Chinese Propaganda Machine

Chinese broadcaster CGTN’s Hong Kong protests coverage probed by UK watchdog

• British regulator Ofcom investigating four broadcasts by CGTN aired in August and September
• Watchdog looking at whether Chinese programmes broke rules requiring news to be presented with due impartiality

By Simone McCarthy

Coverage of the Hong Kong protests by CGTN, the overseas arm of China’s state broadcaster, is being investigated by Ofcom, Britain’s communications regulator. 

Britain’s communications regulator has launched an investigation into coverage of the Hong Kong protests by the overseas arm of Chinese state broadcaster China Global Television Network (CGTN).
“We are investigating whether these programmes broke our rules requiring news to be presented with due impartiality,” said an Ofcom spokesperson, referring to four separate broadcasts on Hong Kong’s anti-government protests that aired in Britain on three dates in August and one in September.
The investigation brings the total number of programmes from CGTN and its Beijing-based parent company China Central Television (CCTV) under investigation to eight, according to Ofcom documents.
Media reports have linked earlier investigations, launched in May, to complaints about the network’s airing of forced confessions made by detained Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai and British private investigator Peter Humphrey. 

The programmes under investigation range in date from August 2013 to February 2018, according to Ofcom.
The latest investigation into the Hong Kong coverage comes as CGTN is set to open its London headquarters and is expanding its European footprint, part of China’s decade-long coordinated push to grow its overseas propaganda influence.
Overseas arms of China’s state propaganda have drawn criticism for coverage of the anti-government mass protests which have gripped Hong Kong and drawn global attention since the start of June, with most scrutiny focused around the networks’ social media presence.

Social media giant Twitter moved to ban advertisements from state media on its platform last month, as reports emerged that China state propaganda used the paid promotions to call into question human rights abuses in East Turkestan and promote the central government’s view on the Hong Kong protests.
Broadcast media expert and lecturer in media and communication at Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University Yik Chan Chin said that compliance with overseas media regulations was a burden for many of China’s outwardly mobile media companies.
“Impartiality is not part of the requirements for domestic media in China,” Chin said, noting there would likely exist a certain amount of autonomy for the overseas branches balanced with a need to follow central guidance “to an extent”.
“But if they take global expansion seriously, they need to be aware of the local regulations and comply with them,” she said, noting that Ofcom appeared to be increasing its scrutiny of the network, which had been broadcast as CCTV in Britain before being launched as a separate international arm in 2016.

A screengrab of some of CGTN’s coverage of the Hong Kong protests. 

“It could be because the Hong Kong issue has been very prominent [in the news] and CGTN’s presence is becoming more prominent than before, so those are a couple of reasons that could have triggered the investigation,” she said.
CGTN is “shortly opening up” its London-based news office in Chiswick, originally slated for a 2018 opening, according to CGTN materials.
The London-based office is part of the CGTN mission to “provide 'objective', 'balanced', and 'impartial' news and current affairs content” while “reporting the news from a Chinese perspective”, according to CGTN Europe’s LinkedIn page.
CGTN and its British broadcasting licence-holder did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Banana Republic: The Chinese Collusion

Activist probing factories making Ivanka Trump shoes in China arrested
By John Ruwitch | SHANGHAI

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump speaks at The MISK Event on the second day of his visit to Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 21, 2017. 

A man has been arrested and two are missing in China after conducting an investigation into a Chinese company making Ivanka Trump-branded shoes, China Labor Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, said on Wednesday.
Labor activist Hua Haifeng was arrested in Jiangxi province on suspicion of illegally using eavesdropping equipment, according to Li Qiang, executive director of the group China Labor Watch.
The three men had been investigating labor conditions at factories that produce shoes for Ivanka Trump, the daughter of  Donald Trump, and other Western brands, he said in an email.
"We appeal to Trump, Ivanka Trump herself, and to her related brand company to advocate and press for the release our activists," China Labor Watch said in the email to Reuters.
The Ivanka Trump brand declined to comment while the White House and Ivanka Trump's lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Calls to provincial police in Jiangxi and Ganzhou city police were not answered.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she did know anything about the situation and declined further comment.
The reported arrest and disappearances come at a time of sustained pressure on labor activists in China amid a crackdown on civil society under Xi Jinping.
In recent years, many labor rights activists have reported being intimidated and harassed, detained, or restricted in their movement.
Li said in 17 years of activism, including investigations of hundreds of factories in China, his group had never had anyone arrested on suspicion of having committed a crime.
"This is the first time we've come across this kind of situation," he said, adding the accusation against Hua had "no factual basis".

'PROTECTION NOT PROSECUTION'
Rights group Amnesty International called for the release of the three if they were held only for investigating possible labor abuses at the factories.
"Activists exposing potential human rights abuses deserve protection not persecution," said William Nee, the group's China researcher.
"The trio appear to be the latest to fall foul of the Chinese authorities’ aggressive campaign against human rights activists who have any ties to overseas organizations, using the pretence of 'national security'."
China Labor Watch's Li said Hua and another investigator, Li Zhao, had worked covertly at a shoe factory in the city of Dongguan, in Guangdong province, that was owned by the Huajian Group.
The third investigator, Su Heng, had worked at a related factory in the city of Ganzhou in Jiangxi but went incommunicado after May 27. 

