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China’s Politburo promises stimulus, employment measures to boost COVID-hit economy
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday promised a slew of measures to help the country’s COVID-battered economy. The CCP’s Politburo met on Friday to discuss economic growth, which is targeted to reach 5.5 percent this year, an unlikely target in the absence of further stimulus given the supply-chain havoc caused by the pandemic and risks linked to the war in Ukraine. “The COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have led to increased risks and challenges, increasing the complexity, severity and uncertainty of our country’s economic development, and posing new challenges to stable growth, employment, and prices,” the meeting, chaired by CCP leader Xi Jinping, said in a communique summarized by state news agency Xinhua. Beijing’s dynamic clearance, zero-COVID policy would continue, but measures would be taken to “keep the economy operating within a reasonable range,” the summary said. Measures will include a boost to infrastructure construction and other stimuli to boost domestic demand and jobs, as well as tax rebates, tax and fee cuts and “monetary policy tools,” it said. Measures should “stabilize and expand employment” and “maintain overall social stability,” as well as a national strategy to restore the country’s domestic supply chains and logistics industry, which has been left fragmented by COVID-19 restrictions in major cities and ports, particularly Shanghai. Care should be taken to prevent rare and unexpected “black swan” incidents, as well as more predictable “gray rhino” developments from gathering momentum and getting out of hand, the report said, using buzzwords associated with Xi’s personal brand of political ideology. Reuters quoted a person with knowledge of the matter as saying that the government would be meeting with internet platforms next month. People line up to be tested for Covid-19 coronavirus outside a supermarket in Beijing on April 26, 2022, the day the Chinese capital launched mass coronavirus testing for nearly all its 21 million people. Credit: AFP Outflow of foreign capital Nomura’s chief China economist Ting Lu said he predicts an economic growth rate of just 1.8 percent in the second quarter of this year, with annual GDP growth of 3.9 percent for the whole of this year. The move comes after a U.S.$8 billion selloff of Chinese government bonds by foreign investors in March, with foreign capital outflows of U.S.$17.5 billion in the same month. Foreign investment in Chinese funds fell by 70 percent in the first quarter of 2022, compared with the previous quarter, while the yuan hit a six-month low against the dollar and China’s foreign exchange reserves fell by U.S.$25.8 billion between the end of February and the end of March. Online comments were skeptical that the Politburo could do much to affect the mass outflow of foreign capital. “The higher-ups shout their slogans, while the in-betweens have no policy to implement them, and the lower ranks are just cashing in,” according to one comment seen by RFA on Friday. Others said little would change economically while the CCP’s zero-COVID policy was still in place. The meeting came after the Wall Street Journal quoted a number of people as saying that Xi is insisting that China’s economic growth must exceed that of the U.S. this year. The U.S. posted a 5.7 percent GDP growth rate in 2021. Downward revision Zhu Chengzhi, chairman of Wanbao Investment Consulting, said said four percent GDP growth would be a good achievement for China this year. “[Zero-COVID] must have caused a significant downward revision [in GDP growth forecasts], a very serious downward revision,” Zhu told RFA. “The real estate sector is stuck, and they’ll have to rely on money supply [to boost] domestic demand.” “China’s economy is based on value-added manufacturing, but global prices for raw materials are on the rise around the world, squeezing profits in that sector, so that will also hurt GDP,” Zhu said. In a commentary for RFA, commentator Wang Dan said recent moves by the CCP to regulate entire sectors of the economy by limiting private-sector involvement had affected the labor market, where 11 million new entrants are expected this year. Wang said Xi will likely solve these structural problems by ordering up the results he wants to see. “Why do I say he can still manage it? Because companies in China … do as he tells them,” he said. “This has to do with Xi Jinping’s status and his bid for [a third term] at the 20th party congress.” He said the likelihood is that Xi regards his COVID-19 policy as a crucial part of attempts to demonstrate the superiority of China’s political system to the rest of the world. “But if he elevates his disease control and prevention policy to be a part of that attempt, he will be forcing himself to ride a tiger,” Wang warned. ‘Common prosperity’ Zhu said stock markets in China, even pre-pandemic, had been dealt a huge blow by Xi’s insistence on the “common prosperity” model, which saw a nationwide ban on the highly lucrative private education and tutoring sector. “During the past five years, mainland China and Hong Kong have been the only places where stockmarkets are falling, which is not a good sign,” Zhu said. “Xi Jinping is trying to introduce some bullish sentiment with certain remarks, but it’s just a brief respite.” “It’s not so easy to correct mainland Chinese markets when they are this weak,” he said, adding that GDP figures are already likely artificially inflated, or shares would be performing better. The meeting came as authorities in Beijing shut down more businesses and placed more residential compounds under lockdown on Friday, while extending contact-tracing. Meanwhile, video clips of people banging pots and pans from Shanghai apartments in protest at the ongoing lockdown have been circulating on social media. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Canadian, UK lawmakers advance measures on China’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang
