Day: May 9, 2023

‘Rip and Replace’: The Tech Cold War Is Upending Wireless Carriers

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Deep in a pine forest in Wilcox County, Ala., three workers dangled from the top of a 350-foot cellular tower. They were there to rip out and replace Chinese equipment from the local wireless network. Three hours into the job, the team ran into a hitch. Replacement gear from a European company was obstructing a safety beacon for airplanes. “We’ve got a problem,” a crew member on the ground said. “They say it’s blocking the beacon.” The project had already been delayed for months because of storms, slow equipment shipments…

Chinese chipmaker plans listing after clearing US export controls

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A leading Chinese chipmaker is going ahead with a listing in Shanghai that will fund major expansion, after receiving confirmation from US chip toolmakers that they can supply its new production lines. After months of uncertainty, ChangXin Memory Technologies has been told the chipmaking equipment it needs will not be subject to US export controls, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. CXMT was founded seven years ago and is one of China’s biggest DRam memory-chip makers. It is also the only one capable of producing them…

​​Newly published documents reveal how China skirts forced labor scrutiny in Xinjiang

Chin@Strategy

Lazy persons, drunkards, and “other persons with insufficient inner motivation” must be subjected to “repeated … thought education” to ensure they take part in state-sponsored “poverty alleviation” campaigns to pick cotton in China’s Xinjiang region, a previously unpublished internal government document ordered local cadres. If such efforts fail to produce “obvious results,” coercive measures should be taken, the July 2019 document, issued by the Poverty Alleviation Work Group in Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) prefecture’s Yarkand (Shache) county, advises authorities. By late 2019, authorities in Yarkand were compiling lists of the…

Cheng Lei: 1,000 days imprisoned in China for an unknown reason

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Last week, while he was in London for the Coronation, Mr Albanese said during a television interview that “our position on China has been to engage constructively but to continue to put forward that the impediments to trade should be removed, to say very directly to President Xi, that Australians such as Cheng Lei need to be given proper justice, and that they’re not receiving”. BBC

FirstFT: China vows to retaliate against EU sanctions

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Good morning. This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get it sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning Good morning. China’s foreign minister has condemned EU proposals to impose sanctions on Chinese companies for supporting Russia’s war machine. Qin Gang, speaking in Berlin, vowed to react “strictly and firmly” to defend China’s businesses. The new sanctions package, seen by the Financial Times, includes eight Chinese businesses accused of selling equipment that could be used in weapons.…

Authorities shut down artwork referring to China’s “last generation”

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Authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen shut down an art exhibit that described young people in China as the “last generation,” a reference to a viral video from the 2022 Shanghai lockdown, in which a young man tells police officers threatening him that he won’t be having kids. Beijing artist Li Wei was served a “notice of closure” by the venue hosting his work “Manifesto,” which consists of the words “We Are The Last Generation, Thank You.” in English and Chinese, according to information posted to Twitter by “Mr.…

China, Canada in tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats over interference report

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China expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai on Tuesday, a day after Ottawa announced it would expel a Chinese diplomat accused of trying to intimidate a Canadian politician. The tit-for-tat expulsions follow years of strained ties between the major Pacific trade partners, and come amid mounting Canadian public concern about Chinese influence operations in the country in the wake of intelligence leaks alleging election interference. The spat also fits a pattern of deteriorating Chinese ties with the U.S. and many of its allies. China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement strongly…

‘The full treatment’: China sends a message with raid on consultancy

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With the primetime broadcast of a phalanx of officers invading an office in Shanghai and interrogating consultants this week, Beijing sent a clear message — beware of sharing information with foreigners. The 15-minute state television report on a national security investigation into expert network group Capvision is the latest chilling signal for consultants and foreign businesses in China. Billed by state media as part of a nationally co-ordinated campaign to clean up the consulting industry in the world’s second-largest economy, it follows other raids in recent weeks on blue-chip US…

‘The full treatment’: Beijing sends a message with Capvision raid

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With the primetime broadcast of a phalanx of officers invading an office in Shanghai and interrogating consultants this week, Beijing sent a clear message — beware of sharing information with foreigners. The 15-minute state television report on a national security investigation into expert network group Capvision is the latest chilling signal for consultants and foreign businesses in China. Billed by state media as part of a nationally co-ordinated campaign to clean up the consulting industry in the world’s second-largest economy, it follows other raids in recent weeks on blue-chip US…

Hong Kong police seize Tiananmen massacre sculpture as evidence in ‘subversion’ case

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Hong Kong police have seized a sculpture by a Danish artist commemorating the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre as evidence of “incitement to subvert state power,” a charge under the national security law. Police took the two-ton, eight-meter copper “Pillar of Shame” sculpture in honor of the victims of the June 4, 1989, crackdown by the People’s Liberation Army from storage in the northern district of Yuen Long, they said. “The National Security Department … conducted searches with a warrant this morning. An exhibit related to an ‘incitement to…