U.N. human rights bodies accuse Vietnam of violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by clamping down on freedom of expression and denying critics due process and a fair trial. The sentences given to three independent journalists earlier this week are the latest example of a further erosion of freedom of expression in Vietnam. The men were found guilty of national security offenses and sentenced to up to 15 years’ imprisonment.U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says an increasing number of independent journalists, bloggers, online commentators and human rights defenders are being arbitrarily detained based on vaguely defined laws. US Urges Vietnam to Release Convicted Journalists Three members of journalists association were sentenced to 11 or 15 years in prison this week In the case of the recently sentenced journalists, she says all three were held in lengthy pre-trial detention. She adds there are serious concerns their right to a fair trial was not respected.“Many of them are kept effectively incommunicado in detention. They do not have access to their families,” said Shamdasani. “They also do not have access to lawyers … In other cases, we do have indication of ill treatment, and we also have indications that there are individuals who have medical needs whose needs are not [being] taken into account.” Shamdasani also expresses concerns that individuals who try to cooperate with the U.N.’s human rights bodies are subjected to intimidation and reprisals. She says that effectively inhibits them from cooperating with the U.N. and sharing information about human rights issues.“Now the kinds of reprisals and intimidation that they face can include harassment, travel bans, loss of employment, physical attacks as well as arbitrary arrest, detention and torture…So, it is very important for us to send an alarm on this,” said Shamdasani.
Shamdasani says the U.N. human rights office continues to raise those cases with the Vietnamese government, urging it to stop criminally charging people for expressing their right of freedom of expression.She adds people should be able to exercise their fundamental rights without fear of reprisals.
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Author: SeeEA
Indonesian Plane Missing Shortly After Takeoff
Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry says Sriwijaya Air lost contact with one of its passenger planes shortly after takeoff from Jakarta Saturday. Flight SJ182 was on route to Pontianak on the island of Borneo. More than 50 people were on board the plane, officials said.Flightradar24, the flight tracking service, said the Boeing 737 “lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta.”“The missing plane is currently under investigation and under coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee,” government spokesman Adita Irawati said in a statement.
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Malaysia to Cite Glove Maker for Staff Housing Akin to ‘Modern Slavery’
Malaysia is drawing up dozens of charges against a rubber glove maker supplying the U.S. and other countries after labor inspectors found the firm’s migrant workers living in squalid, congested conditions.A surge in global demand for personal protective gear brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has drawn international attention to the living and working conditions of migrant workers making rubber gloves in Malaysia, which churns out nearly 2 in every 3 pairs worldwide.The government announced plans to file the first 19 charges under a new worker housing law against another leading glove maker, Top Glove, in early December. A COVID-19 outbreak at the company’s crammed migrant worker dorms the month before had sparked what was until then the largest cluster of infections in the country.The latest spate of 30 planned charges takes aim at Brightway Holdings and two subsidiaries, Biopro and La Glove, following a rash of government raids on its facilities in the final days of 2020.The group of Malaysian companies runs five factories in the country, according to its website, and employs some 2,900 workers making more than 4 billion gloves a year for clients around the globe.Malaysia’s COVID Woes Spotlight ‘Terrible’ Migrant Worker HousingMalaysia is pressing companies to quickly upgrade staff housing after major outbreak of COVID-19 in teeming dormitories for migrant workers providing world with personal protective equipment“Like modern slavery”Malaysian Human Resources Minister Saravanan Murugan, who accompanied labor inspectors on some of the raids, with local reporters in tow, blasted the company over its worker housing.“I don’t know how anyone could live like this,” he told a local broadcaster, Astro Awani. “This looks like modern slavery.”Photos of the dorms shared by the ministry and media show poorly lit and ventilated halls in ramshackle buildings jammed with bunk beds and basic cubicles, and several workers packed into shared bathrooms absent masks or any social distancing.Human Resources Ministry officials told VOA last week that authorities were still preparing the charges and that it may be another month or two before they are filed. They refused to answer any other questions about the case.A Brightway worker from Bangladesh told VOA of sharing a cramped and stuffy hall and just one bathroom with more than 200 others. X’s on the floor marked out in yellow tape make a show of social distancing measures. However, with three men to a bunk in beds packed side by side, he said they do little good.“They always say to socially distance. But there are so many people living and working together in one place, so it’s hard to do,” he said. “I don’t think the company has taken the necessary steps to protect us from COVID. They give us only soap to wash our hands.”With only two face masks a month per worker from the company, he said, many of them buy more out of their own modest pay.“I feel bad here. With 200 people it gets very hot and very noisy at night,” he added. “Sometimes we can’t sleep; it depends on the weather.” After US Sanctions, Malaysia Migrant Workers Get Millions in Restitution from Glove MakersAt least five firms have pledged more than $60 million to reimburse migrant workers for steep recruitment fees “Some good plans”Brightway conceded that some of its dorms are overcrowded but said workers were moved into a few of the buildings the inspectors visited recently from their original hostels for their own safety during the pandemic.“There was congestion, yes, because they all wanted to sort of move into a safer place,” Brightway’s managing director, Govindasamy Baskaran, told VOA.“But they have been of course provided everything, whatever they required. They knew it was congested, but to them they feel it’s much safer because back home in their country they have so many cases, next of kin dying because of COVID.” Most of the migrant workers in Malaysia’s glove factories come from Bangladesh and Nepal in hopes of earning higher wages than they might at home.Baskaran said the company also had all of its workers tested for COVID-19 just after the raids. A letter he shared from the clinic that conducted the tests says all the samples came back negative.After the December 24 raid on the Biopro site, Saravanan, the minister, confirmed local reports that the company had been tipped off to the visit by a government source, giving the company time to move workers out and make some hasty improvements.Baskaran denied that the company had gotten advance notice. He said workers were moved out of the Biopro dorms a day or two ahead of the visit because the company anticipated the inspection after the raid on La Glove on December 21.He said the company has bought land to build new dorms that would meet the government’s worker housing codes and was looking to buy more.“We are going to put up some, I won’t say state-of-art hostels, [but] a good living place for all of them, including leisure areas and so forth. We have some good plans,” Baskaran said. Not aloneLabor rights advocates say Brightway and Top Glove are not alone in jamming their migrant workers into shoddy housing.The conditions uncovered at Brightway were “shocking” but no surprise, said Adrian Pereira, executive director of the North South Initiative, a local nongovernment group and a member of the Migrant Workers Right to Redress Coalition.“I suspect it’s in almost every sector of migrant labor. I think if not for the international auditors and ethical trade organizations, I think almost all sectors involving migrant workers would be as horrible as this,” he said.Pereira said the government would need to push for much deeper reforms of the industry to reverse conditions that have been allowed to fester for decades.“Two or three raids are not enough to change their behaviors,” he said. “This is what we have seen over the last 20, 30 years. It will take much more than raids to make them comply with not just the law but international standards of labor.”Business associations don’t dispute that some staff dorms fall short of the government’s new codes but they have urged authorities to give them more time to comply.
