Timeline Links: June 1, 2020
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News
Huawei's Meng Wanzhou drawn closer to extradition
https://www.yahoo.com/news/huaweis-meng-wanzhou-drawn-closer-064927474.html
Huawei's financial chief Meng Wangzhou suffered a major blow in her legal fight in Canada Wednesday (May 27).
A judge there ruled that prosecutors cleared a critical hurdle to justify her extradition to the United States.
It paves the way for Meng to stand trial there for charges of fraud.
It also dashes hopes for an end to her 18-month house arrest in Vancouver.
The ruling could cause ties between Canada and China to crumble further.
It sparked immediate backlash from Beijing's embassy in Canada which said the country is quote 'accomplice to United States efforts to bring down Huawei and Chinese high-tech companies'.
Meng is a Chinese citizen - and was arrested two years ago on a warrant issues by US authorities.
Her fraud charges include misleading the bank HSBC about Huawei's relationship with a company operating in Iran.
That put HSBC at risk of fines for breaking U.S sanctions on Tehran.
Meng says she is innocent.
Her lawyers have argued that the charges should be thrown out, because Canada did not have sanctions against Iran.
But British Columbia judge Heather Holmes disagreed, saying the charges against Meng - are also crimes in Canada.
It means Meng's extradition will likely proceed to a second phase, starting in June, Ties between the U.S. and Canada are steadily unraveling, with disputes over trade and the future of Hong Kong.
China's Global Times newspaper later said the ruling quote "will make Canada a pathetic clown and a scapegoat in the fight between China and the US."
Shortly after her arrest two years ago, Beijing detained two Canadians on national security charges and froze imports of Canadian canola seed.
Canada's justice ministry said its lawyers were committed to moving ahead as fast as possible.
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World
What Hong Kong Losing Its ‘Special Status’ Would Mean
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/hong-kong-losing-special-status-014002028.html
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| What Hong Kong Losing Its ‘Special Status’ Would Mean |
(Bloomberg) -- Under the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, the U.S. treats Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous part of China, differently than the mainland in trade, commerce and other areas. Now U.S. President Donald Trump could rescind that “special status” to punish China for recent moves to tighten its grip on the city amid a resurgence of pro-democracy street protests. In its most extreme form, that would effectively mean treating the global financial hub no differently than any other Chinese city, a seismic shift that could harm both economies at an already difficult time. China has promised countermeasures against any foreign “interference.”
1. Is the special status in jeopardy?
Possibly. The president has long had the power to suspend it with an executive order, yet hasn’t. Then came an added pressure: a U.S. law passed last year requires the secretary of state to certify -- as part of an annual report to Congress -- whether Hong Kong remains “sufficiently autonomous” from Beijing to justify its unique treatment. That includes assessing the degree to which Hong Kong’s autonomy had been eroded by the government of China. (Hong Kong is part of China but has a different legal and economic system, a holdover from its time as a British colony.) On May 27, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress that the Trump administration no longer regarded Hong Kong as autonomous from mainland China.
2. So is that the end of the special status?
It’s too soon to say. Pompeo’s decision opens the door for a range of options, from visa restrictions and asset freezes for top officials to possibly imposing tariffs on goods coming from Hong Kong. Other measures could target Chinese Communist Party officials. It’s up to Trump to decide how quickly he wants to move while he’s also threatening consequences for China over its handling of the coronavirus. Hurting China also carries additional risks for the U.S. economy, including the U.S.-China trade deal that Trump had considered one of his biggest achievements, which could affect Trump’s odds of winning re-election. U.S. officials have given mixed signals about what might happen next, and when.
3. What would losing it mean for Hong Kong and China?
While Hong Kong remains a key gateway from China to the rest of the world, it matters far less to the country’s fortunes than it once did. In 2019, 12% of China’s exports went to or through Hong Kong, down from 45% in 1992. China is also far less reliant on inflows of foreign capital and expertise, and has made a much lower priority of making the yuan an international currency. Nonetheless, the city still matters. Hong Kong’s open capital account and adherence to international standards of governance are unmatched by any mainland Chinese city and make it an important base for international banks and trading firms. Revoking the special status would be “the nuclear option” and “the beginning of the death of Hong Kong as we know it,” said Steve Tsang, director of the University of London’s SOAS China Institute.
4. And their financial markets?
One worst-case scenario: if the U.S. treats Hong Kong no differently than any other Chinese city, why wouldn’t ratings firms and investors do the same? It’s a question posed by Deutsche Bank, which noted that S&P Global Ratings has Hong Kong three notches above China while Moody’s and Fitch have Hong Kong one notch higher. The risk is that China’s own rating gets lowered in coming years and drags Hong Kong’s with it. At the same time, equity index providers may take a fresh look at Hong Kong, which is currently in the MSCI World Index with other developed markets. China is in the emerging market index, raising the question, should Hong Kong be treated the same as Shanghai and Shenzhen?
5. What about for the U.S.?
It has its own reasons for not rocking the boat too much. Hong Kong, the only semi-democratic jurisdiction under Chinese rule, offers U.S. companies a relatively safe way to access the Chinese market and employs a U.S. dollar peg, linking it with the American financial system. According to the Congressional Research Service, the largest U.S. trade surplus in 2018 was with Hong Kong — $31.1 billion. Some 290 U.S. companies had regional headquarters in the city that year and another 434 had regional offices, it said. Hong Kong’s first justice minister after the handover to China in 1997, Elsie Leung, told the South China Morning Post in May that any damage would be mutual: “We are not just getting the benefits – it’s a free-trade arrangement which is good for both sides.”
6. And more broadly?
Pompeo’s decision, let alone any sanctions or move to rescind the special status, will further strain the relationship between the U.S. and China, already under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, the Hong Kong protests, an ongoing trade war and other issues. In addition to the annual review of Hong Kong’s trading status, the new law requires the president to freeze U.S.-based assets of, and deny entry to the U.S. by, any individuals found responsible for abducting and torturing human rights activists in Hong Kong. Such sanctions could come sooner than a suspension of the trading status, and would obviously complicate things further.
7. How autonomous is Hong Kong?
When Britain handed Hong Kong back to China, the Chinese government pledged that the city would have a “high degree of autonomy” in its legal and economic affairs for 50 years, under an arrangement known as “one country, two systems.” The 2019 U.S. report on conditions in Hong Kong said the city’s autonomy was “sufficient -- although diminished.” After the protests erupted in June 2019, the State Department said that “continued erosion” of Hong Kong’s autonomy put its “long-established status in international affairs” at risk.
8. How has China responded?
A day after Pompeo declared Hong Kong no longer autonomous, Chinese lawmakers approved the draft national security legislation for Hong Kong anyway. “Hong Kong is purely China’s internal affair,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in Beijing earlier, promising to take “necessary countermeasures” against any “interference” by “external forces.” China said last year it would sanction some U.S.-based activist groups including the National Endowment for Democracy, Human Rights Watch and Freedom House, and suspend port visits by U.S. Navy ships to Hong Kong. “China urges the U.S. side to correct its mistakes and stop any words and deeds that interfere in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal politics,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said then. The official Xinhua News Agency has dismissed as “groundless” accusations about the loss of freedom or human rights issues in Hong Kong. It also noted that the 2018 Human Freedom Index compiled by the Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based think tank, ranked Hong Kong at No. 3, well ahead of the U.S. at No. 17.
9. And Hong Kong?
The city’s leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, has defended the national security law (as has Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest tycoon). Lam also has said it would be “totally unacceptable” for foreign legislatures to interfere in Hong Kong’s internal affairs, and that sanctions would only complicate the problems in the city. (Lam was selected in 2017 by a committee of 1,200 political insiders overwhelmingly loyal to the Chinese government.) She has sought to reassure investors that the city still adheres to the rule of law and has an independent judiciary. She also has defended police actions.
10. Is this what the protesters have been seeking?
As a largely leaderless movement, the Hong Kong protests have made no official request for international assistance. But some prominent activists including Jimmy Lai and Joshua Wong called on Trump to hit China hard with sanctions, even to the point of revoking the city’s special trading status. Wong had testified last year in Washington in favor of the bill, seeking to put pressure on China. On the streets of Hong Kong, some protesters have made clear their interest in U.S. support by waving American flags, singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and calling on Trump to “liberate” Hong Kong.
(An earlier version corrected the spelling of Pompeo in question 5)
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Business
Bill to delist ‘deceitful’ Chinese companies could go further: investor
Last week, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to take on Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges. The legislation would require them to submit to multiple provisions if they wish to remain listed.
At least 156 Chinese companies are currently on the big three U.S. stock exchanges, including giants like Alibaba (BABA), Baidu (BIDU) and JD.com (JD).
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) immediately introduced the bill in the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised to review it saying she’s “asked my committees to take a look at what it is.”
Sherman, in a statement to Yahoo Finance, noted that Luckin Coffee’s possible delisting for accounting fraud was a “painful reminder” of the vulnerability for investors. “I am working closely with Chairwoman Maxine Waters and Speaker Pelosi on moving the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act forward in the House and am hopeful that it will soon be considered on the floor,” he said.
The bill focuses on “deceitful Chinese companies” and was authored by Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). It was first introduced in 2019 well before the coronavirus pandemic. The issue has taken on new urgency this year as Washington searches for any way to punish China for its handling of the early stages of the pandemic and its recent actions to crack down in Hong Kong.
The White House is even reportedly considering sanctions on Chinese officials and businesses over their Hong Kong actions. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told Fox News that President Trump is “miffed” at China. Kudlow also offered support for the delisting bill, saying that Chinese companies “are full of fraud” and “if they come to our exchange, they must comply with normal accounting standards.”