Both factories produced Ivanka Trump-branded shoes, Li Qiang said.
The investigators had discovered evidence that workers' rights had been violated, Li said.
Hua had been investigating a vocational school in Jiangxi affiliated with Huajian Group when he was arrested.
A woman surnamed Mu who said she was in charge of recruitment at Huajian said she had not heard about the case.
A switchboard operator at Huajian's headquarters declined to transfer Reuters to company officials in a position to address questions about the situation.
Hua and Li Zhao had been warned by authorities weeks ago that they were suspected of having broken the law, and were barred from crossing the border into Hong Kong in April and May, Li Qiang said.

UN Catches Up With Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte, Will China Come To Rescue?

By Panos Mourdoukoutas

The United Nations is catching up with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s human rights record, asking the country’s judicial authorities to launch an investigation.
That’s bad news for Duterte and for financial markets, which have been crushed following his flip-flops on South China Sea disputes.
iShares Philippines is down 20.74 percent since last July; iShares for Vietnam, which which has also been involved in the dispute, have lost close to 15 percent of their value.
Obviously, investors are concerned about the rising economic and political risks of the country, and the prospects for the on-going economic integration of the region into the global economy — most notably China, which needs a market frontier for its manufacturing products.
Actually, the international institutions have been very fair with Philippines. 

For example, last July the nation won an international arbitration ruling, which found that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea.
That was a big victory for both the US and Philippines, its close ally, which had filed the arbitration case.
But Rodrigo Duterte didn’t capitalize on the ruling by having China compensate his country for the damage already done. 

Instead, he decided to side with China on the dispute, and seek a “divorce” from the US!
Apparently, Duterte thought that his country is better off appeasing rather than confronting China.
Now, the UN has caught up with his human rights record. 

And he’s going to need China, an influential UN member, to come to his rescue.
Will Beijing do it?
It’s hard to say. 

So far there’s no official response from Beijing on the issue. 

In the meantime, investors in Philippines equities must keep a wary eye on Mr. Duterte’s next flip-flop. 

It may bring more losses.

Chinese Dumping

EU Steel Import Trade Spat With China Appears to be Worsening
by Stuart Burns

The European Union has launched a new investigation into Chinese steel imports, this time to determine if corrosion-resistant steel grades merit further investigation and possible duties.
The E.U. currently has 40 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures in place, according to Reuters. 

18 of these are products from China and a further 20 investigations on steel products are ongoing. The European Commission said it would start another anti-dumping investigation into cast-iron products from both China and India while reviewing whether existing duties on Chinese seamless steel pipes and tubes should continue for another five years. 

Ascension Debate
The timing of the E.U.’s latest action is viewed with some suspicion in Beijing, coming just days before the 15th anniversary of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. 

China says that from December 11 the E.U. should consider China’s prices as fair market value. Others say China must make minimum standards of market participation. 

Up until now, the E.U., like all WTO member nations, could compare Chinese prices with those of another country of their choosing, in this case Canadian prices. 

Chinese steel prices are consistently below Canadian prices, supporting legislation and anti-dumping penalties.
Europe is far from alone in complaining that Chinese steel prices are unrealistically low, but questions about whether China’s steel prices should be reviewed under WTO rules or under the previous regime says more about whether China should ever been given WTO status then about the timing.
If the U.S., E.U. and other WTO members are now forced to take Chinese prices as fair market value, it will be much harder for them to challenge under existing legislation. 

Mature steel markets around the world have increasingly been complaining about the rising level of Chinese steel exports.

China needs a trade war even less than North America or Europe, so set against a rising tide of legislation they have an incentive to get their house in order. 

In addition, there is considerable domestic popular support, at least in the cities most affected, for closing older and more polluting steel production facilities and so Beijing can claim both domestic and external credit for actions taken. 

More will need to be done, though, and the country still suffers from more excess capacity than any other country produces in totality.

EU launches fresh action on cheap Chinese steel

The Telegraph

European producers have been hurt by cheap Chinese steel imports

The European Union has launched an investigation into whether Chinese producers of certain corrosion resistant steels are selling into Europe at unfairly low prices, in its latest action against cheap Chinese steel imports.
The European Commission has determined that a complaint brought by EU steel makers association Eurofer merits an investigation, the EU's official journal said on Friday.
The EU has imposed duties on a wide range of steel grades after investigations over the past few years to counter what European steel producers say is a flood of steel sold at a loss due to Chinese overcapacity.
Some 5,000 jobs have been axed in the British steel industry in the last year, as it struggles to compete with cheap Chinese imports and high energy costs.
G20 governments recognised in September that steel overcapacity was a serious problem. 

China, the source of 50pc of the world's steel and the largest steel consumer, has said the problem is a global one.
In October, the European Commission set provisional import tariffs of up to 73.7pc for heavy plate steel and up to 22.6pc for hot-rolled steel coming from China. 

Those investigations are set to conclude in April.
In anti-dumping cases, the Commission typically has up to nine months to determine whether there are grounds for imposing provisional duties on a product and then a further six months to determine whether duties should apply as long as five years.