China and Taiwan News 中国和台湾新闻
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News from non-state media sources about China and Taiwan. 来自非国营来源关于中国和台湾的新闻。中英双语 Bilingual English and Chinese
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#XinjiangCotton
Shares in Parent Company Drop as #Muji Features Xinjiang Cotton

Mutiple international brands have boycotted Xinjiang cotton exported by China due to reported forced labour and human rights violation by the Chinese Government.

Japanese brand #Muji, however, continues to feature the "Xinjiang Cotton" shirt collection under the "new products" section of their China website, as of March 25, 2021.

Muji's reaction was seen as an attempt to avoid from being targeted by Chinese netizens' call for boycotting foreign brands that refused to use Xinjiang cotton.

Nevertheless, Muji's parent company #RyohinKeikaku has seen its shares fall 6.8% on the morning of March 25, in Tokyo. According to Nikkei Asia. This suggests that "investors fear the company could be affected by the fallout".

Source: Nikkei Asia; Liberty Times News #Mar25

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Retail/Muji-features-Xinjiang-cotton-as-Chinese-netizens-lash-its-rivals

https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3479967

#Kowtow #CCPRules #Ugyhurs
#HumanitarianCrisis
Truth Behind
#XinjiangCotton: Countless Uyghurs Detained, Abused and are Forced to Labor

H&M, a major Swedish fashion brand, was suddenly attacked by the Chinese official media after making a statement in October 2020 that it would no longer purchase cotton from Xinjiang.

As the incident gains more attention, other foreign brands such as #Nike and #Adidas becoming the target of a boycott by Chinese netizens. At the same time, a number of Chinese and Hong Kong celebrities have cut ties with these international brands, terminating their endorsement partnerships and expressing their loyalty to Xinjiang cotton on #Weibo.

Behind this “Xinjiang Cotton Incident”, there involves a major human rights issue in Xinjiang. In recent years, there have been numerous reports and studies revealing the CCP's massive detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, requiring them to undergo “re-education”.

There have been reports of torture, sexual abuse, and forced labor of many Uyghurs. It is believed that the "Xinjiang cotton" is the product of the forced labor of the Uyghurs.

The issue of human rights in Xinjiang has become a serious international issue at the moment, involving diplomatic wrangling between China and the West.

Source: Stand News #March25

https://www.thestandnews.com/international/%E6%96%B0%E7%96%86%E6%A3%89%E8%8A%B1%E8%83%8C%E5%BE%8C-%E8%A2%AB%E6%8B%98%E7%95%99-%E8%99%90%E5%BE%85-%E5%BC%B7%E8%BF%AB%E5%8B%9E%E5%8B%95%E7%B6%AD%E5%90%BE%E7%88%BE%E6%97%8F%E4%BA%BA/

#Uyghurs #HM #HumanRights #ForcedLabor #ConcentrationCamps #CCPRules
#Newspaper #PoliticalSuppression
‘We’re coming to get you’: China’s critics facing threats, retaliation for activism in Canada

Cherie Wong, the convener of Alliance Canada Hong Kong, an organizatiom fighting for the autonomy of Hong Kong, has been facing repeated death and rape threats.

For instance, in January 2020, even when she had a friend book her a hotel room in Vancouver under a different name, she received threats over the phone.

“I sat in my room and just started shaking, realizing that I could be in very real danger and not knowing what to do,” she said.

Wong said activists who are critical of the China often have their families in China visited by government officials.

“They come and knock on your door and say, ‘we’re coming in to talk to you about your family,’” she explained.

“What dissidents face in Canada is often on the grey area of criminal harassment and just discomfort that you feel (in) daily life,” Wong said. 

Read the full article here:
https://globalnews.ca/news/7734158/china-pressure-activists-canada-uyghur-hong-kong-tibet-spying/

Source: Global News Canada #Apr2

#UnitedFront #CCPRules #Canada #HongKong #Uyghur #Tibet #ScareTactics
#Report #ChinaDream
China Is Building Entire Villages in Another Country’s Territory

By Robert Barnett

//In October 2015, China announced that a new village, called Gyalaphug in Tibetan or Jieluobu in Chinese, had been established in the south of the #Tibet Autonomous Region (#TAR)...