A ‘very kid gloves’ approach
Carson Block, founder of Muddy Waters Research and renowned short seller, suggested the bill could go even further. “I think it's actually really funny that China is pushing back on this,” Block told Yahoo Finance’s On the Move. “The bill that passed the Senate last week is actually – it's a very kid gloves bill in terms of how China is treated here.” Block has been called “a scourge of listed Chinese companies” and the “Most Hated Man In China” after exposing (and shorting) companies like Orient Paper.
The bill gives Chinese companies three years to get into compliance with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The PCAOB maintains a list of companies – both in China and around the world – that are not in compliance.
Sherman says that over 240 Chinese companies are currently listed and lack appropriate oversight.
Block tweeted approvingly about the bill and said “a large large percentage of companies from China listed in America are committing at least some level of fraud and that's because they can get away with it.” The fraud continues, Block says, because “literally, not one [Chinese] national who chaired one of these companies has ever been materially punished.”
A Hill aide familiar with the legislation added that the “bill would be the first policy that has teeth, that has real consequences for foreign companies” that refuse to comply.
‘The tragedy of this whole thing’
“The important thing here is that much of the retail capital would not follow” Chinese companies to foreign exchanges, Block said. Currently, a lot of these Chinese companies “are dominated by retail money right now, and that’s the tragedy of this whole thing.”
However things work out on Capitol Hill, Block says many of these Chinese companies are beginning to look at their options. “I think the Chinese companies will look at Hong Kong as a backup,” he said, “because the situation in the U.S. is becoming unstable for them.”
Ben Werschkul is a producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.
Read more:
Senate moves to delist Chinese companies from US stock exchanges
Why Trump is moving closer to punishing China for the coronavirus
US sanctions to slow down deployment of 5G technology: Huawei exec
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World
Pompeo says Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China
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Hong Kong Protests United States ChinaRiot policeman pushes a woman as she is taking a photograph of the detained protesters at the area in Mongkok, Hong Kong, Wednesday, May 27, 2020. U.S. Secretary of State of Mike Pompeo has notified Congress that the Trump administration no longer regards Hong Kong as autonomous from mainland China. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has notified Congress that the Trump administration no longer regards Hong Kong as autonomous from mainland China, setting the stage for U.S. to withdraw the former British colony’s preferential trade and financial status it has enjoyed since it reverted to Chinese rule 23 years ago.
The move does not carry any immediate penalties, which would have to be decided by President Donald Trump in consultation with Congress. But the administration sees it as putting China on notice that Hong Kong’s perks are in jeopardy.
“Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997,” Pompeo said in a statement Wednesday.
The notice brings the future of Hong Kong squarely into the administration’s numerous battles with China that have put the world’s two largest economies at odds.
Relations have worsened over U.S. allegations that Chinese authorities sought to cover up the coronavirus pandemic and pressured the World Health Organization from taking early action to combat it. That has added to long-standing tensions over trade, human rights, religious freedom and the status of Taiwan.
Pompeo’s certification comes amid calls in Congress and elsewhere for the U.S. and others to react against Beijing’s move to impose Chinese national security laws over the territory.
“Beijing’s disastrous decision is only the latest in a series of actions that fundamentally undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms and China’s own promises to the Hong Kong people,” Pompeo said. He said “no reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground.”
After sending the notification to Capitol Hill, Pompeo spoke by phone with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. The two men agreed China "must honor its commitments and obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.”
“Both agreed the international community must support the people of Hong Kong and respond to Beijing’s continued erosions of Hong Kong’s autonomy," the State Department said in a statement about the call.
Shortly after the announcement, Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called for the Senate to enact penalties. “It is imperative the Senate act on bipartisan legislation sanctioning China for the destruction of Hong Kong’s democracy and freedom,” he said. "We must move quickly and decisively.”
Senior administration officials, including Pompeo, national security adviser Robert O'Brien and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett have in recent days warned that China risks losing Hong Kong as an Asian financial hub if it went ahead with such moves.
The top U.S. diplomat for Asia, David Stilwell, told reporters Wednesday that the administration had not yet determined how best to proceed. But he said whatever course it adopted would be targeted at Chinese authorities with an eye toward changing their behavior while protecting the people of Hong Kong from the impact of possible sanctions.
China has reacted angrily to any suggestion that it be punished for what it considers to be a strictly domestic matter. Asked about possible U.S. retaliation over the security legislation, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in Beijing on Wednesday that China would take necessary steps to fight back against what he called “erroneous foreign interference in Hong Kong’s affairs.”
Pompeo's certification to Congress was required by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support last year. The law requires the U.S. to impose sanctions against officials held responsible human rights abuses in Hong Kong as well as determine whether the city continues to warrant special status.
Under the terms of a China-Britain agreement, Hong Kong was to have enjoyed significant autonomy from the communist government in Beijing for 50 years starting in 1997. That autonomy was to have included protections for free speech and self-rule under what China has termed a “one country, two systems” policy.
Last week, however, after years of mounting protests against encroachments into Hong Kong's autonomy, China’s ceremonial parliament moved to enact a national security law for Hong Kong aimed at forbidding secessionist and subversive activity, as well as foreign interference and terrorism.
Mass protests in 2014 followed the Chinese government’s decision to allow direct election of the city leader only after it screened candidates. In the end, the plan for direct elections was dropped.
Legislation proposed in Hong Kong last year that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China for trials set off months of demonstrations that at times involved clashes between protesters and police. The legislation was withdrawn.
Earlier Wednesday, thousands of protesters shouted pro-democracy slogans and insults at police in Hong Kong as lawmakers debated a bill criminalizing abuse of the Chinese national anthem in the city. The bill would make it illegal to insult or abuse the Chinese national anthem, “March of the Volunteers” in semi-autonomous Hong Kong.
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World
US Congress approves China sanctions over ethnic crackdown
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| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., with House Majority Whip James Clyburn of S.C., back right, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress voted Wednesday to toughen the U.S. response to a brutal Chinese crackdown on ethnic minorities, adding another factor to the increasingly stormy relationship between the two countries.
The House passed a bipartisan bill that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the mass surveillance and detention of Uighurs and other ethnic groups in the western Xianjiang region, a campaign that has drawn muted international response because of China's influence around the world.
The measure already passed the Senate and needs a signature from President Donald Trump, who said this week he’ll “very strongly” consider it amid U.S. anger over China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and tension over a Chinese plan to restrict civil liberties in Hong Kong.
Both issues emerged, along with other sore points in the China-U.S. relationship, as Republican and Democratic members of Congress spoke in support of the bill. No one spoke against it, and it passed by a 413-1 vote.
“Beijing’s barbarous actions targeting the Uighur people are an outrage to the collective conscience of the world,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a floor speech in support of the bill.
It was the first bill in history to pass with proxy votes after House Democrats, over Republican objections, adopted a measure allowing such votes in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Congress late last year voted to condemn the crackdown in Xianjiang, where Chinese authorities have detained more than a million people — from mostly Muslim ethnic groups that include Uighurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz — in a vast network of detention centers.
This new legislation is intended to increase the pressure by imposing sanctions on specific Chinese officials, such as the Communist Party official who oversees government policy in Xianjiang.
The legislation also requires the U.S. government to report to Congress on violations of human rights in Xianjiang as well as China’s acquisition of technology used for mass detention and surveillance. It also provides for an assessment of the pervasive reports of harassment and threats of Uighurs and other Chinese nationals in the United States.
A provision that would have imposed export restrictions on surveillance and other equipment used in the crackdown was initially passed in the House but then stripped out in the version that passed in the Senate earlier this month.
Despite the limitations, the legislation amounts to the first concrete step by a government to penalize China over the treatment of the Uighurs since the existence of the mass internment camps became widely known in recent years, said Peter Irwin, a senior program officer at the Uighur Human Rights Project.
“It signals that a member of the international community is actually taking some steps to address the problem,” Irwin said. “The legislation itself has to spur the rest of the international community, particularly the European Union and other powerful blocs of states, to actually take this as a template and pass their own legislation.”
Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican and chairman of the House China Task Force, called what’s happening in Xianjiang a “cultural genocide” of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups.
The passage of the bill with strong bipartisan support would “show the Chinese Communist Party and the entire world that their treatment of the Muslim Uighurs is inexcusable and will not be allowed without serious consequences,” McCaul said.
China has publicly brushed away criticism of its crackdown in Xianjiang, which it launched in 2014 as the “Strike Hard Against Violent Extremism” in a vast resource-rich territory whose inhabitants are largely distinct, culturally and ethnically, from the country's Han Chinese majority.
The Chinese government, when not bristling at criticism of what it sees as an internal matter, has also said the detention camps are vocational training centers. Uighur activists and human rights groups have countered that many of those held are people with advanced degrees and business owners who are influential in their communities and have no need of any special education.
People held in the internment camps have described being subjected to forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings, denial of food and medicine and say they have been prohibited from practicing their religion or speaking their language. China has denied these accounts but refused to allow independent inspections.
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Politics
Does China really want war?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/does-china-really-want-war-214929176.html
Fox News senior strategic analyst retired Gen. Jack Keane says while Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling for an army to prepare for war, the U.S. has a political, economic and military plan to address the country should the occasion arise.
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Politics
Sen. Kennedy: Trump is the only world leader standing up to China
Trump says U.S. to take action on China over Hong Kong this week
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is preparing to take action against China this week over its effort to impose national security laws on Hong Kong, but did not give details.
Asked if he was going to impose sanctions on China over its actions in Hong Kong, Trump told reporters at the White House: "We're doing something now. I think you'll find it very interesting. But I won't be talking about it today."
"It's something you're going to be hearing about ... before the end of the week - very powerfully I think," Trump said in response to a second question.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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US will pay for companies to bring supply chains home from China: Kudlow
The Trump administration is willing to pay for U.S. companies to uproot their supply chains and bring them home from China, according to the president's top economic adviser.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused supply chain disruptions and elevated concerns the U.S. has become too reliant on production in Asia, and specifically China, for goods and key technologies.
