4-11-2017 Russia has resumed exports of advanced arms to China. The existing and planned oil and gas pipelines are mostly bound for China – Russia is now China's largest supplier of crude oil. Joint naval exercises have been tailored first and foremost to meet Beijing's strategic needs. The unintended consequence of ever closer relations with China has been a reduction in Russia's capacity to establish deeper ties with other Asian states. In effect, Moscow's policy of turning to the East has been crippled.
Russia's acquiescence to Chinese pre-eminence has been even more conspicuous in Central Asia. Beijing has established itself as the key economic partner for Central Asian states, seriously diminishing Moscow's leverage over the region. China has built new oil and gas pipelines and opened its market for Central Asian energy resources. China has locked in most of Central Asian gas supplies for its own needs, replacing Russia in this role. Loans from Beijing enabled Turkmenistan to resist Russian pressure during the so-called 2009 'gas war'. Russia attempted to regain initiative in Central Asian politics by creating a regional economic bloc in the form of the Eurasian Economic Union but, faced with China's Silk Road Economic Belt project, Moscow ultimately gave in and the two states agreed to reconcile their projects. China's successes in Central Asia are even more acute when compared with Russia's unimpressive record in East Asia. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/how-china-and-russia-avoided-thucydides-trap
………................................
12-14-19 “Tsai really represents the banner of freedom, the banner of self-reliance, the banner of self-determination, and the banner of democracy,” said Bannon, a China hawk and controversial figure for his alt-right comments. He added the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) was “completely corrupt” and “totally beholden [to] the Chinese Communist Party.”…“They [Beijing] run like gangsters, operate like gangsters,and treat their people like what gangsters do.” https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3837029
……………………………………….…
12-17-19 The book Unrestricted Warfare: China’s Masterplan to destroy America written by two Chinese military officers in 1999 seems to have had a profound impact on Bannon’s thinking about China. The authors argue that China was not in a position to confront the US by conventional military methods and therefore should unleash economic and information warfare and wear the country down through long-term attrition rather than in direct confrontation….
China's startling rise has however also been facilitated and accentuated by an array of actors inside America’s, and indeed the West’s, political, financial, corporate and university elites who kowtowed to China, financed it and sold out their countries in doing so. In effect, he argues, the Chinese Communist Party has been in business with the globalists and the Party of Davos, the managerial, financial, technocratic and cultural elites emanating from the World Economic Forum and based in New York, Silicon Valley, London and Washington D.C. etc.
Bannon adds that when the World Trade Organization admitted China into its ranks in 2001 the view was often expressed that economic growth and prosperity would turn China into a liberal free market society along more or less western lines but these forecasts have proven woefully wrong. China is in fact a protectionist mercantilist state with hegemonic ambitions that are frankly astounding. The One Belt and One Road Initiative, Made in China 2025, forced technology transfers, the military build-up, the actions in the South China Sea, predatory loans to vulnerable states and growing influence in many resource areas of the world are all symptoms of the country’s quest for global domination….
In his many interviews and speeches Bannon relentlessly rams home the message that it will be the relationship with China that will frame the 2020 contest, above all because it relates to America’s industrial and manufacturing base. In particular, he argued in Zurich in 2018, Chinese overcapacity and deflation has gutted America’s upper Midwest industrial heartland. Indeed it was Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin that Trump managed to flip in 2016 and must retain in 2020. Bannon certainly has a point. 1In his many interviews and speeches Bannon relentlessly rams home the message that it will be the relationship with China that will frame the 2020 contest, above all because it relates to America’s industrial and manufacturing base. In particular, he argued in Zurich in 2018, Chinese overcapacity and deflation has gutted America’s upper Midwest industrial heartland. Indeed it was Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin that Trump managed to flip in 2016 and must retain in 2020. Bannon certainly has a point. https://www.insideover.com/politics/steve-bannon-china-and-the-2020-presidential-election.html
…………………………….…
12-31-19 Trump said he would sign the recently negotiated phase-one trade deal with China in Washington on Jan. 15—marking a formal truce in the U.S-China trade war—and would later travel to Beijing to negotiate a broader pact.
