Opinion Russia’s collapse has handed China a once-in-a-millennium opportunity By Allister Heath May 12, 2023 https://www.smh.com.au/business/the...a-millennium-opportunity-20230511-p5d7i6.html There is only one winner from Vladimir Putin’s monstrous war on Ukraine, and that is the Chinese Communist Party. To our eternal shame, Xi Jinping has spectacularly outwitted the West, drastically expanded his global influence, and turned Russia into a Chinese protectorate in all but name. Russia was meant to have collapsed by now. Britain, America and Europe’s gambit was that drastic trade, financial and technological sanctions, a cap on the price of Russian seaborne oil, and substantial help to Ukraine would be enough to defeat Moscow. It hasn’t worked. For all of the sacrifices of the Ukrainian people, the war has reached a stalemate, at least until Kyiv’s counter-offensive. China has helped prop up Russia’s economy in the face of Western sanctions.Credit: AP The reason? China has quietly stepped in, bailing out Putin’s shattered economy on a transformational scale, swapping energy and raw materials for goods and technology. The sanctions are a joke. Russian-Chinese trade rose 41.3 per cent in the first four months of the year to $US73 billion, financing Putin’s war. China’s exports to Russia were up 153 per cent in April 2023 alone; their rise more than cancels out the decline in German and French trade, as Robin Brooks, of the Institute for International Finance, points out. China’s trade has also shot up with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey, all with easy, porous access to Russia. No wonder Russian society hasn’t imploded. There may no longer be any McDonald’s in Moscow, but sales of Chinese cars are buoyant. We were told Russia couldn’t survive without Western technology, but it is switching instead to China’s rival systems. The quid pro quo is that Russia is now dependent on the CCP for its survival, and Moscow’s new paymasters will pitilessly flex their muscles. This is a triumph for Beijing’s mercantilists: they have permanently absorbed Russia into their orbit. If Putin, a nasty megalomaniac, survives his disastrous war, it will be as a vassal of Xi, the final humiliation. The only upside for the rest of us is that Russia is now less likely to use tactical nuclear weapons, an insane policy China would surely veto. What is certain is that we are now truly in a new Cold War, a historic battle between the West and a resurgent Chinese civilisation-state. The emerging world grasps this, and is taking sides in this new world order. Tragically, China’s reputation is soaring, and America’s is faltering under the pathetic Joe Biden administration. China has already brokered a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, endangering Middle East peace. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s far-Left president, has “reset” relations with Beijing. In Latin America and Africa, the CCP’s influence continues to rise thanks to its Belt and Road initiative, the loans it dishes out, and the deals it strikes to corner the market in key materials and minerals. China is also undermining the Commonwealth. India is buying Russian energy. The Chinese economy’s period of extremely strong growth is over, despite its prowess in AI and batteries, for three reasons. First, Xi cracked down on China’s oligarchs, the entrepreneurs who had driven so much of its progress but had started to throw their weight around. The CCP is once again in total control; there are no longer any independent power centres. Real capitalism is dead. Second, the savagery of its lockdowns, its obsession with zero Covid and the cover-ups of the past few years demonstrate that China remains a fundamentally closed society. There is no real individual liberty, no freedom and thus no chance of another sustained economic boom. Last but not least, China’s population fell 850,000 last year, a harbinger of a looming demographic implosion that will turn dozens of cities into ghost towns, throttle the banking system, starve the military and threaten permanent stagnation. India is now the world’s most populous nation, with 1.428 billion residents, against China’s 1.425 billion, according to the United Nations, with America third at 340 million. China’s population is expected to shrink by almost half during the next three quarters of a century, to just 766 million by 2100 – a decline precipitated by its abominable one-child policy, a reminder of the immorality of top-down social engineering. Russian-Chinese trade rose 41.3 per cent in the first four months of the year to $US73 billion, financing Putin’s war.Credit: Andrey Rudakov By contrast, America’s population will continue to grow, hitting 394 million by the end of the century, assuming the country holds together despite its bitter ideological divisions. Unless China’s productivity suddenly rockets, unlikely in Xi’s repressive climate, the gap between the American and Chinese economies may never quite close, or will take much longer to do so than expected. These limits to China’s model coincide with the beginnings of a fightback by the free world, symbolised by Italy’s withdrawal from the Belt and Road initiative. The West is no longer deluded about China’s intentions, its attachment to authoritarian imperialism, or its propensity to engage in espionage and dissembling, even if few realise the immensity of the challenge. But at least the David Cameron-George Osborne “golden era” of close ties with China has long since been forgotten. Liz Truss is travelling to Taiwan next week to warn against China. The Aukus military pact is a great move, as is Britain’s decision to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Japan is rearming. India will become increasingly assertive. A Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis victory would accelerate attempts at decoupling the American and Chinese economies. Confident countries that believe their ascent will continue for the foreseeable future don’t usually choose to precipitate a major war – for example by invading Taiwan. As Robert Tombs, the historian, has pointed out, it is when nations feel that they are running out of time or that they are being cornered that they lash out. So what next? Can we avoid a calamitous, global conflict that will set humanity back 50 years, at best? Will China’s elites see sense and bank their takeover of Putin’s Russia? Or will they worry that their own window of opportunity is closing, and decide to gamble on an invasion of Taiwan, especially if the unfathomably weak Biden is reelected? Britain must hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.