China is the world's largest producer of personal protective equipment, including masks, test kits and more that is needed to control the spread of COVID-19, which was first identified in Wuhan, China, and has infected more than 5.5 million people worldwide.
CORONAVIRUS PRESSURES US MANUFACTURERS TO BRING PLANTS HOME FROM CHINA
"We welcome any Americans companies in Hong Kong or China mainland, we will do what we can for full expensing and pay the cost of moving if they return their supply chains and their production to the United States," chief White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney on Tuesday.
Tensions between the U.S. and China have flared in recent weeks after the Chinese government's initial handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and were further strained after Beijing last week moved to tighten its grip on Hong Kong by introducing a national security bill that would bypass the city’s legislature, effectively ending the “one country, two systems” principle used to govern the city.
"I think taking over Hong Kong's national security parameters and judgments was a mistake," Kudlow said. "They're supposed to have one country and two systems, and now we're seeing an attempt, I think, to have one country and only one system."
Kudlow said he "didn't want to speculate" on whether China's aggressions in Hong Kong could kill the phase one trade deal.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He recently held "constructive" talks and the trade deal remains on, "for now," according to Kudlow.
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Sports
'Everything is gone': Pier 45 fire puts 2020 crab season in jeopardy, millions in fishing equipment destroyed
https://www.yahoo.com/news/firefighters-battle-massive-fire-san-180044492.html
"You wake up and realize everything you did your whole life is gone": Extensive damage from a massive fire on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf is threatening to disrupt the upcoming dungeness crab season. Dozens of crab fisherman lost millions of dollars worth of gear in the fire.
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World
How the West can overcome the Chinese juggernaut
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/m/d6d0bf73-e4a2-3cf4-9000-f02cd565b5fd/how-the-west-can-overcome-the.html
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| How the West can overcome the Chinese juggernaut |
In the wake of COVID-19, Americans have developed an increasingly negative view of China, and the policy of integrating it into the Western commercial system to promote democratic reforms has been discredited. After President Xi Jinping became head of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, he set a course for China to offer a rival model of multilateralism, rather than integrate into the U.S.-led liberal world order, and imposed tighter controls on speech, the internet and ultimately his social credit system. In the early weeks of the COVID-19 crisis, the apparent cooperation of WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and bad advice from Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar may have encouraged President Donald Trump—and by derivation New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo—to initially play down the threat.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/m/d6d0bf73-e4a2-3cf4-9000-f02cd565b5fd/how-the-west-can-overcome-the.html
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World
German companies flying 200 workers to China in mass return
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| Commuters wear face masks to protect against the coronavirus as they walk through a subway station in Beijing, Tuesday, May 26, 2020. With declining virus case numbers, students have gradually returned to class and some international schools in Beijing are preparing to reopen on June 1. China's ceremonial parliament is meeting this week, with social distancing and other anti-virus measures being used. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) |
BEIJING (AP) — A flight carrying about 200 employees of German companies to China is to arrive Saturday in the first mass return of foreign workers since Beijing barred most visitors from overseas two months ago to fight the coronavirus.
The employees obtained visas under a “fast track” program aimed at helping revive the economy, said Jens Hildebrandt, executive director of the German Chamber of Commerce in China. The chamber organized this week’s flight and a second planned for June 3.
“There is huge demand,” Hildebrandt said Tuesday.
China, where the outbreak began in December, stopped admitting most foreigners including those with residence permits on March 28 in an attempt to avoid re-importing the virus. Foreign workers already in the country were allowed to stay and visitors could apply for a visa for a business or other urgent reason. But that left thousands of employees of U.S., European and other foreign companies waiting abroad.
Factories, shops, offices and other businesses reopened in late March but curbs on foreign visitors stayed in place.
Chinese authorities are weighing their desire to have foreign businesspeople return against health concerns, Hildebrandt said.
Most of the returning employees are required to undergo quarantine for two weeks in a hotel picked by the government, according to Hildebrandt. He said a second option requires only 48 hours of quarantine but is available only for a small number of people who will have no contact with neighbors or coworkers.
The group consists of employees, their dependents or specialists for companies ranging from automaker Volkswagen to enterprises with a single foreign worker in China, Hildebrandt said. He said they were citizens of Germany and other countries.
Some 2,000 to 2,500 employees of German companies are waiting to return to China, according to Hildebrandt. He said the chamber is considering organizing a third flight.
Employees are required to test negative for the virus before boarding, then undergo two more tests after arrival, Hildebrandt said.
Previously, companies could apply for visas but had to prove the “economic importance” of an employee, said Hildebrandt. He said few did.
In the “fast track” process, visas will be issued based on an invitation from the government in the urban district where a company operates, Hildebrandt said.
This week’s charter flight on the German carrier Lufthansa is from Frankfurt to Tianjin, east of Beijing. The flight in June is from Frankfurt to Shanghai.
“We are also talking to another couple of countries and chambers that might want to join,” said Hildebrandt. “If these first two flights work, and we expect them to work, then it really is a good example for this program.”
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World
Tensions flare as U.S. signals broader crackdown on Chinese telecoms
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| Tensions flare as U.S. signals broader crackdown on Chinese telecoms |
The Trump administration is signaling a broader crackdown on the Chinese communications sector — well beyond the companies that have already come under harsh U.S. scrutiny.
In an interview, a senior DOJ official told POLITICO that the government’s past objections to powerful Chinese telecommunications players operating in the U.S. may provide a blueprint for the Federal Communications Commission to pursue other firms as well.
This administration blessing comes potentially weeks ahead of the agency moving to revoke licenses for some of the few remaining Chinese telecom companies authorized to operate within the U.S., including China Telecom and China Unicom, and marks an escalation in the tensions between Washington and Beijing that have only grown more acute since the coronavirus pandemic began sweeping the globe.
A Washington crackdown could mean the end of any China-based telecommunications providers doing business within the borders of the United States.
“We’re concerned about providers that are subject to the undue influence and control of the Chinese government,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Hickey told POLITICO in a recent interview. “Once you make that conclusion, it’s hard for me to understand if it’s true for one company or a second company, why wouldn’t it be true for a class?”
Although these Chinese telecom companies have a modest footprint among U.S. consumers, the aggressive scrutiny during the Trump era marks a stark change from just a few years earlier, when American companies freely did business with a variety of Chinese telecommunications companies with little concern. It also suggests Washington is ready to extend its scrutiny well beyond any one Chinese company such as Huawei or ZTE.
The Justice Department has led administration efforts in reviewing multiple prominent China-based providers in recent years, including government-affiliated China Mobile and China Telecom, in order to make security-based recommendations to the FCC — and it now says the commission should be able to take those recommendations to curtail Chinese players more broadly.
DOJ’s Hickey, a senior official in the department’s National Security Division, outlined several concerns with business operations in China.
“We don’t think there’s sufficient rule of law there,” said Hickey. “We don’t think there’s reciprocity. We certainly don’t participate in their telecom sector. We don’t want the companies that are accountable primarily to the Communist Party to provide critical telecommunications infrastructure and services here.”
That skepticism dovetails with Trump’s own. The president has indicated he’s intensely frustrated over how Chinese officials handled the initial virus outbreak. In mid-May, he threatened a more aggressive approach to China, telling Fox Business, “We could cut off the whole relationship.”
Tensions surrounding the telecommunications sector have ratcheted up in recent years as the U.S. and China both vie for supremacy over the rollout of advanced 5G wireless networks and amid administration warnings over the potential dangers lurking in China’s networks.
These battles have ensnared titanic Chinese companies including Huawei and ZTE, which Trump has sought to block from American markets on the grounds that they pose a surveillance threat to U.S. communications networks and over past bad behaviors. The FCC is moving to designate both companies as national security threats in its own ongoing proceeding, which has prompted a lawsuit from Huawei accusing the agency of trying to cater to Congress. And lawmakers say they want to subsidize rural U.S. carriers in ripping out and replacing any Huawei and ZTE network gear they may own.
In another escalation, the Trump administration recently warned Google against trying to run an underseas cable network through Hong Kong, citing concerns about national security risks. And this month, Trump extended by another year — to May 2021 — his executive order preventing U.S. companies from relying on telecom gear deemed a security risk, a move seen as directed at China.
The allegations coming from Washington are principally that the Chinese government could surveil U.S. citizens and steal American technology, and that they have been deceptive about their operations. Chinese providers broadly dispute these charges. And some, including Huawei, accuse the U.S. government of playing politics during a broader trade war.
Under former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the department started a broad undertaking designed to counter criminal activity connected to the Chinese government and dubbed it the China Initiative. Attorney General Bill Barr, Sessions’ replacement, has enthusiastically supported the initiative, along with U.S. efforts to limit Chinese telecom firms’ footprint in the U.S. and help Western companies compete with Chinese giants Huawei and ZTE. Barr, a former telecom executive, discussed the issues in detail earlier this year at a Justice Department conference on the China Initiative.
“From a national security standpoint, if the Industrial Internet becomes dependent on Chinese technology, China would have the ability to shut countries off from technology and equipment upon which their consumers and industry depend,” he said, according to his prepared remarks. “The power the United States has today to use economic sanctions would pale by comparison to the unprecedented economic leverage we would be surrendering into the hands of China.”
Days later, the department filed a superseding indictment charging Huawei with conspiring to break the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act––a U.S. law often used to target organized crime. The department also alleged that the company helped the Iranian government surveil protesters. The company has pleaded not guilty.
John Demers, the head of the department’s National Security Division, told Politico in April that the department hopes each U.S. Attorneys Office will bring cases as part of the initiative. And cases have sprung up around the country, including high-profile investigations of college professors who failed to disclose Chinese government funding for scientific research.
