Rogue Nation

China Isn't Helping Blockchain, Or Bitcoin
By Kenneth Rapoza

More governments making it difficult for Bitcoin and blockchain enthusiasts. 

It's not a good Friday for Bitcoin and friends. 

The top 10 cryptocurrencies are all in the red again.
Bitcoin is now about $70 below its lowest level of the year, reached on February 4. 

China is doing it no favors.
Besides the recent ad bans for initial coin offerings on every major U.S. social media platform, plus Google, the No. 2 economy and biggest fan of crypto keeps putting the screws to blockchain and bitcoin.
A blockchain funding center was recently scrapped in China. 

The government continues to talk about new regulations before going forward with any of this, and that has created some obstacles. 

These are not necessarily roadblocks, but they are definitely detours keeping Bitcoin away from $10,000.
"I think that the China news caused traders to dump Bitcoin," says Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst with ThinkMarkets in London and a Forbes contributor. 

"It further reinsured China’s negativity and reluctance in using blockchain-related products. China’s future in blockchain is a haze," he says.
Last month, The People's Daily called for domestic regulation before it commits to blockchain technology, the new digital ledger system that can eliminate some middlemen in transaction processes. 

The front page article featured an illustration of someone cooking what looks like golden bitcoins over a hot kettle dangling from three chains. 

 The government of China is still supposedly committed to blockchain, but is less excited about cryptocurrencies. 

Its ban on cryptocurrency exchanges went into effect late last year. 

The Bitcoin market fell, then rallied shortly after hitting a high of roughly $20,000 at one point on Dec. 15. 

That seems like eons ago. 

Bitcoin is now trading under $7,000.
Danske, Denmark’s largest bank, is also banning crypto trading despite saying it remains optimistic over blockchain, too. 

The ban, like the China blockchain funding center ban, led to the sell-off late this week, Aslam says.
Bitcoin is not the only crypto falling down the rabbit hole. 

Almost every 10 coin was down on Thursday and all of them are down on Friday. 

Bitcoin is down over 3% as of late morning.
In Ethereum, big changes such as rental fees are coming to that blockchain platform and issuer of the ether coin. 

New database architecture is creating more uncertainty and so ether is down even if a revamp of its blockchain tech is good for the long term.
Ripple, another favorite of cryptocurrency gamblers, is also down. 

The coin affiliated with the RippleNet blockchain is down over 2%. 

 Uphold, a digital payments startup with around $3 billion worth of transactions recently allowed for its members to purchase Ripple coins (XRP) without any fee. 

That has not moved the needle on XRP however.
"This is more fear, uncertainty and doubt," says Serge Millman, managing partner of Starta Ventures in New York. 

"Bottom line seems that there is just too much supply on the market, not in Bitcoin per se, but in all coins. Who needs 1,500 utility coins? No one." 

A utility coin is a type of cryptocurrency that acts as a discount to the service or product sold by the coin issuer.
The last seven days have been a bloodbath for crypto. 

Of the top 50 coins, only four are in the green.
Ontology (ONT) is up 1.6%; Bytom (BTM) is up 6.22%; Aeternity (AE) is up 7.84% and Status (SNT) is up 0.63%. 

 Every one of these coins trades under $2.20, based on data from Coinmarketcap.
There are also rumors circulating in Japan and China that one of the big and early investors in Bitcoin is trying to drive the price down to the price of Bitcoin Cash. 

That would take another $6,000 off of Bitcoin, as the Bitcoin Cash coin is worth just around $680. 

It would make it unprofitable for Bitcoin mining companies to make any money. 

They are the owners of computer systems that create all these new Bitcoins being made in transactions. 

Pushing it down that low might be impossible, but financial markets love a good conspiracy.
If there is any silver lining, then this is it: both China and Danske Bank showed willingness and optimism to develop blockchain technologies, the backbone of cryptocurrency. 

 Although blockchain technologies does not need crypto. Crypto needs the blockchain. 

Adoption of the blockchain system is better for crypto.
Cryptocurrencies can have a brighter future if it becomes more transparent; the exchanges don't take months to sign up new users; and the startups issuing new coins are decent enough to warrant investment.
Many in the industry believe that a better rules-based system will be a positive for cryptocurrencies in general. 

While stricter rules designed to protect investors will definitely wipe out dozens of these coins issued via ICOs, the pioneer coins are likely to survive.
The days of 1,000% gains may be long gone.

Doh! Not a good Friday for Bitcoin and friends.

Xi Jinping's Pope

The case of a bishop detained by the Chinese government—and what it says about a looming deal between Beijing and the Vatican

By BETHANY ALLEN-EBRAHIMIAN 

Children hold candles during the Easter mass at a church in Xiaohan village of Tianjin municipality in 2009.

The Chinese government detained a beloved Catholic bishop earlier this week in an apparent attempt to keep him out of sight around the Easter holidays, just as an end to a decades-long split between Beijing and the Vatican may be in sight.
The bishop, Guo Xijin, is recognized by the Vatican but not by the official Catholic Church in China, which is under government control. 

Such underground bishops are at the heart of the split. 

Since the 1950s, the Chinese government has insisted it must approve the selection of bishops, but the Vatican has continued to ordain clergy in secret, leading to overlapping sets of official and underground bishops in some Chinese parishes.
Guo was detained in the days leading up to the Easter holidays after refusing to hold services alongside a government-approved bishop. 

The Vatican had asked the 59-year-old bishop to step down as a concession to Beijing. 

Negotiations between Beijing and the Holy See to end the dueling bishoprics and unify the Church are now underway, and a deal is expected as early as Easter weekend. 

But Guo’s detention is indicative of exactly what kind of solution the Chinese Communist Party has in mind. 

Most likely, it will not be a gentle rapprochement with the Vatican so much as a heavy-handed crackdown on the underground church, with the government attempting to neutralize it once and for all.
For decades, the Communist party-state has tolerated the existence of a parallel system of official churches organized under government auspices, and unofficial, or “underground,” churches that operate without government oversight. 

(This is true of both Protestant and Catholic Churches in China. While the Vatican deal will only affect underground Catholic bishops, legal and bureaucratic changes are likely to pressure both Protestant and Catholic underground churches.) 

A series of recent moves indicates that the party is now rejecting the status quo, and is seeking to extend its control over these formerly independent congregations.
New legislation took effect on February 1, tightening government regulation of religion and placing more explicit restrictions on unofficial religious activity. 

A leaked directive dated March 16 ordered local government agencies to begin investigating all underground Christian activity in Beijing, which suggests a coming crackdown on that activity, as other sectors of Chinese society have experienced in recent years.
Most telling, however, is the government reorganization announced last week that delegated religious affairs, previously under the auspices of the religious affairs bureau, a government office, to the United Front Work Department, a Communist Party organ under the direct control of the party’s Central Committee.
“The party is in some ways distrustful of the religious affairs bureau for fear that some people in that agency may have the kind of training that makes them more open to or sympathetic with different religious groups,” said Xi Lian, a professor of world religion at Duke Divinity School. 

“But now the United Front is going to take over and impose the iron will of the party.”

China is governed by a dual, parallel structure of party and government bodies at every level, from the highest echelons of power down to the village committees. 

Government bodies have tended to have relatively more transparency than party organs; the party is an information black hole. 

