CCP CC General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the National Commendation Conference for Model Workers and Advanced Workers held in Beijing on November 24, where he was quoted by CCTV in its Focus Programme on November 28, as saying "Socialism is done, and the new era is a struggle. Model workers are national elites and people.

Qiu Shi (November 27) published an article which said that at the opening ceremony of the training class for young and middle-aged cadres at the Central Party School (National School of Administration) in the Fall semester of 2020, CCP CC General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that political ability is the first among the various abilities required for cadres to do their jobs well.

The PLA Daily (November 27) published a report on Xi Jinping's "important" speech at the Military Training Conference of the Central Military Commission held in Beijing on November 25, 2020.

CCTV (November 27) telecast a report publicising that the development of women's cause was for the very first time included in the "13th Five-Year Plan" outline as a special chapter for the first time, said this was to promote the all-round development of women.

Stating that the CCP CC's Fifth Plenary Session drew a magnificent blueprint for China's future development, Xinhua (November 27) said it has overall and historical significance in the development of the party and the country.

The communique issued after the Fifth Plenum (October 26-29, 2020) of the CCP CC says that China is still in a period of important strategic opportunity as the world is “undergoing changes unseen in a century”. The last few paragraphs of the Communique focus on the PLA modernisation and China’s national security.

Writing in the Asia Times (November 28), Frank Chen claimed that China's National Statistics Bureau was cited by China's State Council at a press conference marking China's 71st anniversary in October, that China now has no less than 400 million middle-class consumers.

The state-owned CCTV on November 28 reported that China's all-sea deep manned submersible the "Struggle", successfully completed the 10,000-meter sea trial and returned successfully on November 28.

Caixin (November 28) reported that Xiaomi Inc. is looking to seize a greater share of its home smartphone market as the market adjusts to the vacuum left by sanctions-struck Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Xiaomi China's President Lu Weibing said (November 26) that every county-level city in China will have a Mi Home store — which sells the company’s smart home products as well as its handsets — in one year.

Bloomberg reported (November 28), based on China Customs Administration data, showed that China’s imports of U.S. goods under the phase one trade deal slowed last month after hitting a high in September, leaving the full-year target well out of reach.

The South China Morning Post reported (November 28) that the PLA Daily had on November 23 said that all Chinese outposts at altitudes of more than 3,000 metres altitudes had been equipped with oxygen generators and troops stationed higher than 4,000 metres would receive mandatory oxygen therapy for an hour each day.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Seoul on November 25, after a two-day visit to Japan.

Taiwan's state-run shipbuilder China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSBC) and the arms developer Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, who were awarded the contract for building eight indigenous submarines in 2016, have started building the first of the submarines at the Kaohsiung shipyard.

Chinese State Councillor and Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe made a one-day visit to Kathmandu on November 29, when he met Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister K.P.S. Oli and Army Chief General Purna Chandra Thapa.

Shen Shiwei, a news producer of the State-owned CGTN, last week tweeted and later deleted four images establishing that China had formed Pangda village, a new residential area.

Following the release of the Brereton report, which found Australian special forces committed at least 39 unlawful killings during the war in Afghanistan, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) spokesman and Deputy Director of MoFA's Information Department, Zhao Lijian at last week's regular weekly press briefing said China "strongly condemned" the soldiers' actions, and said the report "fully exposed the hypocrisy of the human rights and freedom these Western countries are always chanting".

Attending a meeting on Military Training in Beijing on November 25, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and Chinese President, Xi Jinping ordered the armed forces to strengthen training under real combat conditions and raise their capability of winning wars.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 24, addressed a gathering to honour model workers and exemplary individuals where he said China must closely rely on the working class to promote high-quality development and urged the country's working class and working people to strive for new and historic achievements in fully building a modern socialist country.

The People's Daily published (November 23) an article by Politburo member and Head of China's Publicity (Propaganda) Department, Huang Kunming captioned 'Promote the building of a socialist cultural power (study and implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Party)'.

The Chinese version of the flagship newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 'People’s Daily', published (November 25) an article by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is calling for China to move faster toward becoming technologically self-reliant, a goal that he said will play a decisive role in the country’s economic development agenda for the next 15 years.

On November 23, the CDIC issued a statement on its official website emphasising that the 19th CCP CC's Fifth Plenary Session had "clearly forecast the long-term goal of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035, and clearly put forward the guidelines, main goals, and key tasks for my country's economic and social development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period".

Radio Free Asia reported on November 6, that China's National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) had announced (October 30) that a total of 205,000 Chinese journalists had passed the “Xi Thought” exam and obtained a passport-sized Chinese journalist ID card with gold letters against a red background.

The CCP CC's Comprehensive Rule of Law Work Conference was held on November 16 - 17, 2020 in Beijing where CCP CC General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an "important" speech emphasising that China will unswervingly follow the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities on the track of the rule of law, so as to provide a powerful force for building a modern socialist country and realizing the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The People's Daily on November 14 reported that China's Central Military Commission (CMC) had on November 13, issued the “Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Joint Operations Guideline (Trial Version).” The “Guideline” aims to build the PLA into a world-class army force, with a focus on the establishment of a system of laws and regulations for joint operations.

A document obtained by the Epoch Times and dated May 28, 2020, from the Yunnan Police Academy titled, “Activities on Promoting the Joint Development of the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative” reveals that since 2015, the Academy has trained 56 foreign students from Afghanistan, Argentina, Angola, Pakistan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, and Myanmar and has granted them Master’s degrees.

The Chinese Edition of Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported (November 11) that, after several incidents of graduate school students committing suicide this year, China's Ministry of Education issued 'The Code of Conduct for Graduate School Teachers'.

Professor Zheng Gongcheng, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), wrote in the Guangming Ribao (November 23) that it is expected that by 2035, China will be considered a “super-aged society.”

