BY JENNIFER ZENG

November 15, 2018 Updated: November 15, 2018

WASHINGTON-The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s coordinated and long-term efforts to become a dominant global power have put at risk the national security and economic interests of the United States, its allies, and its partners, and U. S. policy makers have difficult decisions to make based on the new reality, according to the annual report to the Congress by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).

Released on Nov. 14, the 525-page report addresses issues in 4 sectors: U.S.-China economic and trade relations, U.S.-China security relations, China and the world, and China’s high-tech development.

Michael Wessel, who has been a commissioner ever since USCC was created in October 2000, said the 2018 report is “evolutionary.”

L-R: Commissioner Micheal McDevitt, Commissioner Katherine Tobin, Vice Chairman Carolyn Bartholomew, Chairman Robin Cleveland, Commissioner Glenn Hubbard, Commissioner Roy Kamphausen, and Commissioner Larry Wortzel attending the roll out of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report in the Hart Office Building in Washington on Nov. 14, 2018. (Jennifer Zeng/The Epoch Times)

“Many of the concerns that we have raised continue to evolve,” he said. “We now see that the public policy system is caught up in part to the assessments we’ve been making for a number of years.

“This year is really about doubling down in terms of the assessment and looking at other tools that can be used to address the challenges we face.”

In the introduction to the report, its authors said: “For several decades, U.S. policy toward China was rooted in hopes that economic, diplomatic, and security engagement would lay the foundation for a more open, liberal, and responsible China. Those hopes have, so far, proven futile.”

“Many of those who supported China’s accession to the World Trade Organization believed economic growth would raise the quality of life for the Chinese people, but hoped it would also deepen reform and perhaps eventually spark political liberalization. The opposite has happened, ” the introduction says.

“The CCP has used economic growth—coupled more recently with its anticorruption campaign—to strengthen its own grasp on authority, advance its state-capitalist model, buttress authoritarian governments abroad, leverage its market against other nations, and fund a massive buildup of Chinese military power to intimidate and silence its neighbors.”

The report also finds that China’s economic liberalization has stalled and many reforms have been reversed. It also describes the damage done U.S. companies and the U.S. economy.

This handout image provided by Chinese tech company Huawei shows a giant artificial intelligence-powered Rubiks Cube in London, England on Oct. 25, 2018. (Tom Nicholson/Huawei via Getty Images)

“Foreign companies hoping to participate in China’s market must pay a high price for admission, transfer technology, and suffer regulations that tilt the playing field in favor of their Chinese competitors. U.S. companies, inventors, and workers have witnessed the damaging impact of China’s trade-distorting policies in curtailed exports, stolen intellectual property, and dumped products flooding the U.S. market. ”

Security Relations

With U.S.-China security relations, the report notices that China has increased its efforts to build a “world-class” military and to advance its sovereignty claims over disputed territory.

“By 2018, leaders of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force have all publicly referred to China’s military as a ‘peer Competitor’ in certain scenarios,” the report says.

“In word and deed, the CCP has abandoned any inclination for economic and political liberalization. Rather than promoting fair trade and investment, China engages in predatory economic practices.

“Rather than providing development finance in line with established rules, China provides loans and investment in nontransparent ways on projects that do not always meet global governance standards and pass tests of commercial viability,” the report concludes.

“Rather than respecting other countries’ sovereign rights, China is altering the status quo in the Indo- Pacific and has publicly congratulated itself on its militarization of the South China Sea.

“Rather than promoting the free flow of information and human rights at home and abroad, China is doubling down on censorship and technologically-enabled repression, including against China’s Uyghur ethnic minority population.”

When discussing the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)”, which is referred to by the CCP as the “project of the century” and was even written into China’s constitution, the report finds, “BRI could pose a significant challenge for U.S. interests and values because it may enable China to export its model of authoritarian governance and encourages and validates authoritarian actors abroad.”