And the United Front Work Department in particular is the primary means by which the party has extended and solidified its influence over every level of Chinese society.
There is little room for speculation about the implications of this move for the Catholic Church in China. 

It almost certainly means more direct party control and marginalization for anyone who doesn’t toe the party line.
“The point of having administrative control over religious groups in China is to ‘deconflict’ an organization from competing with the party,” said Peter Wood, an analyst at the datamining firm TextOre who researches the United Front. 

“The point isn’t to provide services—it is control, redirection, and deconfliction.”
None of this bodes well for Chinese Christians, said Lian.
“It’s making a lot of Christians in China very nervous,” said Chloe Starr, a professor of Asian Christianity and theology at Yale Divinity School. 

“A lot of rights lawyers had wanted a greater transfer to the judiciary, rather than state oversight, but we’ve moved in the opposite direction. This is taking it further away from judicial process and more directly under the party influence, which is worrying a lot of Christians.”
A move to co-opt or even disband the underground church would be well in line with Xi Jinping’s sweeping campaigns in the past few years to strangle dissent and consolidate party control over every aspect of Chinese society. 

Xi has eliminated many of the gray areas that in the past allowed for a limited degree of expression. During his tenure, the party has created a comprehensive internet censorship regime, cracked down on human rights lawyers, implemented ideological controls in universities and private businesses, and constructed a high-tech surveillance state in the far-west region of East Turkestan.
The looming Vatican deal, then, comes at a time when Beijing is moving to exercise more control over religious affairs than it has in decades. 

One possible arrangement for such a deal, reportedly being discussed, would allow the party to select bishops but give the Vatican veto power over the final selection. 

But such an admission of foreign control over domestic affairs—and particularly over religion, which the party has always viewed with special suspicion—would likely be anathema to the party given its current direction.
“Not only is the deal a terrible one, the Vatican has chosen the worst time to do it—at a time when Xi Jinping is becoming the new emperor, when the party is cracking down so harshly,” said Lian. 

“I really have a hard time understanding why the Vatican still clings to this completely unrealistic hope of striking a deal that will the benefit the Church, and striking a deal that the Communist Party will honor.”
Lian raised the example of Hong Kong. 

The agreement signed between Britain and China when the city was handed back to the mainland after 150 years of British colonial rule specified that Beijing must allow universal suffrage in Hong Kong by the year 2017. 

But China has come to refer to that agreement as a historical document rather than a binding agreement, and it has refused to allow elections in Hong Kong without first vetting the candidates. 

Similarly, it’s highly unlikely that the Communist Party will now give true veto power to the Vatican. 

More likely, even if some kind of ceremonial veto power is given, all the candidates will be completely pre-vetted by Beijing. 

There is little reason to think that the party would honor any concessions to the Vatican, said Lian.
The case of Guo Xijin is likely a taste of what any supposed deal will look like on the ground—arrests, detentions, and forced adherence to Beijing’s line. 

Going forward, Chinese Catholics can expect more of this, not less.

China has been quietly perfecting a key military outpost in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. Here's a look at how it developed

• Beijing has quietly been building up a rugged power projection platform on Woody Island in the South China Sea.
• China first took possession of Woody Island in 1956 and has since equipped it with airstrips, hangars, ports and surface-to-air missile systems.
• Here's a look at how China developed this key strategic military outpost.

By Amanda Macias

Soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy patrol at Woody Island, in the Paracel Archipelago, January 29, 2016. The words on the rock read, "Xisha Old Dragon". Old Dragon is the local name of a pile of rocks near Woody Island.

The numerous overlapping sovereign claims on islands, reefs, and rocks — many of which disappear under high tide — have turned the South China Sea into a virtual armed camp.

And China has been quietly perfecting one of its key military outposts in the disputed waters.
The South China Sea, which is home to more than 200 specks of land, serves as a gateway to global sea routes through which approximately $3.4 trillion of trade passes annually.
China, the second-largest economy in the world, links its economic security closely to these waterways since more than 64 percent of its maritime trade transited through the region in 2016. 

The South China Sea is also a vital trade artery for Vietnam, Japan and South Korea.
The Spratly Islands, to which six countries lay claim, receive significantly more attention than other areas in the waters. 

Since there are more stakeholders involved with them, they are considered to be a more likely flashpoint for potential conflict.
Just north of the Spratly Islands lie the Paracels, where Beijing has quietly been building up a rugged power projection platform. 

Woody Island, the largest of the Paracels, lies at the center of China's strategy.

Beijing first took possession of Woody Island in 1956. 

The satellite photo above shows what the island looked like on Dec. 14, 2012.
"Woody Island serves as the administrative and military center of China's presence in the South China Sea," Gregory Poling, Center for Strategic and International Studies fellow and director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, told CNBC.
Between 2012 and 2016, China significantly upgraded the installation with an airstrip and expanded the island's infrastructure, as seen below.

Poling noted that since 2013, Beijing has used the outpost as a template for upgrading its bases in the Spratly Islands.
"We assume that anything we see at Woody will eventually find its way farther south to more directly menace China's neighbors," he said.
In short, Beijing will deploy capabilities found on Woody Island throughout the South China Sea.

Less than a year later, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative spotted China's Shenyang J-11 fighter jet on Woody Island. 

It is unclear whether this is the only aircraft on the island, or if there are more parked inside hangars.
Woody Island is believed to have "the most advanced deployments of military assets in the South China Sea," according to Poling.
Below is the most recent satellite photo of the island, taken on Jan. 25, 2018.

The resources deployed include a permanent presence of HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles, J-10 and J-11 fighter jets, anti-ship cruise missile platforms, as well as various military transport and patrol aircraft. China's HQ-9 surface-to-air missile system, dubbed the "Red Banner," is a long range air defense platform. 

The interceptors are mounted and launched from a truck and can target aircraft, drones and cruise missiles.
Poling notes that the inclusion of HQ-9 missiles on the island is a defensive measure used to protect aircraft and ships nearby.

Prison hospitality with Airbnb

Airbnb to give Chinese authorities guest information
BBC News

Airbnb is to start sending the Chinese government information about customers who book accommodation in China.
Data shared with the authorities will include passport details and the dates of bookings.
Hosts listing accommodation in China will also have their details passed on once they start accepting bookings.
The online home-sharing giant said the move meant it was now complying with local laws and regulations, "like all businesses operating in China".
Airbnb China -- the firm's local operation -- has about 140,000 listings.

Hotels in China are already required to share their guest information with the government and local police.
And tourists and travelers staying in private homes are also technically supposed to register their accommodation details with the police within 24 hours of arriving at a destination.
Airbnb said it was simply falling in line with the "traditional" hospitality industry in China.
"The information we collect is similar to information hotels in China have collected for decades," an Airbnb spokesperson told the BBC.
"[It is] one step we are taking as we explore ways to help our hosts and guests follow the appropriate rules and regulations [in China]."