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European Powers to Boost Asia Presence to Counter China
Germany, France and Britain each plan to boost their military presence in the Indo-Pacific region, a move analysts say is aimed at countering China and showing support for the U.S., Japan and other regional allies.Germany will send a frigate to patrol Indo-Pacific waters later this year. Britain will deploy the British carrier strike group (CSG) with the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier at its core with no first deployment date announced.France will join Japan and the U.S. to conduct amphibious training in southwestern Japan in May. The three countries also submitted a joint, unsigned note to the United Nations.The note emphasized “the importance of unhampered exercise of the freedom of the high seas” in the South China Sea, according to an op-ed written by Mark Valencia, an adjunct senior scholar at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Haikou, in China’s Hainan Province, for the South China Morning Post.According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies prepared from a survey conducted before the advent of the global pandemic: “China is seen as holding slightly more political power and influence than the United States in Southeast Asia today and considerably more power relative to the United States in 10 years,” and in terms of “economic power and influence, the region views China as much more influential than the United States today, and this gap is expected to grow in the next 10 years.”’Need to uphold the international order’Experts say that the European countries boosting their military presence in the Indo-Pacific region will strengthen their alliances with the United States and Japan and maintain common values and rule-based order in the region.Zachary Hosford, acting director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said the European countries “want to signal to the United States that they are aligned with Washington in recognizing both the need to uphold the international order and the Chinese government’s challenges to that order – including through the illegal and destabilizing building of military bases on artificial islands.”Elli-Katharina Pohlkamp, a visiting fellow of the Asia program at European Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA Mandarin, “I believe alliances and defense cooperation can be strengthened and the interoperability of the forces can be enhanced. The China factor is definitely encouraging the enhancement of security ties between Europe and Japan.” This depends on the Japan’s China policy under recently installed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, which Pohlkamp said “is not very clear yet.”Steven Lamy, an international relations professor at the University of Southern California said, “They are making sure China knows that they will check any unilateral action that threatens trade and security in Asia.”Zack Cooper of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), however, believes that the European nation’s deployment is primarily symbolic.“I do think there is concern that the United States is increasingly focused on the Indo-Pacific, so some in Europe want to demonstrate that they can be helpful in Asia, too,” Cooper said. “That is a positive sign, in my view. This has more of a signaling value than a military value, but the message is still a useful one. But I think it is also important to note that the EU-China investment deal is potentially more important as a signal than these military deployments, so we need to make sure that our security and economic efforts are both pointed in the same direction.”’Values-based trade agenda’On Dec. 30, the EU and China concluded negotiations on a wide-ranging investment treaty.President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said, “Today‘s agreement is an important landmark in our relationship with China and for our values-based trade agenda.”Other objectivesBritish and German Asia-Pacific deployments have objectives beyond countering China’s expansion in the region.Jamie Shea, a former NATO official and senior fellow at the think tank Friends of Europe, said the U.K.’s actions were intended to show aspirations to be “Global Britain” after Brexit, as its departure from the EU is known.“This aspiration focuses largely on the Asia-Pacific region as the U.K. is convinced that new trade agreements with the countries in this region are key to the U.K.’s future economic growth,” Shea told VOA. “So a U.K. military capability to project power in the Asia-Pacific, based around the country’s two recently acquired new aircraft carriers, is key to demonstrating the U.K.’s strategic relevance to the region. The Royal Navy is the priority here as ships can be deployed flexibly and are a good way of demonstrating presence.” Shea added that Britain’s defense procurement and its decision to send the HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea also signals to Washington that the U.K. remains willing and able to be a major strategic ally.While Germany has no desire to be a global military power, it has key economic and trading interests in Asia that it wishes to protect, Shea noted.“Germany has no desire to become embroiled in the regional disputes in Asia, such as in the South and East China seas, but the occasional dispatch of a frigate and participation in a maritime exercise is a useful way to build confidence and develop partnerships and interoperability with Germany’s major trading partners in the region,” Shea said.According to Japan’s Kyodo News, Japan’s defense minister, Nobuo Kishi, last month expressed his desire for German frigates to participate in exercises with Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, which he hoped would pass through the South China Sea.The British government announced on Jan. 4 that the British Royal Navy’s carrier strike group has reached initial operating capability ahead of its first operational deployment later this year.The carrier strike group commander, Commodore Steve Moorhouse, tweeted Jan. 4, “In practical terms, my Strike Group is now at Very High Readiness, meaning we are at 5 days’ notice to deploy, if required, in response to global events & in defence of British interests.”In practical terms, my Strike Group is now at Very High Readiness, meaning we are at 5 days’ notice to deploy, if required, in response to global events & in defence of British interests.— Commander UK Carrier Strike Group (@smrmoorhouse) January 4, 2021In response to the HMS Queen Elizabeth’s deployment to the South China Sea, Tan Kefei, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Defense, said, “The Chinese military will take the necessary measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests and firmly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea.”Adrianna Zhang of the VOA Mandarin Service contributed to this report.
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North Korea Calls US ‘Biggest Enemy,’ Vows to Develop More Nukes
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to expand his nuclear arsenal and warned his approach toward Washington won’t change with the onset of a new U.S. president.The comments provide a hint at the direction of U.S.-North Korea relations just days ahead of the inauguration of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who has indicated he will take a more adversarial approach toward Pyongyang.In a speech at an important meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, Kim called the U.S. his country’s “biggest enemy” and repeated his long-standing assertion that the U.S. must lift its “hostile policy” in order to establish better ties, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).Kim also called for his country to continue developing nuclear weapons. Notably, he said North Korea should acquire new capabilities, such as solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, and tactical nuclear weapons.The comments amount to one of the most important recent declarations from North Korea about its planned qualitative nuclear modernization, said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Panda, author of Kim Jong Un and the Bomb, said Kim’s statement about acquiring tactical nuclear weapons likely implies a return to nuclear testing.’Major provocation’North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests, most recently in September 2017. But more testing would likely be needed to develop tactical nuclear weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons are smaller, more mobile and meant to be used on the battlefield, as opposed to larger strategic nuclear weapons that are designed to inflict mass destruction.Kim said a year ago he no longer feels bound by his self-imposed pause on nuclear and long-range missile tests, raising fears of a return to major tensions on the Korean Peninsula.North Korea has often timed major tests, including of ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons, around U.S. presidential transitions to demonstrate its military capabilities and possibly gain leverage in future negotiations with Washington.In October, North Korea used a military parade to unveil a massive new intercontinental ballistic missile, which appears designed to overwhelm U.S. missile defenses. Some suspect Pyongyang may test the missile or other weapons systems in the coming months. But this week, the top U.S. general in South Korea said there were no signs North Korea was preparing a “major provocation.”A major weapons test would represent an early foreign policy challenge for Biden, who has said his main priorities are combatting the coronavirus pandemic and improving the U.S. economy.“There’s a lot demanding his time and attention,” said Jenny Town, a North Korea specialist with the Washington-based Stimson Center.“Moves like early appointments of a North Korea policy team, lifting the travel ban (on North Korea), and other types of actions would help demonstrate that a different outcome and relationship is possible with a new administration,” Town said. “This is a tall order though, in the current political environment.”While he hasn’t ruled out meeting Kim face to face, Biden has suggested that may only come as part of broader, working-level talks.Biden has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump’s personal outreach to Kim, saying the strategy is ineffective and aimed more at creating headlines than addressing the North Korean nuclear issue.Trump officials have defended their North Korea approach by pointing out that Pyongyang has refrained from any nuclear or long-range missile tests since the Trump-Kim talks began.At his election rallies, Biden frequently called Kim a “thug,” “tyrant” and “dictator.” In response, North Korean state media slammed Biden as an “imbecile,” a “fool of low IQ” and a “rabid dog.”
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Arrests Seen as Ending Last Restraints on Chinese Rule in Hong Kong
With the roundup of more than 50 pro-democracy activists and their supporters this week, Hong Kong has thrown off the last restraints on who can be targeted under China’s harsh new security law and for what reasons, human rights advocates say. Even so, at least some of the activists will continue to defy the rapid erosion of the broad political autonomy that had been promised the Chinese territory, said Benny Tai, a law professor and one of the highest-profile figures to have been arrested in the Wednesday sweep. “Hong Kong has entered a severe winter,” Tai told reporters upon his release Thursday after 42 hours in police custody. “The wind is blowing fierce and cold. But I believe many Hong Kongers will continue to walk against the wind in their own way.” FILE – Hong Kong law professor and pro-democracy activist Benny Tai leaves Ma On Shan Police station following his release on bail in Hong Kong, Jan. 7, 2021.A total of 53 pro-democracy political figures were arrested for their contributions to Hong Kong’s unofficial primary elections, held to pick opposition candidates ahead of the now-postponed 2020 elections. The opposition party primaries took place in July of last year and attracted more than 600,000 voters. At the time, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam warned that the primary elections might have violated the law, by “subverting state power.” The Chinese Communist Party imposed the new security legislation on Hong Kong in response to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019. The law has been broadly interpreted by authorities and violations include secession and subversion. The potential for harsh punishments under the law has all but ended any street protests. Even before Wednesday’s roundup, the law had been used to detain some of Hong Kong’s most highly visible critics of the Beijing-backed local government. FILE – Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, center, arrives at the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on Dec. 31, 2020, to face the prosecution’s appeal against his bail after he was charged with the new national security law.Pro-democracy figurehead Jimmy Lai, 73, was returned to prison on New Year’s Eve following a desperate attempt from his lawyers to secure his release. FILE – Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, right, leaves Lai Chi Kok Reception center in Hong Kong, on his way to court, Dec. 18, 2020.Prominent activist Joshua Wong is serving 13.5 months behind bars for unlawful assembly during a protest in 2019. And Wong wasn’t spared during this week’s crackdown. On Thursday, while still in prison, he was newly arrested under the national security law, according to his social media account. Approximately 1,000 officers were deployed for the roundup, which netted not only activists but also others with links with the pro-democracy camp, including a veteran U.S human rights lawyer. John Clancey served as a treasurer of political group Power of Democracy, which was involved in the primary elections. Clancey is the first foreigner to be arrested under the national security law but was released pending further investigation. FILE – John Clancey, a U.S. solicitor with law firm Ho Tse Wai and Partners that is known for taking on human rights cases, is arrested under a new national security law in the Central district in Hong Kong, Jan. 6, 2021.Others held in police custody included hopeful political candidates, a former journalist and a medical worker. It was even reported that national security officers asked Hong Kong news outlets to hand over information regarding primary election candidates. Political analyst Joseph Cheng said, “Chinese authorities no longer tolerate an effective opposition” and Lam’s administration “enjoys no legitimacy” amid the unrest in the city. “Those arrested included almost the entire political spectrum of the local democracy movement. They had planned to exert pressure on the Carrie Lam administration, they intended to make use of the provisions of the Basic Law, now they are accused of violating the National Security Law,” Cheng told VOA. “The search of media and poll organizations are especially worrying,” Cheng added. FILE – Congressman Michael McCaul questions witnesses during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 16, 2020.U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican and China Task Force Chairman Michael McCaul slammed the arrests in Hong Kong. “Persecuting these individuals for simply attempting to win elections and defend the liberty of their fellow Hong Kongers is unspeakable and unjustifiable,” McCaul’s statement read. FILE – Hong Kong Secretary for Security John Lee speaks at the Legislative Council complex in Hong Kong, Oct. 23, 2019.But Hong Kong’s secretary of security, John Lee, said those arrested had been trying to “overthrow” the city’s government and that it will not tolerate “subversive acts,” according to reports. The Hong Kong government released a statement confirming that the arrests were based largely on suspicions of “subversion” — one of the law’s specified infringements. “The police took action specifically targeting active players who organized, planned, committed or participated in acts of subversion, and arrested over 50 persons today [January 6] in accordance with the law. These persons are suspected to have violated the offense of subversion under the National Security Law,” the statement said. But Lo Kin Hei, chairman of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, said he believes the national security law and its identification of violations like subversion, have become a “universal key” enabling authorities to arrest virtually anyone at will. “The police on the street used the national security law to warn you,” he said in an interview. “You hold up a blank paper and they say that you violate the national security law. You chant a slogan, and they say you violate the national security law. You hold primaries and elections, and they say you violate the national security law. “What everyone sees will be white terror, and this is exactly what the Hong Kong government wants to create,” Hei added. Political commentator Derek Yuen believes the timing of the latest crackdown was related to the imminent change of administration in the United States. “I think Beijing wanted to complete these big moves before [President-elect Joe] Biden takes office. Since it decided to use the law as soon as possible, to make it a deterrent effect as soon as possible, and in some cases, it will try to get it done before Biden takes office,” Yuen told VOA. FILE – A police officer, center left, gestures at pro-democracy activist Lee Cheuk Yan while he chants slogans after media tycoon Jimmy Lai left in a prison van from the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong, Dec. 31, 2020.Veteran activist Lee Cheuk Yan, who admitted he’s likely to face jail over outstanding charges for unlawful assembly, earlier predicted the clampdown on Hong Kong would be unabated this year. “Everyone is under threat. Those who stand out for democracy will be under threat,” Lee said.
