China travel: Americans and other Westerners are increasingly scared of traveling there as threat of detention rises - "Jeff Wasserstrom is a self-proclaimed China specialist who is seriously considering never returning to China – at least, he says, not while President Xi Jinping is in power. The American professor, who for decades made multiple trips a year to China and was last there in 2018, hasn’t focused his career on Tibet or Taiwan – lightning-rod issues which attract Beijing’s ire at lightning-quick speed – but he has written about cultural diversity and student protests in mainland China, and appeared on panels with people he says the Communist Party is “clearly upset with.” Three years ago, that made the California-based academic wonder if his visa application to China might be rejected. Today, it makes him consider whether crossing the border risks his indefinite arbitrary detention. The chance of that outcome, Wasserstrom says, might be “pretty minimal,” but the consequences are so grave – those detained can be locked up for years without contact with their families or a trial date – he is not willing to gamble. And he is not alone. More than a dozen academics, NGO workers and media professionals CNN spoke to, who in pre-Covid times regularly traveled to China, said they were unwilling to do this once the pandemic restrictions lifted, over fears for their personal safety. Several in the international business community said they would significantly modify their behavior while outside China to avoid attracting the ire of authorities in the country, where they need to do business. The dramatic detention of a handful of foreigners in recent years has instilled a deep fear in some people, especially those with politically adjacent occupations. As President Xi breeds a culture of nationalism and forges increasingly hostile relations with Western governments, some fear that if a diplomatic spat between their government and Beijing occurred while they were in China they could become a target. Many cited the detention of two Canadians in China in December 2018 as a turning point in their thinking. Michael Kovrig, an NGO worker and former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, who organized trips to North Korea, including for NBA player Dennis Rodman, were detained just after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on charges filed in the United States. Their detentions have been characterized as a bargaining chip to help leverage Meng’s release, an accusation Beijing denies. Last August, Chinese-Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei was also detained amid worsening ties between Beijing and Canberra. Cheng’s detention was all the more surprising given she worked for the state media channel, CGTN. All three are facing charges of spying. Gordon Matthews, a professor of anthropology living in Hong Kong, says some of his colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who have devoted their lives to China are exploring pursuing new lines of academic inquiry to avoid visiting the mainland. William Nee, an American who works for NGO China Human Rights Defenders, falls into the category of foreigners unwilling to travel to China, and says he knows many others, with “a lower risk profile” than the two detained Canadians, who have made the same judgment. “It’s not really a question only of, ‘What are the things I have been doing that may have contributed to my getting detained?’ It’s also a question of, ‘What is my nationality? What have the politicians from my country have been saying?’” says Nee... Thomas Nunlist, a risk analyst at Hill & Associates, says he has seen an increase in demand from multinational companies seeking guidance on matters of detention risk mitigation, and response protocol, in China in recent years... There is another form of detention in China that often doesn’t involve a jail, or even committing a crime. It comes in the form of an exit ban – legal under the Exit and Entry Administration Law adopted in 2012 for unsettled civil cases in China. Sometimes security officials will visit people to inform them they are subject to exit bans; other times it is not evident until a person tries to leave the country. Usually, recipients can live in their own apartments and move around their community freely – China itself becomes a giant prison they cannot leave. In recent years, the bans have increasingly been used on foreigners – including on US, Australian and Canadian citizens – who face no charges in China. A number of ethnically Chinese US citizens, in particular, have been banned from leaving China, essentially kept as “hostages” to lure their Chinese relatives living abroad to return to the country to settle business and legal disputes... they are not exclusively used on those of Chinese ethnicity... O’Halloran’s exit ban was finally lifted in January. But to complete what Member of the European Parliament for Dublin, Barry Andrews, has called his “Kafkaesque nightmare,” when O’Halloran went to the airport, hoping to get home for his son’s 14th birthday, he was stopped again. He remains in China... When Wasserstrom, the US-China specialist, went to graduate school in the early 1980s, it was normal for authors on China to not have recently traveled to the country, which for decades had been sealed to foreigners. “There was a whole period when the major works in the field in English were produced by people who did their research in Taiwan, or interviewed refugees or emigres in Hong Kong,” Wasserstrom says. “Just as in some ways, Xi Jinping is a throwback to China being a place with a personality cult,” what is occurring now in the academic space “is a kind of throwback to another time,” he adds, as scholars feel less willing to travel there and are finding it harder to access sensitive sites and groups when they do make it in... Wasserstrom adds that perhaps the newest wrinkle in this China story is it is no longer possible to peer into the mainland from Hong Kong, where academic study and freedom of speech has also been targeted in the past year under the national security law. Recently, Baptist University in Hong Kong canceled a photography exhibition, which featured images of the local pro-democracy demonstrations, due to “security concerns. Books by democracy figures have been removed from public libraries, now deemed illegal under the security law. “I used to assume that if I couldn’t go to the mainland, I would just go to Hong Kong more often,” says Wasserstrom. “And now I feel that actually Hong Kong isn’t safe, either.”"
