12, 2023
38. Arrest of alleged spy raises questions around UK’s China policy
Lucy Fisher, Yuan Yang, and John Paul Rathbone, Financial Times, September 11, 2023
39. Senior UK minister says ‘strong case’ for new action against China
George Parker, Anna Gross, Yuan Yang, and Joe Leahy, Financial Times, September 11, 2023
40. U.K.’s Arrest of Suspected Spy Fuels Calls for Tougher Stance on China
Mark Landler, New York Times, September 11, 2023
41. Rishi Sunak launched China reset despite alleged spy arrest
Lucy Fisher and George Parker, Financial Times, September 12, 2023
42. Chinese Propagandists Set Up Shop on Fringe Social-Media Site, Researchers Say
Dustin Volz and Sarah E. Needleman, Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2023
43. China’s Top Diplomat to Skip U.N. Assembly, Raising Doubts About Possible Xi Visit to U.S.
Lingling Wei and Charles Hutzler, Wall Street Journal, September 8, 2023
44. China opposed plans for US to host G20 in 2026
Henry Foy, Lucy Fisher, and James Politi, Financial Times, September 9, 2023
Human Rights and Religious Persecution
45. Chinese Singer Denounced Over Video at Bombed-Out Ukrainian Theater
Javier C. Hernández, New York Times, September 10, 2023
46. Laos deports human rights lawyer who was fleeing state pressure back to China
Dake Kang, Associated Press, September 15, 2023
A human rights lawyer who was arrested in neighboring Laos has been deported back to China, his attorney said, despite pleas from rights groups and United Nations experts for his release.
Lu Siwei was stripped of his legal license for taking on sensitive cases and was fleeing China when he was arrested in the Southeast Asian country earlier in the summer. According to Lithnarong Pholsena, Lu’s attorney, officials at the prison where Lu was held said Thursday that Chinese police took Lu and two busloads of other Chinese citizens detained in Laos back to China earlier this week.
Bob Fu, a Texas-based Christian activist who was assisting Lu, said Laos had violated international law by deporting Lu to China, where family members and activists fear he may be at risk of imprisonment and torture.
47. China’s ‘Beautiful Xinjiang’ Continues to Oppress Uighurs
Maya Wang, Al Jazeera, September 13, 2023
As Beijing tries to convince the world that the Xinjiang region has moved on, its Uighur residents continue to suffer.
48. China’s concerning new strategy on human rights: unite the world behind a ‘selective’ approach
Vladimir Astapkovich, The Conversation, September 6, 2023
For more than three decades, China has struggled to contain criticism of its human rights record. It faced a storm of outrage over the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and condemnation of its mass incarceration of Muslim Uyghurs in recent years. Each time, the Chinese government has had to deal with the diplomatic fallout of its own repression.
To deflect this criticism, Chinese diplomats and propagandists have promulgated a series of different claims.
On the one hand, they have tried to rally developing countries behind the idea that the “right to subsistence” trumps concerns over other human rights.
Other times, the government has justified its dictatorship as an expression of traditional Chinese “Confucian values”. These emphasise the importance of duty and social harmony over individual rights.
Now, however, the government has formed a coherent ideological strategy in response to this criticism. China is seeking not merely to resist but to dismantle a foundational idea of the post-Cold War international order – the universality of human rights.
A new approach cloaked in ‘democratic’ values
The government’s new strategy is called the “Global Civilisation Initiative”. And it’s become a major weapon in the Chinese party-state’s foreign propaganda arsenal.
The initiative was first announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in March. It complements two previously announced (and similarly named) diplomatic tools: the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative.
Together, these intentionally vague concepts are designed to expand China’s influence over international institutions and norms. They also advance Xi’s plan for the “great renewal of the Chinese nation”.
In announcing the Global Civilisation Initiative, Xi put forth lofty ideals about creating a “global network for inter-civilisational dialogue and cooperation” based on “common values of humanity”, such as “justice, democracy and freedom.”
Since then, these themes have been widely echoed by China’s media outlets and its foreign propagandists.
The truth, however, is the initiative represents a kind of modern-day tribute system in which an all-powerful China sits atop a hierarchy of like-minded states from the Global South.
In exchange for kowtowing to Beijing, the Chinese government offers developing countries lucrative trade and investment opportunities and the ability to emulate its authoritarian political model.