The official China Central Television (CCTV) on November 22, claimed major strides in poverty alleviation in Tibet.

HK CE Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor delivered a 24,000-word speech with a number of Chinese Communist Party words over 2 hours 20 minutes to the Hongkong Legislative Council (Legco) on November 25 which was interrupted by pro-democracy legislators who forced her to complete her speech virtually. Her fourth policy speech was described by political observers and Legco members as "underwhelming".

Radio France International reported on November 9, that Wang Zaixi, former Deputy Director of the Taiwan Affairs Office under China’s State Council, had recently published an article in the official People’s Political Consultative Conference Newspaper.

Xinhua reported (November 25) that Chinese President Xi Jinping had sent a message on November 25, to congratulate U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on his election.

Fu Ying, a former Chinese Ambassador and Vice Foreign Minister and presently the Director of the Center for International Security and Strategy and an adjunct professor at Tsinghua University and also a Vice Chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress, published an Op-Ed in the New York Times (November 24).

The National Interest (November 25) reported that the USS Barry (DDG-52), an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, conducted its fourth routine transit through the Taiwan Strait and entered the South China Sea on November 20.

The Office of Policy Planning Staff of the United States Department of State (DOS) issued a 70-page research report on November 17, which summarized the behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), analysed the ideological roots behind the behaviour and the vulnerabilities that the Chinese Communist regime faces, and suggested how the United States should respond to China’s challenges.

Well-known Chinese news site Sina reported on October 30, that based on British media reports, UK intelligence agencies MI5, MI6 and GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) are establishing a new program that is currently hiring “mandarin linguists.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping virtually sat down with other heads of state for the G20 Riyadh Summit on November 22 where he opened with some general comments.

Addressing the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit hosted virtually from Kuala Lumpur on November 20, Xinhua reported that Chinese President “highlighted promoting openness and inclusiveness, accelerating innovation-driven growth, enhancing regional connectivity, and pushing for mutually beneficial cooperation.”

On November 21, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang convened a meeting with five provincial governors to get their suggestions on economic policy in preparation for the Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) to be held in December.

The People’s Daily on November 19, published an article by Executive Vice Premier Han Zheng, laying out his thoughts on the Party’s 2035 vision.

National People’s Congress Chairman and PBSC member Li Zhanshu concluded a three day inspection tour to Shanxi Province on November 18. Li Zhanshu stressed that policymakers everywhere need to get to work implementing Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law.

Chen Quanguo, Party Secretary of the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region and Politburo member did not attend the Chinese Communist Party's 2-day meeting to implement "Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law" held earlier in the week beginning November 16. Normally, the 25 members of the Politburo, including all seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee, would attend.

The People’s Daily published (November 20) an editorial by Ding Xuexiang explaining the Party’s recommendations for the 14th Five-Year Plan. Ding Xuexiang reminded officials that they are meant to be implementing six big economic programs over the next 15 years.

On November 17, Sinopharm Chairman Liu Jingzhen revealed that nearly one million people had been given its COVID-19 vaccines, which are still under Phase III clinical trials.

Caixin reported (November 21) that China's State Council approved the establishment of a new committee led by the State Administration for Market Regulation and comprising 17 central government ministries and departments to combat unfair competition as regulators tighten scrutiny of market dominance built up by tech giants such as Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings.

Creditors of Peking University Founder Group Corp. (PUFG) approved a plan (November 19) to restructure the state-owned industrial and investment conglomerate as part of its efforts to resolve its nearly 150 billion yuan ($22 billion) debt pile.

The South China Morning Post (November 24) reported that about 600 Chinese citizens have been evacuated from the conflict-ridden Tigray region of Ethiopia.

A Zoom conference with a scheduled six speakers is being held in Canada on November 24 evening to 'Free Meng Wanzhou', CFO of Huawei on the second anniversary of her house arrest.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Tokyo (Japan) and Seoul (RoK) from November 24 - 27. This will be Wang Yi's first visit to Japan since Yoshihide Suga became Japan's new prime minister. He is expected to meet with Suga during his two-day trip and also meet his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi on November 24.

According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (November 13), after the US presidential election, China and the United States restarted their stalled behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

Zheng Yongnian, Dean of the Shenzhen-based think tank 'Advanced Institute of Global and Contemporary China Studies', was quoted by South China Morning Post (November 22) as saying on the sidelines of the 'Understanding China Conference' in Guangzhou, that there was now a bipartisan consensus in the US on containing China.

The newly appointed US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Robert Destro, hosted Lobsang Sangay, Prime Minister (also called Sikyong) for an unprecedented meeting at the White House on November 20, 2020. This was the first time in six decades that the leader of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile was invited to the White House.

Addressing the 2020 Ministerial to Advance Freedom of Religion or Belief hosted by the Government of Poland on November 17, US Senator and Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback opposed China’s intervention in picking the next Dalai Lama saying, “The United States supports – that religious community has the right to pick their own leadership.

The Epoch Times (November 23) revealed that the China Daily has spent millions for the past six months on U.S. publications, according to its statement filed last week with the US Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Caixin reported (November 21) that Malaysia’s state government of Melaka has terminated a $10.5 billion worth agreement with a local developer who partnered with three Chinese companies over a sea reclamation project involving the building of mixed harbour development, including three man-made islands, in the strategic Malacca Strait.

Quoting a Chinese a military source, the South China Morning Post said the PLA has instructed its 'propagandists' to steer clear of US election coverage to ensure their reports are not “misread as taking sides” in the presidential race.

The South China Morning Post (October 10) cited a Chinese military source as saying that, counter to the usual practice of giving the latest equipment first to army units of the Eastern and Northern Theatre Commands, frontline troops in western Tibet are now “the top priority” for the PLA logistics department.