De-listing option
Unlike most countries, before customers can confirm an Airbnb China accommodation booking, they have to provide their passport information.Airbnb China requires passport information to be filled in before a booking can be made

Airbnb said its local entity in China already stored this information and would share it with authorities on request.
But now it will be proactively sharing that data once bookings are made.
Information on new hosts on the site would only be sent to the government once that host started accepting bookings, Airbnb said.
The company sent an email to its China-based hosts on Thursday advising them that their information would be shared with the government from Friday.
It said hosts who were unhappy about the changes had the option of de-listing their accommodation offerings.
Airbnb has been focused on growing its Asia operations, especially in China, which is one of the fastest growing markets for the firm.
It launched Airbnb China in 2016 to facilitate bookings on the Chinese mainland.
Airbnb said it made it clear then to users and hosts that any information collected in China would be kept in the country and shared.
"If you reside outside of China and do not have a listing in China, nothing will change for you," the firm said in a 2016 blog posting.
"If you reside outside China and have existing listings in China, your information related to such listings will only be transferred to, stored, used or processed by Airbnb China upon your acceptance of our revised terms of service."
Airbnb said at the time the change was in line with the way China's "traditional" hospitality industry handled stays in hotels.
Airbnb China faces tough competition from the country's biggest player in the market -- Tujia.com -- an online home sharing site that says it has more than 400,000 listings.
In an effort to attract more users in China, in March last year, Airbnb unveiled its new Chinese name -- Aibiying 爱彼迎 -- meaning welcome each other with love -- which is easier to pronounce for Mandarin speakers.
On Thursday, the firm announced the launch in Shanghai of Airbnb Plus -- a system that offers guests accommodation options that have been inspected and verified for cleanliness and comfort against a 100 point checklist.
It also unveiled its Airbnb Host Academy for China -- a program to help hosts offer the best experience they can to guests, and to become so-called super hosts.
Airbnb has said it is aiming to have one billion annual guests worldwide by 2028.
The firm is one of Silicon Valley's most valuable companies and is already worth an estimated $30bn.

India Spurns the Dalai Lama’s Celebration, Worried About China

India’s growing reluctance to engage with the Tibetans in exile is due to its growing economic weakness

By MARIA ABI-HABIB

The Dalai Lama at a Tibetan Buddhist temple in McLeod Ganj, India, in August. India has sheltered the Dalai Lama and his followers since a Chinese crackdown on Tibetans 60 years ago. 

McLEOD GANJ, India — An original song of thanks to India had been rehearsed, and a stadium in New Delhi had been reserved for a celebratory rally — all a gesture of gratitude from the Dalai Lama and his followers for India’s role in sheltering them after a Chinese crackdown on rebellious Tibetans 60 years ago.
Instead, the planned “Thank You India” celebrations, set for this coming weekend, set off apprehension in New Delhi and embarrassment among Tibetans.
A directive from India’s foreign secretary urged officials to discard their invitations, and it was blunt in saying the timing of the events coincided with a “sensitive time” for New Delhi’s relations with Beijing. 

A series of high-level meetings between Indian and Chinese officials are being billed in India as an attempt to smooth over an increasingly tense relationship.
Invitations to top officials were withdrawn, and the event was moved from a stadium in the capital to the secluded northern town of McLeod Ganj, home to the Dalai Lama’s temple and the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. 

A scheduled interfaith prayer in New Delhi was flatly canceled rather than moved, given the lack of other religious representatives in McLeod Ganj.
“In Delhi, we approached many dignitaries and invited them,” said Sonam Dagpo, a spokesman for Tibet’s government in exile and the chief organizer for the planned events. 

“But the foreign secretary’s notice says very clearly that Indian officials shouldn’t attend. So why continue? It’s futile.”
The canceled events underline India’s struggle to both court and counterbalance China, an increasingly difficult feat given China’s recent willingness to flex its military growth.
India has continued to host the Dalai Lama and his fellow Tibetan Buddhist exiles even though China condemns them as dangerous separatists. 

But the Indian government has also sought at times to rein in the religious leader at crucial moments in the relationship with China, and this is certainly one of them.

A march in McLeod Ganj last year commemorating the Tibetan uprising against China. India is trying to smooth its increasingly tense relationship with China. 

India is trying to encourage trade ties and Chinese investments while playing catch-up to modernize its military, worried about China’s rapidly expanding forces and its growing influence all around India in South Asia.
China has made deep inroads with New Delhi’s traditional allies and neighbors, building seaports in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, increasing trade and political ties with Nepal, and sending warships to the East Indian Ocean during a state of emergency in the Maldives.
“Giving in to China on the Tibetan community in exile is largely symbolic,” said Jonathan Holslag, professor of international politics at the Free University of Brussels. 

`“But it does mark India’s weakening compared to China. China is rapidly modernizing its military presence, and India cannot follow.”
When Beijing increased its annual defense budget in March to $175 billion, it dwarfed the $45 billion New Delhi had announced just weeks before. 

India’s army chief complained that the disparity “dashed our hopes” of modernization.
The coming talks with China cited by the Indian foreign secretary’s directive will be the highest-level meetings since the two countries engaged in a military standoff last year, after China expanded an unpaved road in a contested sliver of territory in the Himalayas.
The dispute was resolved in August, but Indian and Chinese troops threw rocks and chest bumped each other in a clash that some fear could flare up again. 

India’s leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, may be particularly concerned about that possibility given that he faces an election next year.
Over the next few months, India’s defense and foreign ministers will meet with their Chinese counterparts ahead of a meeting between Mr. Modi and Xi Jinping in June. 

The main topics on the agenda are trade and border disputes, according to Western diplomats in New Delhi.

McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dharamsala, has been home to the Dalai Lama’s temple and the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. 
Tibet’s government in exile found out about New Delhi’s anxiety over its planned celebrations only when a local newspaper reported that government officials had been ordered to stay away.
A spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar, said his government had not changed its stance on the Dalai Lama, saying, “His Holiness is accorded all freedom to carry out his religious activities in India.”
That came to be an issue last year, after the Dalai Lama visited a province in northern India, another territory disputed by China, which had demanded that India prevent the Buddhist leader from visiting.
But generally, India has been more cautious with China about the Dalai Lama and other issues.
“This is not appeasement. China’s relative bargaining positions have improved across the board,” said C. Raja Mohan, the director of Carnegie India, a branch of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

“The main objective is to manage the relationship while avoiding a confrontation but leaving space for India to progress, catch up and increase its bargaining position.”
On the economic front, India’s efforts to keep meeting ambitious growth targets has kept it relying on trade with China. 

But the country also faces a $51 billion trade deficit with Beijing, leaving New Delhi with less bargaining power.
“India’s growing reluctance to engage with the Tibetans in exile is due to its growing economic weakness,” said Mr. Holslag, of the Free University of Brussels.
“Modi assumes that Chinese investment will be critical to realize his plans to develop India’s infrastructure and industry, and thus to increase his chance to win the next elections,” he said. 

“This is really key: Indians want jobs, not a confrontation with China.”

Rogue Nation

China’s law-enforcers are going global but their methods are far from orthodox

The Economist

LAST year’s big blockbuster in China, “Wolf Warrior 2”, assured citizens not to fear running into trouble abroad: “Remember, the strength of China always has your back!” 

That is doubtless a comfort to patriots. 

But for those who seek to escape the government’s clutches, its growing willingness to project its authority beyond its borders is a source of alarm. 

