China news roundup / Nachrichten 2021-05-11
China census: Data shows slowest population growth in decades
"The results were announced in a once-a-decade census, which was originally expected to be released in April"
--- But the results were a bit too negative, so they needed a few weeks to tweak the numbers. After all, as a researcher you have to meet the expectations of emperor Xi.
"Given the sheer number of people surveyed, it is considered the most comprehensive resource on China's population"
--- If you believe Chinese numbers.
"China's working-age population - which it defines as people aged between 16 and 59 - has also declined by 40 million as compared to the last census in 2010"
--- That may actually be positive in the short run. China still has an unemployment problem.
Army of fake fans boosts China's messaging on Twitter
"China’s rise on Twitter has been powered by an army of fake accounts that have retweeted Chinese diplomats and state media tens of thousands of times
[...] This fiction of popularity can boost the status of China’s messengers, creating a mirage of broad support. It can also distort platform algorithms, which are designed to boost the distribution of popular posts"
--- & it can impress foolish users who think that a high number of likes or retweets speaks for quality & truth.
"China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it does not employ trickery on social media. “There is no so-called misleading propaganda, nor exporting a model of online public opinion guidance,”"
--- There is no so-called misleading propaganda, there is only actually misleading propaganda. Nice of them to admit it.
"Twitter had labeled just 14% of Chinese diplomatic accounts on the platform, as of March 1, failing even to flag dozens of verified profiles"
--- You wonder, why. In general, Twitter doesn't seem to be as China-pandering as Facebook, yet the latter is more consequential in marking CCP content.
"This is just a natural extension of what the party has been doing at home for a very long time"
2 plead guilty in case highlighting China’s online control
"Chen Mei, 28, and Cai Wei, 27, created an online archive that stored articles that had been censored from the Chinese internet, and an accompanying forum that allowed people to discuss them anonymously"
--- Shocking, truly shocking. Such felony! People could criticise the CCP or even emperor Xi! They must be punished severely!
Lucky for them to be jailed, because this year, they would have had a lot of work archiving censored websites:
China deletes 2 million online posts for ‘historical nihilism’ as Communist Party centenary nears
"“Historical nihilism” is a term coined by the Chinese government that refers to discussion or research that challenges its official version of history"
--- Ie. the greatness of the CCP. Although since emperor Xi is in power, certain aspects/narratives of Chinese ancient history are also sacrosanct.
"The party has stepped up efforts to educate members and the public about its history, with several films and television dramas on the subject being broadcast"
--- Education with Chinese characteristics, of course.
Belgian minister raises spy concerns about Chinese e-retail center at Liege airport
"the placement of Chinese workers and logisticians at the hub could potentially be exploited by the Chinese government to plant intelligence operatives at the airport"
--- Not that Belgium isn't brimming with Chinese spies, anyway, although they are mostly stationed in Brussels.
"The minister claimed that, like every other Chinese firm, Alibaba is obligated to “obey the Chinese security apparatus” and hire government spies as employees when asked to do so"
--- Not much to 'claim' there, it's Chinese law.
Taiwan denounces China's 'shameless lies' about WHO access
"China's foreign ministry said on Monday that "appropriate arrangements" have been made for Taiwan's participation in global health matters and that nobody cared more for Taiwan's people than the Chinese government."
--- Joke of the day.
Chickens released as bait in hunt for escaped leopard in China
"Public outrage has also been fanned by footage of one of the big cats being mauled in a forest by a pack of hunting dogs, and another showing one of the recaptured leopards with part of its hind foot missing"
--- Probably shows how much that safari park cares for its animals. Here's some Chinese footage.
"Like the other two escapees, it was born in captivity, is not used to hunting and is believed to be near starvation"
--- Or maybe not. One of them attacked a guard dog & seemed to know quite well what to do.
China makes us rethink capitalism
"there is a belief that China can’t innovate and its technological progress is the product of massive intellectual property theft from the West
[...] wrong. Historically, the Chinese were extraordinary innovators"
--- & then the author quotes a few inventions from thousands of years ago.
"the charges that China illegally acquires all its technology are wrong as well"
--- Who says that? It's quite obvious that some (!) of these acquisitions were legal.
"this “dizzying mix of public, private, and hybrid-ownership firms” makes it “almost impossible” to say “with any precision where CCP influence ends and where firm autonomy begins.”"
--- Exactly. That's why you have to be very careful when dealing with any bigger Chinese company.
