Wednesday, 15 June 2022

China promised not to militarise South China Sea

Results of  Google search on the above topic:



US accuses China of breaking promise not to militarize South ...

http://hanoitimes.vn › Defend the sovereignty
29 Sept 2020 — Chinese President Xi Jinping said five years ago that China's ... keep its promise not to pursue militarization in the South China Sea that ...

China has militarised the South China Sea and got away with it

https://www.economist.com › asia › 2018/06/21 › china...
21 Jun 2018 — It is not clear what the “consequences” are that America has promised | Asia.

Xi denies China turning artificial islands into military bases

https://www.reuters.com › article › us-usa-china-pacific...
25 Sept 2015 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama expressed concerns about Chinese militarization of artificial islands in the South China ...

South China Sea islands: Beijing 'breaks pledge' on military ...

https://www.thetimes.co.uk › article › south-china-sea-isla...
21 Mar 2022 — At least three artificially built islands in the South China Sea have been militarised by Beijing, creating a heavily weaponised battle line ...

What Are China's Leaders Saying About the South China Sea?

https://fsi.stanford.edu › news › what-are-china’s-leader...
23 Feb 2021 — In September 2015, Xi made a public statement at the White House promising not to “militarise” the artificial islands China had been building in ...

China to 'block the flow of global trade' with island 'militarisation'

https://www.express.co.uk › News › World
4 Jun 2022 — ... when Xi Jinping has met Obama, there were promises that [China] would not occupy and militarise islands [in the South China sea].

Smear of China's moves in S.China Sea an excuse to ...

https://www.globaltimes.cn › page
21 Mar 2022 — Aquilino claimed the "hostile actions" of China were in stark contrast to China's promise not to turn those islands into military bases.
Missing: militarise ‎| Must include: militarise

US-China debate over militarization of South China Sea - Asia ...

https://asiatimes.com › 2022/03 › us-china-debate-over-...
25 Mar 2022 — Aquilino also raised the old canard that China had violated President Xi Jinping's pledge not to militarize the features.

South China Sea Artificial Islands - NDTV.com

https://www.ndtv.com › topic › south-china-sea-artificia...
The Philippines will make a diplomatic protest to China, which it described as reneging on a promise not to militarise artificial islands in the busy South ...


Territorial disputes in the South China Sea - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Territorial_disputes_in...
The tribunal did not rule on the ownership of the islands or delimit maritime boundaries. Both the People's Republic of China and Taiwan stated that they did ...


Is China Expansionist? - JSTOR

https://www.jstor.org › stable
by K Mahbubani2020Cited by 3 — soldier has set back China-India relations severely, undermining all the good work that had been done ... promised not to militarize the South China Sea,.

New Photos Cast Doubt on China's Vow Not to Militarize ...

https://www.nytimes.com › World › Asia Pacific
8 Aug 2016 — ... China's Vow Not to Militarize Disputed Islands. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/world/asia/china-spratly-islands-south-china-sea.html.
Missing: promise ‎| Must include: promise

Military Confrontation in the South China Sea - Council on ...

https://www.cfr.org › report › military-confrontation-so...
21 May 2020 — Since 2009, China has advanced its territorial claims in this region through a variety of tactics—such as reclaiming land, militarizing islands ...

Xi broke promise on South China Sea: Top US general

https://www.france24.com › 20190529-xi-broke-promi...
29 May 2019 — The US military's top general said Wednesday that Chinese President Xi Jingping reneged on promises not to militarize the South China Sea ...

Beijing says it has right to develop South China Sea islands

https://thehill.com › policy › international › 599176-bei...
22 Mar 2022 — China on Tuesday said it has the right to develop islands in the South ... from Chinese President Xi Jinping, who promised not to militarize ...

Taiwan Won't Militarize Largest South China Sea Island ...

https://www.newsweek.com › ... › Taipei › Xi jinping
23 Mar 2022 — Taiwan's defense minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, said Taipei had no intention of deviating from this position. Pratas is also claimed by China, while ...

Where The US And China Could Clash In The South China Sea

https://www.bloomberg.com › graphics › 2020-south-c...
17 Dec 2020 — Many members of his national security team vividly recall Xi Jinping telling Barack Obama that China had no intention of militarizing land ...

China fires back at US over environment, South China Sea

https://abcnews.go.com › wireStory › china-fires-back-...
28 Sept 2020 — ... that it is a leading cause of global environmental damage and has reneged on its promise not to militarize the South China Sea.