In pursuit of fugitives, the Chinese authorities are increasingly willing to challenge the sovereignty of foreign governments and to seek the help of international agencies, even on spurious grounds.
Fugitives from China used to be mainly dissidents. 

The government was happy to have them out of the country, assuming they could do less harm there. But since Xi Jinping came to office in 2012 and launched a sweeping campaign against corruption, another type of fugitive has increased in number: those wanted for graft. 

Though they do not preach democracy, they pose a greater threat to the regime. 

Most are officials or well-connected business folk, insiders familiar with the workings of government. And in the internet age it is far easier for exiles to maintain ties with people back home.
So China has changed its stance, and started to hunt fugitives down. 

It has managed to repatriate nearly 4,000 suspects from some 90 countries. 

It has also recovered about 9.6bn yuan ($1.5bn). 

Still, nearly 1,000 remain on the run, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China’s anti-graft watchdog
The problem is that only 36 countries have ratified extradition treaties with China. 

France, Italy, Spain and South Korea are among them, but few other rich democracies. 

It is easy for Chinese suspects seeking refuge abroad to argue that they will not get a fair trial if returned home, since the government does not believe that courts should be independent. 

Last year the country’s top judge denounced the very idea as a “false Western ideal”. 

What is more, China has thousands of political prisoners. 

Torture is endemic.

The hard way
These failings have forced the Chinese authorities to resort to less-straightforward methods to bring suspects home. 

Typically, they send agents, often travelling unofficially, to press exiles to return. 

The tactics involved are similar to ones used at home to induce people to do the Communist Party’s bidding. 

Many are subjected to persistent surveillance, intimidation and violence. 

Occasionally, Chinese agents attempt to kidnap suspects abroad and bring them home by force.
If runaways have family in China, those left behind are often subject to threats and harassment. 

In an interview in 2014 a member of Shanghai’s Public Security Bureau said that “a fugitive is like a flying kite: even though he is abroad, the string is in China.” 

Exiles are told that their adult relatives will lose their jobs and that their children will be kicked out of school if they do not return. 

Police pressed Guo Xin, one of China’s 100 most-wanted officials, to return from America by preventing her elderly mother and her sister from leaving China, and barring a brother living in Canada from entering the country, among other restrictions. 

In the end she gave in and went home.
In countries with closer ties to China, agents have occasionally dispensed with such pressures in favour of more resolute action. 

Wang Dan, a leader of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, says that he and other exiled dissidents have long avoided Cambodia, Thailand and other countries seen as friendly to China for fear of being detained by Chinese agents. 

The case of Gui Minhai, a Swede who had renounced his Chinese citizenship, suggests they are right to do so. 

He was kidnapped by Chinese officials in Thailand in 2015 and taken to the mainland. 

In a seemingly forced confession broadcast on Chinese television, he admitted to a driving offence over a decade earlier.
Many countries, naturally, are upset about covert actions by Chinese operatives on their soil. 

In 2015 the New York Times reported that the American authorities had complained to the Chinese government about agents working illegally in America, often entering the country on tourist or trade visas. 

Foreign diplomats note that officials from China’s Ministry of Public Security travel as delegates of trade and tourism missions from individual provinces. 

Chinese police were caught in Australia in 2015 pursuing a tour-bus driver accused of bribery. Though France has an extradition treaty with China, French officials found out about the repatriation of Zheng Ning, a businessman seeking refuge there, only when China’s own anti-graft website put a notice up saying police had successfully “persuaded” him to return to China. 

The French authorities had not received a request for his extradition.
This pattern is especially disturbing since the anti-corruption campaign is used as an excuse to pursue people for actions that would not be considered crimes in the countries where they have taken refuge—including political dissent. 

It beggars belief that the Chinese authorities would have worked so hard to capture Mr Gui, the kidnapped Swede, just to answer for a driving offence. 

His real crime was to have published books in Hong Kong about the Chinese leadership. 

By the same token, last year the Chinese embassy in Bangkok reportedly asked the Thai government to detain the wife of a civil-rights lawyer after she escaped over China’s south-western border. 

Her only known offence was to have married a man who had the cheek to defend Chinese citizens against the state.
Increasingly, China is trying to use Interpol, an international body for police co-operation, to give its cross-border forays a veneer of respectability. 

Interpol has no power to order countries to arrest individuals, but many democratic states frequently respond to the agency’s “red notices” requesting a detention as a precursor to extradition. 

In 2015 China’s government asked Interpol to issue red notices for 100 of its most-wanted officials. To date, the government says half of those on the list have returned, one way or another. 

Small wonder that Xi Jinping has said he wants the agency to “play an even more important role in global security governance”.
Since 2016 Interpol has been headed by Meng Hongwei, who is also China’s vice-minister of public security. 

That year alone China issued 612 red notices. 

The worry is that China may have misrepresented its reasons for seeking arrests abroad. 

Miles Kwok, also known as Guo Wengui, a businessman who fled China in 2015, stands accused of bribery. 

But it was only when he was poised to give an interview last summer in which he had threatened to expose the misdeeds of the ruling elite that China asked Interpol to help secure his arrest. 

When America refused to send him home, the Chinese government requested a second red notice, accusing Mr Kwok of rape.
China’s covert extraterritorial activity suggests that foreign governments are right to be cautious about deepening ties in law-enforcement. 

If nothing else, the fate of those who do return provides grounds for concern. 

Although few would shed any tears for corrupt tycoons or crooked officials, the chances of any of them getting a genuine opportunity to prove their innocence are all but zero. 

Nearly half of the repatriated officials who were subject to red notices have been sentenced to life in prison; the other half have not yet been tried. 

Chinese courts have an astonishingly high conviction rate. 

In 2016, the latest year for which figures are available, it was 99.9%.

Ridicule n'est pas chinois

Beijing just flexed its navy in the South China Sea, but in a ridiculous way that the US could quickly smoke

• Beijing put on a massive show of force on Monday.
• More than 40 of its navy's ships sailed in formation — but not a very practical formation.
• The US could wipe out almost the whole formation with a few bombers in a single pass.

By Alex Lockie
Satellite photo dated March 26, 2018 shows Chinese ships south of Hainan, China.

Beijing put on a massive show of force on Monday with more than 40 of its navy's ships sailing in formation with is sole operational aircraft carrier for one of the first times ever in the South China Sea, but a close look at the exercise shows something way off.
Satellite imagery of the event, provided by Planet Labs, shows the incredible scale of the exercise, which mostly consisted of rows of two ships lined up neatly.
The formation makes a good photo opportunity, but it's not practical for battle.
China showed off frigates, destroyers, aircraft, submarines, and an aircraft carrier, but a few US bombers could likely smoke the whole formation in a single pass.
"While impressive view, they would be a rich target pool for four B-1s bombers with 96 newly fielded long-range anti-ship cruise missiles," Hans Kristensen, a military expert and the Director of the Nuclear Information Project tweeted, referring to the US's B-1B Lancer bomber.

The ships were not in a usual combat formation, and left exposed to air attacks that could devastate a large portion of the force outright in a battle.
Though the huge formation "highlights an extensive ability to deploy, we are still left to guess at the [China's navy's] combat readiness," Collin Koh, a security expert at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told Reuters.
China has worked hard to improve the practicality and capability of its navy in recent years, but as a force with virtually no combat experience, it sill lags a long way behind the US Navy and other tested forces.