In the declaration drafted by Germany and presented at the UN General Assembly in New York on October 6, 39 predominantly Western countries denounced China for gross human rights violations in Xinjiang and the Tibet Autonomous Region and for limiting political and personal freedoms in Hong Kong.

Local authorities said that tourism to Xinjiang during the Golden week went up 10.78 per cent from the same period last year on a comparable basis. Xinjiang's Culture and Tourism Department said that the tourism revenue during the holiday from October 1 to 8 reached 8.41 billion yuan (about US$ 1.24 billion).

Data from China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed that there were 637m trips in China over the eight-day holiday this year, which ended on October 8, generating revenue of Rmb466.6bn ($69.5bn).

The Chinese box office raked in CNY3.9 billion (US$ 581 million) over the eight-day public holiday that ended on October 8, the second highest amount ever for the golden week after last year's takings of CNY4.5 billion. Patriotic blockbuster 'My People, My Homeland', the sequel to last year's 'My People, My Country', hit the screens on October 1. It came top with takings of CNY1.9 billion (US$ 283 million).

China’s megacity of Shenzhen will use the People's Bank of China's new digital yuan to provide 10 million yuan (US$ 1.5 million) of coupons to residents as part of ongoing pilot programs to test the virtual currency in a sign that it is approaching widespread rollout.

Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao on October 8, quoted Wu Shicun, President of the National Institute for the South China Sea Studies, as saying that bilateral crisis management and control mechanisms between China and the US were nearly suspended amid all-out confrontation between the two sides, which could lead to misfires if soldiers on both sides clash at sea.

Taiwan President Tsai ing-wen's National Day speech (October 10) in its penultimate section on International Relations included the comment For some time we have all been paying close attention to changes in regional security.

The CCP-owned Global Times on October 11 -- the day after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's National Day speech -- introduced the first of is 3-part expose on Taiwan's espionage activities in China with an editorial comment.

Politico reported on September 8 that the China Media Group (CMG), the state media super-conglomerate created in March 2018 through the merger of three major media groups, including China Central Television, China National Radio and China Radio International, is planning to open a European office in Brussels.

The People's Daily on September 26, reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping had for the first time in history issued "important instructions" that opinions and suggestions be solicited "from all of society" in the process of drawing up the five-year plan.

Wu Jianghao who was Director of the Department of Asian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2017-2020 has been promoted as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Liu Haitao, identified only as an officer of a Brigade of the PLA's 79th Group Army wrote in China Militarynet on October 5, highlighting that "the method of military training is the most important thing and plays a key role in determining whether the army can fight and win battles".

The Global Times (October 6) reported that the PLA ground forces had for the first time used 10 UAVs — or drones — to provide logistic support to soldiers stationed at the remote Motuo region in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The People's Daily published four commentaries 'expanding' Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the recent Third Central Xinjiang Work Symposium between September 28 and October 1.

TAR Party Secretary Wu Yingjie visited Bayi, capital of Nyingchi Prefecture, on October 1, where he met the Secretaries of all the Party Committees and briefed them on the 'spirit' of the Seventh Tibet Work Forum.

Official Chinese figures estimated that over 1.4 million domestic visitors visited Lhasa, capital of the TAR, over the National Day weekend.

China has raised its purchases of Japanese government bonds (JGBs) to the highest level in three and a half years, in an apparent effort to reap greater yields on Beijing’s massive reserves of foreign currencies.

The Nikkei Asian Review on October 7, reported that the wealth of China's ultrarich had jumped 41% from April 2019 to the end of July 2020, helping the country's richest citizens to collectively break the $1.5 trillion mark and boost global billionaire wealth to a record high.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China’s largest computer chipmaker, has been caught in the escalating China-U.S. tech war as it was hit by U.S. trade restrictions limiting access to American suppliers.

Well-known Chinese news site Sohu reported (September 27) that the Sichuan provincial people’s congress proposed a new law to regulate all aspects of the food supply, including agricultural production, storage, distribution, quality assurance, emergency safeguards, and legal responsibilities for key players.

Earlier, the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center of China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced on September 9, 2020, that China's agricultural imports for January-July 2020 totalled $96.2 billion, up 13 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

At a "China Rural Development Report 2020" conference and the "14th Five-Year Plan" China Rural Development High-level Forum in Beijing on August 17, jointly held by the Rural Development Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Social Sciences Press the "Report on China's Rural Development 2020" was issued in preparation for writing the 14th five-year plan for 2021-25.

An important statement was made by Zhang Ning, a Research Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), in an article in the 'China Industry Circle' magazine on October 3.

The South China Morning Post on October 7 reported that Yan Xuetong, Dean of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Modern International Relations in Beijing, published an article in the latest issue of its Quarterly Journal of International Politics which said China should stop fighting ideological battles with the United States and trying to prove the superiority of its political system.

The Voice of America reported (October 7) that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a first-of-its-kind Homeland Threat Assessment on October 7.

The Epoch Times (October 3) reported that the U.S. released three major measures against the CCP around October 1, which is China’s National Day. On October 2, the U.S. Immigration Service issued a policy announcement prohibiting Communist Party members and those who have joined the Communist Party from applying for U.S. immigration status.

A People's Daily 'Zhong Sheng' commentary on August 31 said "There’s no doubt that communication is the only thing that stops lies, and dialogues the only way to avoid misjudges. Slandering others doesn't proves one's innocence, and blame games won’t help solve problems.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCESRC) released an updated list of Chinese companies listed on the three largest U.S. stock exchanges i.e. NASDAQ, New York Stock Exchange, and NYSE American on October 2.

The business news service Axios disclosed on October 6, that it had learnt that a high-ranking German official suppressed a sensitive intelligence report in 2018 on China’s growing influence in Germany out of fear it would damage business ties with China.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun (October 5), the Japanese government will from 2021, be more strict in reviewing the visa applications of international university students and foreign researchers in order to prevent advanced technology and information from flowing to China.