The younger generation in China is not happy. Their dreams have turned into a fiasco. The Chinese Dream is dead because China's Gen Z is flat broke, and they have the receipts to prove it https://www.businessinsider.com/china-gen-z-money-paltry-savings-chinese-dream-dead-2023-5 China's Gen Z is broke, and they have the receipts to prove it. Hundreds of 26-year-olds took to social media to share screenshots of their bank accounts. Some saved less than $1, others crossed the $1,000 mark. But something they all have in common is: They're angry. (More at above url)
China’s loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse https://apnews.com/article/china-de...ies-collapse-8df6f9fac3e1e758d0e6d8d5dfbd3ed6
China blasts G7 joint position on ‘economic coercion’ China | 20 May 2023 China called for the US to stop its “bullying” to coerce allies to disrupt the stability of global supply chains and urged G-7 to abandon its “Cold War mentality.” (AFP) China responded to the Group of Seven nations’ new joint mechanism to counter economic coercion, accusing them of manipulation and interference in its internal affairs. China has serious concerns over the G-7 campaign unveiled this week, according to a statement released Saturday on the official WeChat account of its embassy in the UK. The G-7 has interfered in China’s internal affairs on issues related to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet and has stirred up tensions in the East and South China Seas in recent years, a spokesperson for the embassy said in the statement. The G-7 launched the joint mechanism as a measure aimed largely at perceived hostile actions by China. The G-7 Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion will address “the growing and pernicious use” of such actions to interfere in the sovereign affairs of other states, the UK government said Friday. In its statement, China reiterated that any motion for Taiwan’s independence is a threat to peace in the region. It also emphasized the “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong, and said Xinjiang has the maximum protection for human rights with social stability, economic development and religious harmony. It also stated Tibet has freedom of religious beliefs for all ethnic groups. China called for the US to stop its “bullying” to coerce allies to disrupt the stability of global supply chains and urged the G-7 to abandon its “Cold War mentality.” The G-7 leaders are meeting in Hiroshima. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to make high stakes visit to the summit, seeking to win support from middle powers such as Brazil and India while building on the backing of the US and its allies as Ukraine readies a counter-offensive to Russia’s invasion. (Bloomberg)
oh, get fucked China. Like you don't play the political pressure thru leverage game (looking at cucked Hollywood and NBA).
‘Illegal, malign’: China’s state-sponsored crime stretches across Pacific By Nick McKenzie and Amelia Ballinger May 20, 2023 https://www.smh.com.au/national/ill...stretches-across-pacific-20230517-p5d8xe.html KEY POINTS Australia’s key intelligence allies have called out China as a key threat to democracy. Five Eyes agencies pointed to China’s behaviour in the Pacific and links to organised crime as particularly concerning. The Australian Federal Police declined to name China in the same terms and noted a level of co-operation with Chinese crime agencies. Australia’s key law enforcement partners have launched a blistering attack on the Chinese government, saying the state actor poses the gravest threat to the security of Australia and its allies, while alleging that Beijing is also green-lighting organised crime bosses as agents of influence in Pacific Island nations. Britain’s National Crime Agency director-general Graeme Biggar described “a massive effort from the Chinese state” to engage in cyber espionage. Biggar said while Russian hackers were responsible for much of the world’s “cyber criminality”, Beijing was engaged in a “really significant” campaign “of pure espionage on a normal state level and then industrial espionage to steal intellectual property”. Britain’s chief counter-terror officer, assistant commissioner Matt Jukes, detailed Beijing’s “concerted effort to influence political figures, intimidate diaspora communities and … forcibly repatriate people who are opponents or to intimidate people whose families are in opposition to the Chinese Communist Party”. The US, Canada and Britain have all moved against secret Chinese police stations in their countries in recent weeks. Duheme, Abbate and Jukes said they were used by Beijing to track and intimidate dissidents. Australia’s first two, and only, foreign interference prosecutions involve allegations that Chinese intelligence operatives were directing third parties to carry out clandestine activities on behalf of Beijing in Australia. But Kershaw has also recently renewed partnerships with Beijing’s security services that have led to multi-tonne drug seizures. Lowy Institute China scholar Richard McGregor said Kershaw’s “caution in public [on China] is not surprising, as he has always been open about what he believes to be the value of Chinese co-operation in cracking down on the narcotics trade”. But McGregor said it was certain “that if the FBI has tracked connections between Chinese organised crime and Chinese government-linked bodies in the Pacific, then not only would Australia know about it. We would have been instrumental in uncovering the information”. Pressed on why he refused to discuss Beijing’s hostile activities in his interview with this masthead, Kershaw cited the AFP’s success in “operationalising intelligence” provided by China’s Ministry of Public Security and revealed he’d recently met with law enforcement leaders and agreed to continue to “exchange intelligence and ... respect each other’s sovereignty”. Abbate