From 2021
It pains me to say Hong Kong is over - "It pains me to admit it, but Hong Kong is now over. A city I once called home and have cherished as a bastion of dynamism has had the world’s worst-performing major stock market over the past quarter of a century. Since the handover to China in 1997, the Hang Seng index has been basically flat, up only about 5 per cent. Over that same period, the S&P 500 has surged more than fourfold; even mainland China’s underperforming Shanghai Composite has far outdistanced the Hong Kong bourse. Hong Kong’s demise reflects the confluence of three factors. First, domestic politics. For the first 20 years after the handover, its political scene was relatively stable. China was a passive Big Brother. The wheels came off in 2019-20 when, under Carrie Lam, the Hong Kong leadership made the mistake of proposing an extradition arrangement with China that sparked massive pro-democracy demonstrations. China’s response, clamping down through the imposition of a new Beijing-centric national security law, shredded any remaining semblance of local political autonomy. The 50-year transition period to full takeover by the People’s Republic of China had been effectively cut in half. In the spring of 2019 at the onset of the democracy protests, the Hang Seng index was trading at nearly 30,000. It is now more than 45 per cent below that level at 15,750... Second, the China factor. The Hong Kong stock market has long been considered as a levered play on mainland China. For a variety of reasons, the Chinese economy has hit a wall... Third, global developments. Since 2018, the US-China rivalry has gone from bad to worse. Hong Kong has been trapped in the crossfire. Moreover, America’s “friendshoring” campaign has put pressure on Hong Kong’s Asian allies to pick sides between the US and China. This has driven a wedge between Hong Kong and many of its largest Asian trading partners. Outsize consequences are likely, especially since Hong Kong’s foreign trade totals 192 per cent of its gross domestic product."
China holds citizen on spying charges after she did ‘admin’ work for US company - "China has detained one of its citizens on spying charges after she did some work for a US company, in a case that experts say highlights the potential risks of working for foreign businesses in the country. Emily Chen, 50, disappeared after flying into Nanjing Lukou international airport in December on a visit from Doha, where she lives. According to her husband, US citizen Mark Lent, Chen messaged her family to say that she had landed but she then did not emerge from the airport. Four days later, her son received a letter from the national security bureau in Dalian, a city more than 570 miles away, saying that she had been detained on 30 December on suspicion of illegally providing state secrets to overseas parties – a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, or longer for more serious cases... Steve Tsang, the director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said the vagueness of charges added to concerns about alleged spying cases. “Whether it is fair or not, [such cases] are going to make a lot of Chinese think twice about working for foreign companies.” Chen is being held under a type of detention known as residential surveillance at a designated location, or RSDL. RSDL allows the authorities to hold an individual for up to six months without access to a lawyer, their family, or the opportunity to appeal. They are often held in solitary confinement. UN human rights experts describe it “as form of enforced disappearance” which “puts individuals at heightened risk of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”."
