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☆ U.S. slaps restrictions on Chinese chipmaker and other companies over national security worries
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Biden administration said Thursday it was "severely" restricting dozens of mostly Chinese organizations, including at least one chipmaker, over their efforts to use advanced technologies to help modernize China's military. The Bureau's latest action comes more than two months after the Biden administration imposed new curbs on China's access to advanced semiconductors. "I've long sounded the alarm on the grave national security and economic threats behind YMTC and other CCP-backed technology companies, like CXMT and SMIC," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement Thursday morning. "YMTC poses an immediate threat to our national security, so the Biden Administration needed to act swiftly to prevent YMTC from gaining even an inch of a military or economic advantage," Schumer said. Four more were added due to "their significant risk of becoming involved in activities that could have a negative impact" on U.S. national security of foreign policy, according to the release.

☆ Hong Kong court rules police ban on Tiananmen vigil unlawful, overturning conviction of prominent activist
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Wayne Chang | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —Hong Kong’s High Court ruled on Wednesday that a decision by police to ban a Tiananmen square vigil last year was “unlawful,” thereby overturning an earlier conviction against jailed pro-democracy activist Chow Hang-tung, who helped organize the event. Chow is the former chairwoman of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, which since 1990 has organized the city’s annual candlelight vigil commemorating Tiananmen’s victims. Lights illuminate the closed-off football pitches at Victoria Park, after police closed the venue on June 4, 2021 in Hong Kong. Anthony Kwan/Getty ImagesPeople hold candles as they walk near the Victoria Park on June 4, 2021 in Hong Kong. At the time, she was already serving a 12-month sentence for participating in the 2020 Tiananmen vigil.

☆ Hong Kong democracy activist wins appeal on Tiananmen vigil assembly
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jessie Pang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Democracy activist and barrister Chow Hang-tung won an appeal on Wednesday against her conviction and sentence over a "banned" candlelight vigil in Hong Kong last year to commemorate victims of China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Police banned the annual Tiananmen vigils last year, citing coronavirus restrictions. Chow was the former vice-chairperson of the now disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. The national security law, punishing subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism with up to life in prison, was imposed by Beijing in 2020. Hong Kong and Chinese governments said the law is necessary to restore stability to Hong Kong after anti-government protests in 2019.

☆ China's Xi thanks late leader Jiang Zemin for ensuring party's survival from 'storms'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Li Xueren/Xinhua via REUTERSBEIJING, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping paid tribute to former leader Jiang Zemin on Tuesday for ensuring the Communist Party's survival from "political storms" and reforming it to inject new vitality and modernise the country's economy. "In the late 1980s and early 1990s, serious political storms occurred at home and abroad, and world socialism experienced severe complications. Some Western countries imposed so-called 'sanctions' on China," Xi told an audience including China's top leadership and Jiang's direct successor Hu Jintao. But Jiang stepped forward to press reform and opening up, strengthen the party's ties with the people, engage in "diplomatic struggles" and upheld China's independence, dignity, security and stability, Xi added. Attendees at the ceremony all stood as Xi spoke, and wore white chrysanthemums, a traditional Chinese symbol for mourning.

☆ China Covid restrictions: Protesters win a partial victory as cities start to loosen controls
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Following protests nationwide, some local Chinese authorities have started to ease Covid restrictions – in what appears to be a shift toward gradual reopening as the country nears entering the fourth year of the pandemic. “I feel like everyone’s hard work is paying off,” said a protester who took part in a demonstration in Beijing. “Policy flip-flop is common.”In some cities, the partial relaxation has caused confusion and chaos on the ground. In Beijing, public venues such as shopping malls and office buildings still require a 48-hour negative Covid test for entry. I don’t celebrate, I just remember those brave friends with gratitude,” a Beijing resident posted on Weibo, in a reference to the protesters.

