Chinese Peril

US Opens National Security Investigation Into TikTok

BY BOWEN XIAO

The logo of TikTok application is seen on a mobile phone screen in this picture illustration taken Feb. 21, 2019. 

A national security review of Chinese-owned TikTok’s $1 billion acquisition of U.S. social media app Musical.ly has been opened by the U.S. government, three unidentified sources told Reuters.
U.S. lawmakers have only recently called for a national security probe into the popular Chinese video-sharing app, though the acquisition by TikTok—which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Technology Co.—was completed in 2017. 

Concerns include the company censoring politically sensitive content, and how it stores users’ personal data.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews deals by foreign acquirers for potential national security risks, has started its review of the Musical.ly deal, the sources told Reuters. 

TikTok didn’t seek clearance from CFIUS when it acquired Musical.ly, the committee said, which gives the U.S. security panel scope to investigate it now.
CFIUS, which is chaired by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, didn’t respond to an Epoch Times request through the Treasury Department to confirm if such a review had been initiated.
In an Oct. 9 letter to Mnuchin, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged a national security panel to review the acquisition over concerns that Chinese-owned apps such as TikTok “are increasingly being used to censor content and silence open discussion on topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese Government and Communist Party.”
Under the Trump administration, there has also been increasing concern about technology transfers between Washington and Beijing. 

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, recently called for the U.S. government to accelerate plans to establish rules on exports of critical technologies to China while expressing a “deep concern” at the current rate of the regulatory rollout.
Michael Brown, the director of the Defense Innovation Unit at the Department of Defense, said at a recent panel event that Beijing is now leading in a number of emerging revolutionary technology industries such as hypersonics and artificial intelligence and said the United States’ relationship with the Chinese Communist Party must change when it comes to technology transfers, The Epoch Times previously reported.
TikTok allows users to create and share short videos, and the app is growing in popularity among U.S. teenagers. 

About 60 percent of TikTok’s 26.5 million monthly active users in the United States are between the ages of 16 and 24, the company said this year.
The sources told Reuters that CFIUS is in talks with TikTok about measures it could take to avoid divesting the Musical.ly assets it acquired. 

The sources requested anonymity because CFIUS reviews are confidential.
A TikTok spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment, but a spokesperson told Reuters the company “has made clear that we have no higher priority than earning the trust of users and regulators in the U.S. Part of that effort includes working with Congress, and we are committed to doing so.” 

The spokesperson said he or she can’t comment on ongoing regulatory processes.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a letter last week to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire asking for a national security probe, saying they were concerned about the app’s collection of user data, and whether China censors the content U.S. users can see. 

They also suggested TikTok could be targeted by foreign influence campaigns.
The company has said U.S. users’ data is stored in the United States, but the senators noted that ByteDance is governed by Chinese laws. 

TikTok claims China doesn’t have jurisdiction over the content of the app.
In October, the Trump administration placed 28 Chinese public security bureaus and companies—including video surveillance company Hikvision and seven other companies—on a blacklist due to concerns of human rights abuses.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has in the past gone to great lengths to please Chinese officials, recently made a speech at Georgetown University in which he criticized the Chinese regime for its internet censorship.
“China is building its own internet focused on very different values,” Zuckerberg said, noting that the Chinese regime “is now exporting their vision of the internet to other countries” through popular China-developed internet platforms.

A Fierce Slap to Chinese tyrants

U.S. Senators Press Ahead With Hong Kong Bill

After House passage, legislation awaits action in Senate
By Daniel Flatley and Dandan Li

Hong Kong Bill Will Pass in the Senate, Says Rep. Chris Smith

Republican senators said Wednesday they want to move quickly on legislation to support pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong despite a "threat" of retaliation from China.
“Hong Kong is a high priority for me,” said GOP Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. 

“We’re going to move on it as rapidly as we can.”

Senator Jim Risch

Senator Roy Blunt, a member of the Senate GOP leadership, said there haven’t been any discussions about the timing for a vote on Hong Kong legislation similar to a measure that passed the House Tuesday. 

That bill would subject the city’s special U.S. trading status to annual reviews and provides for sanctions against officials deemed responsible for undermining its “fundamental freedoms and autonomy.”
There is broad backing in both parties in Congress to show support for the protesters and punish China for any crackdown. 

The White House declined to comment on whether Trump would sign the Hong Kong legislation, but there are enough votes in the House to override a veto and no significant opposition in the Senate.
The next step will be up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who’ll set the schedule for a vote, and he’s being pressed by his Republican colleagues.