South Korea’s ramped-up efforts to get companies to relocate home from China are failing to gain momentum even as the pandemic and U.S.-China trade tensions highlight the risks of over-reliance on China as a manufacturing base.

Nikkei Asia Review reported (October 4) that the Party theoretical fortnightly in its September 1 edition publicised that Chinese President Xi Jinping's philosophy will henceforth be taught at elite universities.

The South China Morning Post reported on October 2, that the National Supervisory Commission (NSC) had announced on October 2, that Dong Hong, a senior Chinese government inspector and long-time colleague of Vice-President Wang Qishan including when the latter was President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft tsar, has been placed under a corruption probe.

A Beijing-based Chinese observer said in the third week of September that many people residing in China and Taiwan are anticipating an ’October Surprise’ as the U.S. election nears this year.

Writing in the Apple Daily's Special Column on September 2, Chinese TAM dissident Wang Dan said that a rumour circulating on the internet claimed that after the August 2020 Chinese leadership conference at the Beidaihe seaside resort, some unidentified "hardliners" in the CCP had posted “Eight Policies to Resist the United States" They claimed these had been proposed at Beidaihe.

The China-appointed Panchen Lama Gyaltsen Norbu, who has been in Tibet for probably the longest uninterrupted stay yet, reached Shigatse on September 15, and gave an audience to the monks of the Tashi Lhunpo monastery the same day.

The Central News Agency reported (September 26) that former Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj recently wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping to protest against the authorities’ push for the use of Chinese teaching materials in Inner Mongolia.

Wu Jieming, Political Commissar of the National Defense University and Director of the Research Center of Xi Jinping thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics and an Alternate Member of the 19th CCPCC wrote an important lengthy 3079-word article in the Guangming Daily (October 4) emphasising the that "Mastering ideological education is the central link in uniting the whole party in a great political struggle."

Sina reported on October 4, that Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's partially state-owned publicly-listed semiconductor foundry company, is scaling up its procurement from upstream suppliers in the United States, Europe, and Japan, with a size exceeding a full-year’s demand for 2020.

The US State Department issued a notice on October 2, 2020, which states that "The inadmissibility ground for membership in or affiliation with the Communist or any other totalitarian party1 is part of a broader set of laws passed by Congress to address threats to the safety and security of the United States.

Lt General He Lei, a former Deputy Commander of the Lanzhou Military Region and Vice President of the PLA Academy of Military Science, published an article in the Global Times on October 1, highlighting China's role in the Korean War against the U.S. Saying that the People's Volunteer Army (PVA) "won a great victory in the war", which demonstrated the national prestige of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the military power of the people's army.

Exchanging congratulatory messages on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Bangladesh on October 4, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that he stands ready to work with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Md. Abdul Hamid, to better align the two countries' strategies and jointly promote the construction of the Belt and Road, so as to take the China-Bangladesh strategic partnership of cooperation to new heights.

European politicians and intellectuals, mostly on the progressive Left, published a powerful October 1 Op-Ed in Le Monde denouncing the crime against humanity in Xinjiang.

The People's Daily front-paged a report on October 1, of the flag-raising ceremony to celebrate the 71st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China on October 1, 2020. Other national newspapers like China Economic Daily etc. also carried similar reports on their front pages.

The Politburo meeting held on September 28, said that the “enactment of the regulations on the work of the CPC Central Committee 《中国共产党中央委员会工作条例》 is essential to upholding the authority of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, and its centralized and unified leadership, according to the meeting.”

At a meeting on September 28, the CCP CC Politburo announced that the Fifth Plenary session of the CCP's 19th Central Committee will be held in Beijing from October 26 - 29, 2020.

The 13th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee will convene for its 22nd session from October 13 to 17.

Xinhua reported on September 29, that the Standing Committee of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) will convene its 14th meeting in early November in Beijing.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee (CC), State Council and Central Military Commission (CMC) announced (September 24) that commemorative medals will be issued on the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army's participation in the Korean War (1950-53) against the US and will be awarded to living Volunteer Army veterans who had fought in the war.

RFA quoted (September 28) sources as reporting that ethnic Tibetan members of the CCP, government workers, and students are now routinely denied access to monasteries and temples in many parts of Tibet. Penpa Dhondup, Director of the Archives of the Tibet Autonomous Region, was recently fired from his post for affirming his faith in Tibetan Buddhism.

The South China Morning Post reported on September 28 that the latest moves of Chinese authorities are now to target the small and little-known community of Utsuls, who are Muslims, in Hainan.

Caixin said (September 28) that China’s economic rebound showed signs of plateauing in September, weighed down by lacklustre home and car sales, a weaker stock market and worsening business confidence.

Zhong Shanshan, President of Hangzhou-based Nongfu Spring, has overtaken Alibaba's Jack Ma to become the nation's richest person after a surge in his company's share price boosted his fortune to almost $60bn according to Bloomberg estimates.

The South China Morning Post (September 30) reported the remarks of Yuan Nansheng, China's former Consul General in San Francisco and Vice President of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), a think-tank of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), in an article posted on September 20, 2020, on the official Wechat account of Peking University's Institute of International and Strategic Studies outlining what he assessed would be the key changes that would reset bilateral relations once the pandemic is over.

Xiakedao, the WeChat account of People’s Daily overseas edition, wrote that it is necessary for the Chinese public to re-study the Korean War and China’s decision to fight the Americans.

The South China Morning Post reported (September 27) that Beijing has put in place retaliatory measures that American diplomats must obtain approval from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs before they can meet with Hong Kong government officials or personnel from the city’s educational institutions and societies.

Professor Zhu Songchun, an award-winning expert in computer vision at the University of California at Los Angeles, has joined Peking University to lead its Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the university said in a statement issued on September 25.