When I first started investigating China’s top spy agency in 2020 for my book, “Spies and Lies: How China’s Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World,” I thought espionage was its main game. In October, the Justice Department charged 13 people with plotting to covertly advance China’s interests in the United States. Several of those charged are allegedly officers of China’s Ministry of State Security. I soon realized that the Ministry of State Security’s covert influence operations have been at the forefront of its work to shape the world. Many countries, including the United States, are working to combat espionage but lack laws suited to tackling covert influence operations.

☆ Why China Isn’t Facing Another Tiananmen Moment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Andrew J. Nathan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In April 1989, a peaceful protest by several hundred university students in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square swelled over the course of four and a half weeks into massive demonstrations. Students, workers, and government and party officials took part, and similar protests broke out in over three hundred other cities across China. Last week’s anti-Covid protests, by contrast, are now petering out, after a few heady days of defiance. Despite the country’s deep-seated and widespread public outrage at three years of rigid Covid restrictions, Xi Jinping has China under much tighter control than his predecessors did three decades ago.

☆ U.S. senators warn China against any violent crackdown on protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of more than 40 U.S. senators warned China on Thursday against any violent crackdown on protests there, saying it would do "extraordinary damage" to the U.S.-China relationship. The 42 senators, led by Democrats Dan Sullivan and Jeff Merkley and Republicans Mitch McConnell and Todd Young, said in a letter to China's Washington ambassador Qin Gang that they were following the protests in China very carefully. "We are also closely watching the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) reaction to them," the senators' letter said, noting Beijing's violent crackdown on student protesters in 1989 that they said killed hundreds, if not thousands of people. "We caution the CCP in the strongest possible terms not to once again undertake a violent crackdown on peaceful Chinese protesters who simply want more freedom. Three decades ago, in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the United States and many Western governments imposed sanctions against China over the killings.

☆ Western firms’ Chinese red lines are not their own
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yet companies’ red lines on China are out of their hands. Undeterred by growing geopolitical tensions and slowing Chinese growth, several Western companies have this year intensified the rate at which they bet on the People’s Republic. If Western states decide to impose sanctions, boards would have their red lines decided for them. Western companies will keep betting on the Middle Kingdom, until their governments stop them. The report predicts China will become the largest global market for luxury goods by 2025.

HONG KONG — Chinese authorities are moving to ease strict “zero-Covid” controls, in an apparent response to a nationwide wave of protests that have otherwise been suppressed. Police form a cordon in Beijing on Monday during a protest against China’s strict “zero-Covid” measures. Kevin Frayer / Getty ImagesChinese authorities have mostly stamped out the protests, with heavy police presence at protesters’ former gathering sites. Like other Chinese leaders, Jiang showed little tolerance for dissent, jailing activists and banning the Falun Gong religious movement. But the political environment has greatly tightened under Xi, leading some people in China to reassess Jiang’s legacy.

☆ Chinese protesters are reacting to a broken social contract
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Diana Fu | Diana Fu Is Associate Professor Of Chinese Politics At The University Of Toronto | Non-Resident Fellow At The Brookings Institution. She Is Author Of The Book | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

However, a deeper cause for this unrest is that the protesters are responding to a broken social contract between the Chinese Communist Party and the people. Despite swift censorship, a Chinese social media post referencing the incident had been viewed 180,000 times before it was deleted. With 20% youth unemployment, businesses closing, migrant workers left homeless and preventable deaths mounting, some Chinese citizens are withdrawing their consent to be ruled. Chinese protesters normally avoid such rhetoric, preferring to stick to bread-and-butter economic or local issues, which are more likely to yield concessions. It is significant that this time, Chinese protesters are borrowing a tactic from Hong Kong protesters in 2020 — holding up pieces of blank paper.

☆ Xi Jinping's Biggest Crisis yet: China Lockdown Protests, Stumbling Economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Over what has been a stunning week, China has erupted in mass protests calling for an end to the country's restrictive COVID lockdowns. Easing the COVID lockdowns could spur a potentially devastating public health crisis. Accepting Western vaccines or rolling back zero COVID would be a tacit admission that he is fallible. There's lots of money to be made in China, and its economy would almost certainly improve if zero COVID restrictions were loosened. Under Xi, China was already shuttering its doors long before the pandemic struck.