#Gyalaphug is, however, different: It is in #Bhutan. Wu and a retinue of officials, police, and journalists had crossed an international border. They were in a 232-square-mile area claimed by China since the early 1980s but internationally understood as part of Lhuntse district in northern Bhutan. The Chinese officials were visiting to celebrate their success, unnoticed by the world, in planting settlers, security personnel, and military infrastructure within territory internationally and historically understood to be Bhutanese...

This new construction is part of a major drive by Chinese President #XiJinPing since 2017 to fortify the Tibetan borderlands, a dramatic escalation in China’s long-running efforts to outmaneuver India and its neighbors along their Himalayan frontiers. In this case, China doesn’t need the land it is settling in Bhutan: Its aim is to force the Bhutanese government to cede territory that China wants elsewhere in Bhutan to give Beijing a military advantage in its struggle with New Delhi.

Gyalaphug is now one of three new villages (two already occupied, one under construction), 66 miles of new roads, a small hydropower station, two Communist Party administrative centers, a communications base, a disaster relief warehouse, five military or police outposts, and what are believed to be a major signals tower, a satellite receiving station, a military base, and up to six security sites and outposts that China has constructed in what it says are parts of Lhodrak in the TAR but which in fact are in the far north of Bhutan....

Today all of the Menchuma Valley and most of the Beyul are controlled by China. Both are being settled. Together, they constitute 1 percent of Bhutan’s territory; if it were to lose them, it would be comparable to the United States losing Maine or Kentucky...

In Chinese, the term for so-called salami-slicing tactics—slowly cutting off  piece by piece of other nations’ territory—is can shi, or “nibbling like a silkworm.” It’s serious business: The belief that India was gnawing at fragments of China’s territory drove Mao to launch the 1962 Sino-Indian War. And the converse of the phrase is jing tun, “swallowing like a whale.” The small bites of the silkworm can turn into crushing jaws...//

Read the full reportage:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/07/china-bhutan-border-villages-security-forces/

Source: Foreigh Policy #May7

#Invasion #Tianxia #AllUnderHeaven #Beijing #Expansion #CCPRules #Bhutan #PeacefulRise #CanShi #Borders
#Propaganda #CCPRules
China State Media Enlists Overseas #KOL and University Students to Promote the Chinese Communist Party

//China’s state TV station has been targeting British university campuses and offering students the chance to win thousands of pounds by becoming pro-Beijing social media influencers, The Times can reveal.

#CGTN had its broadcasting licence revokedand was taken off the air in Britain in February after an investigation by Ofcom, the media regulator, found that it was editorially controlled by the #ChineseCommunistParty.

The network has since launched a “#MediaChallengers” campaign to recruit internet influencers and vloggers globally, some of whom will promote China and counter western narratives that damage its image.

Successful applicants can win up to $10,000 and secure part-time or full-time jobs at CGTN, according to promotional documents.

At least six students at the University of Leeds and one at the University of Manchester have signed up to the campaign, The Times has found...

Hannah Bailey, an expert on Chinese digital disinformation at the Oxford Internet Institute, said: “If we have western social media influencers reading out China’s official line on particular issues, then domestic audiences might believe the Chinese Communist Party is admired by international audiences.” She said the CGTN campaign was “part of a broader trend that we’ve seen of China trying to increase its influence among university campuses”.//

Read full article:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-state-tv-channel-cgtn-enlists-uk-student-influencers-dw9v5sbnc

Source: The Times #June12

#Brainwashing #Disinformation
#France suggests #China should halt nuclear reactor after problems

//French power group #EDF (EDF.PA) said on July 22, 2021 that it would halt the Taishan nuclear reactor it operates with a Chinese partner if similar problems around fuel rod seals were to occur in France, suggesting the plant should hit pause.

The state-controlled French group stopped short of directly calling on China to stop operations, and said the venture it runs with China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), the majority shareholder in the plant, should decide.

China said there was no leak, and refuted a report that it has raised limits on permissible levels of radiation outside the plant.//

Read more:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/edf-says-partners-must-decide-taishan-reactor-shutdown-2021-07-22/

Source: Reuters #Jul22

#CCPRules #MadeinChina #Taishan #NuclearPlant
Hong Kong Stock Market Plummets as #Beijing Issues New Mandates to "Regularize" Real Estate Firms

On Monday, September 20, 2021, the Hong Kong stock market plummeted following the order released by the Chinese Communist Part Government before the weekend, to have more control over the real estate firms.