‘One of the most serious national security breaches in Canadian history’: Margaret McCuaig-Johnston on China’s Winnipeg lab infiltration - "In one case, material came from China to Canada to the Winnipeg lab, labeled “kitchen utensils” and it was actually dead mouse proteins. Without the knowledge of senior people in the lab, they were also sending [deadly] Ebola virus and Henipah virus via an Air Canada flight to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Winnipeg lab had never sent anything like that to China before. So, this was not normal business. They were also allowing Chinese military People’s Liberation Army (PLA) scientists to come into the Winnipeg lab unescorted. They were also allowing Chinese students to come in. Both were allowed to take materials out. So they were carrying things back to China with them. One of the things that disturbs me about what happened here is you can see in universities that people who have arrived from China in the last eight or 10 years, they’ve been inculcated with [Chinese President] Xi Jinping thought. And their allegiance is still to the “motherland,” even though they enjoy all the rights and privileges of living in Canada. But Dr. Qiu and her husband had been here since the 90s. So at least 25 years. It’s surprising to see that they so readily fell for the line of “help the motherland.” That’s always what China does. The fact that they were able to get to people who were really long-time Canadians, that’s disturbing... China was trying some new things in this case. Trying to get us to share intellectual property and materials. So they’ve gone beyond here, what they normally would do. Normally they take this approach in university labs. University professors have had lots of briefings now on the risks of partnering, for example, with the Chinese military, and just what to watch for, and how to protect their intellectual property. Departmental labs weren’t seen to be as susceptible because they were within the government of Canada. Who would think the Chinese government would try to get right into the government of Canada?... When I left the government in 2012, I decided to do some academic work at the University of Ottawa on China’s education system. I started seeing this focus on the integration of military and civilian technology development; where Chinese military scientists would work hand in hand with civilian scientists to advance PLA military objectives. And those military objectives now are using very sensitive technologies like photonics [the physical science of light waves], which Canada is very strong in, and AI. But what is unique about China is that they’re also using brain research and other medical research to advance a tactic of military engagement called “winning without fighting.” And if you can imagine being able to weaponize the Ebola virus, so that so that they can say to Taiwan, “We now have Ebola as a weapon. And we’re going to set it loose in Taipei unless you shut down all of your defences and allow Chinese mainland military PLA into Taiwan.” Well, now they have Ebola from Canada. You can thank Canada for that if that happens... people should read PLA documents that show this is exactly what they’re doing. There’s an American researcher, Elsa Kania, who has very close engagement with the PLA military. She’s a member of the U.S. military. And she’s written about how they’re using medical research for winning without fighting... I promoted a lot of collaboration with China over the years. In the past. As we [Canada] were helping them develop their capacity. They came from zero after the Cultural Revolution. Their universities had been closed for almost 10 years. They’ve really advanced. But they’ve advanced on the shoulders of Canadian scientists. We’ve done a lot to help them, they know that. But now, with the very aggressive strategies and tactics that Xi Jinping and the people around him are using to acquire technology abroad, we have to be much more vigilant about our own systems, to protect our own things. In our business relations, we have to be tougher negotiators. In our science relations, we have to be much more astute so as to not give away all our IP for nothing."
Scientist fired from Winnipeg disease lab intentionally worked to benefit China: CSIS report - "One of the scientists who was fired from Canada's top infectious disease laboratory "intentionally" shared scientific information with China — potentially putting people's health in jeopardy — says an assessment by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). The intelligence assessment was released late Wednesday afternoon by the federal government, along with hundreds of other documents about the mysterious dismissal of Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng. The scientists and their students worked in the Level 4 virology facility at the Winnipeg-based National Microbiology Lab (NML), which is equipped to deal with the most serious and deadly human and animal diseases. The couple were marched out of the facility in July 2019 and were stripped of their security clearances. Their dismissals were announced in January 2021, triggering concerns about Chinese espionage and leading to heated demands in Parliament for more information... CSIS wrote Qiu was using the level 4 lab in Canada "as a base to assist China to improve its capability to fight highly-pathogenic pathogens" and "achieved brilliant results." Qiu provided Beijing "with the Ebola genetic sequence, which opened a door of convenience for China," wrote CSIS. CSIS accused Qiu of being associated with multiple "talent programs" administered and funded by various Chinese entities. Those programs are set up to "boost China's national technological capabilities and may pose a serious threat to research institutions, including government research facilities, by incentivizing economic espionage and theft of intellectual property," said CSIS in the report. In early January 2021, the head of CSIS's security screening program issued a dire warning about Qiu's trustworthiness and her "close and clandestine relationships with a variety of entities of the PRC, which is a known security threat to Canada." The service also called out her "reckless judgement regarding decisions that could have impacted public safety and the interests of Canada." "The service assesses that Ms. Qiu developed deep, cooperative relationships with a variety of People's Republic of China (PRC) institutions and has intentionally transferred scientific knowledge and materials to China in order to benefit the PRC Government, and herself, without regard for the implications to her employer or to Canada's interests," CSIS wrote. "Because of her extensive knowledge of the harmful effects of dangerous pathogens on human health, Ms. Qiu should have been aware of the possibility that her efforts to engage clandestinely with the PRC in these research areas could harm Canadian interests or international security." Qiu sat for interviews with CSIS. The spy agency said she "repeatedly lied" during those interviews when confronted about her association with China."