FCC commissioners and Congress, meanwhile, are quick to support the White House and say the dangers are real. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) teamed up with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) last fall to urge the FCC to get aggressive.
“This isn’t just email and phone calls that are going over these networks anymore,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican who has recently taken to calling out Chinese officials repeatedly on social media in the wake of the coronavirus’s spread, told a group of Washington lawyers during a keynote address this month. “With 5G, it’s telehealth...it’s banking information. It’s power grid information. If these networks are threatened, then everything we have come to value is threatened.”
The FCC has already signaled a desire to go beyond administration recommendations in tackling these Chinese firms.
The DOJ in April released a scathing administration recommendation that the FCC revoke and terminate the authorization for the U.S. subsidiary of China Telecom, which has more than 100 million customers globally, to operate within the U.S.
China Telecom, which provides phone and internet service as well as IT technology, has already been here for nearly two decades, headquartered domestically in Herndon, Virginia, and quick to talk up local ties. At the end of last month, the company touted its donation of computers to Virginia’s George Mason University to help students caught up in the virus. The Trump administration, however, paints a different picture. The administration cited evolving cybersecurity threats from China, concerns the company is vulnerable to manipulation from Beijing and a lack of compliance with earlier authorization conditions.
The FCC picked up the DOJ’s recommendation in a matter of weeks, issuing orders not only to China Telecom’s U.S. subsidiary but also China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks and ComNet asking for proof within 30 days that they are not subject to the control of China’s communist government and why the agency shouldn’t revoke their licenses to operate within the United States.
“We simply cannot take a risk and hope for the best when it comes to the security of our networks,” Chairman Ajit Pai said at the time.
These orders could set up FCC revocation of all their licenses, effectively kicking the providers out of the U.S. The agency last year followed a similar Trump administration call and rejected an application from China Mobile.
In subsequent weeks, China Telecom has told the FCC it needs more time to respond due to the coronavirus pandemic and sought to clarify what the agency really wants. The FCC recently assented, narrowing the scope of its requests and giving China Telecom until June 8 to respond, among other brief extensions.
But the DOJ is pleased, according to Hickey, who framed the FCC actions as “taking the initiative” in following what he sees as administration guidance.
The White House is also trying to set guardrails and timelines firming up the process by which its cabinet agencies vet foreign telecommunications players operating in the U.S., an attempt to streamline existing procedures and provide certainty for industry.
The key example is an executive order Trump issued in April codifying an interagency review process known as “Team Telecom,” which pleased FCC commissioners who have long called for greater clarity. DOJ, the Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department are the three lead agencies conducting these reviews. At the FCC, Pai has pledged to conclude a long-pending rulemaking on overhauling how the agency reviews foreign ownership in U.S. telecom networks.
While Hickey avoided weighing in on the particulars of individual companies the FCC is now scrutinizing, he suggested the executive branch has already presented a path for the FCC chief to follow.
“We laid out some basic principles for evaluating whether a company should have a license,” Hickey told POLITICO. “What’s true for China Mobile is in many ways true for China Telecom and is going to be true for other companies as well.”
“Once
we make that record and once the FCC has accepted that record in
denying China Mobile’s application, it seems logical to me that they
might start to address other carriers or other providers that fit the
same criteria,” he added.
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World
Official: U.S. might sanction China over Hong Kong security law
https://www.yahoo.com/news/official-u-might-sanction-china-132236100.html
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The U.S. is likely to impose sanctions against China if it enacts a new national security law that would erode Hong Kong's autonomy, White House National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien said Sunday.
The legislation, announced last week during China's National People's Congress, will allow Beijing to take over in Hong Kong, O'Brien said. That would make it unlikely that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could certify that the city, a former British colony, had a "high degree" of autonomy, which would result in sanctions against China under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, O'Brien said.
The comments came as thousands of people gathered in Hong Kong streets to protest the proposed security law, and Hong Kong police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds. Read more at CNBC.
More stories from theweek.comPrivate gain must no longer be allowed to elbow out the public good
How pandemics change society
Trump still hasn't taken his annual physical and it's starting to get weir
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CBS News
Trump will travel to Florida to attend historic SpaceX launch
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| Trump will travel to Florida to attend historic SpaceX launch |
Weather permitting, SpaceX will launch NASA astronauts into space from the U.S. for the first time in nearly a decade on Wednesday. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump will travel to Florida to witness the historic launch in person.
SpaceX is planning to launch its Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft into orbit on Wednesday, May 27, from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The country hasn't sent astronauts into space from U.S. soil since 2011, when Space Shuttle Program ended.
"President Trump is continuing to deliver on his promise to reassert American dominance in space," the White House said in a statement to CBS News confirming the president's attendance.
"Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security," Mr. Trump said in the statement.
President Trump says he's "thinking" about going to the SpaceX rocket launch next week and tells reporters, "I'd like to put you on the rocket and get rid of you for a while" https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/eNIIS3Jgox
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 21, 2020
Mr. Trump has traveled to several battleground states in the last month, but this week's trip will be his first that is not related to federal coronavirus response. Vice President Mike Pence also plans to attend.
Astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken will be aboard the rocket to the International Space Station. The long-awaited Demo-2 mission marks the final test flight for the spacecraft before it begins regular service.
The launch also marks the first time a private company — as opposed to the national government — is sending astronauts to space using a commercially developed spacecraft. "A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin," NASA said in a statement.
Mr. Trump has made space travel one of the pillars of his administration. He officially established the Space Force, the sixth branch of the military, in a defense bill he signed in December.
While discussing the trip during a press conference Friday, the president joked that he would like to launch reporters into space "to get rid of you for a while."
Rocket launches typically draw large crowds, but NASA and SpaceX are both urging spectators to stay home. The space agency is offering a virtual launch experience for excited fans, and the visitor center at Kennedy will be closed to the public.
However, local officials are hoping the launch will jump-start the tourism industry, hard hit by lockdowns. "I'm not going to tell Americans they can't watch a great piece of history. I'm just not going to do it," Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey told CBS Miami.
"You know, COVID did drive some changes in how we were conducting our operations and preparing for this mission," Behnken told reporters in a teleconference this week. "We as a nation, all across the nation ... had to figure out a way to still pull this mission off safely, still prepare for it safely, still work together to accomplish it, even with all the constraints."
"I hope the nation can look at this and recognize that this is something we're still going to accomplish," he said. "This is still something that we're going to be successful at. And we're going to do it in the face of the pandemic. ... Where there's a will, there's a way, and ... we're just proud to be a part of it."
At least 2 survivors in Pakistani airliner crash
Business
China Roundup: A blow to US-listed Chinese firms and TikTok's new global face
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/china-roundup-blow-us-listed-144012370.html
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| ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 23: Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer & International division of The Walt Disney Company Kevin Mayer took part today in the Disney+ Showcase at Disney’s D23 EXPO 2019 in Anaheim, Calif. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney) |
Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch’s China Roundup, a digest of recent events shaping the Chinese tech landscape and what they mean to people in the rest of the world. It's been a tumultuous week for Chinese tech firms abroad: Huawei's mounting pressure from the U.S., a big blow to U.S.-listed Chinese firms, and TikTok's high-profile new boss.
China tech abroad
Further decoupling
Over the years, American investors have been pumping billions of dollars into Chinese firms listed in the U.S., from giants like Alibaba and Baidu to emerging players like Pinduoduo and Bilibili. That could change soon with the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, a new bill passed this week with bipartisan support to tighten accounting standards on foreign companies, with the obvious target being China.
"For too long, Chinese companies have disregarded U.S. reporting standards, misleading our investors. Publicly listed companies should all be held to the same standards, and this bill makes commonsense changes to level the playing field and give investors the transparency they need to make informed decisions," said Senator Chris Van Hollen who introduced the legislation.
Here's what the legislation is about:
1) Foreign companies that are out of compliance with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board for three years in a row will be delisted from U.S. stock exchanges.
PCAOB, which was set up in 2002 as a private-sector nonprofit corporation overseen by the SEC, is meant to inspect audits of foreign firms listed in the U.S. to prevent fraud and wrongdoing.
The rule has not sat well with foreign accounting firms and their local regulators, so over time PCAOB has negotiated multiple agreements with foreign counterparts that allowed it to perform audit inspections. China is one of the few countries that has not been cooperating with the PCAOB.
2) The bill will also require public companies in the U.S. to disclose whether they are owned or controlled by a foreign government, including China’s communist government.
The question now is whether we will see Chinese companies give in to the new rules or relocate to bourses outside the U.S.
The Chinese firms still have a three-year window to figure things out, but they are getting more scrutiny already. Most recently, Nasdaq announced to delist Luckin, the Chinese coffee challenger that admitted to fabricating $310 million in sales.
Those that do choose to leave the U.S. will probably find a warmer welcome in Hong Kong, attracting investors closer to home who are more acquainted with their businesses. Alibaba, for instance, already completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong last year as the city began letting investors buy dual-class shares, a condition that initially prompted many Chinese internet firms to go public in the U.S.
The long-awaited announcement is here: TikTok has picked its new chief executive, and taking the helm is Disney's former head of video streaming, Kevin Mayer.
It's understandable that TikTok would want a global face for its fast-growing global app, which has come under scrutiny from foreign governments over concerns of its data practices and Beijing's possible influence.
Curiously, Mayer will also take on the role of the chief operating officer of parent company ByteDance . A closer look at the company announcement reveals nuances in the appointment: Kelly Zhang and Lidong Zhang will continue to lead ByteDance China as its chief executive officer and chairman respectively, reporting directly to ByteDance's founder and global CEO Yiming Zhang, as industry analyst Matthew Brennan acutely pointed out. That means ByteDance's China businesses Douyin and Today's Headlines, the cash cows of the firm, will remain within the purview of the two Chinese executives, not Mayer.