A Canadian parliamentary committee advanced a motion to offer special immigration procedures now granted to Ukrainian refugees to Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities fleeing persecution in Xinjiang, while lawmakers in the United Kingdom moved to ban medical imports from the region in western China. Members of the Standing Committee on Immigration and Citizenship in Canada’s House of Commons unanimously approved a motion on Thursday that includes the issuance of temporary resident permits and single journey travel documents to people without a passport. This measure would allow displaced Uyghurs who face risk of detention and deportation back to China to seek refuge in Canada. Last month Canada said it would introduce new immigration policies, including a Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada. The government is obligated to respond to the committee’s motion within 30 days, in a process that is expected to later involve a debate in the House of Commons and a vote on the motion, said conservative lawmaker Garnett Genuis, a committee member. Genuis said the motion reaffirms a recognition of the ongoing genocide of the Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in China and calls for recognition of the vulnerability of refugees from Xinjiang. “We’re seeing a situation in which the Chinese Communist Party is trying to extend its influence beyond its borders and threaten the security of Uyghurs who have already sought asylum in other places,” he told RFA. “So, it [the motion] calls on the government of Canada to work to support Uyghur refugees and create pathways that recognizes particular challenges.” Canada’s Parliament, along with some other Western legislatures, including the one in the U.K., have declared that China’s policies targeting Uyghurs constitute genocide and crimes against humanity. The U.S. government also has declared likewise. In March 2021, the Canada, the U.S., U.K. and European Union announced sanctions against Chinese officials and companies over human rights violations in Xinjiang, bringing swift condemnation of their actions by Beijing along with threats of retaliation. Memet Tohti, executive director of Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project in Canada, said his group lobbied with committee and parliament members to press the demand that Ottawa “treat the Uyghur refugees fleeing the Chinese genocide just like the Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.” Thursday’s passage of the motion with the support four parties means “they now have unanimous consensus in the Parliament on resetting Uyghur refugees in Canada,” he said. No more blind eyes This week, lawmakers in the U.K. passed an amendment banning the government from purchasing health goods made in the Xinjiang region where China has been accused of forced-labor abuses. The Modern Slavery Amendment was incorporated into a larger health bill to prevent the country’s National Health Service from buying products tainted by modern slavery, including anything made with Uyghur forced labor. A year ago, U.K. lawmakers approved a nonbinding parliamentary motion declaring that crimes against humanity and genocide were being committed against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, who spearheaded the amendment’s passage, said he welcomed the move by government health officials to outlaw the purchase of goods and services that come from companies and countries where there is slave labor. With the advance of the amendment, “the government has signaled that they will no longer turn a blind eye to forced labor in U.K. supply chains,” he said. Rahima Mahmut, U.K. director of the World Uyghur Congress, said the Uyghur activist group has campaigned for years for the government to take meaningful action against Beijing’s genocide in Xinjiang. “This amendment is the most significant piece of U.K. legislation addressing the Uyghur crisis so far,” she told RFA. “Once the bill comes into law, the Chinese government will no longer be rewarded with million-pound contracts for Uyghur slave-made healthcare products, as they have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.” Translated by Alim Seytoff for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Low interest in events hailing North Korea’s warm relationship with Russia
While much of the Western world views Russia as a pariah state over its invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s autocratic government called on its people to focus on the Cold War comradeship it shared with its powerful neighbor and sponsor. As part of the celebration to commemorate the 110th birth holiday on April 15 of Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), the country’s founder, North Korea published a photo book promoting solidarity with Russia and its lost Soviet Union empire. “The Great Years of North Korea and Russia” encourages readers to relive the relationship much like a family photo album does, only in this case the focus is on Kim Il Sung’s friendship with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. “The photobook emphasizes North Korea’s friendship with Russia,” an official from Pyongyang told RFA’s Korean Service April 18 on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The book was displayed at the exhibition halls for the Day of the Sun celebration in Pyongyang from April 8th to the 18th. … It is a photo book of 219 pages of propaganda.” Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, was born on April 15, a major holiday now known as the “Day of the Sun.” The book was on display at three exhibition halls in Pyongyang, including the one that hosted the celebration’s opening ceremony, according to the source. But North Koreans, many of whom are struggling under dire economic circumstances largely due to trade restrictions related to COVID, did not seem interested in reliving past glories, even as they were forced to attend celebratory events, sources said. “Only the officials from the Propaganda and Agitation Department, and workers from the publishing house attended the opening ceremony the first day. But the exhibition hall was quiet because the number of visitors was small from the next day,” the source said. “Only a few copies of the booklets were displayed, and copies were distributed as e-books instead, so that reduced the effectiveness of the propaganda,” the source said. Authorities encouraged state-run organizations, universities and factories to send employees to the exhibition halls, but the people were less than enthusiastic about attending, he said. “Residents who reluctantly visited the exhibition hall under the direction of their affiliated supervisors complained, questioning the intent in emphasizing the friendship between North Korea and Russia at this time,” the source said. A resident of the city told RFA that authorities forced people to attend exhibitions that glorified Kim Il Sung, including the photobook exhibition, but actual turnout was lean because companies and organizations reported more attendees than they actually sent. “The authorities are trying to emphasize the blood alliance with Russia and focus on promoting long-standing friendly ties,” he said. “The Pyongyang citizens had no choice but to visit the exhibition emphasizing our friendship with Russia, but that does not change the people’s opinion on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” this source said. The Kim Dynasty owes its early legitimacy to Soviet backing. Kim Il Sung led guerilla campaigns in and around the Korean peninsula against the occupying Japanese in the 1930s and 1940s, eventually earning the rank of major in the Soviet Army. When Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, Stalin installed Kim as first secretary of the Korean Communist Party north of the 38th parallel, a position that enabled him to consolidate power and wage war on the South in 1950, largely with Soviet military equipment. Soviet aid played a huge role in propping up the North Korean economy up until its collapse in 1991. The sudden cutoff of aid to the country, along with Kim’s death in 1994, resulted in a famine that killed millions of North Koreans. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whonng.
Unfavorable US views of China ‘at new high’: report
Negative views of China are growing among U.S. citizens, with around two-thirds of those surveyed in a recent poll considering China’s rising power and influence in the world a “major threat,” according to a new report released on Thursday. A survey conducted at the end of March by the Washington-based Pew Research Center shows increasing levels of U.S. concern on a wide range of issues, including China’s economic relationship with the United States, China’s partnership with Russia, and growing tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Unfavorable opinions of China rose in the U.S. during the last year, with around 8 out of 10, or 82%, of the 3,581 adults surveyed reporting negative views, 40% of whom reported holding views described as “very unfavorable.” “[This was] a 6-point increase in negative views from 2021 and a new high since the center began asking this question on its American Trends Panel in 2020,” Pew said in its report. Most Americans still see China as a competitor rather than an enemy, by a 62% to 25% margin. Another 10% call China a U.S. partner, the survey said. On economic issues, the United States should take “a tougher stance” against China rather than “strengthening the relationship,” more than half of the survey’s respondents said. Only 28% said the U.S. should “prioritize the economic relationship, even if it means ignoring human rights issues,” according to the report. “These views have changed little in the last year,” Pew said. Police stand at attention while a Chinese national flag is lowered at sunset at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in a file photo. Photo: AP Seven out of 10 respondents to the poll said the U.S. remains the world’s strongest military power, with only two-in-10 saying China now holds the lead. “Still, the share who say China is the highest since the question was first asked in 2016 and has more than tripled from 6% who held that view in 2020. “Americans have [also] become more concerned about the relationship between China and Taiwan,” the report said. “While 28% saw the tensions as very serious in 2021, 35% now consider cross-strait tensions a very grave concern.” Of special concern to Americans responding to this year’s poll was China’s partnership with Russia, now fighting a war against its neighbor Ukraine. “About six-in-10 say the relationship poses a very serious problem — 15 percentage points higher than the next highest response,” Pew said, noting that China recently voted against expelling Russia, which has been accused of serious war crimes in Ukraine, from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
China’s smaller cities also under lockdown as COVID-19 prevention drive hits Beijing