The president said in a Tuesday morning tweet that he would be joined at the White House signing by “high level” Chinese officials, whom he didn’t identify. China has been represented by Vice Premier Liu He during the nearly two years of talks. Mr. Trump also pledged to travel to Beijing https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-says-he-will-sign-phase-one-trade-deal-with-china-on-jan-15-11577802332
...............
1-2-20 Chief of the General Staff Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴) and seven other military officers had died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3848969
……………………….
“I don’t think the crash will have a strong impact over the elections but certainly it will affect the armed forces because so many senior officers passed away as a result of this crash,” Andrew Yang said. https://nypost.com/2020/01/02/new-years-copter-crash-kills-taiwans-top-military-officer-7-others/
………………………………….….
Five of the people in the crash, including a military reporter, were rescued and sent to hospitals….
“We must find out the reason for the incident," President Tsai told reporters in the northeastern county of Yilan. "Most importantly, (we) must ensure the stability of our military and national defense," she added. https://www.dw.com/en/top-taiwan-military-official-killed-after-helicopter-crash-landing/a-51856002
…………………………….…
The Anti-Infiltration Law, which passed despite objection from opposition parties, aims to punish interference, lobbying, disruption of social order, spreading disinformation and illegal political donations by "hostile" foreign forces.
Transgressions will be punishable by up to five years in jail or a fine of up to 10 million New Taiwan dollars ($334,000, €298,000). https://www.dw.com/en/taiwan-law-passed-to-quell-chinas-influence-ahead-of-elections/a-51844848\.........................
Why New Zealand is of interest to China
Unlike Australia, New Zealand does not have many of the strategic mineral resources that China needs for its industrial development. But New Zealand is of interest to China for a number of significant reasons. First of all, the New Zealand government is responsible for the defence and foreign affairs of three other territories in the South Pacific: the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau—which potentially means four votes for China at international organisations. New Zealand is a claimant state in Antarctica and one of the closest access points there; China has a long-term strategic agenda in Antarctica that will require the cooperation of established Antarctic states such as New Zealand.58 New Zealand has cheap arable land and a sparse population and China is seeking to access foreign arable land to improve its food safety.59 New Zealand now supplies 24 percent of China's foreign milk, and China is the biggest foreign investor in New Zealand’s dairy sector.60 New Zealand is useful for near-space research; which is an important new area of research for the PLA as it expands its long range precision missiles, as well as having civilian applications. Chinese companies Shanghai Pengxin and KuangChi Science have used Shanghai Pengxin's New Zealand dairy farms for near-space launches.61 New Zealand also has unexplored oil and gas resources. In 2016, New Zealand was described as being “at the heart” of global money laundering.62 The Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau are well-known as tax havens and money laundering nations. ...
during the Xi era-the PRC embassy has supported the setting up of new organizations that report back to united front bodies in China, and, according to two former Australian-based Chinese diplomats, by placing supporters and informers in New Zealand Chinese organizations that are more independent-minded and pose a potential threat to China’s interests.75 This is classic CCP party-building and organization work (组织工作) ...
PRCANZ is one of a growing number of united front organizations in New Zealand84 and other countries which the Chinese government organises, supports and subsidises. The PRC also relies on “patriotic” business persons—Red Capitalists—who are always prominent in such organizations, to provide further funding. This is a longstanding practice of CCP united front work. ...
In 2017 the head of the Auckland Overseas Chinese Service Centre, Wang Lingjuan, was invited by the State Council for Overseas Chinese Affairs to attend a conference on overseas Chinese affairs, where she laid flowers at a memorial to Mao Zedong. She told reporters, with presumably unintended irony, that the service centres were “like a part of China and that now wherever overseas Chinese go in the world, the Overseas Chinese Service Centre will give them a sense of being back home.”88 ...
In past years PRCANZ organized many fund-raising events for Kennetth Wang and encouraged the ethnic Chinese community to block vote for him.9495 Since 2005 Wang has been honorary president of the New Zealand Beijing Chamber of Commerce.96 He also has leadership roles in a number of other united front-linked organizations: Vice President of the Beijing Association,97 New Zealand President of the University Alumni Association,98 and New Zealand Bowo International President.99 ...