Conservative accuses Liberals of shutting down debate on Winnipeg lab security breach - "Conservative MPs on the standing committee on access to information, privacy and ethics asked for an emergency meeting to discuss a proposed motion to study the recent release of federal documents related to the dismissal of two scientists — Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng — from the National Microbiology Lab. The Liberals, with help of the NDP, voted to end debate on the motion and adjourn for the day."
Our enemies and allies alike have realized that Canada is an easy mark - "The level of security concern seems lackadaisical at best, completely at odds with the highly sensitive work undertaken at the facility. Health Minister Holland admitted as much when he stated that the staff were able to avoid suspicion due to an “inadequate understanding of the threat of foreign interference” and “lax adherence to security protocols.” Some of the reported justifications for this particular approach have parallels with the Los Alamos scientists who conducted espionage for the USSR on the atomic bomb project. The government, however, has not operated as if they have gotten the message. For instance, despite the two scientists being escorted from the Winnipeg lab in 2019 (and subsequently fired in 2021) as a result of the alleged covert actions on behalf of the CCP, the government still decided to partner with the Chinese government on the ill-fated CanSino vaccine deal in 2020. It is the cherry on top example of the baffling disregard for the seriousness of the threat... Exacerbating everything has been the political leadership’s effort to hide the allegation for over two years, followed by the complete refusal to admit any wrongdoing. The unwillingness to fully acknowledge and own the situation will delay the security reforms desperately needed to address the breach and prevent such incidents from occurring again. Doing so would undercut the government’s overall argument that it did nothing wrong."
Infectious-disease scientist fired from Winnipeg laboratory surfaces in China - The Globe and Mail - "One of two fired scientists at the centre of an RCMP investigation into a massive security breach at Canada’s top infectious-disease laboratory in Winnipeg is working in China and collaborating with researchers from the People’s Liberation Army. The Globe and Mail has learned that Xiangguo Qiu has been conducting research with Chinese military scientists and other virology researchers, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, on antibodies for coronavirus and the deadly Ebola and Nipah viruses... Dr. Qiu returned to China despite it being under a COVID-19 travel lockdown for three years until January, 2023. As well, China doesn’t allow dual citizenship and, under normal circumstances, a Chinese national who has obtained Canadian citizenship is not allowed to retain their Chinese citizenship. National-security and scientific experts say Dr. Qiu would be of high value to China... The document says Dr. Qiu works for USTC. Jin Tengchuan, the principal investigator at the Laboratory of Structural Immunology at USTC, lists her as a co-inventor on a patent. Mr. Jin did not respond to requests for comment. A person who answered the phone at USTC told The Globe, “I don’t have any information about this teacher.”... A big question remains following their departure: Why would Dr. Qiu risk her career, including the stature associated with developing an Ebola treatment, for China? “My sense is this was part of a larger strategy by China to get access to our innovation system,” said Filippa Lentzos, an associate professor of science and international security at King’s College London. “It was a way for them to to find out what was going on in Canada’s premier lab.”... The security agency said in a June 30, 2020, report that it uncovered Dr. Qiu’s association with multiple “talent programs” run by Chinese authorities that “aim to boost China’s national technological capabilities and may pose a serious threat to research institutions, including government research facilities, by incentivizing economic espionage and theft of intellectual property.” That report by CSIS – among the more than 600 pages of records documenting the investigation into Dr. Qiu and Mr. Cheng – found evidence her burgeoning collaboration with China was being hidden. For instance, CSIS found she presented a scientific paper on Ebola antibodies at the Wuhan Institute of Virology on March 31, 2017, but the institute’s website didn’t mention her as a