The potential collapse of property developer China Evergrande in China has triggered concern.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong has plunged 3.3 percent (821 points) within a day.

The real estates firms owned by Hong Kong tycoons #LeeKaShing, #LeeSiuKi, #WongChiCheung and the Kwok's brothers among others have suffered a 8-10% liquidization within just one day.

Source: Stand News; RTHK #Sept20
https://www.thestandnews.com/finance/%E5%82%B3%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E5%90%91%E5%9C%B0%E7%94%A2%E5%95%86%E4%B8%8B%E6%97%A8%E8%A7%A3%E6%88%BF%E5%B1%8B%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C-%E6%81%92%E5%9F%BA%E6%96%B0%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E7%80%89%E9%80%BE%E4%B8%80%E6%88%90-%E6%81%92%E6%8C%87%E8%B7%8C%E9%80%BE-800-%E9%BB%9E

#StockMarket #HSIndex #Evergrande #CCPRules #Finances #Economy
#ReportersWithoutBorders and 44-NGO coalition urge Chinese President #XiJinping to release #Covid19 reporter on #hungerstrike

//On September 17, 2021, Reporters Without Borders (#RSF) and a coalition of 44 human rights NGOs urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to exonerate and release Covid-19 reporter #ZhangZhan, who has been on hunger strike since May 2020, for which she was forced-fed.

“Zhang Zhan did not commit any crime but instead courageously risked her life to inform the public on the health crisis. She should never have been arrested, let alone subjected to a harsh prison sentence”, says the head of RSF East Asia bureau, Cédric Alviani, who urges President Xi Jinping to “ensure that Zhang Zhan is released before it’s too late.”//

Source: RSF #Sept17

https://rsf.org/en/news/rsf-and-44-ngo-coalition-urge-chinese-president-xi-jinping-release-covid-19-reporter-hunger-strike

Related news:
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/28615

#PoliticalProsecution #PressFreedom #Regime #CCPRules
#CCPRules #Infiltration
Concern over ‘#censorship’ rules of New Zealand-Chinese news site Skykiwi.com

//An influential Chinese-language media outlet in #NewZealand warned its users their information could be shared with 'relevant state agencies' if they violated #ChineseLaws.

Skykiwi.com promotes itself as New Zealand’s “most influential” Chinese-language media outlet, with half a million ‘daily average user visits’ to its multi-platform website. Besides providing news coverage, the site also runs message boards where a variety of topics, including current affairs, are discussed. It claims to have 81,000 daily forum users.

...Until July, the terms of service for these forums contained clauses forbidding speech on a range of topics and said that users who violate Chinese laws in their postings could have their information shared with “relevant state agencies,” indicating China’s intelligence apparatus would be able to potentially identify them. It also meant criticism of China’s ruling Communist Party was all but banned.

...A list of forbidden conduct on the forum, as seen last month, includes “leaking state secrets”, “damaging national honour and interests”, “undermining national unity”, inciting “subversion of state power”, "undermining national policies" and promoting “cults”. Virtually identical wording was discovered on the terms of service for China’s state-backed social media platform #WeChat and a list of “prohibited content” outlined by the Chinese Ministry of Culture.//

Source: Newsroom #Sep20
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/concern-over-censorship-rules-of-nz-chinese-news-site

#CCP #PRC #UnitedFront
#Evergrande and other Chinese property giants have sizeable off-balance sheet debt: #JPMorgan

//Investment bank JPMorgan has estimated that troubled Chinese property giant Evergrande and many of its major rivals have billions of dollars worth of off-balance sheet debt that, once added on, ramp up their leverage ratios.

"Instead of true deleveraging, we think Evergrande has shifted some of the interest-bearing debt to off-balance sheet debt," JPMorgan's analysts said. "Commercial papers, wealth management products and perpetual capital securities, etc, which are not officially counted as debt."

They estimated Evergrande's "net gearing," as debt as a ratio of a firm's equity is known, was at least 177% at the end of the first half of the year, instead of the 100% its accounts reported.

"It is possible that the real gearing could be even higher, as data on some off-balance sheet debt is not publicly available," JPMorgan added, saying the "disguised" debt as it called it added up to 55% of Evergrande's overall debt.