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US Urges Vietnam to Release Convicted Journalists
The United States has called on Vietnam to release all people “unjustly detained” and to allow individuals “to express their views freely, without fear of retaliation,” according to State Department principal deputy spokesperson Cale Brown.The statement came out Thursday after Vietnam delivered “harsh sentences” at a quick trial Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City to three members of the Independent Journalists Association (IJAV). Pham Chi Dung was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Le Huu Minh Tuan were sentenced to 11 years each.The U.S. urges the government “to ensure its actions are consistent with the human rights provisions of Vietnam’s constitution and its international obligations and commitments,” Brown said.According to the court verdict, Pham, 54, a prominent writer and founding member and president of IJAV, military veteran Nguyen, 69, and the younger Le “had regularly been in contact with regime opponents” before their arrests in 2019 and 2020.The trio’s behavior posed “a danger to society… causing separation in social unity and people,” the court verdict said.In recent months, the Vietnamese government has stepped up its crackdown on dissent, arresting many of its critics.
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Indonesia Frees Radical Cleric Linked to 2002 Bali Bombing
Indonesia has freed a radical cleric linked to a terrorist attack on the tourist island of Bali nearly 20 years ago.More than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed at two nightclubs in October 2002.Abu Bakar Bashir, 82, known as the spiritual leader of terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah with ties to al-Qaida, left the Gunung Sindur prison near the capital, Jakarta, early Friday morning.He was escorted by members of Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism squad to a van where family members were waiting to pick him up.Bashir returned to his home in Central Java’s Solo city, about 538 kilometers east of Jakarta.Indonesian authorities said Bashir would enter a “deradicalization program” as they are concerned over his continued influence in extremist circles.Bashir was sentenced in 2011 to 15 years in prison, not for the Bali bombings for which he had denied any involvement, but for links to a militant training camp in Aceh province.He served only 10 years because Indonesia grants prisoners sentence reductions on major national and religious holidays, and as well as for illness.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the release of Bashir, who inspired the Bali bombers and other violent extremists, was “gut-wrenching.”“This is very distressing to the friends and families of the Australians, the 88 Australians, who were killed in the Bali bombings of 2002,” Morison said.
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Seoul Court Orders Japan to Compensate 12 Korean Sex Slaves
A South Korean court on Friday ordered Japan to financially compensate 12 South Korean women forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II, the first such ruling expected to rekindle animosities between the Asian neighbors.Japan immediately protested the ruling, maintaining that all wartime compensation issues were resolved under a 1965 treaty that normalized their ties.The Seoul Central District Court ruled the Japanese government must give 100 million won ($91,360) each to the 12 women who filed the lawsuits in 2013 for their wartime sexual slavery.The court said Japan’s mobilization of these women as sexual slaves were “a crime against humanity.” It said that the mobilization happened when Japan “illegally occupied” the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45 so that its sovereign immunity cannot shield it from lawsuits in South Korea.The court said the women were the victims of “harsh sexual activities” by Japanese troops, which caused bodily harm, venereal diseases and unwanted pregnancies and left “big mental scars” in the women’s lives.Observers say it’s unlikely for Japan to abide by the South Korean court ruling. A support group for the Korean women said it may take legal steps to freeze Japanese government assets in South Korea if Japan refuses to compensate the women.Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that its vice Foreign Minister Takeo Akiba summoned South Korean Ambassador Nam Gwan-pyo to register its protest of the ruling.The verdict comes as South Korea seeks to repair strained ties with Japan over wartime history and trade, since the September departure of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who many South Koreans thinks attempted to gloss over Japan’s colonial abuses.The bilateral disputes flared following a 2018 ruling by South Korea’s Supreme Court that called for Japanese companies to offer reparations to aging South Korean plaintiffs for their wartime forced labor. The dispute escalated into a trade war that saw both countries downgrade the other’s trade status, and then spilled over to military matters when Seoul threatened to end a 2016 military intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo.
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Speculation Grows Over Fate of Chinese Tech Billionaire Jack Ma
China’s Jack Ma — onetime schoolteacher, billionaire co-founder and former chairman of tech giant Alibaba and philanthropist — is missing from the spotlight, and speculation about his fate is mounting because when high-profile Chinese figures disappear, arrests and prosecutions often follow.Unseen in public since October, analysts say Ma may be lying low as Chinese authorities investigate his sprawling business empire after he made an incendiary speech days before the highly anticipated stock market listing of Alibaba’s financial affiliate, Ant Group.The logo of Alibaba Group is seen at its office in Beijing, China, Jan. 5, 2021.On November 2, financial regulators of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interviewed Ant Group executives and Ma, who no longer holds executive or board level positions at either of the companies he co-founded but is the largest individual shareholder of Alibaba with approximately 5%, worth some $25 billion.On November 3, authorities suspended the Ant Group IPO. Scheduled simultaneously in Shanghai and Hong Kong for November 5, it was expected to generate $37 billion, which would have made it the world’s biggest IPO. At the time, The Wall Street Journal reported that Xi Jinping, president of the People’s Republic of China and the CCP chief, had personally ordered the Ant Group IPO blocked after hearing Ma’s speech. Later in November, Ma failed to appear to judge the finale of a game show he created, according to the Financial Times. He was replaced as a judge of the second season of A screen shows sales information during the 2020 Tmall Global Shopping Festival in Hangzhou, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province on Nov. 11, 2020.A week later, the agency fined Alibaba’s Tmall, an online business-to-consumer website, for antitrust violations.On January 4, Bloomberg News quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that in early December Ma had been advised by Chinese authorities not to leave China. Also this week, an Alibaba spokesperson told CBS News that “no further information can be shared for now” about Ma’s whereabouts. While some believe that Ma has left China, Ge Bidong, an economist based in Los Angeles and a current affairs commentator, told VOA that this is impossible. ”No matter how powerful and rich he is, he wouldn’t be able to escape from China,” said Ge, who told VOA he was a political prisoner in China for seven years before arriving in the U.S. in 2018. “If he could leave, there is only one possibility — that is, the Chinese Communist Party wanted him to leave.” The German government-funded news outlet Deutsche Welle quoted analysts as saying that this episode represents just the beginning of Beijing’s efforts to strengthen its control over China’s increasingly powerful tech giants.Gene Chang, retired professor of economics at the University of Toledo in Ohio, told VOA what is happening to Jack Ma is not just about Alibaba’s monopoly power. “Alibaba does seem to have a monopoly … but it can be solved through government regulation,” said Chang. “But if the government politicizes this regulation, fearing that private companies pose a challenge to communist rule, the economy will become a victim.” Ge, who also writes for the Epoch Times, told VOA that Alibaba’s online shopping model is not only good for consumers, but also “stimulated a significant increase in physical production and led to an expansion of logistics.” Chang believes that market imbalances such as monopolies are natural consequences of economic development, and that it is the responsibility of government to use regulation to achieve the appropriate social balance. “The government should come forward to digest or reduce the negative impact the transformation generates and balance social welfare,” he said. Ge said there is only one future for Alibaba: It will be transformed into whatever ownership the CCP wants, and “Jack Ma and people like him will be eliminated.” Chairman of Anbang Insurance Group Wu Xiaohui attends the China Development Forum in Beijing, China March 18, 2017.And Ge’s certainty is part of what fuels the speculation. In June 2017, Wu Xiaohui, the onetime chairman of the vast and well-connected Anbang Insurance Group, disappeared from view only to resurface at trial in March 2018. He was found guilty of financial fraud and abuse of power and sentenced to 18 years.This photo taken on Nov. 18, 2013, shows Ren Zhiqiang, the former chairman of state-owned property developer Huayuan Group, speaking at the China Public Welfare Forum in Beijing.In early 2020, Ren Zhiqiang, former chairman of the state-owned property developer Huayuan Real Estate Group, went missing after criticizing the government’s mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak. In September, Ren, who once referred to Xi Jinping as a “clown,” was found guilty of corruption, having reportedly received an illicit gain of nearly $7.4 million, taken $184,500 in bribes and embezzled $8.9 million in public funds between 2003 and 2017. Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Prominent Hong Kong Student Activist Charged with Subversion