As a grueling lockdown in Shanghai continues to make world headlines, as many as 30 million people have been under similar measures for weeks under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy elsewhere in China. A recent video posted by the Yitiao short video content producer featured interviews with residents of the southwestern border town of Ruili, which has been locked down on and off for weeks, prompting an estimated 200,000 people to leave town. The city is an important trading center for the China-Myanmar border, but has been locked down nine times, making a total of 160 days, since the pandemic began, in line with the official narrative that the biggest threat of COVID-19 transmission comes from outside China. As people flocked to stores and supermarkets fearing an imminent lockdown in Beijing, parts of which are already under lockdown or similar restrictions, residents of port and border cities have been living under some degree of restriction for months, they told RFA. A Ruili hotel employee surnamed Yang confirmed the report. “It’s true that the economy here is no good,” Yang said. “The city is often locked down because of the pandemic, and most of the traders have gone to other nearby cities like Longchuan, Pingjiang and Tengchong.” Yang said he would like to leave too, but is currently on a seven-day mandatory quarantine at home, and will need a negative PCR test before he can leave. A second Ruili resident said the border with Myanmar remains closed, with low occupancy rates in hotels. Asked about locals, the resident replied simply: “Everyone’s gone.” In the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, the border trading town of Suifenhe, on the Binsui railway close to the Russian border, is also locked down, a resident told RFA. According to Yitiao, Suifenhe was placed under lockdown in April 2020 after some cases were found to have been imported from Russia, and has been under lockdown since Jan. 25, 2022, with all delivery services, pharmacies and hospital clinics closed for business. A staff member sprays disinfectant at a cinema as the city starts to reopen after a Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak in Shenyang, in China’s northeastern Liaoning province, April 25, 2022. Credit: AFP Dozens of cities An employee who answered the phone at a restaurant in the town confirmed the report. “We’re closed. We’re not doing business. Since about March or April,” the employee said, adding that he expected the lockdown to lift soon, and businesses to open again. Residents of Dongxing in the southwestern region of Guangxi on the border with Vietnam have also reportedly been under similar restrictions since Feb. 23, 2022, which were only lifted on April 23. Media reports show dozens of smaller towns and cities are currently under partial or total lockdown due to rising COVID-19 cases, including Baotou in Inner Mongolia, Hangzhou, home to the headquarters of Alibaba, and Tangshan in the northern province of Hebei. A Caixin media report also listed Changchun, Handan, Quanzhou and many cities in Jilin, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu and Shaanxi as locked down, with more than 30 million people affected. U.S.-based current affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan said hard and soft lockdowns are being used interchangeably by local governments. “The boundary between the CCP’s notion of locked-down and semi-locked down cities, or between hard and soft city closures, is getting more and more blurred,” Tang said. Most seem to share a few features in common, however: residents are required to stay home unless they need medical treatment or are getting tested in one of the compulsory mass-testing operations. Schools are closed, businesses shut down, and roadblocks are put in place to minimize non-essential traffic on the roads. While Shanghai’s lockdown has been a major focus for Chinese state media and social media, much less is being written on any platform about the smaller cities. Block-and-delete operations Meanwhile, those in other cities are finding it harder and harder to read or watch content coming out of Shanghai, as government censors step up their block-and-delete operations. A directive issued by the CCP’s powerful propaganda department to media editors dated April 22 orders editors and censors to remove any reference to a hard-hitting short video featuring an audio montage of the voices of people during the Shanghai lockdown. “Will all channels please completely remove any copies of “April Voices” or screenshots from it, as well as any images deriving from it,” the directive, posted to the China Digital Times website and attributed to the Beijing Cyberspace Administration, said. A similar message was also attributed by CDT, which curates leaked propaganda directives under its Ministry of Truth section, to the Guangdong Cyberspace Administration. According to Tang Jingyuan said there has been little online complaint or protest regarding lockdowns outside Shanghai, which is home to a highly privileged and well-connected population. “Firstly, smaller and medium-sized cities don’t get much public attention anyway, and secondly, local governments may wield stronger control over content like that, so it’s hard for discontent to spread.” He said the factional battle lines within CCP ranks have found public expression in Shanghai. “There is both a public and a hidden struggle going on between their two models,” Tang said. “These very strong political factors have led to a high degree of non-cooperation throughout Shanghai, even publicly, which is pretty rare.” Authorities in Beijing reported 70 new cases of symptomatic COVID-19 during the past four days, and announced they would expand mass PCR testing across most of the city. Supermarkets were scrambling to restock after Monday‘s panic-buying, but residents said basic foodstuffs were still in short supply. In Shanghai, authorities continued to send residents who tested negative outside of the city, mostly to Hangzhou, sparking fear among local people. And media reports said Meng Qinggong, the deputy chief designer of China’s homegrown CR929 aircraft, died of a heart attack at his home on Sunday after attempts to save him were unsuccessful. Meng died after a long wait for an ambulance, which was hampered by current lockdown restrictions and couldn’t reach him in time, the reports said….
