SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON — The United States government has imposed restrictions on exports to China’s biggest silicon chip maker after concluding there is an “unacceptable risk” that equipment supplied to it could be used for military purposes.
 
Suppliers of certain equipment to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) will now have to apply for individual export licenses, according to a letter from the Commerce Department dated Friday and seen by Reuters.
 
SMIC becomes the second leading Chinese technology company to face U.S. trade curbs after telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, whose access to high-end chips has been curtailed by its addition to a so-called entity list.
 
The Pentagon said earlier this month that it was weighing blacklisting SMIC, which the U.S. authorities have identified as a threat due to an alleged “fusion” of civilian and military technologies.
 
Asked for comment, SMIC said it had not received any official notice of the restrictions and said it has no ties with the Chinese military.
 
“SMIC reiterates that it manufactures semiconductors and provides services solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses,” SMIC said.
 
“The Company has no relationship with the Chinese military and does not manufacture for any military end-users or end-uses.”
 
The Commerce Department declined on Saturday to comment specifically on SMIC, but said its Bureau of Industry and security was “constantly monitoring and assessing any potential threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.”
 
…

Ecuador’s navy confirmed a large Chinese fishing fleet of roughly 300 vessels is moving away from the Galapagos Islands and is now operating in international waters off Peru. The Ecuadorian commander of naval operations, Rear Admiral Daniel Ginez, said this week that the Chinese vessels are now “in offshore waters off the exclusive economic zone of Peru.” He added that this year’s fleet was larger compared with those of previous years.”With such a large number of fishing boats, we have the risk that certain species are diminished,” Ginez cautioned.  FILE – An Ecuadorian navy officer looks at a radar after a fishing fleet of mostly Chinese-flagged ships was detected in an international corridor that borders the Galapagos Islands’ exclusive economic zone, in the Pacific Ocean, Aug. 7, 2020.Experts told VOA that China’s aggressive fishing not only threatens the sovereignty of coastal countries but also endangers global food security and marine ecology.  Complaints from South American countries  China’s large fishing fleets operating along the Pacific coast have triggered concerns from several South American countries for the past few months. In June, about 340 large Chinese trawlers ventured into waters near Ecuador, triggering protests over possible threats to the Galapagos Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to many unique species. These Chinese vessels were accused of frequently turning off their satellite-based automatic identification systems and entering the Ecuadorian exclusive economic zone, according to media reports. Yet Ecuador’s Admiral Ginez said no vessels of the fishing fleet entered Ecuadorian waters while operating near the Galapagos.Peru’s and Ecuador’s economies are highly dependent on seafood. In 2018, the two countries captured 4.5 million metric tons of fish, nearly as much as the United States, but only 25% of what China harvested in the same year, according to FILE – A handout picture released by Argentina’s Navy press office shows the ARA “Bouchard” Ocean Patrol escorting a Chinese-flagged fishing ship after it was caught illegally operating in Argentina’s Exclusive Economic Zone, May 4, 2020.Both countries say China’s mega fishing fleets are threatening the security of their food source.  China ranks at the top of the world in demand for seafood. The country’s fish consumption accounts for one-third of the world’s total amount, with an annual growth rate of 6%. Illegal fishing Analysts say many Chinese vessels conduct “illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU)” fishing activities that threaten the sovereignty of other nations and endanger the global food security chain. President Donald Trump on Tuesday singled out Chinese fishing practices in his speech to the United Nations, saying Beijing “dumps millions and millions of tons of plastic and trash into the oceans and overfishes other countries’ waters.” Rashid Sumaila, director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, told VOA that with the waters near China mostly depleted of fish, the nation has to forage elsewhere.  “There is big appetite for fish in China, which makes it worthwhile economically to engage in IUU fishing,” he said. “There’s also a lack of strong and effective anti-IUU fishing policy by China, and there’s provision of significant harmful subsidies such as those for fuel.”  The London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has documented nearly 17,000 Chinese fishing vessels, making it nearly impossible to sufficiently monitor all of them worldwide. Tabitha Mallory, an affiliate professor specializing in Chinese foreign and environmental policy at the University of Washington, told VOA it’s hard for developing countries to properly monitor coastal waters. FILE – Chinese fishing vessels are seen moored off the coast of Nouadhibou, Mauritania, April 14, 2018.”China fishes in countries that don’t have the ability to monitor their coastal waters well,” she said. “Coast guard vessels and fuel for those patrol vessels are often cost prohibitive for developing countries.” U.S. Senator Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last week that the international community needs to pressure China to improve its industrial fishing practices.  “Aggressive and illegal Chinese fishing practices violate the territorial integrity of coastal Latin American countries, raising significant long-term security concerns,” Risch said. China has promised a “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal fishing and has proposed a moratorium in the area near the Galapagos.  According to China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the moratorium bans all Chinese fishing fleets on parts of the high seas in the southwest Atlantic and east Pacific for three months, effective July 1. 
…