☆ Xi is showing a sign of weakness by repressing protesters, Anthony Blinken says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Antony Blinken says it's a "sign of weakness" for Xi Jinping to quash Chinese dissent. He said the "massive repressive action" taken by Xi's government is not a sign of strength. Blinken added that it's obvious that China has to find a way forward from its zero-COVID policies. "China has to figure out a way forward on dealing with COVID, a way forward that answers the health needs, but also answers the needs of the people," Blinken said. Blinken's comments come amid widespread protests in Chinese cities like Guangzhou, Shanghai, and the capital, Beijing, against China's zero-COVID policy.

☆ Jiang Zemin, Who Accelerated Communist Party’s Embrace of Market Principles, Dies at 96
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Charles Hutzler | Jason Dean | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING— Jiang Zemin , the former Chinese leader who came to power after the quelling of the Tiananmen Square democracy protests and presided over the market-oriented changes that turned China into a global economic juggernaut, died on Wednesday, state media said. Mr. Jiang, who died of leukemia, retired as Communist Party chief in 2002, stepped down as president in 2003, and left as head of the party’s Central Military Commission, the next year. Behind the scenes, he managed to wield substantial influence within the secretive party elite. From retirement, party insiders say, he decisively backed Xi Jinping ’s ascent to party leader.

☆ Jiang Zemin Accelerated Chinese Communist Party’s Embrace of Market Principles
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Charles Hutzler | Jason Dean | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING— Jiang Zemin , the former Chinese leader who came to power after the quelling of the Tiananmen Square democracy protests and presided over the market-oriented changes that turned China into a global economic juggernaut, died of leukemia on Wednesday, state media said. Mr. Jiang retired as Communist Party chief in 2002, stepped down as president in 2003, and left as head of the party’s Central Military Commission the next year. Behind the scenes, he managed to wield substantial influence within the secretive party elite, installing allies in the leadership team of his successor, Hu Jintao . From retirement, party insiders say, he decisively backed Xi Jinping ’s ascent to party leader.

☆ Jiang Zemin, Former China Leader, Dies at 96
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Chun Han Wong | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese leader who rose to power after the deadly crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests and presided over his country’s economic rise heading into the 21st century, died Wednesday at the age of 96. Mr. Jiang died at 12:13 p.m. in Shanghai, where he succumbed to leukemia and multiple organ failure, according to a Communist Party communiqué published by the government-run Xinhua News Agency.

On Monday, the White House said it backed the right of people to peacefully protest in China but stopped short of criticizing Beijing as protesters in multiple Chinese cities demonstrated against heavy COVID-19 measures. The Republican response was swift. Senator Ted Cruz called White House response "pitiful," adding in a tweet: "At a potentially historic inflection point, Dems shill for the CCP." Beyond this, say analysts, the U.S. wants to avoid language that allows China to pin the protests on U.S. interference. Daniel Russel, who served as the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia in the Obama administration, said the Biden White House would be focused on the next steps by Chinese authorities.

☆ Factbox: A chronology of dissent in China in recent decades
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( James Pomfret | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The following is a timeline of some other notable protests, and public dissent against China's ruling Communist Party. 2009 - Xinjiang - In the region's worst ethnic unrest in decades, ethnic Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in the capital Urumqi, after an incident involving Uighur workers in a factory in southern China. China later builds massive "facilities" to turn Xinjiang into what a United Nations panel described as a "massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy". China later imposes a powerful national security law, arresting scores of democrats and shutting down civil society groups and liberal media outlets, including the Apple Daily newspaper. 2022 - Henan bank protests - Public protests simmer as thousands lose access to their savings in a banking fraud scandal centred on rural lenders in Henan and Anhui provinces.