Vietnam says it discussed army games with Russia, not military drills
The Vietnamese Defense Ministry says that a meeting this month with Russia did not discuss a joint military exercise as reported Russian state media but an international military competition. Vietnam’s version of events published in the official military newspaper Sunday could be intended to distance Vietnam from bilateral military activities with Russia amid international condemnation of the war in Ukraine. Quan Doi Nhan Dan, the official mouthpiece of Vietnam’s armed forces, reported that on April 15 a Vietnamese delegation led by Maj. Gen. Do Dinh Thanh, commander of Vietnam Army’s Tank Force and Armored Warfare, took part in a virtual meeting with the Russian side to discuss Vietnam’s participation in the Army Games 2022. The International Army Games, dubbed the War Olympics, is an annual military competition hosted by Russia since 2015, usually at the end of summer. Participating armies compete in different events such as “tank biathlon,” infantry, anti-aircraft artillery and troop intelligence. China has been a regular participant of the games while Vietnam began taking part in 2018 together with nearly 30 other countries. Analysts say the Army Games aims to showcase the military prowess of Russia and other countries, as well as promote Russian weapons and technologies to prospective buyers. The report in Quan Doi Nhan Dan said the Vietnamese general had requested that his tank team be allowed to arrive early for training and familiarization “if the Army Games are to take place” this year. Bilateral military activities Russia is waging a full-scale war in Ukraine after invading its neighbor on Feb. 24. The invasion, widely condemned by the international community, has caused the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. On April 19, Russia’s state media reported that Russia and Vietnam were planning to hold a joint military training exercise. The move was described by analysts as “inappropriate” and likely to “raise eyebrows” in the rest of the region. Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said the initial planning meeting for the military training exercise was held virtually between the leaders of Russia’s Eastern Military District and the Vietnamese army. The news came as the U.S. announced a May 12-13 summit in Washington with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Vietnam. Vietnam considers Russia a traditional ally and a “comprehensive strategic partner,” and has been supportive of Moscow despite international outrage over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Earlier this month, Vietnam voted against a U.S.-led resolution to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Before that, Hanoi abstained from voting to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the U.N. General Assembly. Vietnamese army officials are usually very tight-lipped about international affairs, and the report in the official army newspaper could be viewed as a denial of involvement in bilateral military activities with Russia.
China calls on public to submit ‘opinions’ to ruling party ahead of top meeting
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is calling for ‘opinions’ from citizens ahead of a crucial political meeting later this year, amid growing public anger over CCP leader Xi Jinping’s COVID-19 policy, that has seen millions confined in grueling lockdowns across the country in recent months. The “call for public submissions” comes ahead of the CCP’s 20th Party Congress, scheduled for late 2022, the Global Times newspaper cited state news agency Xinhua as saying. From April 15 through May 16, the anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1967) when late supreme leader Mao Zedong began a purge of his political rivals within party ranks, people can submit their “opinions and suggestions” online, including via the CCP’s official People’s Daily newspaper, Xinhua and the China Media Group, it said. “Opinions expressed online will be collected, analyzed and then provided as a reference to the drafting of the report of the 20th national congress, and some of the common problems raised by netizens will be dealt with immediately or assigned to responsible departments for further research,” the paper said, citing “analysts.” The move is intended to boost the CCP’ public image as confident, open, honest and innovative, it said. The People’s Daily said it received more than 10,000 submissions within the first 12 hours of launching the page. Submissions must be made under eight categories, many of which are ideological rather than factual, and include subjects like “developing the people’s whole-process democracy,” a Xi Jinping buzzword for public consultation under an authoritarian system, as well as “improving people’s livelihoods,” and “strengthening and upholding party leadership.” China’s President Xi Jinping (front) appears for the closing session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 11, 2022. Credit: AFP Strict limits Deng Yuwen, a former newspaper editor for a CCP party school publication, said calls for public consultation aren’t uncommon in China’s political system, but that there are strict, unwritten rules about what kind of opinions are acceptable. General political points are particularly unwelcome, he said. “You can only talk about things that related to your personal situation, such as raising retirement benefits a little,” Deng said. “[These are the] so-called vital interests.” “Other topics can’t be raised at all and people know not to mention them,” he said, adding: “Asking for some opinions online doesn’t represent a particularly noteworthy change.” According to the submission page on the People’s Daily website seen by RFA on April 21, people submitting comments and suggestions must supply their real names, their employer’s name, their rank or job title, political status, age and geographical location. Mobile numbers must also be supplied, so that submissions can be verified with an SMS code, meaning that anonymous submissions aren’t an option. The submissions already visible on the People’s Daily page tended to point in the same direction as published government policy, rather than challenging anything. ‘ Petitioners are escorted out of a park by police and security personnel before being loaded on buses and driven away in Beijing as hundreds of police swarmed the streets of Beijing’s financial district to