AP Exclusive: US admiral says China fully militarized isles

https://apnews.com › article › business-china-beijing-xi-...
21 Mar 2022 — OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEA (AP) — China has fully militarized at ... that Beijing would not transform the artificial islands in contested ...

China's Military Aggression in the Indo-Pacific Region - State ...

https://2017-2021.state.gov › chinas-military-aggressio...
Beijing should not be allowed to treat the South China Sea as its maritime ... Xi's unambiguous promise in 2015 to not militarize the Spratly Islands.

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Bloomberg News staffer released on bail in China, authorities say

 Hong Kong (CNN)A Chinese national employed by Bloomberg News was released on bail earlier this year following more than a year in detention, according to Chinese authorities.

By Simone McCarthy, CNN

Updated 0911 GMT (1711 HKT) June 15, 2022






Haze Fan, a member of Bloomberg's bureau in Beijing, was last seen being escorted from her building in Beijing by "plain clothes security officials" in December 2020 and was held on suspicion of endangering national security, Bloomberg said at the time.
A statement from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, dated May 6, was brought to the attention of Bloomberg over the weekend, a report from the news agency said on Tuesday. Bloomberg has not been able to contact Fan, it said.
    China's state security authority released Fan on bail in January pending trial, the embassy said in its statement. The case is still under investigation and Fan's "legitimate rights and interests have been fully protected," the statement said.
      Fan was formally arrested by China's state security authority last July "on suspicion of committing crimes endangering national security," according to the embassy.
      The embassy included information about her case as part of a rebuttal letter it said it sent to The Washington Post in response to an advert in the paper marking World Press Day, which included information about Fan. The letter was subsequently posted on the embassy's website.
      "We are encouraged that Haze is out on bail," said John Micklethwait, Bloomberg's editor in chief, in the outlet's report on the case Tuesday. "She is a much valued member of our Beijing bureau -- and we will continue to do everything possible to help her and her family."
        Fan joined Bloomberg in 2017 and previously worked for CNBC, Al Jazeera, CBS and Reuters in Beijing, according to Bloomberg.
        Chinese nationals are only permitted to work for foreign news outlets in "auxiliary" roles and must be hired through a Foreign Ministry-affiliated agency.
        Bloomberg did not immediately comment further. The news agency has previously sought information on Fan's whereabouts from the Chinese government and the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
        Fan's case caught international attention, coming shortly after the detention of high-profile Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who had been an anchor for English-language state media outlet CGTN prior to her detention in August 2020.
        Cheng was accused of illegally supplying state secrets overseas. Her case came before the courts in March where a verdict was deferred.
        Observers have frequently raised concerns over secretive court processes and extrajudicial detentions in China.
          The country is the world's worst jailer of journalists, with 50 news workers behind bars, according to a December 2021 report from the New York-based nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists.
          In its statement, the Chinese Embassy said Fan's case had "nothing to do with her status as a foreign media employee" and "even less to do with the so-called 'Press Freedom.'"
          https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/15/media/bloomberg-journalist-released-bail-china-intl-hnk/index.html
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          Is China following Japan's prewar path in the South Pacific? MUST READ

           Beijing's growing clout in strategic region irks U.S., Australia

          Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks on a recent island-hopping trip to the South Pacific. Beijing wants to boost its influence in the region through infrastructure projects such as one near a sea wall in Fiji, left. (Source photos by AP) 

          HIROYUKI AKITA, Nikkei commentator

          https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Comment/Is-China-following-Japan-s-prewar-path-in-the-South-Pacific

          TOKYO -- China's drive to boost its influence in the South Pacific has set alarm bells ringing in major Western powers and revived uncomfortable memories of events in the strategically important region during the run up to World War II.

          At that time it was Japan's southward advance that stoked apprehension and uncertainty in governments around the world. Now, parallels with modern China's growing assertiveness are spooking countries including the U.S. and Australia.

          Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on June 4 wrapped up a tour to seven South Pacific island nations and East Timor. During his 10-day visit, Wang pledged economic aid to several countries and hosted an online meeting of foreign ministers from the region.

          Wang’s trip appeared to underscore China’s desire to make the South Pacific part of its sphere of influence — especially as it included a proposal to strike a sweeping agreement on a range of issues with 10 countries from the area.

          Even though the deal wasn’t signed during the visit, a leaked draft stirred concern among Western policymakers as it showed China pushing to help South Pacific countries build police forces, digital governance and cybersecurity systems. Such steps would significantly bolster Beijing’s clout in the region.

          https%253A%252F%252Fs3 ap northeast 1.amazonaws.com%252Fpsh ex ftnikkei 3937bb4%252Fimages%252F1%252F4%252F7%252F1%252F40871741 3 eng GB%252F20220613 South Pacific Map

          China’s initial efforts in the South Pacific were aimed at persuading any nations with formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan to sever those connections. Indeed, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati in 2019 broke off relations with Taiwan and established diplomatic ties with Beijing.