The U.S. imposed export restrictions on Taiwan's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) adding to tensions between with China over the critical industry. U.S. firms must now apply for a license to export certain products to China’s largest chipmaker, the Commerce Department said in a letter dated September 25, reviewed by Bloomberg News.

A US Federal district judge blocked a key part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s TikTok ban from going into effect on September 27 night, even as its Chinese parent ByteDance has yet to form a plan for the popular video app that would satisfy either Washington or Beijing.

The People’s Daily on September 20, published the eighth Zhong Sheng commentary in its series on “Correctly Viewing and Properly Handling China-US Relations.”

In an article published in The Interpreter of the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, on September 23, Suzanne Levi-Sanchez said that a Chinese diplomat recently stated that the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan belonged to China and always have.

Speaking at the Third Central Work Conference on Xinjiang, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed 'that China will work hard to build a Xinjiang that follows the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and is united, prosperous, culturally advanced, harmonious & beautiful'.

UCA News (September 25) said that Catholics in mainland China are upset about the distortion of a Bible story in a school textbook, which claims Jesus Christ stoned to death a sinner woman in order to respect the law of the time.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's assertion in his speech to the UNGA on September 22, that "We aim to have [carbon dioxide] emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060” was questioned in an article in Foreign Policy on September 25 by Adam Tooze who said "Thanks to the gigantic surge in economic growth since 2000 and its reliance on coal-fired electricity generation, China is now by far the largest emitter of carbon dioxide.

Former Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei spoke at the closed-door symposium of the influential 'China Economists 50 Forum' on September 15, when he shared some thoughts on China’s new economic framework – the dual circulation strategy (DCS).

On September 24, China's leadership attended the 7th Congress of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (ACFSMC). Chinese President Xi Jinping praised the ACFSMC on the state-owned CCTV saying it has a “Long history, glorious tradition, and role as an important force in developing agriculture and rural areas.”

Bloomberg reported on September 25, that the world’s largest agricultural commodity traders are making the most money in years exporting everything from soybeans to corn and wheat from American ports to China.

China Daily reported that Sixth China (Beijing) Military Intelligent Technology and Equipment Expo opened in Beijing on September 22. This Expo is organised by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and hosted by the China Command and Control Society, and the Beijing Insight Future Exhibition Co., Ltd. The 8th China Command and Control Conference will be held at the same time.

Caixin (September 26) reported that there are plenty of companies in China wanting to compete with Tesla. These, it said, include Alibaba-backed Xpeng to Nvidia partner Li Auto. Caixin assessed that the real Tesla challenger may be Huawei Technologies Co.

Writing a tough article in the Global Times (September 26), Liu Zongyi, Secretary-General of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, a Visiting Fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China, and Distinguished Fellow of China (Kunming) South Asia & Southeast Asia Institute, commented on a remark in the Hindu of a "senior [Indian] government official" that suggested, "If PLA (People's Liberation Army) comes close, Indian troops can fire."

Hongkong's South China Morning Post (September 26) reported that Retired Lt General Wang Hongguang, former Commander of the PLA Eastern Theatre Command and Deputy Commander of the Nanjing Military Region, warned on his social media account on September 23, that China should stay on the alert for surprise attacks by India along its disputed Himalayan border with India.

In an interview with Global Times (September 27), Nepal's new Ambassador to China, Mahendra Bahadur Pandey (Pandey) said "Nepal and China are good neighbours and good friends. Diplomatically, we established the relations in 1955.

Duowei News reported (September 19) that as China-US relations have got strained and Chinese technology companies such as Huawei have been hit by the US one after another, top CCP leaders held a symposium of scientists on September 11.

The Second Intermediary Court of Beijing announced on its website September 22, that 69-year old Ren Zhiqiang, 'princeling', real estate tycoon and outspoken critic of Chinese President Xi Jinping was sentenced to 18 years prison and fined about $619,000 for corruption and bribery in his previous position as chairman of Huayuan Real Estate Group.

The People's Daily publicised (September 15) that the CCP CC General Office issued guidelines for deepening the achievements of the “Remain True to the Original Aspiration, Keep the Mission Firmly in Mind” education campaign that began in June 2019.

China's State Council announced a plan on September 21, to further expand the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) programme to attract foreign investment and boost trade.

An article by Vikram Khanna, Associate Editor of the Straits Times on September 23 said "Economist Teng Tai, President of the Chinese think-tank Winbro New Economic Thinking Institute, was quoted as saying in a report in the state-owned Securities Times.

The Central News Agency (September 22) reported that the Comac C919, which aerospace manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) developed, is China’s first domestically-made large passenger aircraft.

Quoting the Asahi Shimbun, Reuters reported (September 21) that China will lose access to the strategic space tracking Yatharagga Satellite Station, located about 350 km north of the Australian city of Perth when its contract expires. The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) had a contract allowing Beijing access to the satellite antenna at the ground station since at least 2011.

Joshua Wong, Hongkong Democracy activist and politician was arrested by Hongkong Police on September 24 evening and released on bail a few hours later.

The Washington Post reported (September 25) that the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) used satellite images and official construction tender documents to map more than 380 suspected detention facilities in the remote Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, highlighting reeducation camps, detention centers and prisons that have been newly built or expanded since 2017.

After the border commander talks at the Chinese Moldo post opposite Chushul, on September 21 the two sides issued a joint press statement.

The overseas Chinese news outlet on September 21 commented on the altered composition of the Indian team to the border talks on September 21.

In a Twitter post on September 21, the Editor-in-Chief of the CCP-owned Global Times Hu Xijin said "The PLA released the latest video of joint land-sea-air drill in Tibet region.