quash a rally by angry peer-to-peer lenders, Aug. 6, 2018. Credit: AFP Marginal, mundane and innocuous issues’ Chen Kuide, executive chairman of the Princeton Chinese Society in the United States, said all submissions will be subject to strict review, and that critical or challenging comments would never make it as far as Xi himself. “The authorities can only tolerate opinions on fairly marginal, mundane and innocuous issues,” Chen told RFA. “But when it comes to issues linked to Xi Jinping’s political survival, like the zero-COVID policy, China’s relationship with Russia and the U.S. or Taiwan, there can be no opinions opposing CCP policy or Xi Jinping’s own view.” Wang Dan, a former leader of the 1989 student-led democracy movement in China and the founder of the Dialogue China think-tank, said the zero-COVID strategy alone could mean there is a political crisis brewing for Xi, who will seek an unprecedented third term in office at the 20th Party Congress. “The disease control strategy will have a psychological impact on all Chinese people, but it will have a greater psychological impact on the middle classes; those who have gained some benefit from past economic development,” Wang said in a commentary broadcast by RFA’s Mandarin Service. “Shanghai, where life became unbearable overnight, will make many people see the grim reality, [people] who used to go about thinking they could live a peaceful life without getting involved in politics,” Wang said. “When this crisis happened, they will realize that politics will come to you.” “People are facing the risk of starvation, or arrests and beatings, even in the richest districts of Shanghai,” he said. “All of this … will make the middle classes — once the biggest supporters of CCP policies — totally lose any confidence in China’s future.” He said most of Generation Z in China will likely feel abandoned both by society and the economy in the aftermath of the pandemic. “Once they wake up to this, the sense of resistance will be very strong … [and] that kind of crisis will be far more deadly to the CCP than the pandemic,” Wang said. ‘Full of pseudoscience’ Veteran Democracy Wall dissident Wei Jingsheng agreed, adding that Xi’s political ideology is unlikely to give way easily in the face of anger and resentment, as his thinking was molded by the chaotic factional strife of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). “Comrade Xi Jinping grew up in that era, and his basic notions were formed then: his head was full of pseudoscience, his thinking full of arrogance, superstition, violence and other absurdities,” Wei wrote in a recent commentary. “This is the ideological source of his insistence on the absurd zero-COVID policy today.” Wei said Xi would have been regularly exposed to violent propaganda in his youth, and had likely developed a taste for violent oppression, which Wei said was akin to Stockholm Syndrome. Wei warned that it would be hard to…
China military PR video hints at 3rd aircraft carrier launch
A newly released military propaganda video suggests that the third aircraft carrier of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could be launched soon, Chinese media and experts said. A six-minute video, produced by the PLA Navy Political Publicity Bureau and the army broadcaster, was posted on Friday. It provides a glimpse into China’s aircraft carrier program and how the PLA carriers and personnel operate. China already has two aircraft carriers in operation, named Liaoning and Shandong. The third is being built and the promotional video seems to give a hint that its launch is imminent. At the end of the video, timed for China’s Navy Day which falls on Saturday, an officer is shown taking a call from his mother who appears to urge him to have “the third child,” to which the man replies: “That’s being arranged.” The camera then moves to two photos of a carrier’s flight deck – an apparent reference to the first two aircraft carriers – before shifting to a blank screen and closing credits. This bizarre hint nevertheless got some Chinese media excited. The state-run tabloid Global Times wrote: “This is a very clear implication that the country’s third aircraft carrier is coming soon.” The Global Times quoted Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, as saying that the third carrier, known as Type 003, could be launched “in the second half of 2022.” The paper said the carrier may be named Jiangsu, after the province in eastern China. A file photo showing China’s aircraft carrier Liaoning taking part in a military drill of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in the western Pacific Ocean, April 18, 2018. Credit: Reuters. Covid lockdown “From the video, it does seem that the third Chinese carrier would be launched in the near future,” said Sheu Jyh-Shyang, a military expert at the Taiwan’s Institute for National Defence and Security Research (INDSR). The U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report last November that the launch “could be as soon as February 2022” but it has been delayed several times as China is struggling with the Covid pandemic. Recently severe lockdown measures have been imposed in Shanghai, home of the Jiangnan Shipyard where the Type 003 is being constructed – and where the Covid situation has disrupted shipping and may have caused delays in arrival of components for the vessel. Compared to the first two carriers, the Type 003 appears to be larger, and it has some new important components including catapult systems, used for launching aircraft from the ship. “It is the first CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery) carrier that China has,” said Sheu from INDSR. “CATOBAR carriers have much better capabilities, but they still need to have enough operating experience,” he added. The CSIS report last November also said that after launch, it would still be years before the Type 003 is commissioned into the PLA Navy and achieves initial operating capability. China already has the biggest naval fleet in the world, according to the US Office of Naval Intelligence. But the U.S. has far more aircraft carriers: 11 compared to China’s two. A screengrab from a video to mark China’s Navy Day on April 23, 2022, jointly produced by the Propaganda Bureau of PLA Navy’s Political Department and the official Weibo and WeChat accounts of the Chinese military. Credit: Global Times. Vulnerable as the ‘Moskova’ Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, which