China news roundup / Nachrichten 2024-12-21/22

1 day ago

Sweden criticises China for refusing full access to vessel suspected of Baltic Sea cable sabotage

"The Chinese team had allowed representatives from Sweden, Germany, Finland and Denmark on board as observers, but did not permit access for Henrik Söderman, the Swedish public prosecutor, according to authorities in Stockholm.
“It is something the government inherently takes seriously. It is remarkable that the ship leaves without the prosecutor being given the opportunity to inspect the vessel and question the crew within the framework of a Swedish criminal investigation,” foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said"

--- What a shocker! China doesn't cooperate with a proper investigation? Who would have thought...

"People close to the probe said the boarding of the vessel on Thursday had shown there was little doubt it was involved in the incident."

--- Another huge surprise.

"The severing of the two cables was the second time in 13 months that a Chinese ship has damaged infrastructure in the Baltic Sea."

--- Total coincidence, of course.

China says US is 'playing with fire' after latest military aid for Taiwan

"The Chinese government protested Sunday the latest American announcements of military sales and assistance to Taiwan, warning the United States that it is “playing with fire.”
[...] A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement urged the U.S. to stop arming Taiwan and stop what it called “dangerous moves that undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”"

--- Yawn... The same red lines are drawn that China draws every few months.

America’s Chip War With China Will Spread

"The overall strategy has echoes of similar Chinese successes in sectors such as solar panels: massive state support, aggressive pricing and a willingness to play the long game that other players might not be willing to.
[...] Chinese legacy chips aren’t yet flooding the world, but this is a clear risk, especially to U.S. players—including Texas Instruments and GlobalFoundries—competing in these chips. That, in turn, could pose a headache for Washington and its goal of maintaining resilience in the chip supply chain."

--- Has the Western world learned from the past? If so, we should see some action to defend the industry producing legacy chips soon. (Sadly, I expect not much more than some soothing words instead of actions.)

China takes steps against Canada institutions, individuals over Uyghurs, Tibet

"The measures, which took effect on Saturday, include asset freezes and bans on entry and the targets include Canada's Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada-Tibet Committee
[...] For the two institutions, China said it is freezing their "movable property, immovable property and other types of property within the territory of China." It is freezing the property in China of 15 people in the Uyghur institution and five on the Tibet committee, banning them from entering China, including Hong Kong and Macao. "

--- I doubt that they have a lot in China that the CCP could lay its hands on.

Chinese man charged with acting as Beijing agent in local California election

"US authorities on Thursday arrested Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 64, on accusations he worked for the Chinese government while trying to get an unnamed politician elected to a southern California city council.
Authorities also accuse Sun of conspiring with another Chinese man, Chen Jun, who was sentenced to 20 months last month for acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government.
[...] According to the government’s affidavit in the case against Sun, Sun and Chen communicated during the campaign on the former’s effort to get the local politician elected in the 2022 elections. In November 2022, shortly after the vote, Chen instructed Sun to prepare a report on the election that was sent to Chinese government officials
In his conversations with Beijing, Chen referred to Sun and the politician as being part of a “basic team dedicated for us”, prosecutors allege.
[...] The councilperson is not named in the court papers. But Sun is listed as a campaign treasurer for Eileen Wang, who was a city council candidate in Arcadia, in the San Gabriel Valley in 2022, on a campaign statement filing stamped in February of that year, according to records on the city’s website."

--- Totally innocent cultural contact, of course.
This is, by the way, another example of the low-level influence campaigns that China is running all over the world. Typical United Front work.

US report says Hong Kong becoming ‘nearly indistinguishable’ from Chinese cities, as Beijing condemns ‘arrogance’

A dam ignited rare Tibetan protests. They ended in beatings and arrests, BBC finds

Albania bans TikTok for a year after killing of teenager

--- China Uncensored: "Can the US Exploit a Rift Between China and Russia?"

--- DW News: "Why simply being Taiwanese could lead to war"

Unter Sabotage-Verdacht: "Yi Peng 3" setzt Fahrt fort

"Nachdem am Donnerstag schwedische, dänische, finnische und deutsche Behörden an Bord des Frachters gelangt waren, hat die "Yi Peng 3" ihre Fahrt am Sonnabendnachmittag fortgesetzt. Ergebnisse der Untersuchung sind nicht bekannt, schwedische Ermittler sprechen von bedeutsamen Funden, die sie aber nicht näher erläutern."

--- China hat dem schwedischen Chefermittler aber den Zugang verweigert. Was wieder mal zeigt, wie sehr China internationale Kooperation schätzt. Dementsprechend kann man auch davon ausgehen, daß das chinesische 'Ergebnis' der Untersuchung deutlich anders aussehen wird als die Schlußfolgerungen der internationalen Ermittler.

Zweifel an Wachstumszahlen: China warnt Volkswirte

"„Sagen Sie nichts Ungewöhnliches, nur um Aufmerksamkeit zu erregen“, werden Chefökonomen und Analysten gewarnt: „Gehen Sie kein Risiko ein, um rote Linien der Regulierer zu testen.“ Entsprechende Dokumente seien von Aufsichtsbehörden an Finanzinstitutionen verschickt und danach in den Unternehmen intern verbreitet worden"

--- Nicht wirklich neu, aber schön, daß eine deutsche Zeitung mal darüber berichtet.