Authorities in Hong Kong have reportedly charged pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong with subversion under the new national security law. News of the new charge was posted on Wong’s Facebook account Thursday. The 24-year-old activist is currently serving a 13-and-a-half month prison sentence for organizing an unauthorized protest in 2019. It comes one day after at least 53 pro-democracy activists were arrested in Hong Kong in the biggest crackdown on opposition members in the semi-autonomous city since the law was approved by Beijing last July. Among those arrested in the pre-dawn raids included several members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party who took part in an unofficial primary election last July to pick candidates to run in legislative elections initially scheduled for September. The balloting was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. US Considering Sanctions on Those Involved in Hong Kong Arrests, Pompeo SaysMore than 50 people were arrested The party said on its Facebook page that former lawmakers and activists Benny Tai, James To, Lester Shum and Lam Cheuk-ting were among those detained in the raids.The Democratic Party candidates had hoped to win a majority of seats in the Legislative Council that would allow them to vote down proposed budgets and any legislation considered to be pro-Beijing. Also arrested Wednesday was John Clancey, an American lawyer who works for the prominent Hong Kong law firm Ho, Tse, Wai and Partners that takes on human rights cases. He was arrested when police raided the firm’s offices. A message posted on Joshua Wong’s Twitter account said Wong’s home was also raided in the sweep.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States will consider further sanctions and restrictions “on any and all individuals and entities” involved in carrying out the arrests. US Considering Sanctions on Those Involved in Hong Kong Arrests, Pompeo SaysMore than 50 people were arrested Hong Kong authorities have increasingly clamped down on the city’s pro-democracy forces since Beijing imposed the new national security law last July. Several pro-democracy lawmakers resigned en masse late last year after four of their colleagues were disqualified by the government, while several prominent activists have been arrested and jailed, including Wong and 73-year-old media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who was arrested last month on an initial charge of fraud, and has since been charged under the new law with “foreign collusion.” Under the law, anyone in Hong Kong believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted. The new law was imposed by Beijing in response to the massive and often violent pro-democracy demonstrations that engulfed the financial hub in the last half of last year, and is the cornerstone of its increasing grip on the city, which was granted an unusual amount of freedoms when Britain handed over control in 1997.
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South Koreans Confused, Disgusted at US Election-related Violence
South Korea, whose political development and systems of government have long been influenced in part by the United States, is reacting with bewilderment to this week’s deadly post-election violence in Washington, D.C.People angry at President Donald Trump’s defeat in the recent U.S. election forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, scuffling with police, vandalizing congressional offices, and prompting scenes of chaos, including armed standoffs, which resulted in lawmakers being temporarily evacuated.Capitol Police shot one woman to death after she attempted to break through a barrier inside the building, while three others died from unspecified “medical emergencies,” according to police. Police also say they discovered two pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee.Many in South Korea, formerly ruled by military strongmen but now consistently ranked as one of Asia’s strongest democracies, expressed confusion and disgust about the rocky transfer of power in Washington.“I really don’t understand how this could be happening,” Yang Seung-hyun, a 41-year-old freelance businessman in Seoul’s Sinchon neighborhood, told VOA. “I don’t know how exactly it relates to South Korean politics, but I know it sure doesn’t look good.”Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather in WashingtonSouth Korea’s government has not commented on the violent intrusion of the Capitol building. But senior lawmaker Song Young-gil, a member of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party, said in a Facebook post the incident “revealed the shameful side of the United States.”“This kind of behavior can be exploited by dictatorships who want to justify their behavior,” added Song, who did not elaborate. “I look forward to seeing the United States restore its system.”Heated political battlesSouth Korea is no stranger to feisty domestic political battles.Most notably, mass protests in 2016-17 led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, who was later convicted in a corruption scandal that could eventually see her jailed for over 20 years.South Korea’s three other living ex-presidents have also been convicted of criminal offenses.At South Korea’s National Assembly, occasional scuffles break out between lawmakers. There have also been instances of South Korean protesters attempting to breach the legislature.But in South Korea, those attempts are not usually successful, points out Lee Sang-sin, who focuses on political science and public opinion at the Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU).“Korean riot police are much more formidable than D.C. ones. And Korean mobs are not armed with guns,” Lee said, thanks in part to South Korea’s strict gun ownership laws.Kim Ha-neul, a 29-year-old nurse who lives in Seoul, said she was surprised to see such intense unrest in the United States. “And I don’t understand why police in the U.S. didn’t care about this (storming of the Capitol),” she added.Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump sit inside the office of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as they protest inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Rocky transfer of powerIt’s not clear how many rioters, if any, possessed firearms when they barged into the Capitol. The rioters were furious about what they claim is election fraud that delivered key swing states to Trump’s opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.Trump’s own Justice Department has denied allegations of serious voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election. Scores of legal challenges by Trump and his allies have failed.Instead, Trump attempted to convince Republican members of Congress, as well as Vice President Mike Pence, to delay or overturn the results of the election using a largely ceremonial parliamentary procedure meant to count the electoral votes.Hours before the vote-counting meeting convened Wednesday, Trump addressed a crowd of supporters on the National Mall, urging them to relocate to the nearby Capitol. A short time later, the chaos ensued, prompting Trump to send follow-up messages encouraging his supporters to be peaceful and then go home.Once the Capitol was secured, lawmakers reconvened and eventually certified the election results, meaning Biden will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.The White House later released a statement insisting Trump would commit to an “orderly transition.”New era?Many in Seoul hope the incoming Biden administration will mark the end of a testy era in U.S.-South Korea relations.As president, Trump regularly complained that Seoul did not pay enough for the approximately 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.Trump often talked about the issue in blunt terms, accusing South Korea of “freeloading,” or taking advantage of U.S. protection. At one point in 2019, Trump suggested South Korea was “rich as hell and probably doesn’t like us too much.”Though the military cost-sharing issue was a constant source of friction, officials from both countries insist the overall relationship remains solid.Biden has promised to bolster the alliance, which has been in place since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War — virtually the entirety of South Korea’s existence.US still a model?Since then, the United States has played a crucial but complicated role in the political development of South Korea.The U.S. for decades supported and armed South Korea’s brutal military rulers, even while supporting civil society and other programs meant to foster democracy and the rule of law.As a result, some aspects of Korean political institutions and civil society now mirror those in the United States.Among the shared features are the presidential system, the separation of powers among three branches of government, and the basic rights outlined in the constitution, said Ben Engel, a doctoral student who researches U.S. policy and influence in South Korea.“The U.S. was definitely a model they looked at, as were other places,” Engel said. “But Koreans have also tried hard to overcome the weaknesses in the U.S. system.”South Korea has now been a democracy since 1987. And although many here still see the U.S. as a model, it’s becoming tricker, said Lee of KINU.”America’s image among Koreans is closely linked with how we view ourselves,” Lee said. “If America can be no longer our role model then we must find our own path.”