“I think we’re going to get it up on the floor here fairly soon,” Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a China critic, told reporters.
South Dakota Senator John Thune, another member of Republican leadership, said that while he hasn’t looked closely at the four bills the House passed Tuesday, there are a number of senators “interested in making a strong statement on Hong Kong.”
Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the main House bill, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, has deep bipartisan support, but there might be some Republicans who object to the bill being passed by unanimous consent without a floor vote.
Cardin said the fact that the House passed their four bills separately, rather than bundling them together, means the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act has a better chance of getting a vote in the Senate.

Demonstrators wave U.S. flags during a rally in support of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, Oct. 14.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang warned American lawmakers to stop "meddling" in China’s internal affairs.

Both Trump and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping have so far prevented the international uproar over Hong Kong from scuttling their trade talks. 

The two sides went ahead with negotiations and reached some broad agreements last week, even though the House vote was widely expected at the time.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong government “expressed regret” over the House action, which came hours before Chief Executive Carrie Lam addressed a raucous session of the Legislative Council. 

She barely managed a few words before pro-democracy lawmakers forced her to stop talking. 

She ended up delivering her annual policy address via video instead.
While the pro-democracy bloc only comprises about a third of lawmakers, Wednesday’s display showed they have the ability to shut down debate on major economic initiatives. 

That spells even more trouble ahead for an economy sliding into recession as protests against Beijing’s grip over the city grow increasingly violent.
China’s retaliation threat against the U.S. roiled markets during Asian trading, at one point wiping out a 0.8% rally in the regional equity benchmark.
U.S. lawmakers have embraced the Hong Kong protesters’ cause as the yearlong trade war fuels American support for pushing back against China, and they have hosted Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists on Capitol Hill in recent weeks. 

The National Basketball Association’s struggle to manage Chinese backlash against a Houston Rockets executive’s support for the movement has only focused wider attention on the debate.
On Tuesday, the House passed H.Res. 543, a resolution reaffirming the relationship between the U.S. and Hong Kong, condemning Chinese interference in the region and voicing support for protesters. 

Lawmakers also passed the Protect Hong Kong Act, H.R. 4270, which would halt the export to Hong Kong of crowd-control devices such as tear gas and rubber bullets.

Joshua Wong arrives to speak on Capitol Hill on Sept. 17.

Representative Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican and a sponsor of the main Hong Kong bill, dismissed the threats from Beijing.
“Retaliation, that’s all they ever talk,” Smith told Bloomberg TV. 

“They try to browbeat and cower people, countries, presidents, prime ministers and the like all over in order to get them to back off. We believe that human rights are so elemental, and so in need of protection. And that’s why the students and the young people are out in the streets in Hong Kong virtually every day.”
The House also adopted a resolution by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel of New York and the panel’s top Republican, Michael McCaul of Texas, urging Canada to start U.S. extradition proceedings against Huawei Technologies Co. executive Meng Wanzhou. 

The resolution, H.Res. 521, also calls for the release of two Canadians detained in China and due process for a third sentenced to death for drug smuggling.

Ted Cruz

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi welcomes Hong Kong pro-democracy activists to Capitol

By LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday welcomed Hong Kong pro-democracy activists to the U.S. Capitol, sending a message to Beijing that Congress supports the protesters in their months-long campaign for human rights.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is given a lapel pin by a Hong Kong activist following a news conference on human rights in Hong Kong on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. Behind Pelosi is Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong. 

Pelosi thanked the activists for "challenging the conscience," not only of the Chinese government, but the worldwide community with their mass protests over the territory's autonomous status. 

She sided with the protesters' demand for universal suffrage and "a political system accountable to the people." 

And Pelosi warned others in the U.S. government not to allow "commercial interests" to drive foreign policy in the region.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, with Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and other members of Congress during a news conference on human right in Hong Kong on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. 

"If we do not speak up because of commercial interests in support of human rights in China, we lose all moral authority to speak up for them any other place in the world," Pelosi said.
Republicans joined the Democratic leader, alongside several Hong Kong activists who have become prominent figures in the mass protests since June, in a stately room off the House floor beneath a portrait of George Washington.
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said Americans see the young people waving American flags on the Hong Kong streets. 

"America stands with you," he said.
Several of the activists appeared before Congress this week, appealing to lawmakers to support the mass protests that began with a now shelved proposal to extradite people arrested in Hong Kong to China.
Against the backdrop of the 30-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square uprising, with its brutal and bloody crackdown on young democracy protesters a generation ago, the U.S. lawmakers are prominently backing today's young activists. 