Other major firms whose gearing levels were likely to be higher than formally reported included R&F Properties (2777.HK) at 139% versus the 123%, #SunacChina Holdings (1918.HK) at 138% versus 87% reported and #CountryGarden (2007.HK) at 76% versus 50% reported.//

Source: Reuters #Oct7

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/evergrande-other-chinese-property-giants-have-sizeable-off-balance-sheet-debt-2021-10-07/

#PropertyAnalysis #Economy #Finance #CCPRules #Debt #ChinaMarket #Bubble
#China again blocks #WikimediaFoundation’s accreditation to World Intellectual Property Organization

//China today blocked the Wikimedia Foundation’s bid for observer status at the World Intellectual Property Organization (#WIPO) for the second timeafter the Foundation’s initial application in 2020. 

WIPO is the #UnitedNations (#UN) organization that develops international treaties on copyright, patents, trademarks and related issues. China was again the only country to object to the accreditation of the Wikimedia Foundation as an official observer.

The Foundation will reapply for official observer status in 2022, but it will only be admitted by WIPO if China decides to lift its blockade.

WIPO’s work, which shapes international rules that affect the sharing of free knowledge, impacts Wikipedia’s ability to provide hundreds of millions of people with information in their own languages

As in 2020, China’s statement falsely suggested that the Wikimedia Foundation was spreading disinformation via the independent, volunteer-led #WikimediaTaiwan chapter. The United States and the group of industrialized countries at WIPO — which also includes many European Union member states, Australia, Canada, the Holy See, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom — expressed their support for the Foundation’s application. Since WIPO is generally run by consensus, any one country may veto accreditation requests by non-governmental organizations.//

Read full article:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/10/05/china-again-blocks-wikimedia-foundations-accreditation-to-world-intellectual-property-organization/

Source: Wikipedia Foundation #Oct5

#FalseAccusation #CCPRules #Wikipedia #IntellectualProperty
#Propaganda #CCP
Buying Influence: How China Manipulates
#Facebook and #Twitter

//...a new set of documents reviewed by The New York Times reveals in stark detail how Chinese officials tap private businesses to generate content on demand, draw followers, track critics and provide other services for information campaigns. That operation increasingly plays out on international platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which the Chinese government blocks at home.

The documents, which were part of a request for bids from contractors, offer a rare glimpse into how China’s vast bureaucracy works to spread propaganda and to sculpt opinion on global social media. They were taken offline after The Times contacted the Chinese government about them...

A separate document reviewed by The Times shows that the same local branch of Shanghai police purchased video-making services from a different company in November. The police asked the supplier to provide at least 20 videos a month and to distribute those on domestic and overseas social media. The document referred to the task as original video production that would be used to fight the “battle of public opinion.”

Earlier this year, a New York Times and ProPublica analysis showed howthousands of videos portraying members of the Uyghur ethnic minority living happy and free lives were a key part of an information campaign that Twitter ultimately attributed to the Chinese Communist Party...

Work like what Shanghai Cloud Link pitched is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Local governments and police across China have put out similar requests for services to influence overseas social media, but often in vague terms. Occasionally, specifics are revealed.

In 2017, for instance, the police in Inner Mongolia purchased software that allowed government trolls to post directly to multiple social media sites, inside and outside of China, according to documents reviewed by The Times.

In another case, a contractor had downloaded hundreds of access credentials for Facebook’s public feed, allowing it to collect data about who commented on which posts and when.//

Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/20/technology/china-facebook-twitter-influence-manipulation.htmlb

Source: New York Times #Dec20

#Manipulation #PublicOpinionManagement #SocialMedia #Meta #Disinformation #MadeinChina #CCPRules
#Regime #CCPRules
#China Bans #Christmas as 'Forbidden Western Celebration'

A leaked document showed that Chinese authorities ordered limits on festive celebrations.

The document, dated December 20, 2021 was issued by the PRC's Department of Education of Rong'an county in Liuzhou city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The directive, addressed to all elementary schools and kindergartens, is titled "Spreading the Chinese traditional culture and forbidding Western festival celebrations".

It urged people to report to the authorities immediately if anyone finds individuals and organizations arranging any Christmas event.

The directive also said a special officer has been designated at the County Public Security Bureau to handle complaints regarding the matter and urged people to contact the authorities immediately if anyone finds individuals and organizations arranging any Christmas event.

Source: Set News; #Dec24
https://www.setn.com/News.aspx?NewsID=1047163