China Reform Monitor No. 1524

FACEBOOK CLOSES DOZENS OF BEIJING-CONTROLLED FAKE ACCOUNTS
Facebook's parent company, Meta, has uncovered a covert influence operation run from China consisting of at least 80 fake accounts posing as Americans from across the political spectrum. "They were running fake accounts that pretended to be Americans and try to talk like Americans and they were talking about really divisive domestic issues like abortion and gun control," said Meta's Ben Nimmo. "This was the first Chinese network we disrupted that focused on U.S. domestic politics ahead of the midterm elections. Chinese influence operations that we've disrupted before typically focused on criticizing the U.S. to international audiences, rather than primarily targeting domestic audiences. It's the first time that we've seen an operation from China like this really focusing on targeting U.S. political debates," Nimmo said. (CNN, September 27, 2022)

FORMER JUSTICE MINISTER JAILED FOR LIFE FOR CORRUPTION
Former Minister of Justice Fu Zhenghua, who himself led several high-profile anti-corruption campaigns, has been arrested amid an ongoing high-level crackdown. At a court in Changchun, Jilin, Fu pled guilty to accepting 117 million yuan ($16.5 million) in gifts and money and received a death sentence; which after two years will be commuted to life in prison. Prosecutors said Fu, who was China's justice minister from 2018 to 2020, used his power to profit from business contracts, official appointments, and legal cases. Fu is the latest fallen official to be linked to the political clique of Sun Lijun, who was Vice Minister of Public Security until 2020 and is currently awaiting his sentence for elevating likeminded officials in the security apparatus to create his own political faction. (BBC, September 22, 2022)

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Fu led the probe that brought down now disgraced security chief Zhou Yongkang, perhaps the most powerful official ever convicted of corruption in China.]

EUROPEAN FIRMS CUTTING CHINA OPERATIONS OVER IDEOLOGY
In its annual position paper, the European Union (EU) Chamber of Commerce in China has said many European multinationals are cutting their operations in China. With China and Europe seemingly "drifting further and further apart," more European firms are also creating separate systems – one for China, and one for the rest of the world, the paper said. The Chamber urged China's leaders to avoid erratic policy shifts and to focus on rebuilding investor confidence. "China's move away from the rest of the world – embodied by the restrictions imposed under its COVID-19 policy – indicates that, at the moment, ideology is trumping the economy," the position paper said. "We believe that China is losing the allure that it used to have," said Chamber president Joerg Wuttke. (South China Morning Post, September 21, 2022)

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The EU is the second-largest destination for China's exports, and its second-largest source of foreign direct investment, after Singapore.]

CHINA'S SPACE FOOTPRINT IN SOUTH AMERICA FUELS SECURITY CONCERNS
China's expanded use of satellite ground stations in South America has prompted concerns that civilian facilities may be being used for intelligence collection and surveillance. Satellite ground stations allow nations and companies to communicate with their spacecraft, receiving information and sending commands to change position or direction. "China's space network in South America is part of a broader push by Beijing to establish itself as a leading global space power and partner of choice in space for middle-income economies," according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The proximity of the South American facilities "to the U.S. has heightened fears that they can be used to spy on U.S. assets and intercept sensitive information." Among those ground stations under scrutiny are Espacio Lejano in Argentina, which is operated by a company connected to the People's Liberation Army, and the Santiago Satellite Station in Chile where China leases some facilities operated by the Swedish Space Corp. (Axios, October 4, 2022)

SHANGHAI UNVEILS $257 B IN INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
The Shanghai municipal government has announced eight massive infrastructure projects with total investment of 1.8 trillion yuan ($257 billion) – including a transport hub in Pudong, urban railways and housing improvement, offshore wind power projects, and a nature park. Shanghai has been hit hard by COVID-19 lockdowns, a protracted downturn in the property market, sluggish domestic consumption, and trade bottlenecks. The city's GDP fell 13.7% in the second quarter of this year, the worst among all 31 of China's province-level regions, and in the first eight months of the year Shanghai's infrastructure investment fell 27.4%, compared to an 8.3% increase nationwide. Beijing has instructed local governments to sell billions of yuan in "special bonds" by the end of October to help fund new infrastructure projects. (Reuters, September 20, 2022)