is watching China’s military developments closely, said in a report published earlier this year that the Type 003 would enable the PLA Navy to project power past the “first island chain.” The first island chain, conceptualized during the Cold War, commonly refers to the major archipelagos that lie off the East Asian mainland coast. The chain stretches from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the northeast to the Malay Peninsula in the southwest, and includes the territory of U.S. allies Taiwan and the Philippines. Taiwanese observers also pay attention to the PLA’s plan to procure new warplanes for the Type 003. “The first two (aircraft carriers) have only J-15 fighters and maybe some helicopters but the third one may have some airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) KJ-600 aircraft,” military analyst Sheu said. The Xian KJ-600 is said to accurately detect and track other airplanes and so greatly increases the effectiveness of carrier-based combat aircraft. Meanwhile, Taiwanese media have been looking at the sinking of Russia’s flagship “Moskva,” reportedly by Ukrainian Neptune missiles, last week. Russia said it was damaged in an unexplained fire. The missile cruiser Moskva was built in the same Black Sea Shipyard Mykolaiv in Ukraine as China’s first aircraft carrier back in the Soviet days. Beijing bought the ship, then called Varyag, and renamed it to Liaoning. The Liaoning regularly patrols the Taiwan Strait and may be deployed in the event of armed conflict with the self-governing island. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that shall be united with the mainland. Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Times quoted an analyst as saying that “Taiwan has a bigger and more powerful anti-ship missile arsenal than Ukraine.” The Chinese aircraft carriers could be “as vulnerable as the ‘Moskva’ to Taiwan’s anti-ship missile,” it said.
Chinese national living in the Netherlands forced to shut down Twitter account
A Chinese national living in the Netherlands and his family in China have been harassed by Chinese police over posts to social media he made while out of the country, including voicing support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion, RFA has learned. Gao Ronghui, who hails from Pingtan county in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, provided audio recordings of phone calls with police from Suao police station in Pingtan county, who have also visited his parents and elderly grandmother, he said. “Did you take part in the demonstration?” the officer is heard asking Gao, who had told him he supports Ukraine. Gao replies: “I saw the demonstration in the square.” “As Chinese citizens, we don’t take part in demonstrations,” the police officer tells him, repeating: “You can’t take part.” In another section of the audio file provided to RFA, the police officer asks him if he wrote “reactionary comments” on Twitter. “Let me tell you this: the internet is wide open. Just because you’re in a foreign country, doesn’t mean that China doesn’t know what you’re doing,” the officer warns him. “We know everything, do you understand?” The officer then orders Gao to “delete everything you wrote online, and on Twitter.” “This has to be deleted immediately and we can pretend we never saw it and all will be forgiven,” the officer says, before threatening his family. “If there is a problem with your political stance, it will affect your family for generations, if you have kids, where they go to school, anything you want to do. Politics is a massive thing.” High blood pressure Gao told RFA that he had shut down his Twitter account temporarily after the phone call. “My grandmother had high blood pressure because of this, and my mother was depressed for two or three weeks, and spent about three days in hospital on a drip,” he said. “I feel very confused and helpless right now,” Gao told RFA. “I feel that the CCP is depriving me of my freedom even here in the Netherlands.” “I want to tell them that the only person responsible for their actions is the person doing them … [but] they have silenced me. They, the system, they’re the ones who should change, not me. It’s the 21st century,” he said. Gao said he fled China after police raided his family home in July 2021 over social media posts he had made, then summoned him for questioning. “I walked to the police station from a friend’s house that day. It took 20 minutes, and during that time I deleted everything on my phone,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t have committed any crime other than just spreading the truth.” “When I got to the police station, I was severely beaten and abused, and they forced me to sign a guarantee that I would support the [ruling Chinese Communist] Party (CCP) line, and not post anything that would endanger national security,” Gao said. “From that day on, I started planning to leave the country.” ‘Feel the iron fist’ Gao said he finally felt free after arriving in the Netherlands, and began expressing his political views freely in public, supporting practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which has been heavily suppressed by the CCP inside China, and showing solidarity with Ukraine. “[I even] sprayed the Chinese embassy with paint to vent my anger,” Gao said. “I knew this was wrong, and I went to the police station and turned myself in, but the Dutch police told me it was okay.” “Around that time, I started to criticize the CCP again on Twitter, in solidarity with the suffering Chinese people. I know that if I don’t speak up for them today, no one will speak for me tomorrow,” he said. But Gao wasn’t as free as he had hoped he would be, and the long arm of Chinese law enforcement has succeeded in controlling his actions by threatening his family. He said he hoped public anger over the recent lockdowns in Shanghai and other parts of China under the CCP’s draconian zero-COVID policy would fuel political opposition back home. “I think some Chinese people are going to wake up because of the Shanghai lockdown, as they feel the iron fist themselves,” Gao said. “We should stand united to change China.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Amnesty International blasts new proposed social media regulations in Vietnam