COMMENT – The Chinese Communist Party is building an alternative international system that dismantles the norms and rights that we’ve taken for granted. The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which places limits on how governments can treat their citizens and elevates the individual as deserving of “inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family,” is not compatible with the system Beijing is building.
I encourage everyone to take a moment to read the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and take note of where it conflicts with the Party’s vision:
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, therefore,
The General Assembly,
Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1 -- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2 -- Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3 -- Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4 -- No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5 -- No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6 -- Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7 -- All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8 -- Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9 -- No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10 -- Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11 -- Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12 -- No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13 -- Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14 -- Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15 -- Everyone has the right to a nationality.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16 -- Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17 -- Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18 -- Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19 -- Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20 -- Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21 -- Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22 -- Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23 -- Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24 -- Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25 -- Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26 -- Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27 -- Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28 -- Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29 -- Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30 -- Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Industrial Policies and Economic Espionage
49. Norway's $1.4 trillion investment fund is shutting its China office | CNN Business
Laura He, CNN, September 8, 2023
50. TikTok’s New Amazon Copycat Is Full of Cheap Chinese Goods
Alex Barinka, Bloomberg, September 7, 2023
TikTok’s Shop marketplace, the video app’s biggest bet for new revenue growth, has gone live for some users in the US. So far, it’s a showcase for cheap goods from China.
The social media app’s Shop option, prominently displayed between the For You and Following feeds where users watch videos, presents a never-ending scroll of “recommended” random products, according to an early version reviewed by Bloomberg, from a $2.99 Nike sweatshirt that appears counterfeit to a $6.99 statue of a “naughty dwarf” sitting on a toilet. Many of the listings, including a budget planner and a waist-trainer vest, say they’re shipped from China, where TikTok’s parent company ByteDance Ltd. is based. That could reignite US regulatory concerns if it puts user data in the hands of Chinese sellers.
COMMENT – The inability of the Administration and Congress to force the removal of TikTok will only cause more problems and harm.
51. China's biggest homebuilder just dodged default. It faces a rocky road ahead | CNN Business
Michelle Toh, CNN, September 6, 2023
52. China Returns to Buy Winter Gas Supply in Risk to Global Balance
Stephen Stapczynski, Bloomberg, September 12, 2023
53. Great gains of grain: China, Russia agree to build US$159 million hub at border
Kandy Wong, South China Morning Post, September 12, 2023
54. China Fertilizer Curbs Show a Fragile Food Supply Chain
Hallie Gu, Bloomberg, September 12, 2023
55. Wall Street Bosses Want Anonymity to Talk China with Congress
Silla Brush and Daniel Flatley, Bloomberg, September 12, 2023
Lawmaker likened requests to a ‘witness protection program.’
Remarks made at hearing on Wall Street firms’ ties to China.
US lawmakers scrutinizing China said Wall Street executives asked to have their identities withheld when meeting with them so as not to alienate their Chinese investors.
“We have people tell us explicitly that their Chinese LPs would object if they knew they were meeting with us,” said Representative Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, referring to Chinese investors in funds managed by US firms.
COMMENT – These are some of the same individuals who see themselves as ‘master of the universe.’
I’m pretty sure that this sort of influence qualifies for scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission… the SEC’s mission is “to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation. The SEC strives to promote a market environment that is worthy of the public's trust.”
Is it fair, orderly, and worthy of the public’s trust if coercion and threats by PRC entities shape the decisions by some of the most important market actors? The answer is most certainly no… Gary Gensler and his fellow commissioners should take note.