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China Notifies Downstream Mekong Neighbors Days After It Began Holding Back Water
China informed downstream Mekong river neighbors of a 20-day water restriction at its southernmost dam on the waterway six days after it started holding back water on Dec. 31, drawing a mix of credit for sharing data with downstream governments and criticism for not giving Thailand, Cambodia and others advance notice.A statement issued Wednesday by the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernment agency that works with the governments of Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, to manage the 2,703-mile river’s resources, said that China promised that the river’s flow held back at the Jinghong Dam “will be gradually restored to its normal operation status on January 25.”Thailand’s Office of Natural water Resources said it received notification from China on Tuesday that the water discharge would be nearly halved.“The ministry of water resources of China has notified the Office of Natural Water Resources… that it has reduced water discharge from Jinghong Dam on China’s border from 1,904 cu. m. to 1,000 cu. m. per second from Jan. 5 to 24. After that the discharge will be increased back to normal,” Somkiat Prajamwong, the director of the ONWR said in the statement.The notifications came shortly after a new U.S.-funded monitoring system revealed that China had not told the downstream countries that it was holding back water starting on Dec. 31.The Washington-based Stimson Center’s Mekong Dam Monitor, which uses satellite imagery to keep tabs on water levels along the Mekong, said water levels were low at several checkpoints in three downstream countries in its update for the week of Dec. 28, 2020, to Jan. 3, 2021.“Jinghong’s sudden restrictions of water starting 12/31 caused a sudden 1-meter drop in river level 380 kilometers downstream at Chiang Saen on 1/3-4. LMC and MRC data confirm this, but as of 1/4, China provided no notification of the sudden and unusual change that will impact fish and farming processes downstream,” the update said.“Also, the reservoirs for the Nam Ou 5 dam in Laos and the Don Sahong Dam on the mainstream in Laos are still at all-time lows. And finally, the Tonle Sap gauges show the lake in retreat after an extremely late and short flood season,” it said.Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, a large inland lake whose waters ebb and flow with the annual cycle of the river connecting it to the Mekong, has been drying at a rapid rate in recent years, threatening the fish stocks providing millions of Cambodians with their main source of protein.Brian Eyler, the director of the Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia Program and the Monitor’s project lead, told RFA’s Lao Service that China’s decision to hold back water disrupts the Mekong’s ecology.“The restrictions of water from the downstream are certainly not welcome. They are unusual for this time of year and not part of the Mekong’s natural cycle. However, what is welcome are China’s notification of its changes and dam operations that are causing the restrictions,” Eyler said.“China is making good on its promise to notify downstream countries when it changes its dam operations. But there are some inconsistencies with the notification,” he said.He said that China did not notify the downstream countries prior to holding back the water. After it became aware of eyewitness accounts of the river level dropping downstream, the monitor was able to identify the Dec. 31 restriction in data.“So, we began to get the word out. We alerted the Mekong River Commission. We provided alerts on social media and also said that China provided no notification. The Mekong River Commission had also observed the drop at the data portal and confirmed that China had provided no notification,” Eyler said.“Within 12 hours after our actions, China did provide a notification. So, China’s notification was late. It seemed to be compelled by external actors rather than of its own admission and own volition,” he said.China has been the target of criticism from the international community for its cascade of 11 megadams on the river. The lower Mekong basin experienced severe drought over the past year, with stretches of the river even drying up entirely. The dams in China are at least partly to blame.In October 2020, Beijing agreed to share data with the MRC, as some 60 million people in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam use the river for agriculture and fishing.Reported by RFA’s Lao Service and BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
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US Considering Sanctions on Those Involved in Hong Kong Arrests, Pompeo Says
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington is considering sanctions and other restrictions on those involved in the arrest of more than 50 people in Hong Kong and warned it could target the territory’s economic and trade office in the United States.In a move likely to further rile Beijing, Pompeo announced in the same statement that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft would visit Chinese-claimed Taiwan, which is not a UN member due to China’s objections.Pompeo also said he was “appalled” by the arrest of an American citizen as part of Wednesday’s crackdown and added: “The United States will not tolerate the arbitrary detention or harassment of U.S. citizens.”Hong Kong police arrested 53 people in dawn raids on democracy activists on Wednesday in the biggest crackdown since China last year imposed a security law which opponents say is aimed at quashing dissent in the former British colony.Among those detained was American lawyer John Clancey, a source at his firm said.Pompeo called the arrests an “outrage and a reminder of the Chinese Communist Party’s contempt for its own people and the rule of law.”“The United States will consider sanctions and other restrictions on any and all individuals and entities involved in executing this assault on the Hong Kong people,” Pompeo said.He said it would also “explore restrictions against the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the United States, and take additional immediate actions against officials who have undermined Hong Kong’s democratic processes.”Pompeo’s statement came after a day of turmoil in Washington that saw supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn his November election defeat.Lawmakers on both sides denounced the action by Trump’s supporters and called it an embarrassment to American democracy that would play into the hands of rivals like China.“It kind of bolsters their claim that we’re falling apart and they’re the country of the future,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a China hawk, told Tucker Carlson on the Fox News channel.On Wednesday, the Chinese embassy in Washington issued an advisory on its website, warning Chinese citizens to strengthen safety precautions in light of the “large-scale demonstration” in Washington and the curfew announced by the local government.Trump has pursued hardline policies towards China on issues ranging from trade to espionage and the coronavirus and his administration has imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for crushing Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and other alleged rights abuses.
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China Is Increasing Taiwan Airspace Incursions
The number of Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s airspace last year was the highest since 1996, which experts say is worsening the risk for conflict without drawing international headlines.The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) flew about 380 sorties into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) last year, a defense ministry statement said last week.The PLA began dispatching warplanes toward the island after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected for a second term in January, but the activity dramatically increased in the second half of the year in 2020 and is now almost a daily occurrence.According to a VOA compilation of flight data drawn from official statements by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, Chinese warplanes have flown 138 of these missions since mid-September. Only four days into 2021, six Chinese warplanes had flown into the island’s ADIZ.Far fewer flightsBy contrast, a Taiwan national defense report for the year 2017 said that during Tsai’s first term, in the nearly 1½ years from August 2016 to December 2017, China sent only 26 sorties into Taiwan’s airspace.Experts said the increased operations were aimed at normalizing the incursions.”The main message that the Chinese attached to these movements are they are routine Chinese operations,” said Dr. Oriana Mastro, a Chinese military expert and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, told VOA.FILE – A Chinese J-11 fighter jet is seen flying about 215 km (135 miles) east of China’s Hainan Island in this U.S. Department of Defense handout photo taken Aug. 19, 2014.”This is very problematic. It doesn’t make the news because this is happening every single day. It is problematic because, one, China is getting a lot of practice that really helps their military improve, but also they’re trying to make their aggression and militarization the norm, routine, something that is not worthy of any sort of response from other nations.”A research report published on the website of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense stated earlier this month that on March 31, 2019, Chinese fighter planes deliberately flew across the strait center line for the first time since 1999. At that time, the incident was reported as the most serious provocation between Taiwan and China this century.Last year, during the visit of U.S. Undersecretary of State Keith Krach to Taiwan in September, Chinese warplanes crossed the sensitive median line that separates the mainland and the self-governing island almost 40 times.Beijing’s art of fightingSince late 1990s, Beijing had hoped for a peaceful reunification. It had introduced numerous preferential economic policies for Taiwan. However, there have been signs in recent years that Beijing has decided there is little chance for a peaceful reunification with Taiwan given the political reality in the island.Wang Zaixi, former deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, recently said in an interview with Chinese media that there was a third way to choose between peaceful reunification and military invasion, which was to “promote reunification with force.” Wang quoted from Sun Tzu’s Art of War that China can “subdue the enemy without fighting.”As China’s military power tilts the military balance in the Taiwan Strait toward Beijing, analysts say the near-normalization of the Chinese military’s constant threats are aimed at subduing Taipei through exhaustion.According to the latest data from the U.S. Defense Department, China has the largest air force in Asia and ranks third in the world. In its annual report on China’s military and security developments to Congress, the Pentagon said the Chinese Air Force has more than 2,500 aircraft, including about 2,000 fighter jets.FILE – A Taiwanese Air Force F-16 fighter jet takes off from a closed section of highway during the annual Han Kuang military exercises in Chiayi, central Taiwan, Sept. 16, 2014.By contrast, according to research by the Federation of American Scientists, Taiwan has far fewer fighter jets. “Taiwan, which has 289 combat aircraft, will likely be unable to match China’s current operational tempo if the escalated intrusion rate continues into the mid- to long term,” the report said.Taiwan’s National Defense Ministry said last week that Taiwan’s military was now “day and night, regardless of holiday,” holding fast to its posts, monitoring the situation and adapting properly.Taiwan understandsOn the other hand, analysts also point out that Taiwan is fully aware of China’s approach, and there is little chance Beijing will succeed in subduing Taiwan.Yisuo Tzeng, director at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told VOA that Taiwanese people understand that “Beijing is using superior resources to conduct asymmetric warfare against Taiwan. Taiwan will use smart and cautious methods and use open and transparent methods to allow the entire society to have a full understanding.”Craig Singleton, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, said that China portrays these military incursions as normal and routine training in an effort to hide from strong international reactions, but they may end up undermining China in the long term.”All of China’s flyovers and buildup have done nothing to deter increased U.S. collaboration with Taiwan.” Singleton told VOA. He said in some respects, these kinds of aggressive moves have been unsuccessful in deterring the U.S. or really even strengthening China’s hands, “because those aggressive moves have really been quite scary to all of China’s regional neighbors, who are sitting there and saying, ‘Maybe I need to get a little closer to the United States.’ ”
