#Manner #CCP
"Good Riddance": China Tells Off Germany's UN Envoy Who Asks Beijing to Release 2 Detained Canadians for Christmas

Germany's UN envoy Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, during his last UN Security Council meeting, asked China to free two detained Canadians for Christmas:

"Let me end my tenure on the Security Council by appealing to my Chinese colleagues to ask Beijing for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Christmas is the right moment for such a gesture."

Shortly after Canadian police arrested China's Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant in 2018, the Chinese Communist Party government detained Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat and cuurent advisor for the International Crisis Group think tank, and businessman Michael Spavor in China.

China's deputy UN envoy Geng Shuang immediately comdemned Heusgen for "malicious attack" and fired:

"I wish to say something out of the bottom of my heart: Good riddance, Ambassador Heusgen. I am hoping that the council in your absence in the year 2021 will be in a better position to fulfil the responsibilities...for maintaining international peace and security."

Heusgen plans to retire after working as a diplomat for more than 40 years.

Source: CBC; Apple Daily #Dec22

https://bit.ly/3pgL2FR

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-n-germany-kovrig-spavor-1.5852655

#Kovrig #Spavor #2Michaels #ChristophHeusgen #Germany #GengShuang #UN #Christmas2020

China’s ban on Australian coal backfires spectacularly as electricity shortages worsen

Source: New.com.au #Dec22

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China’s ban on Australian coal backfires spectacularly as electricity shortages worsen

China unofficially banned Aussie coal since October, with steel mills and power companies apparently told to steer clear. It has also emerged that more than 60 ships carrying thermal and coking coal which is almost $700 million worth of Australian goods at are stuck off China’s coast.

Beijing’s brutal bullying tactics have hit Australian businesses hard, but it turns out the communist state is shooting itself in the foot.

In China, power shortages are increasing with millions of citizens resorting to rationing their heating over winter and avoiding using elevators.

In 2019, more than half of China’s thermal coal were imported from Australia for its power stations. Also, Australia supplied 40 per cent of the nation’s imports of coking coal.

Source: New.com.au #Dec22

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/chinas-ban-on-australian-coal-backfires-spectacularly-as-electricity-shortages-worsen/news-story/8e888701f2766097a7658ee86a0495c8

#Australia #China #AustralianCoal #ChinaPowerPlant

WeChat Becomes a Powerful Surveillance Tool Everywhere in China

Source: WSJ #Dec22

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WeChat Becomes a Powerful Surveillance Tool Everywhere in China

WeChat has become one of the most powerful tools in Beijing’s arsenal for monitoring the public, censoring speech and punishing people who voice discontent with the government. Its dominance in Chinese society has become more entrenched in 2020 due to remote working and learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tencent and Alibaba developed health-rating systems for government as one of the main contact-tracing tools to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The health codes embedded within WeChat and Alipay have become essential passes in China for entering residences, office buildings and accessing public transportation.

WeChat uses client-to-server encryption, which grants Tencent full access to data between senders and recipients, as opposed to end-to-end encryption, said Fergus Ryan, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank created by the Australian government.

China’s internet firewall has long blocked foreign sites and messaging apps, including Google, WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook, but these can be accessed via virtual private networks (VPN).

“Some of my friends and clients switch to Signal or FaceTime for sensitive conversations. Still, for the majority of people, they don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to get over the firewall for daily communications,” said Zhang Qingfang, a Beijing-based human-rights lawyer.

Source: WSJ #Dec22

https://www.wsj.com/articles/wechat-becomes-a-powerful-surveillance-tool-everywhere-in-china-11608633003

#HealthCode #WeChat #Tencent #Alibaba #Censorship

Canadian government invokes national security to block Chinese takeover of Nunavut gold mine

Canada has blocked a Chinese state-owned mining company from purchasing a gold mine in Nunavut on national security grounds, signalling a new escalation of already high tensions between the two countries.

“The one thing I would say is that in taking action, the government has definitely shown that what we have built in Nunavut, they see as a important to Canada and nationally,” Jason Neal, chief executive of TMAC, said. Neal believed the government should be more supportive of companies that build infrastructure in Nunavut and other parts of the Arctic.

