Hong Kong youth crave freedom of America
The China Letter: October 31, 2020
A strategic detainment
Tony Chung was detained at a coffee shop days before he was charged under the new national security law. If found guilty of secession, conspiracy to publish seditious content and money laundering, he faces life in prison. The 19-year-old student was reportedly planning to claim asylum from the U.S. at the consulate across the street.
America is striking back
A total of eight individuals were charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with conspiring to act as illegal agents, with five were arrested in the U.S. while the others are believed to be in China. The defendants allegedly stalked and harassed American citizens over multiple years through surveillance tactics approved by Beijing.
The bureaus of six U.S.-based news media have been forced by China to file detailed information about their operations there, making them the third such group ordered to this status. It’s the latest volley in a battle that previously involved the White House designating six Chinese outlets as foreign missions, to push back against propaganda.
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Huawei answering the call
The eight most influential mobile browsers will receive a “rectification” enforced by the Cyberspace Administration of China, to block access to independent social media accounts offering content outlawed by the country. Huawei was first to say it would abide by the regulator’s request, at the same time it continues to make news elsewhere:
Continuing to fight extradition to the U.S. is Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, whose arrest was the subject of a court testimony by a Canadian police officer, who described Washington’s request for an arrest while seizing her electronic devices. The argument that Canada was misled about Meng’s fraud case will soon receive their airing in court.
Cleaning up their agenda
China relying more on its own technologies is a central theme of the five-year plan outlined by the Communist party after a four-day conclave in Beijing. A further goal within 15 years is to have established “a great modern socialist country.” The plan also finds the planet’s biggest polluter pledging to work towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.
The last words, for now
See all the photos from the Happy Valley Wuhan amusement park by clicking here.
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