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Wall Street, China May Have Influenced NYSE Reversal on Chinese Telecoms
In a surprising reversal, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced early this week that it no longer intended to delist three Chinese telecom companies that had been targeted by the outgoing Trump administration for suspected ties to the Chinese military.The NYSE officially announced Monday that based on “further consultation with relevant regulatory authorities,” it no longer planned to delist China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom from trading.The recent delisting was prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s November executive order calling for the removal of companies from U.S. markets described as “communist Chinese military” companies.The U.S. Treasury Department subsequently released a list of 35 so-called communist Chinese military companies, including the three that had been set to delist from the NYSE as soon as Thursday.The NYSE did not explain the exact reason for this major turnabout, but some observers speculated it could be related to pressure from Wall Street and corporate executives concerned about losing investment opportunities or fearful of economic retaliation from China, which has been locked in a bitter trade war with the United States throughout the greater part of Trump’s four years as president.With President-elect Joe Biden preparing to take the helm on January 20, U.S. financiers and market analysts see the wisdom in not taking additional punitive regulatory action against the three companies that dominate China’s mobile business until Biden’s policies toward China become clearer.They say once Trump leaves office, it may be difficult or ill-advised for the U.S. to start another wave of financial warfare against China and its economic interests.Still, some analysts believe the U.S. banning Chinese companies with ties to the Chinese military serves U.S. national interests and that the Biden administration may seek to follow through the blacklist policy in a way that least affects U.S. investors.In a statement issued late Monday, the NYSE said its decision-making was not over, and that NYSE regulators “continue to evaluate the applicability” of the outgoing president’s executive order.FILE – Visitors look at a display from Chinese telecommunications firm China Telecom at the PT Expo in Beijing, Oct. 31, 2019.Pressure from Wall StreetFrancis Lun, chief executive officer of GEO Securities Limited in Hong Kong, believes the NYSE’s decision to delist the three companies on December 31 was irrational and unwelcome to Wall Street, which he suspected might have played a role in the NYSE’s flip-flop.”This proves that Wall Street and financial circles are China’s greatest friends,” Lun told VOA in a phone interview on Tuesday. “What a fortune has Wall Street made from China. If there were no dealings with Chinese businesses, [Wall Street’s] revenue would have slipped by one-fourth.”Lun said he hoped Biden’s approach to China wouldn’t be as hostile and tough as Trump’s. Once Biden restores normalcy to U.S.-China relations, such a financial containment policy will not sustain, he said.C.Y. Huang of FCC Partners in Taipei told VOA that Chinese companies would have little to lose should they be forced to delist from the U.S. stock markets.He said the three companies are currently operating well with solid fundamentals and a steady cash flow. And he said it would be U.S. investors’ loss if they were banned from buying shares in these companies, whether they are listed in the U.S. markets or elsewhere, such as the Hong Kong stock market.Huang said there would be fewer incentives for many of those 300 Chinese companies, whose shares are currently traded in the U.S. markets, to stay after U.S. investors become less friendly and regulatory restrictions are tightened.In contrast, China’s stock markets are becoming more attractive to Chinese companies, he said. There have been successful precedents of companies raising more funds or enjoying a higher price-to-earnings ratio back in China. For example, last year, JD.com and JD Health successfully raised $3.9 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively, in the Hong Kong bourse. SMIC raised $8.24 billion in Shanghai A shares. All three were record-breaking initial public offerings.”China continues to embrace rising capital inflows, although the capital market in Hong Kong, from a certain perspective, will become Sinicized, which means that it will have more Chinese funds in it,” Huang said.But blue-chip stocks are always favored by investors, whether their money is from the U.S. or China, Huang said. He added that it would be U.S. investors’ loss if they were not allowed to invest, because funds from other regions, such as Europe, China and Singapore, would fill the void.Return to ChinaSince the Holding Foreign Company Accountability Act came into effect in December, Chinese companies that cannot comply with U.S. auditing standards in the future may not be able to continue to list in the U.S.Under this premise, Huang believes that in the next two to three years, Chinese companies withdrawing from U.S. stock markets and returning to China for listing is inevitable.FILE – Staff members wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus use their smartphones at a display from Chinese telecommunications firm China Mobile at the PT Expo in Beijing, Oct. 14, 2020.He emphasized that this trend would be a “double-edged sword” for the U.S., hurting both U.S. investors and Chinese companies. He also said many U.S. companies that rely on the Chinese market were unwilling to lose out on the business opportunities from China’s army of 600 million middle-income consumers or the world’s largest 5G market in China as a result of rising U.S.-China tensions.Oliver Rui, professor of finance and accounting at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, said the U.S. has been brushing aside the auditing standards on Chinese companies for more than a decade to benefit Wall Street. He said that in the face of hostile sanctions from the U.S., China could easily counterattack.”[China has] too much leverage,” Rui said. “For example, if U.S. companies which set up factories in China have done deals with the U.S. military, China can also sanction them. Who doesn’t have a military client? If you look carefully, it is impossible for any of the world’s top 500 companies to have no connection [with the military].”Revenge from ChinaBefore the NYSE announced the cancellation of the delisting plan, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission all spoke out harshly against the U.S.’s measures last weekend.A spokesperson for the China Securities Regulatory Commission said Sunday that “the U.S. implemented administrative orders for political purposes and unreasonably suppressed foreign companies listed in the U.S. This has seriously undermined normal market rules and order.”The China Securities Regulatory Commission said as the American Depository Receipts (ADRs) total less than $3.1 billion and account for, at most, 2.2% of the total shares each, even if the three firms are delisted, the direct impact on their development and market operation is quite limited.China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would “take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.”Daphne Wang, assistant research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei, believes the NYSE’s delisting decision may be related to China’s pressure and threat of retaliation.She said based on cybersecurity and national security considerations, the U.S. will not easily back down from blacklisting Chinese companies with ties to the Chinese state or military.Wang said the Biden administration might find a way to implement the blacklist while easing the impact on U.S. investors and companies.”The United States has the funds, and it will not allow American money to help China grow its strength that is strong enough to rival with the U.S. So, it will definitely impose capital controls,” she said.
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Trump Targets Imports of Asian Tires in Final Month
An initial U.S. decision to place special import duties on automobile tires made in four Asian manufacturing hubs will jolt domestic industries while reinforcing President Donald Trump’s tough foreign trade stance in his final days in office, analysts say. The U.S. Department of Commerce said December 30 it had made “preliminary determinations” to levy duties on tires made for passenger vehicles and light trucks. Duties would affect exporters in South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam if the decision becomes final May 14 after a follow-up investigation, the department said on its website. “Impacts from this matter are really, really big for Taiwan,” said Danny Ho, chief executive of the Taiwanese petrochemical consulting firm DMI. In trade terms, dumping refers to the practice by countries or manufacturers of pricing goods entering a foreign market to less than that paid by domestic customers in the source country. U.S. Commerce department officials tentatively found that exporters have “dumped” tires in the United States, the website says. The findings answer a petition from the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union. Thailand most impacted Thailand stands to be impacted because of its unusually large tire-making industry. U.S.-bound imports from the auto manufacturing sector led by American and Japanese investors were worth $1.96 billion in 2019, the U.S. commerce department says. The automotive industry is one of Thailand’s five biggest employers and generates up to 2 million cars per year, said Richard Doner, retired political science professor at Emory University in the United States. The duties “might severely impact that industry,” Doner said, though most finished goods are not shipped to the United States. “It’s not like Thailand relies totally on the United States, but it’s probably important and given the significance of the automotive industry for Thailand, it’s probably a big deal,” he said. Cheng Shin Tyre and Nankang Tyre, are Taiwan’s chief tire suppliers overseas, said Liang Kuo-yuan, president of the Polaris Research Institute, a policy group in Taipei. He estimated that Nankang gets 37% of revenues from U.S.-bound exports and fears high duty exposure because its factories are concentrated in Taiwan rather than in offshore locations that could avoid the tariffs. Nankang did not answer a request for comment. Taiwanese tire exporters may have deliberately lowered prices for the U.S. market to compensate for the lack of any low-tariff incentives from Washington, Ho said. Exporter peer South Korea entered into a free trade deal with the United States in 2012. “The conclusion is that there’s no immediate impact, but from the Taiwanese perspective, if they’re found to have committed dumping activities, then it’s disadvantageous to all kinds of Taiwanese businesses that are returning onshore,” Liang said. Vietnamese producers and American business people in the country oppose U.S. duties, said Nguyen Thanh Trung, Center for International Studies director at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City. “They are not satisfied with what the department is targeting in the tire making industry in Vietnam,” said Nguyen, who has spoken with some of the opponents. “They think ‘I have worked for these companies for long (periods) and I know how legitimate they are and how good they are, so it’s not rational to impose high tariffs on the industry.’” South Korea’s tire imports to the United States reached $1.17 billion in 2019, followed by Vietnam at $469.6 million and Taiwan at $373 million, the commerce department says. Trump’s legacy “Strict enforcement” of U.S. trade law marked a “primary focus” of the Trump administration, the Commerce Department website said last week. During his term, the department has opened 306 new anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations, a 278% increase over a “comparable period” of former President Barack Obama’s term. Trump over the past four years withdrew the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico as well as from a now 11-nation Pacific Rim free trade region. Trump’s broader trade policy is “definitely” steering the proposal to impose tire duties, Ho said. President-elect Joe Biden might turn the tire duty decision around, Nguyen said. Biden is due to take office January 20.