Huawei in limbo following more chip curbs
Huawei is in limbo after the U.S. slapped more curbs on the Chinese telecoms equipment giant, restricting its ability to procure chips from foreign foundries that use American technologies. The company called the rule “arbitrary and pernicious," while it admitted that the attack would impact its business.
Vodafone to help Oppo expand in Europe
As Huawei faces pressure abroad due to the Android ban, other Chinese phone makers have been steadily making headway across the world. One of them is Oppo, which just announced a partnership with Vodafone to bring its smartphones to the mobile carrier’s European markets.
All of China's top AI firms now on U.S. entity list
The U.S. has extended sanctions to more Chinese tech firms to include CloudWalk, which focuses on developing facial recognition technology. This means all of the "four dragons of computer vision" in China, as the local tech circle collectively calls CloudWalk, SenseTime, Megvii and Yitu, have landed on the U.S. entity list.
China tech back home
China's new trillion-dollar plan to seize the tech crown (Bloomberg)
China has a new master plan to invest $1.4 trillion in everything from AI to 5G in what it dubs the "new infrastructure" initiative.
Fitbit rival Amazfit works on a reusable mask
The smartwatch maker is eyeing a transparent, self-disinfecting mask, becoming the latest Chinese tech firm to jump on the bandwagon to develop virus-fighting tech.
ByteDance moves into venture capital investment
The TikTok parent bankrolled financial AI startup Lingxi with $6.2 million, marking one of its first investments for purely monetary returns rather than for an immediate strategic purpose.
Bilibili is the new Youtube of China
The once-obscure video site for anime fans is now in the mainstream with a whopping 172 million monthly user base.
Xiaomi's investment powerhouse reaches 300 companies
It's part of the smartphone giant's plan to conquer the world of smart home devices and wearables.
Alibaba pumps $1.4 billion into content and services for IoT
Like Amazon, Alibaba has a big ambition in the internet of things.
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News
US dependence on Chinese imports posing potential threat on national security
Fox News foreign correspondent Benjamin Hall reports.
'Fire everywhere': More than 130 firefighters battle Pier 45 blaze in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf
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| Jeff Chiu. AP |
SAN FRANCISCO — A fire engulfed a warehouse on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf on Saturday, sending a thick plume of smoke over the waterfront and threatening to spread to a historic World War II-era ship before firefighters brought the flames under control.
One firefighter sustained a hand injury while battling the fire at the warehouse the size of a football field on Pier 45, San Francisco Fire Lt. Jonathan Baxter said.
Baxter said after the fire subsided, investigators scoured the building to determine whether homeless people were inside.
“That is something of grave concern. That is why we're actively trying to confirm if anybody saw anybody in this building,” he told KGO-TV.
“To our knowledge ... nobody is supposed to be in the building and we are hoping ... that there is no victim,” he said.
However, at least two workers told the San Francisco Chronicle they were inside the fish processing and storage warehouse when the fire broke out before dawn.
Alejandro Arellano, who works for La Rocca Seafood, was cleaning out a fish storage locker when the fire began, shortly after 4 a.m..
“I saw a lot of smoke. A few minutes later, fire everywhere,” he said. “It was very, very scary. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Not that it would ever need this, but the seafood industry didn’t need this now,” Belov said. “It’s surreal. We’ve obviously had a tough go the last couple months, with restaurants (closed). … Of all the problems in the world, this is not a big one. But it’s frustrating.”
Coast Guard crew members and police assisted by keeping other vessels away from the pier.
Fire investigators were assessing any damage to the pier and were looking into the cause of the blaze, Baxter said.
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U.S.
US security officials 'considered return to nuclear testing' after 28-year hiatus
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| US security officials 'considered return to nuclear testing' after 28-year hiatus |
US officials have debated whether to carry out the first US nuclear tests in 28 years as a way to pressure Russia and China into make a trilateral arms control deal, according congressional aides and former officials.
They said the discussion took place at a “deputies meeting” of senior national security officials at the White House on 15 May, but that the proposal was shelved for the time being.
“There are still some professionals in the room who told them this is a terrible idea, thank God,” a congressional aide said.
The discussion was first reported on Friday night by the Washington Post, which cited a senior administration official as saying that a demonstration to Moscow and Beijing that the United States could carry out a “rapid test” could be a useful bargaining counter in the achieving the administration’s priority on arms control – a trilateral deal with Russia and China.
The report also quoted a senior administration official as saying the proposal was “very much an ongoing conversation”.
Related: Trump to pull US out of third arms control deal
The deputies committee discussion has come at a time when arms control is in danger of dying out altogether. The Trump administration has pulled out of three arms control agreements, the latest this week with an announcement that the US will withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, which allows the Russia and western nations to conduct observation overflights of each other’s territories.
The last major arms control treaty left standing is the 2010 New Start agreement, limiting US and Russian deployed strategic warheads. It is due to expire in February next year but the Trump administration has said it does not want to extend it without bringing China into arms control negotiations. Beijing has refused, on the grounds that its stockpile is tiny compared with the US and Russian arsenals (estimated at just over a twentieth of the size).
The apparent motive behind the proposal to resume US testing was somehow to add pressure on China.
“They discussed underground testing in the context of trying to bring China to the table for the trilateral agreement,” a former official said. “Among the professionals in the administration, the idea was dismissed as unworkable and dumb. The NNSA [National Nuclear Security Administration] is definitely not on board. And it seemed like that state [department] wasn’t on board either.”
The US, and the four other officially recognised nuclear weapons powers, signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, but the Senate voted not to ratify the treaty, which still does not have enough ratifications to enter into force.
The US has observed a moratorium on testing since 1992, in line with other nuclear powers. Breaking that moratorium could doom the CTBT, and prove destabilising at a time when there are fears of a new arms race.
“I’ve heard officials speculate the US might have to test if confidence in the stockpile eroded, but never that it could be used to coerce anyone into negotiations,” Hans Kristensen, director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists, said.
“That’s completely nuts. They must be getting desperate. Instead, what it certainly would do is push China and all the other nuclear-armed states to test as well. How can someone in their right mind think that would be in the security interest of the United States or its allies?”
The US has accused both Russia and China of carrying out very low-yield tests in secret, but both countries have denied the accusations.
The NNSA, an agency of the energy department, has the job of maintaining the readiness of the US nuclear arsenal, and has developed computer diagnostic tools to check the state of the warheads, drawing on data from the 1,054 tests the US carried out between 1945 and 1992.
“By and large, the scientists and engineers and the nuclear weapons enterprise have been very satisfied with that approach,” said Frank Klotz, who served as NNSA administrator in the Obama administration and the first year of the Trump administration.
Each year, the heads of the three US nuclear weapons laboratories – Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Sandia – as well as the head of US Strategic Command, are required to certify that a resumption of testing is not needed.
“They have said that they see no technical reason to resume testing for the foreseeable future. And that was the statement that was made when I left,” Klotz, a retired air force lieutenant general, said. “Whether that’s changed or not I don’t know. I doubt it, quite frankly.”
“There are veterans of the era in which we did do testing ... who have advocated for a return to testing, but I think the vast majority of the people in the enterprise feel like it’s not necessary, and should only be done if there is some compelling technical problem.”
Xi makes high-stakes power play in move to subdue Hong Kong
By David Lague
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| FILE PHOTO: Hong Kong democracy activists march in Hong Kong's Central and Western districts |
HONG KONG (Reuters) - For Chinese leader Xi Jinping it is a high-stakes power play. His move to impose tough national security laws on Hong Kong risks reigniting pro-democracy protests that plunged the city into chaos last year, increasing tensions in an already fraught relationship with the United States and undermining Hong Kong's status as a global financial hub.
In the aftermath of the protests, Beijing appears determined to stamp out any renewed rebellion against the Communist Party's authority over the former British colony. China's largely rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, is preparing to circumvent the city's lawmaking body, the Legislative Council, in drafting the new laws. The fear among many in Hong Kong is that China intends to criminalize existing freedoms, including criticism of the central government and its policies. It is the latest and biggest step in a concerted effort by Beijing to assert control over Hong Kong and its 7.4 million people.
In recent weeks there had been widespread speculation here that Beijing was planning this move, described by some local commentators as the "nuclear option." Thursday's announcement by China nonetheless stunned pro-democracy lawmakers, business leaders and lawyers in the city. It was, they said, a historic turning point - the end of "one country, two systems," the formula Beijing had promised would allow Hong Kong to retain its way of life and freedom for at least 50 years after the 1997 handover to Chinese rule.
"This represents a real demolition of the one country, two systems idea and also the idea of Hong Kong's autonomy," said barrister Wilson Leung, a member of the Progressive Lawyers Group. Leung said extremely harsh sentences had been imposed on dissidents, journalists and lawyers on the mainland under vaguely expressed but draconian laws. "These same vague concepts are now being introduced to Hong Kong," he said.
Many details of the new laws and exactly how they will be absorbed into Hong Kong's existing statutes remain unclear. But Beijing has openly expressed its intentions in recent months. It wants to end the cycle of mass protests that have thwarted successive post-colonial administrations each time they have moved to more closely align the city with China's political and legal system.
The current Beijing-backed leader of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, was forced to drop proposed laws last year that would have allowed extraditions for trial in mainland Chinese courts after demonstrations convulsed the city. Alarmingly for Beijing, many young protesters began making calls to "free Hong Kong" and became increasingly violent as police battled to restore order.
The new laws will be annexed into Hong Kong's mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, outlawing secession, subversion and terrorism - and providing for the stationing of mainland national security agencies in the city, according to a draft seen by Reuters that spells out what the legislation will cover. That intention is raising fears in Hong Kong that Chinese intelligence agents and police will not only be based in the city, but have formal enforcement power for the first time.