presenter while dedicating web pages to other presenters, their photos and their presentations. Travel approvals from her bosses at PHAC for that period only included approval for travel to a different symposium in Beijing. “The service is not aware of any PHAC-approved travel for Ms. Qiu to Wuhan during this period,” the CSIS report said. The spy service found multiple unfinalized applications on her computers to enroll Dr. Qiu in Chinese talent-recruitment programs – initiatives that recruit experts from Western universities. She had been approved by PHAC to provide training at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the fall of 2017, but it appears her Canadian managers were unaware of her interest in signing onto these Chinese recruitment programs that can provide tens of thousands of dollars annually in compensation and research funding... Investigators say Dr. Qiu lied about the talent-program applications. “With respect to applying to external talent programs, during the security interview, Dr. Qiu indicated that she herself never filled out an application, that any and all applications were filled out by others and finally that her information and photograph were inserted without her knowledge,” investigators said. “In one case, after being presented with evidence from her electronic accounts, Dr. Qiu acknowledged that she knew about the application but maintained that she herself had no part in applying,” the report said. Later, it added: “These are not credible explanations as investigators know this to be untrue based on the electronic content of Dr. Qiu’s e-mail exchanges on this topic with individuals of PRC [People’s Republic of China].”"
REVEALED: Chinese scientist booted out of Canadian lab after MAILING Ebola virus to Wuhan linked to 'bat woman' virologist and British doctor Peter Daszak at center of Covid leak theory - "A section titled 'activities with the Wuhan Institute of Virology' detail the full extent of Dr Qiu's involvement in controversial animal virus research. And a comparison of this chapter with open source records by investigative website The Bureau, suggests Dr Qiu was working directly with Chinese virologist Dr Shi Zhengli, known as 'bat woman'. Dr Zhengli led bat research at the WIV and has been accused of conducting 'dangerous' 'gain of function' experiments, which genetically modify viruses in order to better understand the risks they pose... Daszak, who lives with his immunologist wife Janet Cottingham in a five-bed, five-bath home in an affluent town in Rockland County, New York, however, has faced accusations that he 'bullied' other scientists into signing off on a letter to a prestigious medical journal that removed blame for Covid-19 on the Wuhan Institute of Virology."
Terry Glavin: Liberals doing all they can to hide China's ever-expanding influence - "Ever since coming to power in 2015, the Liberals have chosen to hide the scope and extent of Beijing’s ever-expanding influence, interference and infiltration operations in Canada. By acts of obstruction, distraction and filibuster, the pattern is by now easily predictable. There’s nothing surprising about it anymore. The pattern played out exactly as you would imagine in the Winnipeg lab case. In their zeal to keep the public in the dark about the goings-on at the top-security national infections diseases laboratory, the Liberals went to extraordinary lengths, not least an historic defiance of the convention of Parliamentary supremacy to the point of mounting a court challenge to thwart an order from the Speaker of the House of Commons to release documents relating to the affair. It was only because a panel of judges eventually found that contrary to the Trudeau government’s claims about the too-sensitive nature of the documents — 600 pages in all — the barricade it built was mostly to protect itself from public embarrassment... It was only because of its minority position in the House of Commons back in 2019 that the Liberals failed in their efforts to block the establishment of a special standing committee to inquire into the weirdly opaque Canada-China relationship that Trudeau had cultivated and nurtured in the lead-up to Beijing’s hostage-diplomacy abduction of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Until then, the matter of Beijing’s vastly expanding shadow over Liberal fundraising, candidate-selection, trade policy and diplomatic priorities was held to be best left to the “experts” from Dominic Barton’s disgraced McKinsey empire and the palm-greasers at the Canada-China Business Council."