An international rights group condemned the Vietnamese government’s plan to adopt new regulations to tighten control over social media platforms in the communist one-party country where leaders already have little tolerance for public criticism or dissent. The planned amendments to existing law will require social media companies like Facebook and TikTok to remove content and services deemed illegal within 24 hours, block illegal livestreams within three hours of notice, and immediately remove content that endangers national security, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Companies that do not comply with the requirements risk having their social media platforms banned in Vietnam, the report said, adding that it is expected that Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will sign the new regulations in May. The Vietnamese government is finalizing the amendments for June 2013 decree on the management, provision and use of internet services and online information for both domestic and foreign companies and individuals. The government has been using the decree to ask companies that run popular social media platforms in Vietnam to take down “anti-government” content. Human rights organizations expressed concern that the restrictive internet environment in Vietnam will become worse under the new regulations. “In Vietnam, social media, including Facebook, is one of very few places for local people to express their opposition,” said Ming Yu Hah, deputy regional director of campaigns in East and Southeast Asia for London-based Amnesty International. “They face the risk of being imprisoned for years if their posts are deemed to violate the law. “Such harsh laws are an existential threat to the freedom of expression in Vietnam,” she added. Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter are popular foreign social media platforms in the Southeast Asian country, used by citizens to express their opinions of and dissatisfaction with the government and politics. However, many Vietnamese have been sent to prison for their expressing their opinions via social media. In March, for instance, RFA reported that a court in Hanoi sentenced independent journalist and activist Le Van Dung to five years in prison for discussing political and socioeconomic issues in livestreamed videos on social media. Reuters said that Vietnam’s communications and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment. Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc., which owns YouTube and Google, and Twitter Inc. declined to comment. TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., said it will continue to comply with applicable local laws and would remove content that violates platform guidelines. For years, the Vietnamese government has demonstrated its desire to control foreign social media platforms via the decree passed in 2013 and a cybersecurity law that entered into effect in 2019. In November 2020, Facebook announced that it had been forced to increase content censorship as requested by the Vietnamese government, after being threatened with a ban if it did not comply. The move drew heavy criticism from rights groups that have accused social media companies of putting profits before human rights and the freedom of expression. Amnesty’s Ming Yu Hah called on social media companies to protest the forthcoming regulation and “put human rights above profits and market access rights.” About 60 million-70 million Vietnamese use Facebook, generating about U.S. $1 billion in annual revenue for its parent company, according to the Reuters report. YouTube has 60 million users in the country, while TikTok has 20 million. Open letter to Biden In a related development, more than 40 NGOs and 40 individuals signed an open online letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, calling for him to raise concern with Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chinh at a U.S.-ASEAN Summit in mid-May about the government’s antagonistic policies toward religions that do not submit to government control. “Of particular concern is the intensifying state-directed and state-supported propaganda that promotes hate speech and incites violence against religious and lay leaders with real and deeply disturbing consequences,” the letter says. The letter says organized mobs known as Red Flag Associations have used social media to slander Catholic priests, characterize respected monks of the Unified Buddhist Church’s Sangha as “bad forces” who “distorted the nature of religious freedom in Vietnam,” and call on the government to eliminate the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ in Dak Lak province. “So far, Red Flag members have enjoyed complete impunity,” the letter says. “Their messages promoting hatred and violence have rapidly multiplied throughout Vietnam’s society.” Certain government units also have incited hatred against ethno-religious minorities, including the Department of Public Security of Gia Lai Province, which characterizes Montagnards who have converted to Catholicism as a cult and in December 2020 declared that it had completed the heretical religion. The United Nations Human Rights Committee singled out the Red Flag Associations as a source of incitement to hatred and violence following a review of Vietnam’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2019. “In light of this worrying trend, we ask that you communicate directly to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh of Vietnam and urge his government to comply fully with both Article 18 of the ICCPR, which guarantees the right to religious freedom or belief, as well as with the requirement of Article 20 that incitement to violence be prohibited by law,” the letter says. On Monday, a coalition of Vietnamese NGOs and individuals issued an open letter to U.N. member states, asking them not to elect Vietnam to the U.N. Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term. Among the organizations that signed the letter were the Vietnam Human Rights Network, Defend the Defenders, Assembly for Democracy of Vietnam, Humanistic Socialist Party, the Great Viet Party, Vietnam Democracy Federation, the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, and Vietnam Democracy Radio. They noted that Vietnam voted against a U.N. General Assembly resolution on April 7 to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council over its invasion of Ukraine, which has killed thousands of people. “Before looking for membership of the council, the Vietnamese government must improve its human rights record, strictly enforce international human rights…