Chinese Peril: President Trump Weighs Use of Emergency Law to Curb Chinese Takeovers

Goal is to clamp down on acquisitions of sensitive technology
President Trump asked Treasury secretary to act on Chinese investments

By Andrew Mayeda, Saleha Mohsin, and David McLaughlin

The Trump administration is considering a crackdown on Chinese investments in technologies the U.S. deems sensitive by invoking a law reserved for national emergencies, among other options, according to people familiar with the matter.
Treasury Department officials are working on plans to identify technology sectors in which Chinese companies would be banned from investing, such as semiconductors and so-called 5G wireless communications, according to four people with knowledge of the proposal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The investment curbs would be the latest step in President Donald Trump’s plan to punish China for violations of American intellectual-property rights. 

The president asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to consider investment restrictions on Chinese firms after the administration released the results of its probe into China’s IP practices last week.
While investors have so far focused on President Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, new restrictions could deepen a slowdown in Chinese investments in the U.S. since President Trump took office.

“There will be limitations on Chinese investment,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday in an interview on Fox Business Network. 

Pending legislation in the Senate and House to bulk up the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the panel that currently reviews foreign takeovers, will be part of the response, Ross said, adding that Trump will take “other action.”
The S&P 500 Index dropped 1.7 percent Tuesday, extending this month’s decline, on concern about heightened trade tensions between the world’s largest economies. 

Asian equity markets retreated Wednesday.
“The trade issue and uncertainty related to that is not going to fade in one day because all of a sudden we started thinking that we would reach some sort of a settlement with China,” said Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at OppenheimerFunds Inc. 

“This is going to be somewhat of a long process for things to settle down.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. president rejected Broadcom Ltd.’s hostile takeover of Qualcomm Inc., sending a message that his administration won’t look kindly on any deal that would give China an edge in critical technology. 

Although Broadcom is based in Singapore, China loomed large in the decision, because Qualcomm is locked in a race with China’s Huawei Technologies Co. to dominate the development of next-generation wireless technology.
Last year, President Trump blocked the takeover of chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor Corp. by a private-equity firm backed by a Chinese state-owned asset manager.

If conflicts escalate, China may consider reciprocal measures on more agricultural products, aircraft, automobiles and semiconductors from the U.S., the official Economic Daily reported Wednesday, citing Gu Xueming, director of the Commerce Ministry’s Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
President Trump gave Mnuchin 60 days from March 22 to propose executive actions the president can take to address concerns about Chinese investments in industries or technologies “deemed important” to the U.S.
Treasury officials are looking at ways to impose tougher conditions on Chinese firms using legislation that underlies CFIUS, which currently vets foreign takeovers on a case-by-case basis. 

But they are also weighing the use of a law that enables the president to regulate commerce in a national emergency, two of the people said.
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, enacted in 1977, allows the president to declare a national emergency in response to an “unusual and extraordinary threat.” 

After declaring such an emergency, the president can block transactions and seize assets.
“It’s never been used in connection with unfair trade practices, but it’s broad enough that you could put restrictions on a wide variety of transactions,” said Christian Davis, an international trade lawyer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Washington.

Strict Reciprocity
The Trump administration is considering enforcing strict reciprocity on Chinese acquisitions, meaning U.S. regulators would only approve deals in sectors in which American companies are allowed to invest, according to two of the people familiar with the matter. 

China restricts or bans foreign investment in a range of industries, from car manufacturing to telecommunications providers and rare-earth exploration.
The Trump administration hasn’t finalized its plans, and the options under consideration could still change, the people familiar with the matter said.
Enforcing sweeping bans on Chinese investment would mark a major departure from the existing CFIUS process, which reviews individual transactions to determine if it threatens U.S. national security. 

The administration could use CFIUS legislation to declare a policy that Chinese investment won’t be allowed in entire industries deemed sensitive, such as microchips and telecommunications, said Davis, the Akin Gump lawyer.
“The question is how different is that from what CFIUS is doing already with respect to Chinese investments in sensitive sectors,” he said. 

“Depending on how these restrictions are implemented, the answer may be not much.”
Republican Senator John Cornyn and Republican House member Robert Pittenger have introduced legislation that would expand the power of CFIUS to review foreign investments. 

Mnuchin has been supportive of the bill, which would broaden the scope of reviewable technologies to include investments in “critical” technologies.
Acquisitions by Chinese firms in the U.S. fell to $31.8 billion last year from $53 billion the year before, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

China Threat

US general warns of hypersonic weapons threat from China
By Barbara Starr

Washington -- In a series of unusually candid remarks, the US general in charge of the nation's nuclear arsenal has issued a stark warning that Russia and China are "aggressively" developing new high-speed, or hypersonic, weapons that the US currently has no defense against.
The weapons might not be operational for several years, but Gen. John Hyten, the four-star head of US Strategic Command, is warning that changes to missile defenses are urgently needed or the US will be unable to detect them when they are operational.
"China has tested hypersonic capabilities. Russia has tested. We have as well. Hypersonic capabilities are a significant challenge," Hyten told CNN in an exclusive interview. 

"We are going to need a different set of sensors in order to see the hypersonic threats. Our adversaries know that."

Hyten and other military officials say the current generation of missile detecting satellites and radars won't be enough to detect these new generation weapons. 

Hypersonic is generally defined as a speed of Mach 5 or over 3,806 miles per hour.
"We've watched them test those capabilities," Hyten told Congress last week. 

But with unusual public candor about potential US military shortfalls, he acknowledged "we don't have any defense that could deny the employment of such a weapon against us, so our response would be our deterrent force, which would be the triad and the nuclear capabilities that we have to respond to such a threat."
Hypersonic missiles fly into space after launch, but then come down and fly at high speeds on a flight path similar to an airplane. 

Their lower trajectory make them more difficult for US missile defense satellites and radars to detect. 

Russia has openly stated it is developing high-speed air-launched missiles as well as underwater hypersonic drones.
The Pentagon is currently writing a review of its missile defenses to help determine what new capabilities might be needed to deal with new classes of attack weapons. 

Hyten gave Congress a hint of what may be in that review stating "the first thing we need is better sensor capability, better tracking capabilities to make sure we can characterize and then respond to that threat."

He also called for improved US warheads, essentially "better kill vehicles on the top of our interceptors so that those kill vehicles become more and more lethal." 

The Pentagon is also working on concepts for interceptor missiles that repel a barrage of enemy attack missiles. 

Current US missile defenses are designed to only shoot down a small number of enemy missiles.
The US focus has largely been to work on hypersonic technologies across the board. 

But Russia is now well into testing some of its systems. 

Earlier this month Russia showed video of what the Kremlin said was an air-launched hypersonic ballistic missile.
When asked how far along the Russian hypersonic program is, Hyten told CNN, "I don't want to put a who's winning the race, I'll just say there is a race."
When asked how soon it could be before the Russians have an operational hypersonic weapon that could reach the US, Hyten said, "It's similar to the North Korea problem. If you continue to pursue that technology, you will get there. And the Russians will get there, the Chinese will get there and we'll get there -- and we'll have to figure out how to deal with that."