The draft also states that Hong Kong's "judicial organs" along with its government and legislature "must effectively prevent, stop and punish acts endangering national security."
Senior judges in the city told Reuters last month that the independence of Hong Kong's judicial system is under assault from the Communist Party leadership, posing a grave threat to the rule of law.
The proposal for new legislation is expected to be passed on May 28 by the National People's Congress, though it remains unclear how and when exactly Hong Kong will bring it into effect.
Legal scholars are unsure whether the Basic Law's extensive human rights protections will apply to the new imposed legislation. The Basic Law currently prevents mainland security institutions from routinely taking enforcement action inside the city.
Shiu Sin-por, a former top aide to Lam's predecessor as city leader, told Reuters that the deployment into Hong Kong of the Ministry of State Security – China's leading intelligence agency – could happen "right away."
"For Beijing to announce this, they most probably already have something in mind," Shiu said. "This is not difficult to set up, so this can happen anytime."
'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'
Chinese officials say the decision to pass the legislation via the National People's Congress is because they know it won't be passed by the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. "Hong Kong still has not completed legislation on national security since its return to China," said a person with direct knowledge of Beijing's thinking. "After the endless protests, it's time for Beijing to say enough is enough."
The mainland authorities did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters.
Lam said in a statement on Friday that she "deeply" believed the new law "will seek to practically and effectively prevent and curb acts and activities that seriously undermine national security, as well as sanction those who undermine national security by advocating 'Hong Kong independence' and resorting to violence."
The immediate risk for Beijing is that the move will spark a fresh, more violent round of demonstrations. Protest groups and pro-democracy lawmakers are furious and have vowed to take to the streets to protest what they describe as "evil laws."
"Beijing is attempting to silence Hong Kongers' critical voices with force and fear," pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong said on Twitter. "Deep down protesters know, we insist not because we are strong, but because we have no other choice."
It is a decisive but potentially fraught move for the Chinese leadership at a time when Beijing faces the most intense international and domestic pressure it has experienced in decades.
The Covid-19 pandemic that began late last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan is battering the global economy. The death toll now exceeds 330,000 worldwide. China's inability to initially contain the virus - and evidence that it suppressed information about the outbreak - has damaged its international standing. A report presented early last month by the Ministry of State Security to Xi and other Chinese leaders contained a stark warning, Reuters reported: Global anti-China sentiment was at its highest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Compounding Beijing's discomfort, Taiwan's government under President Tsai Ing-wen is basking in international acclaim for its success in containing the infection and avoiding serious economic harm. So far, Taiwan has had 441 confirmed cases of coronavirus and just seven deaths. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to assert that sovereignty.
As the pandemic spreads, Beijing has unleashed what Chinese commentators dub "wolf-warrior" diplomats - envoys who are lashing out against perceived slights or criticism with mockery and threats of trade retaliation.
China may be misreading the international mood. After Australia last month called for an independent inquiry into the origins and spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, China's ambassador said Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef, wine and tourism. Beijing ultimately agreed to back a probe when it became clear at this month's meeting of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, that there was overwhelming global support for an inquiry.
'READY TO FIGHT TONIGHT'
Military and economic tension with the U.S. is also on the rise. The Trump administration is sending loud signals that it will resist any Chinese move to expand its footprint in the South China Sea or seek territorial gains while the world is distracted with the public health crisis. Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet took the unusual step of announcing that all its forward deployed attack submarines were at sea on patrol in the Western Pacific. The location of U.S. submarines is normally secret - unless the Pentagon wants to send a warning that it is prepared to counter a threat.
"The Pacific Fleet submarine force remains lethal, agile and ready to fight tonight," U.S. Pacific Fleet submarine commander Rear Admiral Blake Converse said in a statement.
In the South China Sea and East China Sea, U.S. warships and long-range bombers have been mounting an ongoing series of patrols and exercises off the Chinese coast.
On Hong Kong, the United States is warning that Washington could retaliate economically if the city's freedoms are threatened. At stake is Hong Kong's special status in its ties with the United States, which provides for a broad range of trade, economic, political, social and law enforcement cooperation. Hong Kong, for example, is treated separately from the mainland by the United States in terms of customs and immigration.
On Thursday, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill to impose sanctions on Chinese officials or entities who violate freedoms China pledged to preserve in Hong Kong. The bill also would place sanctions on any bank that does significant business with those officials and entities.
Chinese officials bristle at U.S. attempts to dictate to Beijing how it should handle Hong Kong, which is a Chinese city. In particular, some point to the State Department saying it would delay the release of a report on whether Hong Kong is autonomous enough to continue receiving special treatment from the world's biggest economy.
"Beijing doesn't bow to threats like this," said the person with direct knowledge of Beijing's thinking. "To Beijing, Hong Kong is China's Hong Kong."
Damage to Hong Kong's role as a financial center could compound the challenge facing Beijing in rejuvenating the Chinese economy. Business activity had been slowing even before the pandemic; Covid-19 has hammered it. Official figures recorded a 6.8% contraction in economic output in the first quarter. One measure of the country's woes: The authorities announced this week that because of the uncertainty created by the pandemic, they won't be setting an annual growth target, a stark turnaround for a country whose statistics have shown unbroken expansion for decades in virtual lockstep with government forecasts.
Hong Kong is a vital cog in China's economy. While China still has extensive capital controls and often intervenes in its financial markets and banking system, Hong Kong is one of the most open economies in the world and one of the biggest markets for equity and debt financing. China uses Hong Kong's currency, equity and debt markets to attract foreign funds, while international companies use Hong Kong as a launchpad to expand into mainland China. The bulk of foreign direct investment in China continues to be channeled through the city. And many of China's biggest firms have listed in Hong Kong, often as a springboard to global expansion.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said in a statement that the move by China "may jeopardize future prospects for international business," including the ability to "recruit and retain top tier talent" in the city. "No one wins if the foundation for Hong Kong's role as a prime international business and financial center is eroded," said Robert Grieves, chairman of the business group.
MORE DIRECT ROLE
The core of the problem for Xi and other top leaders is that the Communist Party and the authoritarian political system it enforces on the mainland remain deeply unpopular in free-wheeling Hong Kong. With the 23rd anniversary of the handover approaching, top Chinese leaders are rarely seen in the city. When they do appear, usually at carefully staged events, they are enveloped by security cordons designed to ensure they never face the kind of rowdy protests or public criticism that Hong Kong leaders routinely endure.
In some respects, the mainland leadership appears to be more remote from the city's people than top British officials in the final years of colonial rule. Hong Kong's last colonial governor, Chris Patten, remains a popular figure here and a regular commentator on local political affairs.
"I think there has been a significant change in China, in Beijing, since Xi Jinping became president or dictator for life, complete with a personality cult which is extraordinary," Patten told members of the city's Foreign Correspondents' Club in an online presentation earlier this week. "I think the sad point is that Xi Jinping and his court have regarded Hong Kong and Hong Kong's freedoms as an existential problem for them because Hong Kong represents so much of what they don't like."
Mainland authorities and their proxies have worked tirelessly to win support from local people since the handover, but these efforts appear to be ineffective. Pro-democracy groups scored a dramatic victory at local elections held after the climax of last year's protests, in what was widely seen as a referendum on the performance of the Lam administration. A poll conducted for Reuters in March found that support for the demands of pro-democracy protesters had grown even though the demonstrations had paused as a result of the pandemic.
Veteran political activists in the city anticipate that pro-democracy candidates will repeat their success in a Legislative Council poll scheduled for September.
Resistance in the Legislative Council and mass protests killed off Beijing's first attempt in 2003 to introduce national security legislation. Last year's proposed extradition laws met a similar fate. Imposing such laws via the National People's Congress means Beijing won't have to risk another such setback at the hands of elected lawmakers and their supporters on the streets.
"Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy, but Hong Kong definitely is not independent from China," Leung Chun-ying, a former leader of the city and now an adviser to China's government, told Reuters. "Hong Kong is part of China, and therefore, Hong Kong has an obligation to protect the national security of China."
Even as the pandemic and social distancing regulations restricted protests in Hong Kong in the early months of this year, there were signs Beijing was preparing to play a much more direct role in running the city. Key moves included the appointment of two top officials, both with reputations for toughness and both with close ties to President Xi, to oversee Hong Kong.
Luo Huining, who Xi had earlier deployed as party secretary to take down a corruption network in Shanxi province, was appointed to run Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Another former provincial party secretary, Xia Baolong, took over the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, the top government body responsible for handling the city. Xia was Xi's deputy when the Chinese leader was Party Secretary in Zhejiang province between 2002 and 2007.
After the two leaders took up their new posts, the Liaison Office sparked a controversy when it said in a statement last month that it had the power, along with the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, to "handle Hong Kong affairs." Pro-democracy supporters in the city condemned the move as a clear threat to Hong Kong's autonomy.
The Liaison Office and Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office did not immediately respond to questions.
In a speech on April 15, Luo also signaled that new national security laws were in the pipeline. "For the nearly 23 years since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the system for safeguarding national security in Hong Kong has had shortcomings and could be fatal at critical moments," Luo said. New laws were needed "without delay," he added.
On Thursday, five weeks after Luo spoke, Beijing made its dramatic announcement: Chinese-style national security is coming to China's freest city.
(Reporting by David Lague. Additional reporting by Yew Lun Tian in Beijing and Greg Torode, Anne Marie Roantree and James Pomfret in Hong Kong. Editing by Peter Hirschberg.)