Influence Efforts

When discussing China’s relations with U.S. allies and partners, the report mentions that “Beijing has intensified its influence efforts using an expanding array of tools, often to the detriment of the United States and its relationships with important allied and partner countries…Beijing’s use of these influence instruments aims to weaken opposition to China’s policies and undermine and subvert U.S. alliances and partnerships. If successful, these efforts could fundamentally weaken the United States’ ability to support democracy and international law.”

The report uses one full chapter to discuss China’s high-tech development in next generation connectivity, and finds that “the Chinese government seeks to overtake the United States in these industries to gain a higher share of the economic benefits and technological innovation.

A staff member watches over a truck as he talks on his interphone at a port in Qingdao, in east China’s Shandong Province on Nov. 8, 2018. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

“Chinese firms have already leveraged strong state support to become global leaders in information technology and network equipment manufacturing, and have strengthened their roles in international standards-setting and deployment of 5G, ” the report says.

The report warns against not only about the possibility of loss of economical and market opportunities, but also the security risks the U.S. would suffer if it cannot catch up in these areas.

“The lax security protections and universal connectivity of Internet of Things (IoT) devices create numerous points of vulnerability that hackers or malicious state actors can exploit to hold U.S. critical infrastructure, businesses, and individuals at risk. These types of risks will grow as IoT devices become more complex, more numerous, and embedded within existing physical structures.”

Recommendations

To tackle all the challenges, the report lays out 26 recommendations, identifying the following as key:

• Preparing an annual report to Congress to ensure supply chain vulnerabilities from China are adequately addressed;

• Examining whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should bring, in coordination with U.S. allies and partners, a “non-violation nullification or impairment” case—alongside violations of specific commitments—against China at the World Trade Organization;

• Examining the application of current U.S. laws to prosecuting Chinese Communist Party affiliates who threaten, coerce, or otherwise intimidate U.S. residents, clarifying that labels required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act on informational materials disseminated on behalf of foreign principals, such as China Daily, must appear prominently at the top of the first page of such materials;

• Producing a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), with a classified annex, that details the impact of existing and potential Chinese access and basing facilities along the Belt and Road on freedom of navigation and sea control, both in peacetime and during a conflict;

• Producing an unclassified annual report, with a classified annex, on the Chinese Communist Party’s influence and propaganda activities in the United States;

• Providing a report, with a classified annex, assessing how the change in the China Coast Guard’s command structure affects its status as a law enforcement entity now that it reports to the Central Military Commission.

• Identifying (1) steps to ensure the rapid and secure deployment of a 5G network, with a particular focus on the threat posed by equipment and services designed or manufactured in China; and (2) whether any new statutory authorities are required to ensure the security of domestic 5G networks.

• Conducting an assessment of U.S.-China collaborative initiatives in technical cooperation.

• Providing a report within 180 days on the current state of Chinese enforcement of sanctions on North Korea.

• Identifying the trade-distorting practices of Chinese state-owned enterprises and develop policies to counteract their anticompetitive impact.

 Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/report-hopes-that-guided-us-china-policy-proven-futile_2716979.html

Chinese tanks parade not far from the borders of China and Mongolia in Siberia, on Sept. 13, 2018. (MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images)

BY JENNIFER ZENG

November 13, 2018 Updated: November 13, 2018

WASHINGTON—A resolution aimed at preventing organ transplant operations from becoming “a profitable tool in a cold genocide” was presented at an annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Washington on Nov. 11.

Supporters hope that the medical community can follow the example of the U.S. Congress, which has passed a resolution calling for a stop to forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.

The resolution was submitted to the AMA by the Medical Society of the District of Columbia. It calls for the following:

1. Transplant surgeons, especially those who come to the United States for training in transplant surgery, must agree to AMA’s Ethical Guidelines, and that American medical and hospital institutions not be complicit in any ethical violations or conflicts of interest;

2. An independent, interdisciplinary, transparent investigation must be conducted into China’s organ transplantation practices;

3. The U.S. government must protect the large number of transplant tourists by implementing legislation that would blacklist countries that do not meet the same transparency and ethical standards practiced in the United States.