China increases spending 500% to influence America
China appears to make further Ericsson work conditional on Swedish 5G policy shift
China moves to regulate all synthetic cannabinoids
--- DW News: "China releases population census with enormous implications for the country's future"
--- SCMP: "Three leopards escape from zoo in China, one still missing"
--- Sky News (AUS): "China ‘threatens’ Australia with ‘ballistic missile strike’ via Global Times propaganda tool"
Chinas Bevölkerung könnte bald schrumpfen
"der Direktor des Statistikamtes, Ning Jizhe. Seine Behörde, die die Veröffentlichung der Volkszählung wiederholt verschoben hatte, wies Berichte zurück, dass die Bevölkerung 2020 bereits zurückgegangen sei"
--- Aber klar doch. Die Verschiebung war mit Sicherheit nicht darauf zurückzuführen, daß man die Zahlen schönen musste.
"Chinas jahrzehntelange Familienplanung hat das Fruchtbarkeitskonzept der Chinesen verändert. Die Menschen hätten sich daran gewöhnt, nur ein Kind zu haben, ist häufig zu hören."
--- Quark. Ist wohl eher eine natürliche Entwicklung, die mit der Erhöhung des Lebensstandards & der Verstädterung zu tun hat. Die Ein-Kind-Politik hat das leicht beschleunigt, aber mehr auch nicht.
""Die wahre Bevölkerungszahl hat 2020 höchstwahrscheinlich die 1,28 Milliarden nicht überschritten - weit weniger als die offiziell genannten 1,4 Milliarden", sagte Yi Fuxian
[...] So seien im Jahr 2000 beispielsweise 17,8 Millionen Geburten gezählt worden, doch habe es 14 Jahre später nur 13,7 Millionen 14-Jährige gegeben."
--- Interessant. Das war mir noch nicht bekannt.
"So sind in China mehr Menschen gemeldet als wirklich existieren. Experten beklagen korrupte Geschäfte, indem Hukou-Anmeldungen mehrfach an eine Person vergeben werden. Ein Grund: Mancherorts ist der Kauf einer Wohnung auf eine Anmeldung limitiert"
--- Andererseits gab es aber auch viele Kinder, die wegen der Ein-Kind-Politik nicht offiziell gemeldet wurden. Wie üblich in China wird man die tatsächlichen Zahlen wohl nie herausfinden.
Japans Botschaft an China
""Wir wollen unsere Präsenz in der Region demonstrieren und ein Zeichen für die japanisch-französische Zusammenarbeit senden."
[...] Auch mit Deutschland schmiedet Japan an einer vertieften strategischen Partnerschaft. [...] Im Spätsommer soll die Fregatte "Bayern" gen Asien entsandt werden"
--- Nur, daß das deutsche Schiff anscheinend auch einen chinesischen Hafen anlaufen soll, um zu zeigen, daß man China wohlwollend gegenübersteht. Typisch deutsche Weicheierei...
Manche mögen's heiß
"Wang Xining, Chinas Vizebotschafter in Australien, sprach vor dem australischen Presseclub in Canberra, als wäre es ein Forum der kommunistischen Partei in Peking [...]
„Es ist nicht zu verstehen, warum Australier über die Gefahren für ihren Rechtsstaat und ihre eigene Engstirnigkeit jammern. Mehr Mitsprache Chinas würde Australien nur guttun. Ich glaube nicht, dass Australien seinen hohen Lebensstandard halten kann, ohne mehr Einflussnahme aus dem Ausland zu erlauben.“"
--- Australien soll sich gefälligst unterordnen. Ein Kotau vor Kaiser Xi & alles ist in Ordnung.
"Nur Eisenerz wird weiter ungehindert nach China geliefert und deckt dort 60 Prozent des chinesischen Bedarfs. „Engpässe kann sich Peking im angekündigten Bauboom nach Corona nicht leisten“"
--- & Eisenerz scheint für Peking nicht einfach ersetzbar. Wäre also eigentlich ein guter Hebel für australische Gegenmaßnahmen. Eigentlich.
"Die Vorstellung, dass chinesischstämmige Australier, deren Familien seit dem Goldrausch vor 150 Jahren hier im Land sind, ihre neue Heimat verraten würden, ist lächerlich."
--- Stimmt. Aber ein Großteil der Chinesen in Australien kam erst in den letzten Jahren. Von daher ist Vorsicht durchaus angebracht.
Chinas Netzbetreiber: Endgültiger Abschied von der US-Börse
Region Xinjang: Neue Vorwürfe über Zwangsarbeit in Apples Lieferkette