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World
City Braces for Rallies; Police Issue Warning: Hong Kong Update
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| City Braces for Rallies; Police Issue Warning: Hong Kong Update |
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/u-condemns-china-national-security-143922884.html
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police warned protesters against unauthorized marches against China’s plans to impose a sweeping national security law, as the measure drew criticism from the U.S., the U.K. and other Western governments.
The foreign ministers of the U.K., Australia and Canada said they were “deeply concerned” by China’s proposal, while U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo called it “disastrous” and urged Beijing to reconsider.
China said it will introduce a law to prevent and punish any acts of secession, subversion or terrorism in the city that threaten national security. Pro-democracy activists say the move endangers the future of “one country, two systems,” the principle by which the Asian financial hub is overseen by Beijing.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the city fully cooperate with China to enact the legislation. The city would fully cooperate with China to enact the legislation, she said.would cooperate with Her comments are likely to anger demonstrators and fuel protests that have resurged in recent weeks following months of disruption leveled by the coronavirus. Already, demonstrators have called for rallies against Beijing-backed legislation, including a bill that would criminalize disrespecting China’s national anthem, on Sunday and Wednesday.
Key Developments:
U.K., Australia and Canada have “deep concern” over planPompeo condemns China’s plan to impose legislationBiden says U.S. “should not remain silent”U.K. says China must respect city’s freedomsChina says no country has right to interfere in Hong Kong
Here’s the latest (all times local):
Hong Kongers Won’t be Whisked Over Border, Official Says (2 p.m)
The new security legislation won’t be used to whisk people over the border to China, Maria Tam, vice chairwoman of the Chinese parliamentary committee that oversees Hong Kong’s law, said in an interview.
Tam acknowledged that some details of the sweeping legislation expected to soon be passed by the National People’s Congress had yet to be decided.
“The Hong Kong opposition has always reaped the benefit of striking fear in the minds of the Hong Kong people and asking them not to trust China,” Tam said by phone. “And so this is political capital, and I would be surprised if they don’t cash in on it. But I don’t think it’s going to happen that way.”
Police Warn of unauthorized marches (2:50 p.m.)
Officers will be deployed around Hong Kong on Sunday at locations where unauthorized marches are due to take place and will arrest demonstrators if necessary, according to a post on the police Facebook page.
The police urged residents not to take part in gatherings that are not approved, according to the post.
They also warned that anyone who gathers in groups of more than eight would violate the city’s social-distancing measures, which pro-democracy advocates have complained are suppressing lawful protests.
China tries to reassure city officials (12:35 p.m.)
China tried to ease fears over the proposed legislation in a meeting between central government officials and city representatives, Radio Television Hong Kong reported, citing attendees.
Vice Premier Han Zheng said at the meeting in Beijing that Beijing hoped to ensure the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people were protected and maintained, RTHK said, citing local Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference member Thomas So. There would be a consultation process, the news agency quoted him as saying.
Law is ‘anti-virus’ software for city: People’s Daily (Saturday 7:35 a.m.)
China’s proposed security law for Hong Kong was “anti-virus software” for the city to enhance law and order, and to build a stable foundation for the principle of one country, two systems, the Communist Party-owned People’s Daily said in an online commentary on Saturday.
The anti-extradition bill movement responsible for protests in the city was the cause of the National People’s Congress introducing the security-law legislation, it said.
U.K. Australia, Canada foreign ministers express concern (11:45 p.m.)
“Making such a law on Hong Kong’s behalf without the direct participation of its people, legislature or judiciary would clearly undermine the principle of ‘one country, two systems’, under which Hong Kong is guaranteed a high degree of autonomy,” according to joint statement from U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
The U.K., Australia and Canada are “deeply concerned” at China’s proposals for introducing the legislation.
Hassett warns of capital flight if laws enacted (10:39 a.m.)
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett called China’s move “very unacceptable to the U.S. government” and predicted it would backfire on Beijing.
“They’re going to see a lot of economic harm from what they’re doing, because if I had capital to invest, would you really want to invest it in a place where they’re basically, you know, sneering at the rule of law the way they are right now?” he said Friday in an interview on Fox Business Network.
“I would expect that they’re going to have serious capital flight problems in Hong Kong, if they follow through this, they will no longer be the financial center of Asia, and that they themselves will pay very, very heavy costs,” he added.
China must respect Hong Kong’s freedoms, U.K. says (9:23 p.m.)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said the British government wants to clarify exactly what China has proposed -- but warned it expects Beijing to respect the autonomy Hong Kong is due.
“We expect China to respect Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms and high degree of autonomy,” Johnson’s spokesman James Slack told reporters. The U.K. remains committed to upholding Hong Kong’s autonomy under the joint declaration, Slack said.
The U.K. has previously said there will need to be a reassessment of relations with China in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak. On Friday, the government unveiled a plan to diversify supply chains, potentially reducing Britain’s reliance on China for some medical materials.
Lam says law will help stop local terrorism (9 p.m.)
The legislation wouldn’t affect capitalism and could bolster business confidence in Hong Kong, Lam said at a briefing.
Citizens should view the law “positively” and said there was urgent need for the measure, the chief Executive said.
“The enforcement of national security legislation won’t affect Hong Kong’s capitalism and the law will also protect foreign investors’ interests in H.K.,” she said. “The legislation will also help Hong Kong to effectively nip local terrorism that may jeopardize national security in the bud and make Hong Kong a safer and more stable city.”
Biden says U.S. should condemn China over Hong Kong (8:59 p.m.)
Likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said the U.S. should be pushing world powers to condemn China over its moves to take greater control of Hong Kong. In an interview with CNBC, he said the U.S. silence on Hong Kong has been “devastating.”
“We should not remain silent,” Biden said. “We should be calling the rest of the world to condemn their actions.”
Read more:
How China Pounced on Hong Kong While Covid Overwhelmed the WorldCornered China Dares Trump to Hit Back With Hong Kong Power GrabHong Kong Activists Urge Protests Against New China Security LawHong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Businesses Show $13 Billion Potential
U.S. condemns China’s plan to impose legislation on Hong Kong (8:30 p.m.)
The U.S. condemns China’s “proposal to unilaterally and arbitrarily impose national security legislation on Hong Kong,” Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in an emailed statement. “The United States strongly urges Beijing to reconsider its disastrous proposal.”
“The decision to bypass Hong Kong’s well-established legislative processes and ignore the will of the people of Hong Kong would be a death knell for the high degree of autonomy Beijing promised for Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a UN-filed agreement,” the statement said.
President Donald Trump had earlier warned that the U.S. would respond to the planned move in Beijing, amid escalating tensions between the two powers. “I don’t know what it is because nobody knows yet,” he told reporters at the White House about the possible Chinese actions. “If it happens, we’ll address that issue very strongly.”
Activist Joshua Wong calls on international community (7:28 p.m.)
Wong, one of the city’s most prominent activists, distributed fliers with a group of others outside the Hung Hom train station in Kowloon during the Friday evening rush hour. “We urge China to withdraw the evil bill,” he said, adding that it was “eroding the fundamental freedom of Hong Kongers.”
Wong called on the global community to stand with the financial hub and said it was “time” for the U.S. to implement the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
HKMA says it’ll maintain HKD stability (6:55 p.m.)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority -- the city’s de facto central bank -- “will maintain HKD exchange rate stability in accordance with the Linked Exchange Rate System,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. The HKMA will continue to monitor market developments, the statement said.
Security laws endanger Hong Kong’s international status, Taiwan says (4:13 p.m.)
Laws that harm democracy, human rights and Hong Kong’s freedom under the guise of national security will increase societal instability and heighten risks for international citizens in the city, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in an emailed statement. It urged authorities to prevent greater chaos in Hong Kong and not make the “wrong decision.”
‘No country has the right’ (3:49 p.m.)
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian held a regular daily news conference in Beijing, saying that national security in Hong Kong was “purely” an internal affair. “No country has the right to interfere,” he said.
“National security is the bedrock for a country’s survival and development,” Zhao added. “No country will allow separatist activities and other activities endangering national security on its territory.”
The foreign ministry’s office in Hong Kong earlier issued a separate statement saying the security legislation would target only a small number of people who are endangering national security. It also said it hoped international society would hold a “fair and objective” view of the NPC’s decision.
Japan stresses ‘one country, two systems’ (3:01 p.m.)
“Hong Kong is an extremely important partner for our country, with close economic ties and exchange of people,” Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Friday afternoon. “It is very important for Hong Kong to prosper stably on the basis of ‘one country, two systems.’ I want to emphasize this again.
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©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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World
Exclusive: U.S. accuses China of blocking U.S. flights, demands action
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| FILE PHOTO: Delta Air Lines passenger planes parked in Birmingham |
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government late on Friday accused the Chinese government of making it impossible for U.S. airlines to resume service to China and ordered four Chinese air carriers to file flight schedules with the U.S. government.
The administration of President Donald Trump stopped short of imposing restrictions on Chinese air carriers but said talks with China had failed to produce an agreement.
The U.S. Transportation Department, which is trying to persuade China to allow the resumption of U.S. passenger airline service there, earlier this week briefly delayed a few Chinese charter flights for not complying with notice requirements.
In an order posted on a U.S. government website and seen by Reuters, the department noted Delta Air Lines and United Airlines want to resume flights to China in June, even as Chinese carriers have continued U.S. flights during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The order said Air China, China Eastern Airlines Corp, China Southern Airlines Co, Hainan Airlines Holding Co and their subsidiaries must file schedules and other details of flights by May 27. The department warned it could find Chinese flights "contrary to applicable law or adversely affect the public interest."
United declined to comment. The other U.S. and Chinese carriers, the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) and China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The department said in a statement it has "protested this situation to the Chinese authorities, repeatedly objecting to China’s failure to let U.S. carriers fully exercise their rights and to the denial to U.S. carriers of their right to compete on a fair and equal basis with Chinese carriers" and called the situation "critical."