          China has also expanded its economic presence in the South Pacific with lavish aid. Western nations suspect that Beijing’s ultimate goal is to build military bases there.

          That suspicion was reinforced by a security pact China signed with the Solomon Islands in April. While its contents remain secret, it is most likely designed to open the door to high-level military cooperation between the two countries. Some fear the pact will allow Beijing to send troops to the island nation and use its ports for naval visits.

          Experts believe China’s medium-term goal is to block U.S. military intervention in areas behind the so-called third island chain, which starts at the Aleutian Islands and runs south across the center of the Pacific Ocean toward Oceania. Building bases in the South Pacific, which straddles the second and third island chains, would help China create “unsinkable aircraft carriers” in the high seas.

          Nearby Australia is particularly worried. China is clearly seeking to use its footholds on South Pacific islands for military purposes, said an Australian security official. Beijing’s advance will become unstoppable unless it is blocked now, the official warned.

          But China is just repeating what it has been doing in areas closer to home for years: It has built several artificial islands in the South China Sea, installing missiles and radars there.

          And the South Pacific is no stranger to tussles between outside powers.

          During World War I, Japan occupied a German colony in the Micronesian islands, which included the Marianas and Marshall Islands. Japan took formal control there in 1920 after the League of Nations gave it a mandate.

          At first, Japan focused on building infrastructure like ports and airports on those islands as private-sector projects. However, in the late 1930s, it accelerated the construction of military bases there. By the time Japan was at war with the U.S. in December 1941, its military had built about 10 ground bases in the region.

          “In the 1920s, Japan began racing to build strategic military outposts in the South Pacific in anticipation of war with the U.S.,” said Tomoyuki Ishizu, director of the Center for Military History at the National Institute for Defense Studies, the Japanese defense ministry’s research arm. “Japan sought to build ‘unsinkable carriers’ in the middle of the Pacific to strike American battleships each time they approached from the U.S. mainland and Hawaii.”

          In fact, when war broke out in the Pacific, the Japanese military used its bases in the region to invade and occupy the key American naval outpost of Guam and other places. In 1942, it seized control of Rabaul, the then capital of the Australian Mandated Territory of New Guinea, turning it into a major Japanese naval and air installation.

          Japan then moved to occupy Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands to cut sea lines of communication between the U.S. and Australia. The Japanese and the U.S.-led Allied forces fought a notoriously fierce battle there from 1942 to 1943.

          https%253A%252F%252Fs3 ap northeast 1.amazonaws.com%252Fpsh ex ftnikkei 3937bb4%252Fimages%252F1%252F3%252F6%252F4%252F40864631 1 eng GB%252Fphoto SXM2022060900007677
          Chinese President Xi Jinping, second from right, on a tour to inspect the country’s southern island province of Hainan in April. (Xinhua/Kyodo)

          For both the U.S. and Australia, China’s expansion into the South Pacific conjures up images of bloody conflict during that war.

          “If China were to establish military outposts in the region, those strategic positions would complicate U.S. and allied military operations in peacetime and in war,” said Toshi Yoshihara, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

          “In peacetime, those outposts would be used to entrench Chinese leverage, monitor U.S. and allied military movements, and enhance China’s situational awareness in the region. In wartime, China would be better positioned to interdict the movement of U.S. forces across the Pacific and to threaten sea lines of communication connecting the U.S. and Australia.”

          “The potential wartime challenges would resemble those that the imperial Japanese forces posed during the Pacific War,” Yoshihara said.

          A key question is how far China is aware of the sense of alarm its action could trigger in the U.S. and Australia, which have not forgotten the hardship and suffering they endured during the war with Japan.

          China started serious research into past wars, especially the war in the Pacific, in the 1980s, according to a Chinese military expert. But those efforts mostly focused on factors and events leading to the Pearl Harbor attack and certain individual battles, including the Battle of Midway. It is questionable how far Beijing is aware of the emotional and psychological impact its military presence in the South Pacific could have on the U.S. and Australia.

          Given the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing in the South China Sea as well as the Taiwan Strait, it would be extremely dangerous if China wades deeper into risky waters in the South Pacific without understanding the sense of dread its actions will likely prompt among Western powers.


          https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Comment/Is-China-following-Japan-s-prewar-path-in-the-South-Pacific

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          Thursday, 9 June 2022

          Congress targets Harvard, Yale and top universities with China-linked endowments

          A new bill from Republican Greg Murphy is pushing divestment from firms linked to rights abuses, security risks.