accused Beijing of abetting the fentanyl crisis in the US. He said “the Chinese government plays a huge role and serves as a driver” of America’s opioid addiction epidemic by failing to curb the mass export of fentanyl from China. Officials who briefed this masthead said Chinese authorities shared information with Australia only when it suited Beijing’s interests. Research fellow from the US think tank the Brookings Institution, Vanda Felbab-Brown, recently told the US Congress: “While China takes counter-narcotics diplomacy in South-East Asia and the Pacific very seriously, its operational law enforcement co-operation tends to be highly selective, self-serving, limited and subordinate to its geopolitical interests.” Battle for influence Kershaw would also not be drawn on whether the AFP’s recent Pacific expansion funding in the budget was about containing Chinese influence. “I think part of it is countering any organised crime group that’s actually eroding away democracy and the economies of the Pacific,” he told this masthead and60 Minutes. He made the comments after delivering a speech to the FELEG in which he attacked unnamed “state actors” who “are using and profiting from organised crime”. Chinese security services have made significant inroads in Pacific Island nations, including Solomon Islands and, until the recent change of government, Fiji. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, the US agency responsible for combating transnational organised crime, both said Beijing was working with organised criminals in the Pacific to advance its geopolitical aims. In late 2020, the US government sanctioned notorious triad boss Wan “Broken Tooth” Kuok Koi, alleging he was engaging in organised crime in South-East Asia and the tiny Pacific Island of Palau while maintaining close ties with the CCP. Beijing denied the latter claim. US government officials are considering sanctioning other Chinese crimes bosses across the Pacific. Homeland Security’s acting executive director PJ Lechleitner said the US and its allies “were trying to play a little catch-up” to counter Beijing’s success in the region. He said the Chinese government “leverage those [transnational crime] organisations to basically exploit that and extend their sphere of influence”. Lechleitner said Beijing-backed organised crime groups had made inroads in some Pacific Island nations by targeting “corrupt governments”. “They come in, they influence that, they get in with the local governing structure. And then once they’re in, now they can start increasing their influence in that area and control more and more as they go.” “The transnational criminal organisations throughout the Pacific are into everything, so they’re poly-criminal, meaning they will do whatever to make money. So they’re going to traffic in dangerous narcotics, any kind of drugs. They’re heavily involved in money laundering.”
Microsoft warns that China hackers attacked U.S. infrastructure Published Wed, May 24 2023 Rohan Goswami@in/rohangoswamicnbc/@rogoswam https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/24/microsoft-warns-that-china-hackers-attacked-us-infrastructure.html Key Points Chinese state-sponsored hackers have compromised “critical” cyber infrastructure in a variety of industries, including government and communications organizations, Microsoft said Wednesday. The hacking group is called “Vault Typhoon,” and has been in operation since 2021. Impacted parties have already been notified. Microsoft warned on Wednesday that Chinese state-sponsored hackers had compromised “critical” U.S. cyber infrastructure across numerous industries with a focus on gathering intelligence. The Chinese hacking group, codenamed “Volt Typhoon,” has operated since mid-2021, Microsoft said in an advisory. The organization is apparently working to disrupt “critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia,” Microsoft said, to stymie efforts during “future crises.” The National Security Agency put out a bulletin on Wednesday, detailing how the hack works and how cybersecurity teams should respond. The attack is apparently ongoing. In an advisory, Microsoft urged impacted customers to “close or change credentials for all compromised accounts.” U.S. intelligence agencies became aware of the incursion in February, around the same time that a Chinese spy balloon was downed, the New York Times reported. The infiltration was focused on communications infrastructure in Guam and other parts of the U.S., the Times reported, and was particularly alarming to U.S. intelligence because Guam sits at the heart of an American military response in case of a Taiwanese invasion. Volt Typhoon is able to infiltrate organizations using a unnamed vulnerability in a popular cybersecurity suite called FortiGuard, Microsoft said. Once the hacking group has gained access to a corporate system, it steals user credentials from the security suite and uses them to try to gain access to other corporate systems. The state-sponsored hackers aren’t looking to create disruption yet, Microsoft said. Rather, “the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible.” Infrastructure in nearly every critical sector has been impacted, Microsoft said, including the communications, transport, and maritime industries. Government organizations were also targeted. Chinese government-backed hackers have targeted critical and sensitive information from U.S. companies before. Covington and Burling, a prominent law firm, was hacked by suspected Chinese state-sponsored hackers in 2020. In a joint statement with international and domestic intelligence services, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that Chinese attacks pose a continued risk to American intellectual property. “For years, China has conducted aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations around the globe,” CISA director Jen Easterly said in a statement.