On Jan. 31, the U.S. government barred from entry most non-U.S. citizens who had been in China within the previous 14 days but did not impose any restrictions on Chinese flights. Major U.S. carriers voluntarily decided to halt all passenger flights to China in February.
Delta and United are flying cargo flights to China. Delta had requested approval for a daily flight to Shanghai Pudong airport from Detroit and Seattle, while United had asked to fly daily to Shanghai Pudong from San Francisco and Newark airport near New York and between San Francisco and Beijing.
The number of weekly scheduled combination flights operated between the two countries by U.S and Chinese carriers fell from 325 in January to 20, by just the four Chinese carriers, in mid-February, before the carriers increased them to 34 in mid-March, the U.S. order said.
The CAAC in late March said Chinese airlines could maintain just one weekly passenger flight on one route to any given country and that carriers could fly no more than the number of flights they were flying on March 12, according to the U.S. order.
But because U.S. passenger airlines had stopped all flights by March 12, the CAAC notice "effectively precludes U.S. carriers from reinstating scheduled passenger flights to China," the department said.
CAAC told the U.S. government during a May 14 call that China is considering removing the March 12 schedule pre-condition but the "restriction to once-weekly service on one route to China would remain in place," the order said.
Earlier on Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department added 33 Chinese companies and institutions to an economic blacklist for alleged human rights violations and to address U.S. national security concerns involving weapons of mass destruction and other military activities.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Brenda Goh, Stella Qiu and Ryan Woo in Beijing and Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Editing by William Mallard)
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News
O'Brien: US ready to act if China violates human rights in Hong Kong
Indonesia to Hack the Crown in the US-China Trade War
The trade war between China and the US is not a new thing to be discussed. The Trump administration had already been working over the last few years to reduce US industries located in China, which, ultimately, after the pandemic break out resulted as a success.
On one hand, when the coronavirus is proving itself as a nightmare to the whole world, on the other, it stood as a stroke of luck for Indonesia. The trade war between China and the US is not a new thing to be discussed. The Trump administration had already been working over the last few years to reduce US industries located in China, which, ultimately, after the pandemic break out resulted as a success.
Trump decided to relocate around 27 US factories from China to Indonesia and many more to be added to the list after the president delegate an investment minister, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, to join hands with the US industries to corroborate that all the relocation was taken by Indonesia. Brebes Industrial Park in Central Java, with around 4000 hectares land, being the biggest ground, becomes the relocation area for the US industries.
Huge manpower productivity, better and advanced infrastructure, large acres of land, bulky incentives, are some of the nuts and bolts that contribute to the swift running of industry and Indonesia being able in all of these won against China in the relocation of the companies from the United States. Weighty incentives along with freeing up land for 5years and holding direct talks with the US president and all the heads of US companies are some of the prominent ways taken by Indonesia, under the authority of President Joko Widodo, to succeed in seizing the multinational companies of the United States.
The conflict between the USA and China has greatly benefited Indonesia. Not only the US industries but also the companies of Europe and Japan are to go out of China and cut world supply chains from them. When Vietnam was chosen by some Chinese company for its closer geography to China and cheaper labour, Indonesia won the battle over the Southeast Asian countries by being the main destination for the relocation of US factories.
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The New York Times
China's Hong Kong Crackdown Could Put Trump in an Unwelcome Spot
https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinas-hong-kong-crackdown-could-122009222.html
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| President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he departs the White House in Washington, for a day trip to Michigan, Thursday, May 21, 2020. (Erin Scott/The New York Times) |
WASHINGTON — China’s plans to impose sweeping new security powers over Hong Kong could inflict even more damage on already fraught relations between Washington and Beijing, and force President Donald Trump into uncomfortable decisions about whether to maintain his self-described friendly ties with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
The proposal announced in Beijing on Thursday provoked outrage in Congress, where bipartisan support grew quickly for new sanctions on Chinese officials and entities that Trump — who has shown limited interest in Hong Kong’s plight and a continued desire to carry out terms of a trade deal with Beijing — may not welcome.
Giving the government broad new powers to crack down on pro-democracy activists could effectively end Hong Kong’s limited independence and crush a protest movement that has agitated for nearly a year against China’s authoritarian Communist Party.
“This move by Beijing would rip away the remaining veneer of ‘one country, two systems.’ It would precipitate a crisis in U.S.-China relations,” said Evan Medeiros, a senior Asia director at the National Security Council under President Barack Obama and a professor at Georgetown University.
“Nationalist voices in the U.S. and China would have a party with this; 2020 is beginning to feel more and more like 1948 when the first crises of the Cold War broke out over Berlin,” Medeiros said, predicting that the United States and China would probably impose sanctions or other punishments on each other.
The Chinese government, which announced the move, is likely to put it in place by fiat during the National People’s Congress, which begins Friday. How Trump will react is unclear.
Leaving the White House for a trip to Michigan on Thursday, he told reporters that he did not know “what it is,” but added, “If it happens, we’ll address that issue very strongly.”
The White House otherwise had no comment.
When mass demonstrations against Beijing took place in Hong Kong last summer, Trump — who has shown little interest in issues of democracy and human rights generally — had a muted response despite bipartisan pressure to show more support for a protest movement with open sympathies for the United States.
And even as he has lashed out at China’s government for its handling of the winter coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, helping to prompt the sharpest downturn in relations with Beijing in decades, Trump has taken care not to insult or offend Xi. Because of the pandemic’s economic toll, China has yet to meet purchasing demands outlined in a January trade agreement between the two nations. Trump and his economic advisers would like to see the deal fulfilled to aid his reelection prospects.
But in recent months the Trump campaign has increasingly focused on its message of China as a villainous threat to American economic and security interests, while portraying Trump’s Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, as too conciliatory toward Beijing. Trump has repeatedly muddied that message with his deferential tone toward Xi.
“Any effort to impose national security legislation that does not reflect the will of the people of Hong Kong would be highly destabilizing, and would be met with strong condemnation from the United States and the international community,” Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement on Thursday.
“We urge Beijing to honor its commitments and obligations in the Sino-British Joint Declaration — including that Hong Kong will ‘enjoy a high degree of autonomy’ and that people of Hong Kong will enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms — which are key to preserving Hong Kong’s special status in international affairs, and, consistent with U.S. law, the United States’ current treatment of Hong Kong,” she said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the State Department has yet to issue to Congress a mandatory report examining the autonomous status of Hong Kong in order to gauge continuing actions from Beijing before coming to a conclusion. The department might recommend that the United States no longer give Hong Kong preferential treatment as a territory that has autonomy under China.
By midday Thursday, Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., announced that they would propose legislation to impose sanctions on Chinese officials and entities that enforce the planned national security laws.
The measure would also impose sanctions on banks that do business with entities deemed to violate the Basic Law, a legal document that is supposed to guarantee Hong Kong significant autonomy until 2047.
“The communist regime in Beijing would like nothing more than to extinguish the autonomy of Hong Kong and the rights of its people,” Toomey said in a statement. “In many ways, Hong Kong is the canary in the coal mine for Asia. Beijing’s growing interference could have a chilling effect on other nations struggling for freedom in China’s shadow.”
China’s attempted crackdown on Hong Kong has been a rare cause for unity between the parties, with both liberals and conservatives rallying to the cause of democracy and condemning Xi’s increasingly authoritarian impulses.
“The USA cannot let this stand,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. and a staunch Trump ally and China hawk, wrote on Twitter. Hawley said he would introduce a Senate resolution “condemning this attempted crackdown” and calling on “all free nations to stand with” Hong Kong.
“This proposed legislation is a sign of Beijing’s weakness, not its strength,” said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Hong Kong’s special status is a benefit to China and the world. I don’t understand why Beijing continues to imperil that status with proposals such as this.”
Trump’s China policy has long been a battleground for dueling camps, usually featuring economic officials who favor a more conciliatory relationship and national security policymakers, led by Pompeo and senior National Security Council aides, who view China as a dangerous strategic rival that must be checked.
At the height of Trump’s trade negotiations with China in 2018 and 2019, the economy-centric view seemed to prevail and helped to explain Trump’s repeated fulsome praise of Xi as a “brilliant leader” and a “great man.”
But the emergence of the coronavirus from Wuhan, and the Chinese government’s initial efforts to conceal it, enraged Trump, who saw his reelection imperiled as a result, and in recent weeks the hawkish camp has pressed the theory, with no evidence, that the virus escaped from a Chinese lab.
On Wednesday, the National Security Council released a White House strategy document detailing a “competitive” American approach devised in part to “to compel Beijing to cease or reduce actions harmful to the United States’ vital, national interests and those of our allies and partners.”
The same day, the Trump administration angered Beijing by approving as much as $180 million in torpedo sales to Taiwan, whose de facto independence mainland China rejects but which the Trump administration strongly supports.
Trump did not give any indication on Thursday how he will react to the congressional effort to impose sanctions.
After Congress passed legislation last fall, Trump was noncommittal about whether he would sign the measure. but he eventually did on the evening before Thanksgiving, ensuring it gained minimal publicity.
This time his conservative allies are more adamant than ever that Trump must not look the other way. “I think this has absolutely got to be a line in the sand,” said Stephen Bannon, a former Trump White House strategist who now devotes much of his time to rallying conservatives to fight China’s communist leadership.
Regardless, experts said that Beijing’s move would inevitably worsen a relationship that many already believe has become a kind of new Cold War.
“Beijing seems to have made the calculation that there is no financial price it won’t pay in order to eliminate the sight of millions of Chinese clamoring for democracy on a daily basis,” said Elizabeth Economy, the director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“The Trump White House, unfortunately, has little leverage and even less influence with the Xi administration at this point,” she added. “Relations between the United States and China are essentially in a free fall.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
© 2020 The New York Times Company
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