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong called it "a remarkable day" to share the support of the U.S. leaders.
"We will continue our uphill battle until the day we enjoy freedom and democracy," Wong said.
Denise Ho, a singer and pro-democracy activist based in Hong Kong, thanked Pelosi for the "warm welcome" during their visit to the Capitol amid what she called a "very difficult but also very empowering" time in Hong Kong.
"This is a message to the Hong Kong people that we are not isolated in this fight," Ho said. 

"We are in the forefront of this great noble fight for universal values."
During a hearing Tuesday before a U.S. government commission set up by Congress to monitor human rights in China, several activists asked lawmakers to support their efforts by banning the export of American police equipment that is used against demonstrators. 

They also want lawmakers to more closely monitor Chinese efforts to undermine civil liberties in the city.
Republicans and Democrats on the panel, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, expressed their support. 

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said Wednesday the hearing was beamed around the world and "no doubt" watched closely by the Chinese government.
The House is expected to advance legislation that would require the secretary of State to annually review Hong Kong's special economic and trade status, providing a check on the Chinese government's influence and the territory's autonomy.
Pelosi welcomed the Hong Kong government's decision to drop the extradition bill that sparked the protests over summer, but she said Wednesday, "We all know it's not enough. Much more must be done."

The speaker, who has become something of an alternative ambassador on the global stage during her tenure, has a long history of monitoring China from her early years in Congress when she appeared with other lawmakers in Tiananmen Square to pay tribute to the protesters.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, has been allowed certain autonomy and freedoms since it was returned to China in 1997 as a territory, with a "one country, two systems" policy that was supposed to ensure a smooth political transition.
Under U.S. law, the territory of Hong Kong receives special treatment in matters of trade, customs, sanctions enforcement, law enforcement cooperation and more. 

China has benefited from this and used it to evade U.S. export controls and sanctions.
The legislation to be considered by the House from Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., places Beijing on "annual notice" that it will lose Hong Kong's special economic and trade status if its autonomy continues to erode.

Evil Tech

Google's China censorship plan spurs inquiry from U.S. lawmakers, staff departures

By David Shepardson, Paresh Dave

A bipartisan group of 16 U.S. lawmakers asked Alphabet Inc’s Google on Thursday if it would comply with China’s internet censorship and surveillance policies should it re-enter the Chinese search engine market.
The questioning added to the pressure on Google to disclose precautions it would take to protect the safety of its users if Chinese regulators allow its search engine to operate.
More than 1,000 Google employees, six U.S. senators and at least fourteen human rights groups have written to the company expressing concern about its China ambitions.
On Thursday, Jack Poulson, a research scientist who had worked for Google for more than two years, said he resigned because he felt the company was not honoring its commitment to human rights norms in designing the search app.
Poulson told Reuters that executives would not specify to him where the company would draw the line on agreeing to Chinese demands.
“Unfortunately, the virtually unanimous response over the course of three very vocal weeks of escalation was: ‘I don’t know either,’” Poulson said.
He was among a handful who resigned, he told the Intercept online publication, which first reported on his action.
Google declined to comment directly on the lawmakers’ letter or the resignations but said in a statement it had been “investing for many years to help Chinese users” and described its “work on search” for China as “exploratory” and “not close to launching.”
Reuters reported last month that Google planned to seek government clearance to provide a version of its search engine in China that blocks some websites and search terms.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans, said in their letter on Thursday they had “serious concerns” about the potential step.
The letter asked if Google would “ensure that individual Chinese citizens or foreigners living in China, including Americans, will not be surveilled or targeted through Google applications.”
Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat and signer of the letter, wrote on Twitter that “Google should not be helping China crack down on free speech and political dissent.”
Other signers include Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.
The company could face questions about China when it testifies on privacy issues before a Senate panel on Sept. 26.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, said on Tuesday that Google would be invited to testify on a number of issues. 

He wrote on Twitter that Google had worked with China and Russia on censorship but no longer wanted to do a technology deal with the U.S. Defense Department.
Google’s main search platform has been blocked in China since 2010, but it has been attempting to make new inroads into the world’s largest smartphone market by users.
Google’s re-entry is not guaranteed as China has stepped up scrutiny of business dealings involving U.S. tech firms including Facebook Inc and Apple Inc amid intensifying trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Two Chinas Policy

Taiwan President Stops in U.S. as Relations Warm

By Chris Horton
President Tsai Ing-wen in Paraguay earlier this month, after a stopover in Los Angeles.
TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen visited Houston over the weekend, her second brief stop in the United States in one week, a sign of efforts to deepen relations between Washington and Taipei despite enraged opposition from China.
Ms. Tsai stopped in Los Angeles last Monday, on her way to Paraguay and Belize, and then in Houston on Saturday on her way back home. 