The Editor-in-Chief of Global Times Hu Xijin said on his Weibo account on September 21 that the 'whole mainland society has lost patience with the Taipei authorities' and they generally believe that “Taiwan independence” forces 'need to be taught a fundamental lesson'. He said 'if the other side dared to shoot the PLA fighters first, the PLA can attack Taiwan'.

Radio Free Asia reported (September 15) that Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) political party originally planned that Wang Jin-pyng, a former legislator, would lead a delegation to Xiamen of Fujian province to participate in the Straits Forum on September 16.

Taiwan's Representative to Washington DC, Ms. Bi-khim Hsiao designated herself on her personal Twitter account as Taiwan's "Ambassador to Washington". She subsequently clarified that she is not an official ambassador, but "like one". (Comment: Bi-Khim Hsiao is a close confidante of Taiwan President Tsai-Ing wen.)

The PLAAF released a two minute and 15-second video titled “The god of war H-6K goes on the attack!” on September 19, of two nuclear-capable H-6 bombers carrying out a simulated attack on what appears to be Andersen Air Force Base on the U.S. Pacific island of Guam. as regional tensions continue to rise.

A 33-year old New York City Police officer and United States Army reservist of Tibetan origin, Baimadajie Angwang, was charged on September 21, in federal court in the Eastern District of New York for espionage on behalf of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as well as committing wire fraud, making false statements and obstructing an official proceeding.

The Chinese-language transmission of Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on September 14, that the Japanese government’s aid program to assist Japanese companies to leave China is gaining in popularity. The first batch of approved applicants consisted of nearly 90 companies. However, by the end of July, the program received almost 1,700 applications in the second batch.

During his visit (September 17-18) to Hunan Province, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a stop in Changsha, where he visited: an advanced manufacturing company producing intelligent equipment; a cultural industry park; and a university.

A State Council executive meeting chaired by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on September 18, told provinces to reform procedures and make it easy for people and businesses that operate across province lines.

The State Council Executive meeting of September 18 also had SoE reform on its agenda.

The State Council published a White Paper on 'Employment and labor rights in Xinjiang' on September 16, 2020.

Secretary of the CCP CC and Head of the CCP CC's United Front Work Department (UFWD) You Quan visited (September 14-15) Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and had discussions with the provincial party and government leaders.

An article by Jia Chunyang, Research Associate of the Chinese Institutes of Contemporary International Relations in the Guangming Daily (September 20) insisted that "Employment is the foundation of people's livelihood.

Writing in the China Education Daily (September 17) Jia Hongxia, Associate Professor at Beijing Open University, stressed that preschool education is the foundation stage of basic education and lifelong education.

China's 21st Century Business Herald on September 12, cited statistics from the Urban and Rural Statistics Yearbook issued by China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, which disclosed that between 2014 and 2018, 451 cities had “urban expansion and population growth,” 87 cities had “urban expansion and population shrinkage,” 18 cities had “urban contraction and population growth,” and 13 cities had “urban contraction and population shrinkage.”

China Economy (September 8) reported that China-owned Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo issued multiple recalls for a total of 380,000 cars in the Chinese domestic market in the last month alone. Volvo ranked number one on the recall list in August in China.

Li Jie, a Beijing-based senior researcher at the PLA's Naval Military Studies Research Institute, confirmed at a national defense education event in Beijing, that the PLA Navy “will continue to develop and build the third, and even the fourth aircraft carriers".

Following the release recently by 'Yangguang Military' of photographs of comprehensive exercises in the PLA Western Theater, Chinese military analysts on September 17 complained there were too few Type-15 tanks in the PLA Western Theatre Command in contrast to the large reserves of Type-59 tanks.

A discussion among Chinese military analysts on September 18 claimed that the PLA Western Theatre Command had a high degree of digitisation with Artillery linked to J-10 fighter aircraft. They claimed the digital combat system is not only equipped with some walkie-talkies and the like in the squad, battalion and company units, but a complete architecture built on the concept of "network cloud".

Writing in Global Times (September 20) retired PLA Navy Senior Captain Li Jie said that despite 20,000 military personnel being infected with COVID, the Indian Army "may still insist on sending troops to the India-China border".

An article captioned 'Bhutan is making trouble in Donglang? India frequently provokes neighbouring countries, Pakistan and Nepal' and criticising the India-Bhutan relationship was posted on the Chinese government-maintained Bajiahao portal on September 5.

The PLA commenced joint maritime and aerial exercises and combat-readiness patrols in the Taiwan Straits on September 18.

The New York Times (September 17) reported that the Trump administration is pushing the sale of seven large packages of weapons to Taiwan, including long-range missiles that would allow Taiwanese jets to hit distant Chinese targets in the event of a conflict.

The U.S. Commerce Department said (September 18) that the US will block new downloads and updates of Chinese-owned social apps WeChat and TikTok with effect from September 200. Cash transfers through WeChat in the U.S. will also be banned.

A Weibo post in Chinese and English on September 12, by a prominent blogger “Big V” went to the most extreme of extremes, advocating global nuclear annihilation in the event that the United States curtails China’s ambitions.

Caroline Wilson, Britain's new Ambassador to China after she posted a photograph on social media holding a copy of the book 'Governance of China' authored by Xi Jinping presented by Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming when she met him. Viewers interpreted that as an endorsement of the hard-line policies of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

CPPCC Chairman and PBSC member Wang Yang just completed a two-day tour of Qinghai. He went there to spread the message of the 7th central Tibet Work Conference held in Beijing from August 28-29.

Han Zheng, PBSC Member and Vice Premier went on tour to Wuhan, Hubei Province, where he pointed out that Hubei Province and Wuhan City have resolutely implemented the spirit of General Secretary Jinping’s important instructions, and coordinated the promotion of normalized epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development.