Details withheld on fired scientists to save health agency embarrassment, MPs say - The Globe and Mail - "A special committee of MPs tasked with evaluating censored records on the firing of two scientists from Canada’s top infectious disease laboratory – researchers who worked with China – says most of the information redacted from Public Health Agency of Canada documents appears to have been withheld to shield the organization from embarrassment rather than to protect national security... The government said it could not release documents about their dismissal for national-security reasons. The government’s unwillingness prompted a showdown that led to opposition parties voting to declare the Liberals in contempt of Parliament. The government later took then-House of Commons speaker Anthony Rota to court in order to prevent their release – a bid it dropped after the 2021 election was called."
American Spies Confront a New, Formidable China - WSJ - "Beijing’s spycatchers all but blinded the U.S. in China a decade ago when they systematically rounded up a network of Chinese agents working for the CIA. As many as two dozen assets providing information to the U.S. were executed or imprisoned, among them high-ranking Chinese officials. The CIA is still struggling to rebuild its human espionage capabilities in China, the agency’s top intelligence target, according to interviews with current and former U.S. officials. The gaps leave the U.S. with limited understanding of secret deliberations among Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his inner circle on key security issues such as Taiwan and other topics, the officials said... The CIA leveraged endemic corruption in the upper reaches of the Communist Party and government ministries to recruit dozens of officials as paid agents, former officials familiar with the events said. But in a catastrophic setback, this network was obliterated as China caught the traitors in its midst one by one. A flaw in the CIA’s covert communications with its agents, exploited by Beijing, is the suspected cause of the compromise, former officials said. The details of what went wrong aren’t publicly known, and it is unclear if anyone at the agency was held accountable... The U.S. lost its human network in China just as Xi became Communist Party leader, in late 2012, and then president a few months later. Multiple, sometimes daily, CIA reports predicted he would be a different kind of Chinese leader, more forceful, nationalistic and security-focused, current and former intelligence officials said. Several officials said the analysis was largely ignored by President Barack Obama’s White House, which hoped that as China grew economically, it would liberalize and join the U.S.-led international world order. That policy had been followed by Democratic and Republican administrations for two decades. “There was a lot of desperation to believe that,” said Gail Helt, a former CIA East Asia analyst."
Brendan Carr on X - "In America, TikTok pushes videos to kids that promote self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide. In China, the version of TikTok available there, the app shows young kids science experiments, museum exhibits, and other educational material."
Chinese TikTok (Douyin) challenges and body image concerns: a pilot study - "Recent trends on Douyin encourage users to demonstrate thinness through participation in ‘body challenges’"
Strict regulation called for on Douyin - "Furious parents in Wuhan, the capital of central China’s Hubei Province, complain to local media that their children, who are less than ten years old, are having premature behavior on video app Douyin, including imitating sexual dancing, putting on heavy make-up, pretending to drink and adding chatting groups to “do business”... disturbing scenes are often found in recommended videos which are uploaded by people who want to draw public attention, stimulating sexual acts and even self-harm. Some suspicious adults are even using the platform to court teenage girls."
Influencer livestreams suicide on Douyin, prompting questions about baiting crowd and app’s prevention efforts - "Douyin user Luo Xiao Maomao @罗小猫猫 filmed the last livestream of her life. The prior afternoon, the fashion influencer issued an ominous warning to her 760,000 fans on the platform (which is the Chinese version of TikTok), revealing in a video that she had been battling severe depression of late and had reached her lowest point. “This is probably my last video. Thank you all for everything,” she said. “If you want to know why I said that, come watch my livestream later.” During the livestream that night, some 1,200 people witnessed the young vlogger drink what she said was pesticide. As they debated in the comments if the influencer was really trying to kill herself or she was putting on a performance for clout, Luo Xiao Maomao grabbed her throat and gagged uncontrollably. The 25-year-old vlogger then turned off her webcam and called an ambulance. The next day, she was pronounced dead."