Axis of Evil: China and Russia are waging war on human rights at UN

They lobbied to cut funding for human rights monitors and for a senior post dedicated to human rights work
By Julian Borger in Washington

The UN Human Rights Up Front initiative was established in 2014, after a series of UN failures in preventing or sounding the alarm over atrocities. 
China and Russia are leading a stealthy and increasingly successful effort at the United Nations to weaken UN efforts to protect human rights around the world, according to diplomats and activists.
The two countries have used the UN budget panel, known as the fifth committee, to cut funding for human rights monitors and for a senior post in the secretary general’s office which is supposed to ensure that human rights – one of three pillars of the UN’s function – are not forgotten in its day-to-day work.
The UN Human Rights Up Front initiative was established in 2014, after a series of UN failures in preventing or sounding the alarm over atrocities, culminating in mass killings in Sri Lanka in 2009.
A senior official in the secretary general’s office was appointed to ensure that progress was made on the issue throughout the organisation, but funding for that post has been cut this year by the fifth committee, as a result of lobbying by China and Russia. 

The cut, first reported in Foreign Policy, means that the human rights work that was the responsibility of that official will be spread around other posts with other priorities.
The funding of the office of the high commissioner for human rights in Geneva has also been cut. 

The current high commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad Hussein, has announced that he will be stepping down this year and not seeking another term in the post, explaining to his staff that the lack of global support for protecting human rights made his job untenable.
Last week, Zeid was due to address the UN security council on plight of civilians in Syria but before he began, Russia called a procedural vote to stop him speaking on the grounds that the council was not the proper forum for discussing human rights.
“The fifth committee has become a battleground for human rights,” Louis Charbonneau, the UN director for Human Rights Watch, said. 

“Russia and China and others have launched a war on things that have human rights in their name.”
“You can get a mandate for human rights work in the security council, but then Russia and China go behind the scenes to defund it,” Charbonneau said. 

“And the countries that pay lip service to human rights are not pushing back. But the question is are we going to let them win?”
“China has real political momentum at the UN now,” Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council for Foreign Relations, said. 

“It is now the second biggest contributor the UN budget after the US, and is increasingly confident in its efforts to roll back UN human rights activities. It is also pushing its own agenda – with an emphasis on ‘harmony’ rather than individual rights in UN forums. And a lot of countries like what they hear.”
A western diplomat at the UN conceded that human rights were losing ground at the UN, because China had become a more assertive voice, prepared to lead lobbying campaigns, and because Beijing is increasingly leveraging its vast and growing investments in the developing world to win votes for its agenda at the UN.
“The fifth committee is a very important battleground,” the diplomat said. 

“Our team is fighting in the trenches very hard on this. We want to get the best value for the taxpayer, but also to make sure that something as important and central as human rights in the work of the UN is not defunded.”

Sina Delenda Est

Give Taiwan the F-35 to deter China, top senators tell Trump
By Joe Gould  

An F-35B lands on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship Wasp as part of a routine patrol in the Indo-Pacific region.

WASHINGTON — Two key GOP senators are pressing U.S. President Donald Trump to share Lockheed Martin’s F-35 or F-16V fighter jet to upgrade Taiwan’s aging air power and deter China.
Sens. John Cornyn and Jim Inhofe sent the letter to Trump on Monday, days after Taiwan defense officials confirmed their long-standing interest in the F-35.
Cornyn, of Texas, is the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, and Inhofe, of Oklahoma, is the Senate Armed Services Committee’s No. 2 Republican.
The F-16V — billed as the most advanced fourth-generation fighter — would be a cost-effective alternative to the fifth-generation F-35, the letter argues.
The lawmakers also said it would address the “quantitative and qualitative challenges” of Taiwan’s air defense fleet.
Of 144 F-16s Taiwan bought from the U.S. in 1993, 15 are in the U.S. for training purposes and 24 more will be offline for upgrades on a rolling basis through 2023.
That means Taiwan is likely able to field only 65 F-16s at any given time in defense of the island — “not enough to maintain a credible defense,” the letter reads.
“If Taiwan’s air defense fleet is allowed to degenerate in number and quality, I am concerned that it would be destabilizing and would encourage Chinese aggression to ensue,” the letter reads. “Additionally, I am concerned that Taiwan’s military weakness and the inability to mount a credible air force would place an undue burden on forward-deployed U.S. forces in North East Asia.”
Those upgrades include fitting the F-16 with the active electronically scanned Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar, a new mission computer and an electronic warfare suite.
Taiwan is reportedly interested in the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing version, through which Taiwan would aim to maintain air power if China attacked its runways in a first strike.
“The survivability of the F-35B and modern long-range sensors could help Taiwan intercept Chinese missiles, promoting deterrence well into the next decade,” the letter reads.
“The F-35B would not only provide a modern fifth-generation fighter, but would also bolster their capabilities in next-generation warfare.”
Earlier this month, Xi Jinping issued a warning to Taiwan, which China views as a breakaway province.
However, Washington provides arms to Taipei under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, and Trump days ago signed a bill to make it easier for the U.S. and Taiwan to exchange official visits.
In June, China demanded Washington reverse its decision to sell Taiwan $1.42 billion worth of arms, saying it contradicted a “consensus” that Xi reached with Trump during talks in Florida last year.
Inhofe in February completed a congressional trip to the Asia-Pacific region, which included a visit to Taiwan.

Sina Delenda Est

China in military drills to ‘prepare for war’ as British frigate due to sail through contested South China Sea
By Neil Connor

HMS Sutherland

China's air force and navy have announced drills in the South China Sea to help develop preparedness for war, military leaders said, after the British defence secretary indicated the UK would sail a warship through the disputed region.
The Chinese military's latest fighters and bombers were involved in the exercises over the disputed region, as China continues to flex its muscles on the world stage.
The drills come after Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, gave a nationalist speech last week when he warned of Beijing's willingness to fight a "bloody battle" against its enemies.
They also come after Gavin Williamson, British Defence Secretary, said last month that the HMS Sutherland, an anti-submarine frigate, would sail through the South China Sea to assert freedom of navigation rights.

Defence secretary Gavin Williamson

The warship was expected to make the patrol during March. 

However, Chinese military officials said its recently announced drills were not aimed towards any country.
China's airforce carried out a "high-sea training mission" in the West Pacific and a joint combat patrol mission in the South China Sea, according to the airforce's social media account, which did not say when the drills took place.
The exercises tested China's latest military hardware, such as its H-6K bombers and Su-30 and Su-35 fighters.
Meanwhile, the PLA Navy also said last Friday it was planning to hold drills in the South China Sea to test the navy's "combat readiness".
The Air Force said on its social media account that the exercises were "rehearsals for future wars and are the most direct preparation for combat."
Meanwhile, Chen Liang, commander of a naval air force, said: "Pilots will all march ahead without fear, no matter how complicated the drill environments are and how unfamiliar the drill regions are.
"They always maintain mentally prepared for wars," he told the Chinese language website of the Global Times newspaper.
China claims nearly all of the strategic South China Sea, despite partial counter-claims from several south-east Asian nations including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Observers say China is developing its military capabilities by fortifying and building infrastructure on what were previously reefs and partially-submerged islets in the sea, where more than $5 trillion (£3.8 trillion) of trade passes every year.
The US Navy has conducted a series of freedom of navigation patrols in the region.
The latest, last Friday, saw a US Navy destroyer come within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island China has built in the South China Sea, sparking anger from Beijing.