A new book presenting a collection of Xi Jinping's speeches titled 'Excerpts from Xi Jinping's statements on Preventing Risks and Challenges and Responding to Emergencies' edited by the CCP CC's Institute of Party History and Documentation and published by the Central Literature Publishing House was released on September 10 for nationwide distribution.

The All-Private Economy United Front Work Conference was held via video conference in Beijing on September 16 and prominently covered by the state-owned CCTV.

An article in the South China Morning Post (December 13, 2019) gave the personal background of Xinjiang Party Secretary and Politburo member Chen Quanguo. It said Chen Quanguo was born into a working-class family in Henan province, a region dependent on agriculture and coal mining. In 1977, he got a firm foot on the rung of the ladder out of obscurity when he passed the college entrance exam.

An article in the Diplomat (September 15) said that Geng Xiaonan, a well-known Beijing publisher and outspoken supporter of the famously harassed former Tsinghua University law professor Xu Zhangrun presently under detention, is reportedly destined for “very heavy” punishment, not the 15 day maximum in an unpleasant detention cell usually imposed for minor offences not deemed sufficiently grave to constitute a “crime.”

Citing a reliable Chinese government source, the Dui Hua Foundation reported (September 14) that nine Tibetans have been convicted of inciting splittism by the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court in Sichuan Province since the end of June 2020. Three of the Tibetans were also convicted of arson in a case first heard by the court in 2019.

Chinese authorities have issued a list of 'wanted' protesters and arrested more than 130, according to Foreign Policy (September 16).

At a press conference in Beijing on September 16, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Bai Chunli, Secretary-General of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Wang Keqiang and Director of the Development and Planning Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Xie Pengyun spoke about the progress made in the first phase of China's "First Action" plan.

Taiwanese news site NewTalk reported (September 10) that U.S. Pentagon officials advised that the Trump administration is considering blacklisting Chinese domestic chip maker SMIC due to its ties to the Chinese military.

China’s once-highflying Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd. will apply to the country’s top insurance regulator for dissolution and liquidation, Anbang said on September 14.

China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published the August unemployment data on September 15 which, according to Caixin, showed that nationally, unemployment fell to 5.6%, not too far above last year's 5.2% and disclosed that only 4.8% of workers between 25-59 years are unemployed.

The Lhasa City government announced on September 14 that there would be an air raid test around noon on September 19 “ to improve the general public's conception of national defense and civil air defense awareness and in order to implement the air defense alarm test day system and test our air defense alarm facility.”

In an article in Global Times, its Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin sought to hype Chinese morale by saying that PLA soldiers deployed on the frontlines receive hot meals, are fit and can stay through the winter. They have modern arms and equipment. He said "Most of them were born in the 1990s, or even 2000s.

Chinese and European leaders agreed on September 14 in a virtual summit to speed up and conclude negotiations on a bilateral investment agreement within the year in a sign that the two sides are willing to cooperate in the pandemic recovery despite disputes over technology and geopolitical tensions.

The United States Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on the Chinese state-owned Tianjin-based Union Development Group (UDG) for human rights abuses and the seizure of land in Cambodia used in a $3.8 billion property development.

Foreign Policy reported (September 16) that after weeks of speculation about Microsoft acquiring TikTok, the Chinese-owned app will instead be acquired by the corporate technology company Oracle. The firm will remain majority-owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, with a “partnership” with Oracle.

The US State Department announced that U.S. Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Keith Krach will visit Taiwan for a memorial service for former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui on September 19.

On September 11, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a symposium for scientists in Beijing. In his speech, he emphasised that China's economic and social development and the improvement of people's livelihood more than ever require scientific and technological solutions, as well as the first driving force of innovation.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presided over the State Council’s weekly executive meeting on September 9, when boosting consumption and stimulating domestic demand was discussed. Li Keqiang acknowledged that “COVID-19 has made a big impact on consumption” and that “for China to achieve positive growth this year, boosting consumption is vitally important.” He said, “Efforts should be made in line with our own national conditions to expand channels of consumption and stimulate domestic demand.”

Presiding over the State Council meeting on September 9, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang described the shortage of qualified medical personnel as a big problem.

Writing in the People's Daily (September 11) Zhao Yibing of the School of International Law, East China University of Political Science and Law, said it is time for China to build maritime power.

The Chinese media reported that Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai, introduced a “Civilization Code” on September 3. It consists of a “civil transport index” and a “volunteer index,” with more indices and functions to be added in the future to create a “personal portrait” for each resident to promote civility and social responsibility which would later cover civilised dining, social courtesy, online behaviour, law-abiding behaviour and food saving.

Sina.com reported (August 25) that a number of 'scandalous' projects in China’s semi-conductor chip industry recently came to a halt mostly due to a lack of funding. Local governments often desperately scramble for chip projects to show their political achievements.

The state-owned China CCTV News reported on September 11 that a 'composite' (integrated) brigade of the Tibet Military Region recently organized a full-staff, multi-subject, live-fire drill in an unfamiliar area at an altitude of 4,600 meters.

On the morning of September 12, Beijing time, Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of the CCP-owned "Global Times" posted on Chinese social media Weibo that sources had revealed that the Indians released by China in Arunachal Pradesh were Indian intelligence agents dressed as hunters.

On September 11 -- the day the joint press statement was issued after the meeting between India's EAM Jaishankar and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi -- the Editor-in-Chief of the CCP-owned Global Times Hu Xijin authored an article captioned 'China must be militarily and morally ready for a potential war'.

U.S. Ambassador to China,Terry Branstad, recently sent an Op-Ed titled “Resetting the Relationship Based on Reciprocity,” but the People’s Daily rejected his request. On September 10, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and People’s Daily said the U.S. Ambassador’s article was “full of loopholes” and accused the U.S. of being ” illogical, overbearing and unreasonable” in this matter.