However in an article in the People’s Daily (Renmin ribao) magazine, Huanqiu renwu (Global People) in 2013, which was republished in a number of websites, Yang Jian gave an extensive interview detailing aspects of his earliest years, his career in China, and subsequent activities in Australia and New Zealand.106 Yang Jian entered the PLA-Air Force Engineering College to study English in 1978; he taught at the same college for five years after graduation, trained at the People’s Liberation Army Luoyang Foreign Languages Institute for his first Masters degree, studied for a year at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for US-China Studies at Nanjing University, and after that, from 1990 to 1993 taught English to students at the Luoyang Foreign Languages Institute who were studying to intercept and decipher English language communications.107 https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/magic_weapons.pdf
Unlike Australia, New Zealand does not have many of the strategic mineral resources that China needs for its industrial development. But New Zealand is of interest to China for a number of significant reasons. First of all, the New Zealand government is responsible for the defence and foreign affairs of three other territories in the South Pacific: the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau—which potentially means four votes for China at international organisations. New Zealand is a claimant state in Antarctica and one of the closest access points there; China has a long-term strategic agenda in Antarctica that will require the cooperation of established Antarctic states such as New Zealand.58 New Zealand has cheap arable land and a sparse population and China is seeking to access foreign arable land to improve its food safety.59 New Zealand now supplies 24 percent of China's foreign milk, and China is the biggest foreign investor in New Zealand’s dairy sector.60 New Zealand is useful for near-space research; which is an important new area of research for the PLA as it expands its long range precision missiles, as well as having civilian applications. Chinese companies Shanghai Pengxin and KuangChi Science have used Shanghai Pengxin's New Zealand dairy farms for near-space launches.61 New Zealand also has unexplored oil and gas resources. In 2016, New Zealand was described as being “at the heart” of global money laundering.62 The Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau are well-known as tax havens and money laundering nations. ...
during the Xi era-the PRC embassy has supported the setting up of new organizations that report back to united front bodies in China, and, according to two former Australian-based Chinese diplomats, by placing supporters and informers in New Zealand Chinese organizations that are more independent-minded and pose a potential threat to China’s interests.75 This is classic CCP party-building and organization work (组织工作) ...
The current head of PRCANZ is Steven Wai Cheung Wong, also known as Huang Weizhang 黄玮璋. Mr Wong has senior leadership roles in many other united front organisations in New Zealand as well as in China. He is head of the United Chinese Association, head of the New Zealand Chinese History and Culture Association, Vice President of the China Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand, member of the Guangdong Provincial Association of Overseas Exchanges, Shandong Province Association overseas honorary president, member of the China Peaceful Reunification Council, and an adviser to the Beijing Overseas Chinese Affairs Council. Steven Wong was born in Guangdong, China and moved to New Zealand in 1972. He is general manager of New Zealand Fresh Food Co. Ltd and made his money as a manufacturer of potato chips. 83
In 2017 the head of the Auckland Overseas Chinese Service Centre, Wang Lingjuan, was invited by the State Council for Overseas Chinese Affairs to attend a conference on overseas Chinese affairs, where she laid flowers at a memorial to Mao Zedong. She told reporters, with presumably unintended irony, that the service centres were “like a part of China and that now wherever overseas Chinese go in the world, the Overseas Chinese Service Centre will give them a sense of being back home.”88 ...
In past years PRCANZ organized many fund-raising events for Kennetth Wang and encouraged the ethnic Chinese community to block vote for him.9495 Since 2005 Wang has been honorary president of the New Zealand Beijing Chamber of Commerce.96 He also has leadership roles in a number of other united front-linked organizations: Vice President of the Beijing Association,97 New Zealand President of the University Alumni Association,98 and New Zealand Bowo International President.99 ...
From 2006 Dr. Yang had also been involved in New Zealand’s Track 2 diplomacy. As widely reported in the New Zealand and international media in 2017,103
Yang Jian worked for fifteen years in China’s military intelligence sector. It was a history which he has admitted he concealed on his New Zealand permanent residency application and job applications in New Zealand,104 as well as his public profile in New Zealand—at least in English sources.105
No comments:
Post a Comment