          By PHELIM KINE

          A view of a gate to Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University. | Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

          Congress first targeted U.S. universities’ Chinese state-backed Confucius Institutes, then their academic partnerships with China.

          Now, some in Congress are preparing to go after America’s top institutions of higher learning and their enormous endowments in potentially problematic Chinese companies.

          Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) is drafting legislation — the Protecting Endowments from Our Adversaries Act — designed to cut U.S. university endowment investments that fund abusive or hostile Chinese entities. Murphy doesn’t yet have co-sponsors for the bill, but told POLITICO that he expects “a lot of interest from a lot of folks in both houses.”

          On Thursday, Murphy sent a letter to the 15 private universities with the largest endowments — Harvard, Yale, Duke and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among them — asking them to purge their investment portfolios of “entities that are supporting the imprisonment of Uyghur Muslims or aiding the Russian Federation’s horrific invasion of Ukraine.” Murphy also wants those schools to vet their endowment portfolios for any “adversarial entities” named on U.S. government sanction lists.

          A successful congressional push to sever U.S. university endowments from Chinese investments could provide a template for legislation requiring private sector investors, including private equity firms and hedge funds, to do likewise, downsizing the U.S. financial sector’s relationship with China.

          “Our colleges and universities which have been given a tax-free status do not need to be investing in this nation that wants to see our downfall,” Murphy told POLITICO. “I wanted to start with those institutions that have the biggest endowments and I think it will start a snowballing effect to other institutions.”

          Murphy is a China hawk with a record of past — but so far unsuccessful — legislative initiatives targeting malign Chinese influence on U.S. university campuses and on Capitol Hill. Murphy urged Attorney General Merrick Garland in January to revive the Department of Justice’s controversial China Initiative program in order to “root out any possible Chinese espionage” on college campuses.

          With Democrats in control, Murphy’s latest effort is unlikely to succeed in this Congress. But his letter is putting universities on notice that Congress wants a say in how they invest their endowments.

          The value of U.S. university endowments totaled more than $800 billion in 2021. The endowments of the 15 private schools Murphy is targeting with legislation he’ll introduce in coming weeks have an estimated combined value of $331 billion.

          That legislation would “disincentivize” university endowments from investments in firms listed on U.S. government sanction lists, including the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which targets individuals and companies implicated in any “activities sanctioned by the State Department and activities contrary to U.S. national security and or foreign policy interests.” The bill calls for a 50 percent excise tax on the principal and a 100 percent excise tax on any realized profits from investments in such entities.


          Murphy’s initiative echoes the efforts of Keith Krach, former under secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, who urged university governing boards in 2020 to disclose details of endowment investments in Chinese firms and to divest from those on the Commerce Department’s Entity List or linked to human rights abuses. Universities ignored Krach’s advice.

          “I’m old enough to know about the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa … [and] the divestment movement that got started at Berkeley and then spread through campuses,” Krach said. “I really wanted [my divestment proposal] to be kind of a catalyst to create a movement … there’s nothing that can be more effective and have more passion and ground forces than students.”

          That groundswell of student action has coalesced in the nonprofit Athenai Institute, dedicated to prodding U.S. universities into divesting their endowments of any Chinese Communist Party-linked investments. Athenai’s strategy is to use university divestment of problematic Chinese investments as a roadmap for the private sector to purge its balance sheets of similar holdings.

          “University endowments … [are] a substantial pool of money to create momentum for [wider] divestment,” said Athenai’s president, John Metz. “As the pool of university endowment funds and other institutional investor funds which can’t be invested in certain Chinese companies [grows] … it becomes harder for Wall Street to look away.”

          U.S. universities face growing pressure to restrict educational ties with Chinese entities. Provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act deny Department of Defense funding to universities that host Beijing-backed Confucius Institutes — which academics and human rights activists have accused of being Chinese propaganda agents.

          Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a bill last month that would prohibit universities from any collaborations with Chinese institutions “in areas of cutting-edge technology that could improve the PLA’s ability to wage war against the United States and its allies.”

          Rubio and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, convened a meeting in April with several dozen college presidents organized by the Association of American Universities to voice congressional concerns about ties to problematic Chinese institutions.