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Asian Markets Mixed Ahead of Pivotal US Senate Race Results
Asian markets are mixed Wednesday amid a trio of coinciding political and economic events.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index lost 0.3%. Australia’s S&P/ASX index fell 1.1%. The KOSPI index in South Korea plunged 0.7%, and Taiwan’s TSEC index finished 0.1% lower.Shanghai’s Composite index closed 0.6% higher. In late afternoon trading, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 0.2% higher, while Mumbai’s Sensex is down 0.2%. Investors were keeping a close eye on the runoff vote in the southern U.S. state of Georgia for two U.S. Senate seats, which will determine which party controls the chamber as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office on January 20. Reverend Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, was declared the winner over incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler late Tuesday night, while Democrat Jon Ossoff maintained a lead over David Perdue, the other Republican incumbent heading into early Wednesday. Meanwhile, at least 50 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and politicians were arrested Wednesday in a sweeping crackdown on opposition forces under a draconian new national security law; and U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning financial transactions with eight Chinese software apps, including Alipay and WeChat Pay. In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,953.40, down one point but virtually unchanged percentage-wise (-0.05%). U.S. crude oil is selling at $49.85 per barrel, down 0.1%, and Brent crude oil is selling at $53.76 per barrel, up 0.3%. All three major U.S. indices are trending negatively in futures trading.
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Facing Economic Woes, North Korea Admits Failure, Mulls Future
North Korea has opened a major, multi-day political gathering in the capital, Pyongyang, with leader Kim Jong Un using the forum to acknowledge recent economic failures.Addressing thousands of tightly packed delegates at an auditorium in Pyongyang, Kim admitted his country had not reached the goals set out in an economic plan for the five-year period that just expired.“The goals we set were immensely underachieved in almost all areas,” Kim said in an opening speech at the eighth congress of the ruling Workers’ Party, according to state media.The last five years, Kim said, were “unprecedented” and “the worst of the worst” for North Korea. In response, he said the country should “strengthen our own power and our own self-reliant capacity.”Pictures posted by the official Korean Central News Agency showed thousands of participants seated close together in a large hall, with no observable social distancing measures. No one appeared to be wearing masks.It is only the second time Kim has convened a party congress since he took power in December 2011. This year’s gathering, which is expected to set North Korea’s policy goals for the next five years, comes at one of the most challenging times of Kim’s rule.Economic problemsNorth Korea’s economy had already been held back by international sanctions over its nuclear program, but a series of devastating recent floods as well as strict coronavirus measures dramatically worsened the situation.Overall, North Korea’s economy may have contracted by at least 8.5% in 2020, according to an estimate by Fitch Solutions.One big reason: North Korea closed its border with China, its biggest trading partner and economic lifeline, last January, shortly after news of the coronavirus emerged. That helped lead to an 80% drop in trade between the two countries, according to the Korea International Trade Association.A health worker sprays disinfectant inside the Pyongyang Department Store No. 1 prior to opening for business, in Pyongyang on Dec. 28, 2020.Supply shortagesNK News, a Seoul-based website focusing on North Korea, on Tuesday reported “significant and ongoing food shortages” in Pyongyang, especially at grocery stores frequented by the country’s elite.Key items such as sugar, cooking oil, and toothpaste “are almost completely gone” from some supermarket shelves in Pyongyang, NK News reported. Local fresh fruit and vegetables were being sold at over five times the usual cost, it added.Despite strict coronavirus restrictions, North Korea insists not a single person in its country has tested positive for the coronavirus — a claim widely disputed by global health experts and others.North Korea is especially vulnerable to a disease outbreak. It is one of the world’s poorest countries and its medical infrastructure is badly outdated and under-resourced.According to a Wall Street Journal report, North Korea has submitted an application to receive Covid-19 virus vaccines from Gavi, an international alliance of governments, drug companies, charities and civic organizations that arrange global vaccination campaigns in lower income countries.North Korean leaders have called the pandemic response a top priority and a matter of “national survival.” Given that dynamic, it is not clear what North Korea can do to stimulate its economy, at least until the virus threat recedes and border restrictions are loosened, many analysts say.“It’s not like Kim Jong Un is going to come out and promise denuclearization, marketization, and human rights improvements,” says Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.“What optimists are looking for is a willingness to engage in diplomacy with the incoming Biden administration, mention of economic development opportunities including with South Korea, and any openness to humanitarian cooperation during the pandemic,” Easley said.”Pessimists expect the Kim regime will emphasize military strength, self-reliant socialism, and an ongoing crackdown on subversive elements,” he added.Admitting failure?It would not be the first time for Kim to admit policy failures, especially on the economy.In August, the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party acknowledged plans to improve the economy have been “seriously delayed” by “severe internal and external situations.” N. Korea to Unveil New Economic Plans in January Party Meeting The Workers’ Party last convened for a full congress in 2016, which was its first in 36 yearsIn recent years, Kim has attempted to convey a more modest “man of the people” persona than that of his father, former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.Lim Eul-chul with Seoul’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies of Kyungnam University questions whether Kim actually admitted failure on Tuesday. But he says Kim’s comments were still unusual in a North Korean context, where top leaders are expected to be highly revered.”It is not quite right to say that he admitted failure,” Lim said. “He acknowledged that the results were not sufficient following the seventh congress, which is still not very common considering North Korea’s usual behavior.Foreign policy directionThe party congress, which comes two weeks ahead of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, is also being watched for signs about North Korea’s foreign policy.North Korea has for months boycotted nuclear talks, frustrated at the U.S. refusal to relax sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump met Kim three times during his presidency, but the meetings did not lead to North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons program.Biden has said he won’t rule out meeting Kim face-to-face, but has suggested that would only come as part of broader, working-level negotiations.On Tuesday, the top U.S. general in South Korea said Pyongyang does not appear to be preparing a major provocation around the onset of the Biden administration.“We’re not seeing any indicators that suggest that there would be a major provocation — but that’s today. That could change next week,” General Robert Abrams, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, told an online forum.No Signs of N. Korean Tests Ahead of Biden Inauguration, US General Says Pyongyang often conducts major tests near US presidential transitionsNext stepsNorth Korea has often timed major tests, including of ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons, around U.S. presidential transitions to demonstrate its military capabilities and possibly gain leverage in future negotiations with Washington.Kim said a year ago he no longer feels bound by his self-imposed pause on nuclear and long-range missile tests, raising fears of a return to major tensions on the Korean peninsula.In October, North Korea used a military parade to unveil a massive new intercontinental ballistic missile, which appears designed to overwhelm U.S. missile defenses. Some suspect Pyongyang may test the missile or other weapons systems in the coming months.Many in South Korea are also watching to see if the party congress will provide any hints about future inter-Korean cooperation.North Korea last year unilaterally raised tensions with the South, a bitter disappointment for many in Seoul. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, whose five-year presidential term ends in May 2022, has placed a high priority on improving inter-Korean ties.During his opening speech Tuesday, Kim did not mention the United States, South Korea, or nuclear issues. The event is expected to last for multiple days.
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Over 50 Hong Kong Activists Arrested for Breaching Security Law, Local Media Reports
Over 50 pro-democratic activists in Hong Kong were arrested Wednesday for breaking the city’s contentious national security law, local media reported, in the biggest crackdown yet against the democratic opposition under the new law. The arrests in the Asian financial hub included well-known democratic figures and former lawmakers James To, Lam Cheuk-ting and Lester Shum, according to the Democratic Party’s Facebook page and public broadcaster RTHK. Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Democratic Party’s Facebook page said police arrested the activists for participating in an independently organized ballot last year to select democratic candidates for an upcoming legislature election, which the Hong Kong government and Beijing warned at the time may violate the new law. FILE – Pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, right, speaks to reporters in Hong Kong, Nov. 12, 2020.The attempt to win a majority in the 70-seat city legislature, which some candidates said could be used to block government proposals and increase pressure for democratic reforms, was seen as an “act of subversion, in violation of the national security law,” the party said. The full election for the legislative council has since been postponed, with the government citing the coronavirus. The security law was imposed by Beijing on the former British colony in June. It punishes what China broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail. The law has been condemned by the West and human rights groups as a tool to crush dissent in the semi-autonomous, Chinese-ruled city. Authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing say it is vital to plug gaping holes in national security defenses exposed by months of sometimes violent anti-government and anti-China protests that rocked the global financial hub in 2019.