For people around the world, the coronavirus has caused distressing separations and delayed homecomings. But the situation for a group of 25 residents from remote Easter Island stands out.  
For six months now the group has been stranded far across a vast stretch of ocean on Tahiti in French Polynesia. Children remain separated from their parents, husbands from their wives.  
Mihinoa Terakauhau Pont, a 21-year-old mom who is among those stranded, is due to give birth to her second son any day now but can’t have her husband by her side because he’s back home. Her grief has left her exhausted.
“I can’t cry anymore,” she said. “My heart is cold.”
Usually considered a tropical paradise, Tahiti has become a kind of prison to them. Many arrived in March planning to stay for just a few weeks — they’d come for work, or a vacation, or for medical procedures. But they got stuck when the virus swept across the globe and their flights back home were canceled.
Each day they have been going to the authorities and begging for help in Spanish, in French, and in English. They’ve considered chartering a plane or trying to hitch a lift on a military ship to make the journey of some 4,200 kilometers (2,600 miles). But each time their hopes rise a little, their plans turn out to be too expensive or impractical.
Home to about 8,000 people, Easter Island is a tiny speck in the vast Pacific Ocean, located midway between Polynesia, in the South Pacific, and South America. Also named Rapa Nui, the Chilean territory is renowned for its imposing moai — giant heads carved from volcanic rock by inhabitants hundreds of years ago. For Easter Islanders, Tahiti has long been a stopping-off point, a connection to the rest of the world.
Until the virus struck, LATAM airlines ran a regular return route from Santiago, Chile, to Easter Island and on to Tahiti. LATAM said it suspended the route in March because of the virus and doesn’t have a timeline for restarting it. No other airlines offer a similar service.
“The resumption of this flight is subject to the development of the pandemic and travel restrictions in place,” the airline said in a statement.
Terakauhau Pont arrived in Tahiti in January to visit her first son, who was staying on a nearby island with her parents. She was due to fly home in March. As the weeks trying to get a flight back slipped into months, she heard from afar that her husband had lost his job at a hotel because of the downturn in the tourism industry caused by the virus.
Now, Terakauhau Pont’s mother has started a garden and her father is going fishing so they have enough food to eat each day.
“It’s the only way to survive,” she said.
She has pleaded with the authorities to help, and has even written to leaders in mainland Chile and on Easter Island, but without any success.  
“It is so much grief for all of us,” she said.
She said the person who has done the most to help is Kissy Baude, a 40-year-old administrative technician who has lived in Tahiti for years but was due to start a new job on her native Easter Island in April.  
Because of her contacts on Tahiti, Baude has become the unofficial leader of the group — its social worker, psychologist and spokesperson. Baude said the group has survived thanks to the generosity of Tahitians, who have been providing them with food and accommodation long after many of them ran out of their own resources.
Baude said that before the virus struck, she was eagerly anticipating returning to Easter Island. She was looking forward to seeing her mother, who has a room prepared and waiting. But now, her mother’s husband also remains stranded with her on Tahiti, after traveling there for colon surgery in March.
Baude said one option they’ve been exploring is to fly a circuitous route to Los Angeles and then to Santiago and hope they get repatriated from there. But even then their return isn’t certain and many in the group can’t afford the expense.
Among the 16 females and nine males stranded are seven children aged between 2 and 14. And the clan is expected to grow by one on about Oct. 3, the day Terakauhau Pont is due to give birth to a son that she and her husband plan to name Anuihere.
Some in the group have struggled to find enough money simply to eat, while others have found it tough going emotionally. Lately, they have been able to collect some money online after setting up two donation pages.
Baude gets emotional when talking about their situation. She said some of them fear speaking up in case they face repercussions back on Easter Island, but she isn’t afraid.
“We just want to go back to our homeland,” she said.
…