Source: Financial Post #Dec22

https://financialpost.com/commodities/mining/canada-blocks-china-shandong-gold-mining-buying-tmac?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1608675178
#CanadaGoldMine #Nunavut #NationalSecurity #Canada #ChinaAcquisition

#BreakingNews
The pillar of Shame is being destroyed in these minutes : Jen Galschiot calls for public record on Twitter

According to the Undergrad, at around 2200 on #Dec22, the Pillar of Shame located inside HKU grounds were closed off by construction workers, authorised by the school authorities.

White cloth and yellow barriers could be seen barricading the view of the Pillar from the pedestrian bridge above and near it on the ground. School personnel watched over the site, with construction noise emanating nearby.

Sources revealed that the school Council have convened a meeting on #Dec22 and has come to the conclusion of disassembling the Pillar of Shame. People at HKU believed that this decision was spurred on by pressure from the National Security Department, which could be seen as direct pressure from the Chinese Central Government.

At around 0000 on #Dec23, a crane and a truck carrying a container could be seen arriving at HKU.

The Pillar of Shame, sculpted by artist Jens Galschiøt to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, has stood in HKU grounds for 24 years. The school authorities had initially remained cooperative with its display on school grounds, but had recently called for removal of the sculpture since October. As the University could not determine who the sculpture belonged to, the fate of the sculpture had remained undecided.

Many have regarded the Pillar of Shame as a symbol of freedom in Hong Kong as the creator, Jen Galschiøt, wrote in 1997, "it [the Pillar of Shame] was put on permanent public display to serve, as a test of the authorities’ “guarantees for human rights and freedom of expression in Hong Kong.”

Sources: Stand News; Citizen News; Jen Galschiot's Twitter page; #Dec23

Images: Stand News; Citizen News; Roy Li and Stephanie Wu

#HKU #PillarOfShame

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Activists Preserve HK's Tiananmen Memorial Pillar in Digital 3D Model: "They Can't Silence Us All"
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31329?single

#WhiteTerror #Censorship
City University of Hong Kong Demands Student Union to Remove Pro-democracy Monument

Before the Christmas day of 2021, several universities in Hong Kong destroyed and removed monuments in commemoration of the victims of the 1989 June 4th Tiananmen Massacre. They include the Pillar of Shame in the University of Hong Kong; the Statue of the Goddess of Democracy in the Chinese University of Hong Kong; and a commemorative relief in Hong Kong Lingnan University.

The student union of the City University of Hong Kong (#CityU) was demanded by the University Management to remove the Statue of the Goddess of Democracy located next to the Wall of Democracy.

On December 24, 2021, the Student Union released a statement on Facebook, stating that they will preserve the statue in another location so as to avoid damage.

In the statement, the Student Union expressed that "history and public remembrance can longer be stored in objects, but will live forever in our memory. The responsibility of our generation of Hongkongers is to remember and pass on our memories."

Source: Stand News; CityU Student Union #Dec25

https://www.instagram.com/p/CX3gKuvBAep/

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The Pillar of Shame is being destroyed in these minutes : Jen Galschiot calls for public record
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31702

CUHK Removes Goddess of Democracy Statue Without Warning
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Chinese Students Shocked Watching HKU's Removal of Pillar of Shame, Believes in Power of Witnesses
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31704

CUHK Removes Goddess of Democracy Statue Without Warning
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Harvard professor found guilty of hiding ties to Chinese-run recruitment program

A Harvard University professor charged with hiding his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program has been found guilty on all counts.

Charles Lieber, 62, the former chair of Harvard’s department of chemistry and chemical biology, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of making false statements, and two counts of failing to file reports for a foreign bank account in China.

The jury deliberated for about two hours and 45 minutes before announcing the verdict after five days of testimony in Boston federal court.

Source: The Guardian #Dec22

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/22/harvard-professor-found-guilty-of-hiding-ties-to-chinese-run-recruitment-program?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

#Professor #Recruitment #Guilty