          The meeting, which included representatives of the FBI and the Office of the National Director of Intelligence, produced a consensus that “there is a real threat out there and that whatever partnerships that [universities] have with China should be viewed that way,” a meeting attendee told POLITICO. The group shared best practices to counter threats from China, such as nurturing relationships with FBI field offices, and university presidents pledged to continue to cooperate on the issue.

          University endowments have a history of links to companies implicated in human rights abuses in China. BuzzFeed reported in 2019 that MIT, Duke and Princeton invested endowment funds in a company linked to human rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Princeton didn’t respond to a request for comment and Duke and MIT declined to comment.

          “For far too long … university endowments have unwittingly helped fund Chinese companies responsible for perpetrating pretty egregious human rights abuses and not to mention China’s military,” said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the nonprofit Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “We think there’s a broader recognition that the Chinese Communist Party is keen to leverage American capital against American interests.”

          Most private universities are reluctant to discuss the possibility that their massive endowments in index funds may seed Chinese firms implicated in rights abuses or technology development that could pose a threat to national security.

          Yale’s University Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility announced in January that it would begin a review of investments linked to its endowment — which totaled $42.3 billion in June 2021 — “to determine whether some may be deemed ineligible for Yale investment in light of the Chinese government’s widespread human rights violations,” the Yale Daily News reported.

          Harvard — which boasts an endowment valued at over $53 billion — is considering reducing its endowment’s investments in China due to “growing political and market risk,” Bloomberg reported in April. Both Yale and Harvard declined POLITICO’s requests for comment.

          “The most skeptical response we’ve gotten [from universities] has been, ‘Well, this will be difficult for us because we don’t manage our own passive investments and therefore it’s difficult for us to audit our endowment,’” Metz said.

          That argument ignores university initiatives to divest from fossil fuel investments in recent years.

          “There’s precedent within these institutions to move their investments because of things that they either don’t like or feel that are better for our environment,” said Murphy. “If they tell their investment company ‘we want to divest out of companies in China,’ it’s very easily done.”

          Catholic University of America is pioneering efforts to vet its endowments for problematic investments. CUA administrators in December responded to a student council resolution urging such divestment by reviewing its endowment portfolio to “align investments with moral beliefs.”

          “The University is working with Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the leading advocate for shareholder concerns to public companies, to identify any company involved in or benefiting from human rights violations, including Uyghur exploitation,” Amber Roseboom, CUA’s associate vice president of university communications, said in a statement. “The ISS deeper dive … searches thousands of publicly available media and stakeholder services to identify areas of exploitation or concerns for other moral abuses. At this point, the search has not identified a company in which the University invests that is known to be involved in or benefit from Uyghur exploitation.”

          CUA has inspired divestment activism at other schools. Georgetown University’s Hong Kong Student Association and Muslim Student Association urged school administrators in January to divest the school’s endowment from any investments “that may implicate the university in the ongoing genocide in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.”

          George Washington University has a Uyghur Divestment Committee with an online petition calling for endowment divestment from “companies complicit in the Uyghur genocide.” And last month, Cornell University faculty organized a “teach-in” focused on “Cornell Involvement in the People’s Republic of China.”


          “It’s extremely important for Cornell and other universities with large endowments to look carefully at some of those investments particularly with respect to Xinjiang, but not exclusively,” said Eli Friedman, associate professor and chair of International & Comparative Labor at Cornell. “There are other companies in China that are engaged in activities that I think do not comport with our stated values like tech companies that are overseeing massive censorship operations.”

          Athenai Institute plans to extend its divestment campaign to the endowments of U.S. service universities, including the U.S. Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, West Point, Coast Guard Academy and National Defense University. “Their endowments are much smaller than those held by public and private universities, but almost all of their endowment funding comes from alumni who may or may not realize that their gifts are being used to invest in Chinese companies supporting China’s military,” said Singleton.

          POLITICO contacted all five of those service academies for comment. Only the U.S. Naval Academy responded. “The Joint Investment Committee of the USNA Alumni Association and Foundation specifically and proactively discussed the need for our portfolio to have no direct holdings in such Chinese entities,” Heather Epkins, director of communications at the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association & Foundation, said in a statement. “We have instituted a periodic review process and an exit strategy process … to date, we have had no direct holdings and have directed our investment managers, via our Outsourced Chief Investment Officer, to avoid such investment.”

          Murphy wants universities to embrace the vetting of their endowment investments for problematic Chinese entities as ethically and financially prudent.

          “This isn’t meant to penalize anybody, but this is a real problem,” Murphy said. “What greater issue should [we] be divested from than one that is adversarial to our national security?”

          Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.

          https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/09/congress-targets-harvard-yale-and-top-universities-with-china-linked-endowments-00038625

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