Explosive NBA/China scandal, U.K. citizenship for Hong Kong, and more espionage
It's The China Letter: July 30, 2020
A slam dunk of a scandal
When a tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of pro-democracy protesters led the China to pull the NBA from state TV, an investigation started at ESPN into the league’s business relationships there. What they found was how a lucrative contract has Beijing calling the shots, and the mistreatment of trainees.
Another international brand’s relationship with China is in the limelight in Canada, where the WE Charity is in the middle of a scandal involving conflicts of interest in a government student volunteer program. The co-founding Kielburger brothers courted the market for WE, and Beijing reciprocated by using them as apparent propaganda tools.
Fleeing for citizenship
“Remember that handover took place on the basis that its partial democracy and market economy would be respected. But that's been eroded so visibly in recent years.
“It was notable not one MP in the House of Commons spoke against the next phase of Britain and Hong Kong's story being to offer a home to islanders here. Government's decisions are still affected by choices made decades ago.”
Read more about the U.K.’s offer
Between two consulates
China took control of the U.S. consulate in Chengdu in what’s seen as an inflection point in relations between the two nations. What started with an order to evict diplomats from the Chinese consulate in Houston due to allegations of hacking to steal medical research resulted in a hasty retaliation.
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Connect with criminality
Professional networking website LinkedIn was the platform that Singaporean PhD student Jun Wei Yeo used to represent himself as running a fake consulting company and lure in American targets as a Chinese agent. He’s now pled guilty to being an “illegal agent of foreign power,” and Yeo’s PhD adviser is happy that they caught him.
The law has moved online
Four students recently detained for “inciting secession” on social media provided evidence of the depths of the new security law. University of Hong Kong also fired law professor Benny Tai for his role in the 2014 pro-democracy protests, in a move linked to Beijing, while other countries striking back at the law are now experiencing tit-for-tat:
The last words, for now
A middle school in central China went viral for images of slogans on a signboard in the playground, with messages like “chaste women have smarter children.” The warnings were apparently posted by a local resident who was cautioned by police, but it nonetheless highlighted how this approach to morality-based education is on the rise:
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