☆ Obituary: China's Jiang Zemin confounded doubters, mended U.S. ties
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/5] A security guard stands next to a portrait of China's former President Jiang Zemin at an exhibition to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, China, July 7, 2011. Under Jiang, China weathered the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and won the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. "Jiang Zemin was more ready to be natural, even though sometimes it could be perceived as vulgar, not very sophisticated." At celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic in 1999, floats carried giant portraits of Mao, Deng and Jiang past Tiananmen Square. Jiang, like Mao, wore his trousers well above his waist and brushed his hair straight back.

"Things reached a tipping point, we had to come out," Yang, 32, who declined to be identified by her full name given fear of reprisals, told Reuters. Authorities have denied the deaths in the fire were linked to lockdown measures that blocked the victims' escape. "I'm very proud that I can stand up with the best young people in China and speak out for everyone," said Cheng. She and other young protesters are tech savvy, with many communicating over Telegram in amorphous, anonymous and decentralised acts of defiance, with echoes of Hong Kong's leaderless pro-democracy protests in 2019. But it's better than facing the reality day by day and then not being able to do anything, and then you feel sorry for yourself."

☆ Jiang Zemin made China richer and more unequal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

NEW YORK, Nov 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Jiang Zemin, who died on Wednesday, catapulted China into the modern world. And his death comes at an inconvenient time for the current president, Xi Jinping. Chosen as party chief weeks before the violent 1989 suppression of Tiananmen Square protesters who demanded economic and political reforms, Jiang inherited a system riven by infighting. While numbers can deceive in a state-led economy like China’s, Jiang still notched up some encouraging stats. Follow @johnsfoley on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSJiang Zemin, the former president of China, died on Nov. 30.

☆ Biden’s not the first US President to face a tug of war over China protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Going further could imperil US President Joe Biden’s effort to improve relations between the two countries, after he met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Bali. It’s a strategically defensible position, given the need to avoid a clash with China that could spiral into a superpower clash in Asia. In the run-up to Beijing’s suppression of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989, then-President George H.W. China is unrecognizable since 1989, and recent protests – this time arising out of frustration with Covid-19 lockdowns but expressing some dissent towards Xi – are not fully analogous. Biden would be likely to show far less deference to Beijing given today’s broad, bipartisan anti-China feeling in Washington.

☆ What China’s Protesters Are Calling For
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Agnes Chang | Chang Che | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

The protesters’ calls for an end to lockdowns have morphed into demands for official accountability and even for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to step down. In Shanghai on Sunday, protesters had gathered at Urumqi Road, named after the city, when the man stepped onto the road. The crowd responded: “No!”“Chinese people, we have to be braver!” ReutersThe crowd applauded. PLAINCLOTHES OFFICER PLAINCLOTHES OFFICER The New York Times; video via ReutersThe man continued: “How did the people in Urumqi die? “The foreign forces you are talking about — are they Marx and Engels?”“We are all patriots,” one replies.

☆ China's people are protesting the country's severe zero-COVID policies, and public-health experts agree with them
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Protests are erupting across China over the country's restrictive zero-COVID policies. Public-health experts say the policies are unsustainable, ineffective, and unnecessarily severe. Without vaccination campaigns targeting older adults, China's lockdowns may only delay a catastrophic COVID wave. Tyrone Siu/ReutersThere is no easy way forward for China, but constant 2020-style lockdowns are not the solution, according to public-health experts, who called the policies unsustainable, ineffective, and irrational. As a result, Huang thinks the zero-COVID lockdowns are completely unwarranted.

CNN —China’s vast security apparatus has moved swiftly to smother mass protests that swept the country, with police patrolling streets, checking cell phones and even calling some demonstrators to warn them against a repeat. While protests over local grievances do occur in China, the current wave of demonstrations is the most widespread since the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement of 1989. Some of the boldest protests took place in Shanghai, where crowds called for Xi’s removal two nights in a row. Police cars patrol Shanghai's Urumqi Road, which has been completely blocked off by tall barricades after a weekend of protests. Another Shanghai protester told CNN they were among “around 80 to 110” people detained by police on Saturday night, adding they were released 24 hours later.

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