U.S. sends China to-do list to reduce trade imbalance

Reuters

A man rides a vehicle past containers at a port in Shanghai, China, February 17, 2016.

BEIJING -- The United States asked China in a letter last week to cut the tariff on U.S. autos, buy more U.S.-made semiconductors and give U.S. firms greater access to the Chinese financial sector, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.
Alarm over a possible trade war between the world’s two largest economies has chilled financial markets as investors foresee dire consequences should trade barriers go up due to President Donald Trump’s bid to cut the U.S. deficit with China.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer listed steps that Washington wants China to take in a letter to Liu He, a newly appointed vice premier who oversees China’s economy, the Journal said, quoting sources with knowledge of the matter.
The newspaper reported that Mnuchin was considering a visit to Beijing to pursue negotiations.
Fears of a trade war mounted earlier this month after Trump first slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and then on Thursday specifically targeted China by announcing plans for tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese goods.
On Friday, China fired a warning shot in response to the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum by declaring plans to levy additional duties on up to $3 billion of U.S. imports.
Beijing could also inflict pain on U.S. multinationals that rely on China for a substantial -- and growing -- portion of their total revenues, said Alex Wolf, senior emerging markets economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments.
“This could put U.S. companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks, GM, Nike, etc. in the firing line,” Wolf said.
China can increase the regulatory burden on U.S companies through new inspections and rules; ban travel; stop providing export licenses of key intermediate goods; raise the tax burden on U.S. multinationals in China; or block U.S. companies from the government procurement market, he said.

FLOUTED RULES
Trump unveiled the planned tariffs targeting Chinese goods after a U.S. inquiry found China guilty of intellectual property theft and unfair trade practices, by forcing U.S. investors to turn over key technologies to Chinese firms.
On Saturday, Liu told Mnuchin in a telephone call the U.S. inquiry violated international trade rules and Beijing would defend its interests, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
A U.S. Treasury spokesman confirmed the call, but declined to comment on the content of any letter or on a possible visit by Mnuchin to Beijing.
“Secretary Mnuchin called Liu He to congratulate him on the official announcement of his new role,” the spokesman told Reuters. 

“They also discussed the trade deficit between our two countries and committed to continuing the dialogue to find a mutually agreeable way to reduce it.”
The Trump administration has demanded that China immediately cut its staggering $375 billion trade surplus with the United States by $100 billion.
“The U.S. has been wielding sticks worldwide over the past year. Washington needs to be taught a real lesson and such a lesson can only be taught by China, the world’s second-largest economy,” Global Times said in an editorial.
The widely-read tabloid is run by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily.
“What we have to recognize is China hasn’t measured up to the things we expected of them, in terms of the trade relationship,” said William Cohen, chairman of Cohen Group, a Washington-based advisory firm.

Sina Delenda Est

The United States is finally confronting China’s economic aggression

By Josh Rogin

U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer testifies on trade policy before the House Ways and Means Committee at Capitol Hill on March 21. 

Lost in last week’s coverage of tariffs and trade deficits was the Trump administration’s landmark decision to confront China’s unfair and illegal practices that threaten our economic security.

It’s the opening salvo of the key economic battle of the 21st century and part of a worldwide struggle the United States must lead.
The Chinese government’s strategy to amass control of critical technologies while undermining the rules-based trade system built by the United States and its partners will be hard to combat. 

Exactly how the administration plans to tackle the task remains unclear. 

But the implications of that long-term project reach far beyond the short-term battle over tariffs or deficits now brewing between Washington and Beijing.
The Trump administration is now basing U.S. policy on a recognition that the massive scale of China’s technology transfer effort cannot be addressed with the usual levers of trade policy. 

That means the United States and other countries will have to respond with new tools and a new attitude.
“Technology is probably the most important part of our economy,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer said Thursday. 

“And we concluded that, in fact, China does have a policy of forced technology transfer; of requiring licensing at less than economic value; of state capitalism, wherein they go in and buy technology in the United States in non-economic ways; and then, finally, of cybertheft.”
Lighthizer released the results of a months-long investigation by his office meant to form the basis of the new U.S. response. 

Its findings confirm what academics and the private sector have long known. 

His office estimates that Chinese illicit practices rob the U.S. economy of at least $50 billion annually. 

A bipartisan commission chaired by retired Adm. Dennis Blair and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman estimated the loss to the U.S. economy due to intellectual property theft overall to be between $225 billion and $600 billion annually. 

The commission’s 2017 report named China as the “principal IP infringer.”
The administration plans new tariffs and will bring a case against China at the World Trade Organization regarding discriminatory licensing practices. 

But officials told me that the real game changer is yet to come, saying that the administration will soon announce restrictions on Chinese investment in a range of technology and other critical sectors.
While the specific actions haven’t been finalized, expect executive actions aimed at preventing Chinese state-controlled companies from swallowing up U.S. technology firms, stopping U.S. companies from handing over key technologies to China and working to persuade other Western countries to do the same.
The Senate is sitting on legislation to reform the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to cover new industries and fix loopholes. 

The administration is already increasing actions to prevent Chinese firms from purchasing U.S. companies crucial to our technological infrastructure or that control personal information of Americans.
Make no mistake, these are deviations from normal practice to single out China — for good reason. For one, Chinese firms are increasingly connected to the Chinese government, serve the political objectives of the Chinese Communist Party and are the beneficiaries of massive subsidies and protectionist benefits given by Beijing. 

In essence, China has politicized its entire economy.
There was a belief that China would develop a private economy that would prove compatible with the WTO system. 

Chinese leadership has made a political decision to do the opposite. 

So now we have to respond.
“The Chinese are engaged in a fundamental attack on the principles of free trade,” said Derek M. Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute. 

“They are not close to free traders, so we are not obligated to abide by free trade. We are overdue to confront China on this.”
Given the stakes and risks, the next U.S. moves must be smart and strategic. 

If this really is the economic battle of the future, the United States needs allies in the fight. 

Alienating partners with tariffs on steel and aluminum at the start of this journey was a counterproductive distraction. 

European countries face the same threat from China but need to be brought along via positive U.S. engagement. 

Persuading them to join America’s new WTO case would be a good start.
Overreach is also a risk. 

Some Chinese investment in the United States is positive, and defining which sectors to protect is key. 

Our issue is with the Chinese Communist Party.
There must also be a dialogue with Beijing to offer it the opportunity to change its behavior, abide by its international commitments and build reciprocity into the U.S.-China economic relationship.
This new effort to prevent China from unfairly moving to dominate the industries of the future is complex, risky and sure to have unintended consequences that will have to be managed over time. But the future of our economy depends on its success.

The Manchurian Apple

Campaign targets Apple over privacy betrayal for Chinese iCloud users

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is launching a new social media campaign targeting Apple over its betrayal of millions of Chinese iCloud users by recklessly making their personal data vulnerable to the arbitrary scrutiny of the Chinese government.

Amnesty is urging Apple CEO Tim Cook not sell out iCloud users in China.
In a nod to Apple’s iconic ‘1984’ advert, the campaign takes an Orwellian theme with the line “All Apple users are equal but some are less equal than others”. 