56. China’s Youth Are Increasingly Grim About Their Future
Howard W. French, Foreign Policy, September 7, 2023
57. US raises alarm as Chinese platform corners global shipping logistics
Khushboo Razdan, South China Morning Post, September 7, 2023
58. China Seeks to Broaden iPhone Ban to State Firms and Agencies
Jenny Leonard and Debby Wu, Bloomberg, September 7, 2023
59. Biden admin to China: Hands off our tech but we’ll take your tourists
Doug Palmer, Politico, September 7, 2023
60. City regulators urged to review Hong Kong’s ties to the London Metal Exchange
Nicholas Earl, City A.M., September 11, 2023
61. FACT SHEET: President Joseph R. Biden and General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong Announce the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
The White House, September 10, 2023
62. Mexico replaced China as America's top trade buddy — and it shows how the global economy is rapidly transforming
Cork Gaines, Insider, August 30, 2023
63. Behind closed doors, Wall Street and Washington are at odds over China
Liz Hoffman and Morgan Chalfant, Semafor, September 12, 2023
64. FACT SHEET: World Leaders Launch a Landmark India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor
The White House, September 9, 2023
65. BlackRock Closes China Equity Fund After Congressional Scrutiny
Eva Fu, Epoch Times, September 9, 2023
66. The Peril of Peaking Powers: Economic Slowdowns and Implications for China's Next Decade
Michael Beckley, International Security, July 1, 2023
67. US and EU back new India-Middle East transport corridor
James Politi, Henry Foy, and Andrew England, Financial Times, September 9, 2023
68. China set to overtake Japan as world’s biggest car exporter
Edward White, Song Jung-a, Leo Lewis, and Andy Lin, Financial Times, September 13, 2023
69. Congress Heads to Wall Street to Urge Curbs on Investments in China
John D. McKinnon and James T. Areddy, Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2023
70. As OPEC’s Energy Influence Wanes, China’s Minerals Clout Rises
Greg Ip, Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2023
71. Big Businesses Should Disclose China Risks, Ex-SEC Chairman Says
Richard Vanderford, Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2023
Cyber & Information Technology
72. SK Hynix Investigating Use of Its Chips in New Huawei Phone
Debby Wu and Vlad Savov, Bloomberg, September 7, 2023
73. Amid US tech sanctions, Chinese scientists say they made the world’s most powerful radar chip
Stephen Chen, South China Morning Post, September 13, 2023
74. Chip Packaging Is the Next Battleground for Tech Lead, CEO Says
Jane Lee and Debby Wu, Bloomberg, September 12, 2023
75. Apple suppliers slide on China anxiety, threat from Huawei
Brenda Goh and Ben Blanchard, Reuters, September 09, 2023
76. Chinese Warnings on iPhones Tap Deep Strain of Security Concerns
Keith Bradsher, Chris Buckley, and Tripp Mickle, New York Times, September 11, 2023
77. China Says No Laws, Regulations Banning Use of Apple’s iPhones
Rachel Liang, Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2023
Military and Security Threats
78. Chinese military: celebrating workers’ social media photo shows Beijing is likely building new Type 076 giant warship
Minnie Chan, South China Morning Post, September 12, 2023
79. In U.S.-China AI contest, the race is on to deploy killer robots
David Lague, Reuters, September 8, 2023
80. Germany's Scholz: Fresh nuclear disarmament talks should include China
Reuters, September 12, 2023
81. China Prefers Guns to Butter
Jacqueline N. Deal and Michael Mort, Foreign Policy, September 7, 2023
82. China Won’t Start with Taiwan
Patrick Fox and Garrett Ehinger, 1945, September 8, 2023
83. Memo of the Secretary of the Air Force
Frank Kendall, Air Force, September 5, 2023
84. Signal: Taiwan says China is amassing air power along Taipei-facing coast
Alex Blair, Airforce Technology, September 2, 2023
85. Strengthening the Shield
Jacob Stokes, Lisa Curtis, Joshua Fitt, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph I. Grimm, and Rebecca Wittner, CNAS, September 13, 2023
86. VIDEO – The U.S. Military’s New Strategy to Counter China in the Pacific
Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2023
One Belt, One Road Strategy
87. Maduro Says Venezuela, China Entering ‘New Era’ After Trip
Bloomberg, September 13, 2023
88. The Belt and Road, as seen from China
The Economist, September 7, 2023
Opinion Pieces
89. Why Biden’s executive order on China investment falls short
Robby Stephany Saunders, The Hill, August 30, 2023
90. U.S. Deterrence in Taiwan Is Failing
Hal Brands, Foreign Policy, September 8, 2023
91. China-Russia cooperation thriving despite headwinds
Mikhail Karpov, Asia Times, September 8, 2023
92. The era of Chinese growth is over. Like Germany in 1914, war could follow
Sam Ashworth-Hayes, Telegraph, September 8, 2023
93. War Over Taiwan Would Be a Financial Disaster for US and China
Niall Ferguson, Bloomberg, September 10, 2023
94. My Encounters with a Suspected Spy
Joseph C. Sternberg, Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2023