This conspiracy theory again. Douyin has promoted self-harm, eating disorders and suicide too. The difference, perhaps, is that the government is more proactive about forcing them to self-censor
Arnaud Bertrand on X - "The way TikTok works in the U.S. is entirely down to U.S. legislators. TikTok is entirely a foreign product, it doesn't even exist in China. But they somehow prefer to blame China for not regulating the app in the U.S., which is beyond absurd. If they wanted, U.S. legislators could very implement the exact same rules as China, there is absolutely nothing that prevents them to do so. In fact, TikTok was created for this very reason: because the mother company, ByteDance, knew that given the ecosystems and cultures in China and the rest of the world were so completely different that you simply could not have the same app. Douyin was to be regulated by the Chinese government and adapted to Chinese netizens, TikTok was to be regulated by the West and adapted to their netizens. It's not China's fault if the U.S. don't take their regulation job seriously!"
Satan's 20inch spiked dìldo on X - "They say China has this evil plan, but imagine the hysteria if the Chinese government even indicated or tried to pressure Tik Tok into moderating its non-Chinese content in any way. It's a no-win scenario for the Chinese government."
Diegg🇵🇸 on X - "Exactly. If Tiktok were the same Douyin as China, in the US they would be crying and complaining because of the 'evil CCP censorship'."
China Increasingly Obscures True State of Its Economy to Outsiders - WSJ - "A new data-security law has made it harder for foreign companies and investors to get information, including about supplies and financial statements. Several providers of ship locations in Chinese waters stopped sharing information outside the country, making it hard to understand port activity there. Chinese authorities have restricted information on coal use, purged documents related to political dissent cases from an official judicial database, and shut down academic exchanges with other countries. “China has always been a big black box,” said Stephen Nagy, a politics and international studies professor at the International Christian University in Tokyo. The diminishing access to information is making it even harder for foreigners to understand what’s happening in the country, he said, “and that black box becomes even blacker.”... “There is a void about what is happening inside China, but also about its aims and goals as a nation, and this is driving mistrust,” said Cameron Johnson, a management consultant based in China, who speaks annually with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., as part of regular check-ins organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. China’s increasing secrecy isn’t the result of any single policy, businesspeople and political analysts say, but rather a combination of factors: a response to the pandemic, growing concerns about data security and a political environment in which the outside world is viewed with suspicion... Mr. Xi has reversed course from his predecessors’ emphasis on humility and openness to focus on national pride and self-sufficiency.. Some Chinese looking to travel abroad say they have been denied passport renewals or been pulled aside at the airport by border officials who tried to dissuade them from going, citing government directives to minimize travel... One driving force behind the expanding secrecy is a new data-security law that went into effect on Sept. 1, after Chinese officials grew concerned about the transfer of potentially sensitive data overseas. It subjects almost all data-related activities to government oversight, including their collection, storage, use and transmission. Since the law was passed, companies in mainland China have grown more reluctant to share information with multinationals in strategic sectors like finance, healthcare, public transportation and infrastructure, according to Jonathan Crompton, a Hong Kong-based lawyer at the law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP. Authorities are ambiguous about what constitutes sensitive information, adding uncertainty for Chinese companies over what they can share with foreign partners. Suppliers of metals like cobalt and lithium used in electronics have grown reluctant to share information with customers outside China, said one executive at a major U.S. technology company. Data the suppliers now consider sensitive includes details like how much of a given metal they have available or what percentage of their supplies are recycled, the person said, making it difficult to plan production and ensure compliance with environmental rules. Zero2ipo Holdings Inc., which operates one of China’s most widely followed databases of investment financing, PE Data, has stopped selling its data to customers based overseas. A spokeswoman said that the company’s financing data is only meant for China-based users and for internal use, and that any changes were related to the data-security law and other corporate considerations. Steve Dickinson, a lawyer at U.S. law firm Harris Bricken, recalled a recent episode in which a U.S. client had asked a Chinese company for audited financial statements to determine whether it was creditworthy. The latter declined, citing Chinese policy that states they can’t release financial statements to foreigners, he said. The client had to move forward with the partnership without the information, he said."
From 2021