Joseph E. Gutierrez, chair of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia’s delegation to AMA, at the American Medical Association Interim Meeting in Washington on Nov. 11, 2018. (Wu Wei/NTD)

Joseph E. Gutierrez, chair of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia’s delegation to AMA, at the American Medical Association Interim Meeting in Washington on Nov. 11, 2018. (Wu Wei/NTD)

Presenting the resolution to a reference committee, Joseph Gutierrez, chair of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, said, “We are very concerned with the increasing reports, out of China being particular, regarding forced organ harvesting for transplantation.”

According to the investigative report “Bloody Harvest/The Slaughter-An Update,” released by investigators David Kilgour, David Matas, and Ethan Gutmann in 2016, the organ transplant industry in China performs 60,000 to 100,000 organ transplants per year, and the Chinese Communist Party engages “in the mass killings of innocents, primarily practitioners of the spiritually-based set of exercises, Falun Gong, but also Uyghurs, Tibetans, and select House Christians, in order to obtain organs for transplants.”

Gutierrez said a big problem is that the American public and medical community still don’t have a broad knowledge of the seriousness of the forced organ harvesting issue, and media coverage is lacking.

Raymond Scalettar, former chair of the American Medical Association Board of Trustees, at the American Medical Association Interim Meeting in Washington on Nov. 11, 2018. (Wu Wei/NTD)

Raymond Scalettar, a clinical professor at George Washington University Medical Center and former chair of the American Medical Association Board of Trustees, said in support of the resolution: “This is a very important resolution on what is being called ‘cold genocide.’ The AMA has a significant representation at the World Medical Association. Hopefully, they can go forward and explore what else they can do in order to end this cold genocide.”

Referring to the resolution as “seriously important,” Scalettar said: “We want these transplant ethics to be unanimous throughout all countries, not just the United States. And we think the Chinese government also needs to comply.”

Dr. Torsten Trey, executive director of the nonprofit Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH), said to the committee, “The world saw medical abuse during the Holocaust, but it has never seen a genocide in which organs were systematically harvested and used for a profitable transplant business.

“Resolution 210 provides an opportunity to establish global leadership in ethics. The U.S. Congress passed House Resolution 343 calling for an end to forced organ harvesting in China, and the medical profession should do no less to stop this transplant abuse.”

Dr. Weldon Gilcrease, deputy director of DAFOH, said it was very important to start the conversation, to have people be aware of the atrocities that are occurring in China.

“It is very easy to understand forced organ harvesting as black market organ harvesting, which are very different,” Gilcrease said. “Forced organ harvesting is systematic. It is carried out at the governmental level, with the medical institutions doing the work of government.”

Gilcrease said that because of lack of knowledge, the American public and medical community could become part of the problem too. “We have real concern for complicity in two settings. We have complicity in our patients going to China to get an unethically sourced organ, as well as our training of Chinese that they return to China and are involved in forced organ harvesting.”

Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/resolution-to-stop-cold-genocide-starts-conversation-in-americas-largest-medical-association_2715158.html

The committee hearing proposed resolutions to the American Medical Association, chaired by Dr. Francis P. MacMillan Jr. (C) in Washington on Nov. 11. (Jennifer Zeng/The Epoch Times).

BY JENNIFER ZENG

November 12, 2018 Updated: November 12, 2018

WASHINGTON—After a U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue in Washington that revealed how far apart the two nations are on vital issues, an expert said that the United States and its allies must use all available means to modify the attitudes and behavior of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Joseph Bosco, former China country director of the office of the Secretary of Defense, said that since its creation, the CCP has been dedicated to the defeat of the West, starting with Mao Zedong’s wars of national liberation.

“Half a century later, the world is even less safe because Communist China has not changed fundamentally—it still sees the West as its implacable enemy, and thanks to many foolish and gratuitous concessions, it is far more powerful than ever,” Bosco said.

At the Dialogue’s joint press conference on Nov. 9, Secretary Pompeo said, “the United States is not pursuing a Cold War or containment policy with China.”