It launches as the tech company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, touches down in Beijing to co-chair a Chinese business forum.
“Tim Cook is not being upfront with Apple’s Chinese users when insisting that their private data will always be secure. Apple’s pursuit of profits has left Chinese iCloud users facing huge new privacy risks,” said Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia Director at Amnesty International.
“Apple’s influential ‘1984’ ad challenged a dystopian future but in 2018 the company is now helping to create one. Tim Cook preaches the importance of privacy but for Apple’s Chinese customers’ these commitments are meaningless. It is pure doublethink.”
“By handing over its China iCloud service to a local company without sufficient safeguards, the Chinese authorities now have unfettered access to all Apple’s Chinese customers’ iCloud data. Apple knows it, yet has not warned its customers in China of the risks.”

On 28 February, Apple transferred the operation of its iCloud service for Chinese users to Guizhou-Cloud Big Data. 

The move affects any photos, documents, contacts, messages and other user data and content that Chinese users store on Apple’s cloud-based servers.
On 1 February, Amnesty International wrote to Apple raising our concerns about the changes and asked the company to provide further information. 

Apple has yet to respond to the request. 

Privacy threat
New Chinese legislation enacted in 2017 requires cloud services to be operated by Chinese companies, meaning companies like Apple must either lease server space inside China or establish joint ventures with Chinese partners.
Chinese domestic law gives the government unrestricted access to user data stored inside China without adequate protection for users’ rights to privacy, freedom of expression or other basic human rights.
As a result, Chinese internet users can face arrest and imprisonment for merely expressing, communicating or accessing information and ideas the authorities do not approve of.
Amnesty’s online campaign urges consumers to tell Tim Cook to reject double standards when it comes to privacy for Apple’s Chinese customers, whose personal data is now at risk of ending up in the hands of the government.

Think Different
Apple’s chief executive will be in Beijing on 24-26 March to co-chair the China Development Forum, which aims to foster relationships between the Chinese government and global business leaders. 

Apple reported record revenues of US$17.9 billion for Greater China in the last quarter.
“While Apple may claim it treats its customers equally, some are less equal than others. Profits should never threaten privacy. It’s time for Apple to Think Different when it comes to the privacy of its millions of Chinese customers,” said Nicholas Bequelin.
“Apple needs to be much more transparent about the risks to privacy posed by recent changes to the iCloud service in China.”

1984
Directed by Ridley Scott, Apple’s 1984 advert of the same year is considered to be one of the greatest TV commercials of all time. 

Scores of grey clad clones are fixated on a giant screen as Big Brother celebrates “Information Purification Directives”. 

An athletic woman in bright clothes storms past troops to take a sledge-hammer to the screen unleashing an explosion. 

A voice over says "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984.'"

Chinese Peril: Coalition of the Willing

The US and its Asia Pacific allies are boosting security ties
By Nyshka Chandran

The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen, which sailed within 12 nautical miles of Chinese artificial islands in the South China Sea, on October 27, 2015.

The U.S., Japan, Australia and India are working to preserve the balance of power in the Asia Pacific. Officials from the four democracies held discussions on upholding freedom of navigation, terrorism, connectivity and maritime security in Asia on the sidelines of a November ASEAN Summit.
The meeting, dubbed the "Australia-India-Japan-United States consultations on the Indo-Pacific," was widely viewed as a resurgence of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — or "Quad" — an
informal security forum consisting of the same four countries that launched in 2007 but eventually fell apart.
The revived Quad comes as President Donald Trump's administration centers its Asia strategy around a "free and open Indo-Pacific," a term used as a replacement for the more widely used "Asia Pacific" label.

A strong anti-China alliance
The consultations focused on "issues of mutual concern, whether they be security, economic or political," Alex Wong, deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department's East Asian and Pacific Affairs bureau, said last week in response to a question from CNBC.
Beijing is the biggest shared worry among the four powers, strategists said.

"Though China is not named in any of the statements, the revival of the group is undoubtedly motivated by increasing nervousness at China's assertiveness and ambitions in the region," researchers at Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University said in a note.
From building man-made islands in the contested South China Sea to increasing economic leverage over developing countries with the Belt and Road program, China's behavior has worried America's Asia Pacific allies. 

Beijing has also been criticized for using education, spying, and political donations to influence local decision-making in countries such as Australia and New Zealand.
When asked whether the four-country dialogue was a means to hedge against China, Wong said unfounded fears were being appended to a single, working-level meeting: "The strange types of intentions being ascribed to [this meeting], I think, may not be grounded in truth."
He said dialogue among the four nations would continue, but warned that he "can't predict where it's going to go."
For now, the Quad is widely expected to remain a loose and flexible partnership based on solidarity rather than an institutionalized military alliance.
Maritime security is seen as the group's core issue, but infrastructure could play a major role too.
"Australia is likely to back proposals to insert an infrastructure investment component into the Quad so it can provide an alternative — or supplement — to China's sprawling 65-nation Belt and Road Initiative," intelligence firm Stratfor said in a February note.
"The four countries discussed the proposal at the November 2017 meeting, and Australia and Japan subsequently have downplayed any potential military aspects to the Quad, perhaps out of worries over Beijing," it continued.

China's response
So far, Xi Jinping's government has expressed reservations about the Quad, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying that regional cooperation should neither be "politicized" nor "exclusionary."
"Despite frequent disavowals, the Quad redux is primarily about China," according to Chengxin Pan, associate professor at Deakin University. 

"Chinese are likely to interpret the Quad efforts and U.S. freedom of navigation operations in terms of new gunboat diplomacy," he said in a recent report.
"Gunboat diplomacy" is when military actions or threats are used to support a country's foreign policy.

U.N. rights experts urge China to provide care for rights lawyer

By REUTERS

GENEVA – United Nations experts called on China on Friday to provide medical care to Jiang Tianyong, a prominent human rights lawyer jailed for inciting “subversion”, amid reports of his deteriorating health.
In a rare joint statement on China, six independent human rights experts voiced deep concern at the condition of Jiang, sentenced to two years jail last November after being found guilty of inciting subversion of state power.
“Mr. Jiang’s health has apparently deteriorated dramatically in recent months. He is reportedly weak and suffers from severe memory loss, and it is suspected that he may have been drugged,” the experts said. 

“This raises fears of torture or ill-treatment in detention, without access to adequate medical care.”
Xi Jingping has overseen a sweeping crackdown on human rights activism in China since 2015 that has seen hundreds of rights lawyers and activists detained, dozens arrested and some handed lengthy prison sentences.
Jiang, who provided legal defence for some of the lawyers arrested in the crackdown, had already been disbarred in 2009 and disappeared in November 2016. 

He was held in secret detention for more than nine months, the experts said.
Many of the nearly 250 lawyers and defenders arrested remain in detention and are “often held incommunicado”, they added.
“We appeal to the Chinese government to provide the detainees at a minimum with access to their families, lawyers of their own choosing and adequate health care,” they said.
The U.N. experts included Philip Alston, special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, who met Jiang during an official visit to China in August 2016. 

Alston has voiced concern at the Human Rights Council that Jiang’s subsequent disappearance and arrest may be in part a reprisal for that contact, calling it “the equivalent of a legal sledgehammer”.