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Trump Bans Transactions with 8 Chinese Apps Including Alipay
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group’s Alipay, the White House said, escalating tensions with Beijing before President-elect Joe Biden takes office this month. The order, first reported by Reuters, tasks the Commerce Department with defining which transactions will be banned under the directive and targets Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s QQ Wallet and WeChat Pay as well. The move is aimed at curbing the threat to Americans posed by Chinese software applications, which have large user bases and access to sensitive data, a senior official told Reuters. A U.S. Tencent spokeswoman did not immediately comment. FILE – WeChat has an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States.The order signed by Trump also names CamScanner, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate and WPS Office and says “the United States must take aggressive action against those who develop or control Chinese connected software applications to protect our national security.” A U.S. official told Reuters that even though the order gave the Commerce Department 45 days to act, the department plans to act before January 20 when Trump leaves office to identify prohibited transactions. Trump’s order says “by accessing personal electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers, Chinese connected software applications can access and capture vast swaths of information from users, including sensitive personally identifiable information and private information.” It added the data collection “would permit China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, and build dossiers of personal information.” The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. FILE – A TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration.Another official said the order mirrors earlier Trump executive orders signed in August directing Commerce to block some transactions with WeChat and Chinese-owned Tiktok seeking to bar some transactions that have been blocked by U.S. courts. Any new transactions prohibited by the Trump administration are likely to face similar court challenges as the Commerce Department did when it sought to block transactions with WeChat and TikTok. The Commerce orders would have effectively banned the Chinese app’s use in the United States and barred Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s app stores from offering them for download for new users. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement he supports Trump’s “commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Americans from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.” The latest action has been under debate within the administration for an extended period. Many administration officials are eager to cement the hardline U.S. position with China on a number of fronts before Trump leaves office. Last month, the Commerce Department added dozens of Chinese companies, including the country’s top chipmaker SMIC and Chinese drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd., to a trade blacklist. Also last month the administration published a list of Chinese and Russian companies with alleged military ties that restrict them from buying a range of U.S. goods and technology. In November, the administration put on hold an effort to blacklist Ant Group, the Chinese financial technology company affiliated with e-commerce giant Alibaba.
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WHO Chief ‘Disappointed’ China Hasn’t Allowed Researchers into Wuhan
The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed disappointment Tuesday with the failure of Chinese officials to grant final permission to an international team of researchers to enter the country to investigate the origins of the coronavirus.At the agency’s regular COVID-19 briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “very disappointed” that China had not authorized entry of the team, some of whom had begun their travels to Wuhan. The news forced other members of the team to cancel their travel at the last minute.Tedros said plans for the trip had been arranged jointly among WHO officials, the Chinese government and the countries for which the team was meant to travel through on their way to Wuhan. He said the agency just learned Tuesday “that Chinese officials have not yet finalized the necessary permissions for the team’s arrival in China.”Tedros said he had been in contact with senior Chinese officials. “And I have once again made it clear that the mission is a priority for WHO and the international team. I have been assured that China is speeding up the internal procedures for the earliest possible deployment. We are eager to get the mission under way as soon as possible.”FILE – Medical workers move a person who died from COVID-19 at a hospital in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province, Feb. 16, 2020.China reported the first cases of a pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan to the WHO on Dec. 31, 2019, and closed a market where the novel coronavirus was believed to have emerged.Health ministers called on the WHO in May to identify the source of the virus and how it crossed the species barrier.The United States, which has accused China of having hidden the outbreak’s extent, has called for a “transparent” WHO-led investigation and criticized its terms, which allowed Chinese scientists to do the first phase of preliminary research. U.S. President Donald Trump has accused the agency of being a puppet for China during the pandemic. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 illness.
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Experts: Report of China Hacking African Union HQ Fits Larger Pattern
A recent report that Chinese hackers secretly redirected surveillance footage from the African Union headquarters so it could be viewed abroad is part of a larger pattern by Chinese networks to electronically infiltrate key communication channels in Africa, experts say.
“I’m not particularly surprised,” Joshua Meservey, senior policy analyst on Africa at the Heritage Foundation, told VOA. “We know China operates this way all across the world, including in Africa. They clearly have a particular interest in the AU headquarters.”
The report in December by the Reuters news agency alleged that prior to the 33rd AU Summit last February, a Japanese cybersecurity firm alerted AU technicians of the security breach.
Meservey said the alleged hacking is part of a larger effort. He conducted a study that alleges Chinese companies have built at least 186 government buildings in Africa and 14 “sensitive intragovernmental telecommunications networks.”
There have also been recent reports of governments such as Uganda and Rwanda targeting dissidents and their supporters by hacking into their WhatsApp and Skype accounts with the help of Chinese tech giant Huawei.In Uganda, Dissidents Adapt to Evade Huawei Assisted Government Spying After spying assisted by Huawei employees, Ugandan politician Bobi Wine, a vocal critic of President Yoweri Museveni, takes elaborate steps to keep government spies at bayChina has been accused of spying on the AU before. In 2018, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that China had installed listening devices in the headquarters. The report alleged that servers in the AU headquarters were secretly sending data to a computer system in Shanghai each night between midnight and 2 a.m.
Meservey said private Chinese companies are “legally obliged” to help the Chinese Communist Party gather intelligence.Report: Chinese Construction Projects Create Opportunity to Spy on African LeadersNew Heritage Foundation report examines Chinese projects in Africa as possible ‘vector’ for espionageIn the alleged February 2020 attack on the AU, Meservey said the strategic importance of the video footage is unclear.
“I’m a little bit perplexed about why exactly they would want CCTV footage because … as far as I know, there’s no audio associated with it,” Meservey said. “So all you really can do is track people’s physical movements, I guess. But clearly they felt that was worthwhile.”
One possibility, Meservey said, is that China is seeking to build artificial intelligence capabilities by compiling video and other data and feeding it into systems that can learn facial features and other identifying information.
“They’re gathering immense amounts of data on their own citizens, feeding those into A.I. systems and then refining them in that way,” he said. “So that’s one thing that I think potentially they’re after.”
Reuters cybersecurity reporter Raphael Satter said the AU was alerted by Japan’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) on Jan. 17, 2020, after it saw unusual traffic between the AU and a Chinese hacking group known as “Bronze President.” AU technicians then set about tracing the source of the activity.
“When they investigated, they found that a group of servers in an annex of the AU was communicating with a website that was associated with the Chinese hacking group,” Satter told VOA. “And those servers were sending surveillance camera footage to that website, which meant that cameras from across the AU campus were effectively being fed to hackers operating from abroad.”
China dismisses hacking report
VOA reached out to Ebba Kalondo, spokesperson for the AU, but did not get a response. The chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki, has previously denied that any Chinese hacking took place.After Allegations of Spying, African Union Renews Huawei AllianceChinese technology giant Huawei plans to expand its footprint in Africa through 5G, cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologiesChinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a December 21 press briefing that the Reuters report is an attempt to harm China-Africa relations.
“China-Africa cooperation will not be disturbed by noise, and China-Africa friendship will not be diluted by false information,” Wang said.
Satter said the AU has attempted to piece together what information was compromised but may still not know the complete picture.
“And that’s a problem that many organizations, not just the African Union, face when hackers get in, is trying to estimate just what the bad guys have gotten a hold of. And I think that in the AU’s case, they just don’t know,” Satter said.
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Former Head of China State Asset Firm Sentenced to Death
The former head of state-owned China Huarong Asset Management Co. Ltd. was sentenced to death Tuesday for bribe taking in one of the harshest punishments for economic crimes in recent years.
Lai Xiaomin, 58, was also found guilty by the Second Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin of lesser charges including corruption and bigamy.
Life sentences and suspended death sentences commuted to life after two years are frequently handed down in corruption cases, but death sentences without the chance of reprieve have become rare in recent years. Such sentences are automatically appealed to China’s highest court.
Lai was placed under investigation by the ruling Communist Party’s corruption watchdog in 2018 and expelled from the party later the same year.
In its ruling, the Tianjin court cited the “especially enormous” size of the bribes Lai accepted, saying they exceeded 600 million yuan ($93 million) in one instance. In total, it said Lai collected or sought to collect 1.79 billion yuan (US$260 million) over a decade in exchange for abusing his position to make investments, offer construction contracts, help with promotions and provide other favors.
He was also convicted of embezzling more than 25 million yuan (almost $4 million) in state assets and starting a second family while still married to his first wife.
Although Lai provided useful details about malfeasance by his subordinates, the seriousness of his bribetaking and “degree of harm caused to society” were not enough to win him leniency, the court said in its ruling.
“Lai Xiaomin is lawless and greedy in the extreme,” the ruling said. “His crimes are extremely serious and must be punished severely under law.”
Huarong is one of four entities created in the 1990s to buy nonperforming loans from banks, helping to revive the state-owned finance industry. Such asset management companies expanded into banking, insurance, real estate finance and other fields.
Lai was accused of squandering public money, illegally organizing banquets, engaging in sexual dealings with multiple women and taking bribes, the anti-corruption agency said in 2018.
Investigators seized hundreds of millions of yuan (tens of millions of dollars) in cash from Lai’s properties, the Chinese business news magazine Caixin reported in 2018.
Lai was one of hundreds of officials at government agencies, state companies and the military who have been detained in an anti-corruption crackdown launched in 2012.
Other senior officials snared in the crackdown include a former head of China’s insurance regulator.
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