Bosco believes that because of the CCP’s unchangeable nature, “U.S. policy, and that of its allies, must be to use all diplomatic, political, economic, and security pressures to modify the attitudes and behavior of the CCP.

“As in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, if that approach also fails, the West must seek not only to contain, but to undermine the Communist regime and assist the Chinese people in removing and replacing it with a moderate, civilized, democratic system such as exists in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and elsewhere in Asia.”

Fundamental Differences

At the joint press conference, although both sides stressed that the dialogue was a “productive conversation,” on issues such as the South China Sea, Taiwan, and human rights in China, the two sides still have fundamental differences.

When talking about the South China Sea, Pompeo said, “I was clear, for example, that we have continued concern about China’s activities and militarization in the South China Sea. We pressed China to live up to its past commitments in this area.”

His counterpart Yang Jiechi, Politburo member and Director of the Office of Foreign Affairs of the Central Commission of the Communist Party of China, said: “China has undertaken some constructions on its islands and reefs. Most of them are civilian facilities. The purpose is to serve the interest of the Chinese people and also to provide public goods to others.

“At the same time, it is necessary for China to build certain security facilities in response to possible threats from outside…There’s no such a problem of the freedom of navigation and overflight being obstructed, so to use the freedom of navigation and overflight as an excuse to pursue military actions is unjustifiable.”

When talking about Taiwan, Pompeo said, “Regarding our strong ties with a democratic Taiwan, I reiterated the U.S. policy has not changed and that we are concerned about China’s increasing efforts to coerce others, constraining Taiwan’s international space.”

Yang said: “Taiwan independent forces and their separatist activities pose the biggest threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. should recognize it clearly.”

Chinese Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe brought Yang’s point further by saying that Taiwan “is an inalienable part of China. To achieve the unification of China is one of the historical missions of our party and our country. If Taiwan is split from China, we will defend China’s unification with all means possible and at any cost, just as the U. S. did in the Civil War.”

When talking about human rights, Pompeo said, “I stated the United States and the international communities will continue to express our concerns with respect to China’s repression of religious groups—Christian, Buddhists, and 800,000 to possibly millions of Muslims that have been denied their freedoms.”

Yang’s view totally differs. “In China, people have the freedom to believe or not believe in religion. They are all Chinese citizens. Their human rights have been fully respected and protected. It is our hope that the United States could respect the fact.”

He added later, “Matters related to Xinjiang are China’s internal affairs. Foreign countries have no right to interfere. ”

No Compromise

Bosco’s takeaway from these differences is that the United States and its allies must be much more upfront and transparent in supporting human rights in China.

“Compromising our basic principles, our very identity as a country, so as not to offend ‘the feelings of the Chinese people’—i.e., the fears of the Communist leaders—is self-defeating, both morally and strategically,” Bosco said.

“The outrageous cultural genocide of the Uyghur and Tibetan peoples—taking place before the eyes of the world—is a historic turning point for the West in its dealings with the People’s Republic of China. We should seize the opportunity to make human rights in China a major cause for the world. If there is moral and political unity, the CCP cannot retaliate against all.”

President Trump has recently expressed strong opposition to socialism. Yang said in the joint press conference, “the Chinese side stresses that China is firm on pursuing socialist – socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Yang followed this by stressing the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and the CCP’s commitment to “a community with a shared future for mankind.” Both of these two terms are interpreted as the CCP’s intention to promote and spread its “China model” to the world.

Bosco said, “there is no doubt U.S. credibility on all the major issues challenging the US-China relationship has been enhanced under the Trump administration. But the US position must be sustained unrelentingly in the face of constant PRC pressure to weaken it by a combination of bribes, threats, flattery, and other inducements.

“With the team the president has put in place, there is reason for confidence, but the greatest tests lie ahead,” Bosco said.

Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/pressure-needed-to-change-chinese-regime-expert-says_2714318.html

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo addresses the press at the U.S.-China Diplomatic Security Dialogue in Washington on Nov. 9, 2018. (Jennifer Zeng/The Epoch Times)