NEW U.S. LAW SEEKS TO SECURE ACCESS TO TIBET
Against China's "stern" diplomatic protest, President Donald Trump has signed a bipartisan bill, the 'Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018,' into law that will impose a visa ban on PRC officials who deny U.S. citizens, government officials, reporters, tourists and Tibetan-Americans access to Tibet. The White House said the law is based on the diplomatic principle of reciprocity. PRC citizens can travel freely in the U.S., but China's central and local authorities severely restrict Americans' access to Tibet. The law requires that within 90 days and every year hence the Secretary of State will submit an assessment to Congress of the level of access to Tibet, along with a list of Chinese officials responsible for keeping Americans out. The Secretary will then ban those officials from receiving visas to enter the U.S. The bill includes a national security waiver provision. (Press Trust of India, December 20, 2018)
U.S. BRINGS NEW CHARGES AGAINST CHINESE HACKERS...
The Department of Justice has charged two Chinese nationals with carrying out cyber-attacks against more than 45 companies, government agencies, and several unnamed cloud service providers dating back to 2006. Intrusions were also detected in eleven other countries, including Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, the UAE, and the UK. The two hackers, who are part of a cyber-espionage group codenamed APT10, used spear-phishing to collect credentials from employees at various companies and used them to steal gigabytes of intellectual property. Hackers also accessed the underlying infrastructure used by cloud providers, allowing them to steal customer data. The indictment accused China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) of orchestrating the hacks and ordering APT10 to steal proprietary information from U.S. companies for Chinese companies. (ZDNet, December 20, 2018)
...AS "FIVE EYES" ACCUSE BEIJING OF STATE-SPONSORED HACKING
In support of the aforementioned charges, the other members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance (Australia, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand) all published official statements accusing China's MSS of hacking their government agencies and companies. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "This campaign is one of the most significant and widespread cyber intrusions against the UK and allies uncovered to date, targeting trade secrets and economies around the world. Our message to governments prepared to enable these activities is clear: together with our allies, we will expose your actions and take other necessary steps to ensure the rule of law is upheld." New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau statement read: "This activity is counter to the commitment all APEC economies, including China, made in November 2016. APEC economies agreed they should not conduct or support theft of intellectual property or other confidential business information, for commercial advantage." Japan and Germany also issued similar warnings about Chinese hacking. In response, Chinese officials claimed the other countries pulled the accusations "out of thin air."(ZDNet, December 21, 2018)
CHINA'S XINJIANG POLICY DRAWS IRE IN INDONESIA
Hundreds of Muslims held a rally outside China's embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia to protest the maltreatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. Opposition groups in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, have criticized President Joko Widodo for not supporting the Uighurs. "The United Nations must speak out, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation must speak out, Muslims must take a stand against the Chinese government," said protester Ridwan Abdul Ridho. Indonesia's foreign ministry summoned China's ambassador to "convey concern from various parties in Indonesia on the condition of Uighur people in China" and called on China to respect freedom of religion. (Jakarta Globe, December 21, 2018)
A CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT THE STATE COUNCIL
Nine of the 15 bureaus directly under State Council supervision are now under new leadership, often after their predecessors were removed by anti-corruption watchdogs. In November, the youngest, Zhang Jianhua, 54, was appointed to lead China's National Energy Administration and earlier this year Zhang Jianmin became the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration. Other appointments in 2018 include Jiao Hong, the new director of the State Drug Administration, and Shen Changyu, who now heads the State Intellectual Property Office. Zhang Wufeng became the director of the National Food and Strategic Reserve Administration, Zhang Jianlong was appointed head of the National Forestry and Grassland Bureau, and Yu Wenming was named director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In May, Zhang Kejian became the head of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. (South China Morning Post, December 23, 2018)
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