During the earlier stop, she met with three California lawmakers, including one, Representative Brad Sherman, a Democrat, who called on the United States to formally invite her to Washington, which would break with decades of American practice.
The United States has not officially recognized Taiwan since 1979, when it shifted to recognizing China’s Communist government. 

China hopes to absorb the self-governed, democratic island, which it has never controlled, and has campaigned to erase any recognition by other countries or corporations of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The visits to Houston and Los Angeles are considered “transit stops” rather than official visits, part of a longstanding restriction imposed by the United States to maintain better relations with China. 

But Beijing has objected even to such brief stopovers, and the most recent ones came after President Trump demonstrated willingness to provoke China’s anger.
Mr. Trump has imposed heavy tariffs on Chinese goods, touching off a trade war, and in March he signed the Taiwan Travel Act, which encourages the kind of high-level, official visits the United States and Taiwan have not had in many years. 

Ms. Tsai’s most recent transit stops were her first since Mr. Trump signed the act into law.
While there were no expectations that Mr. Trump would meet his Taiwanese counterpart, there were indications that the United States was willing to be more welcoming to Taiwanese presidents.
In a first, Taiwanese journalists were permitted to follow Ms. Tsai and report from the sites of events she attended. 

She visited Taiwan’s de facto consulate in Los Angeles — another first — and she addressed American media at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Los Angeles.
“There were pictures of her meeting crowds of local Taiwanese, accompanied by police escort, and giving a speech at the Reagan library,” said Julian Ku, professor at Hofstra Law School. 

“All of that significantly raised her public profile and made her seem more like a normal leader making a normal visit to a foreign country.”
She met with Republican and Democratic members of Congress, underscoring the strong bipartisan support for Taiwan.

In China, however, Ms. Tsai elicits hateful commentary on a level that perhaps only the Dalai Lama can match. 

Shortly after she visited a Los Angeles location of the Taiwanese coffee chain 85C, the Chinese internet erupted with anger, calling for a boycott of the chain’s several hundred locations in China, its largest market.
That day, 85C’s parent company, Gourmet Master, whose stock trades on Taiwan’s exchange, lost $120 million in share value. 

The company promptly apologized and expressed support for peaceful unification.
Many Taiwanese were upset by the company caving in to Chinese pressure, with some also calling for a boycott of the chain. 

Polls consistently show that the overwhelming majority of people in Taiwan, a multiparty democracy, oppose being absorbed into China’s one-party, authoritarian rule.
The episode is the latest example of the Chinese government using its grip on the country’s enormous market to pressure corporations into serving its political agenda. 

In recent months, companies including international airlines, hotels and other brands have begun referring to Taiwan as a province of China in response to threats from Beijing. 

The White House called China’s tactics “Orwellian nonsense,” but did little else to back up American corporations.
If China fines United States companies or restricts their access to Chinese markets for refusing to call Taiwan a province, then the Trump administration should retaliate in kind against Chinese companies, said William Stanton, a former director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the unofficial United States diplomatic presence there.
“China’s trying to make both Taiwan and the government of Tsai Ing-wen persona non grata throughout the world,” he said. 

“There’s just no end to it.”
Bonnie Glaser, senior Asia adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Trump administration’s approval for Ms. Tsai’s visits to the Reagan library and the Johnson Space Center in Houston showed that “they trusted she would not say or do anything that would increase cross-strait tensions.”
Congress, which has been a staunch supporter of Taiwan since the United States broke formal ties almost four decades ago, has become increasingly open to taking a new approach toward Taiwan.
“At some point we’re going to have to recognize the independence of Taiwan,” Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said in a July speech at the American Enterprise Institute.
Earlier this year, Mr. Ku of Hofstra Law School was one of several experts who testified at a House hearing on strengthening relations with Taiwan.
“There is an appetite in Congress to do more for Taiwan, and that the opposition to China in Congress is allowing pro-Taiwan congressmen to think bigger about how to help Taiwan,” he said.
Congress has limited direct powers over American foreign policy, but inviting foreign leaders to address it is one authority it has exercised, with or without presidential approval.
Mr. Ku said he thought that if Congress were to invite Ms. Tsai to address a joint session, it would be “something they would work up to.”
“Congress is eager to do things to help Taiwan,” he said, “so nothing, not even a Tsai address to Congress, can be ruled out in the current environment.”