Controversy has risen in Switzerland after revelations by the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper (September 12) of a little known bilateral agreement concluded in December 2015 between the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) and it is equivalent in the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

On September 9, Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs (CCFEA), the Party’s top body for deliberating economic strategies which typically meets three times a year. On top of its agenda was creating a more efficient logistics system.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top leaders gathered in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on September 8, to honour citizens who have contributed to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Xinhua reported that renowned respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan received the Medal of the Republic, the highest state honour.

Qiushi (17/2020 dated August 31) reprinted a speech Chinese President Xi Jinping gave on March 18, 2019, at a symposium for teachers of ideological and political theory classes in schools.

58-year old Zheng Shanjie was appointed Governor of Zhejiang Province on September 4. He took over from Yuan Jiajun, who was promoted as Party Secretary of Zhejiang earlier last week.

The People's Daily (September 3) reported that Politburo member and Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission Guo Shengkun held a forum on September 2, on political and legal propaganda and public opinion, emphasizing the importance of implementing Xi Jinping’s guidance on political and legal work and public opinion.

The Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court announced on September 8 that the Ninth Court of the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court will hold the trial of Ren Zhiqiang at 9:30 on September 11, 2020.

On September 9, 2020, which was also the forty-fourth death anniversary of Mao Zedong, Geng Xiaonan and her husband Qin Zhen (秦真) were detained by the Beijing police, prompting Prof. Xu Zhangrun to publish an 'open' letter appealing for her release.

The appointment of Deng Li (邓励) as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs was announced on September 8.

A South China Morning Post article (September 9) by Shi Jiangtao observed that as China faces mounting criticism, including over its aggressive diplomacy and initial handling of the outbreak, as its rift with the US worsens, Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of Global Times in an article over the weekend asked: “How come the whole world is China’s enemy?

Prior to leaving on his visits to Greece, Spain, and Myanmar, Politburo member Yang Jiechi gave a written interview to Xinhua on September 6.

A Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Research Paper published in February 2020 has found that since 2012, when the Chinese government began allowing more foreign films into the country, Hollywood movies have cast more light-skinned actors in starring roles.

A Global Times (September 9) article reported that the PLA has been reportedly mobilizing forces, including bombers, air defense troops, artillery, armoured vehicles, paratroopers, special forces and infantry units, from different parts of the country to the bordering plateau region, a move that, it said, shows the PLA's capability and determination to safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Almost simultaneous with the issue of the Joint Statement after the meeting between India's Foreign Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing issued the following statement.

H.E. Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India met H.E. Wang Yi, State Councillor and Foreign Minister of China on 10th September in Moscow on the side-lines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting. Both Ministers had a frank and constructive discussion on the developments in the India-China border areas as well as on India-China relations.

Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of Global Times wrote (September 8) an interesting and less strident, but yet tough, article in the Global Times.

Following the incident on September 7, when Indian troops forced Chinese troops advancing on the Indian position at Mukhpari Peak north of Rezang La to retreat, the spokesman of the PLA Western Theatre Command Colonel Zhang Shuili made a statement on September 7 "on the provocation of the Indian army’s illegal crossing of the line again".

Nikkei Asian Review (September 1) reported that Vietnam will host the meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum from September 9 to discuss Asia-Pacific security.

Xinhua (September 8) reported that China's Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi and Pakistani Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah spoke to each other on September 7.

Nikkei Asian Review reported (September 1) that fishermen in Pakistan will protest the arrival of 20 Chinese deep-sea trawlers that will fish in the exclusive economic zone off Sindh and Baluchistan provinces. The pressure group Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) has announced a campaign against the trawlers' arrival near Karachi as they fear the trawlers will further deplete Pakistan's marine resources.

The ABC has uncovered the identities of senior Chinese journalists and academics who have been drawn into the joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

In a nearly 4,000-character article in the Communist Party mouthpiece, People’s Daily, on September 7, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng called upon the US for a security dialogue to prevent strategic misjudgments between the countries, as well as exchanges between their think tanks and media.

Writing in the South China Morning Post (September 9), Shi Jiangtao disclosed that Yang Jiechi had travelled to Singapore on August 20, when his hosts arranged a special excursion for him, which he suggested could have been a message about how Beijing’s assertiveness is perceived in the city-state, to a commemorative marker for China’s late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping along the Singapore River.

The state-owned CCTV telecast (September 5) Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the 2020 China International Service Trade Fair Global Service Trade Summit.

Wang Xiaohong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Executive Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) wrote an article in the China Police Daily on August 28, two days after CCP CC General Secretary Xi Jinping presented the flag to the People’s Police force and delivered a 649-character (in Chinese) speech stressing the "revolutionization, regularization, professionalization of the People's Police force".

Xinhua (September 6) publicised that the book "Excerpts from Xi Jinping's Statements on Preventing Risks and Challenges and Responding to Emergencies" edited by CCP CC's Institute of Party History and Documentation was recently published and distributed nationwide by the Central Literature Publishing House.

The People's Daily published a commentator's article on September 6, captioned: 'We must insist on the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party to move forward unimpededly'.

The South China Morning Post on September 5, reported that one of China’s top political scientists, Zheng Yongnian, is being investigated by the National University of Singapore (NUS) over allegations of sexual harassment by a female employee at its East Asian Institute (EAI) think-tank.

Quoting Xinhua, the China Daily (September 7) reported that China's reusable experimental spacecraft had successfully returned after 2 days in orbit and landed at a preset site on September 6 morning. No details of the mission were released, but it was described as a complete success.

The State-owned CCTV reported (September 7) that China will launch a new-generation positioning chip for the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) by the end of 2020.

"The Beijing News" reported on September 6, that the US$ 1 million Future Science Award was given to Lu Ke, Deputy Governor of Liaoning Province responsible for science and technology, health, sports etc. and Academician and Researcher of the Institute of Metal Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The state-owned CCTV had as the caption for its programme 'Focus' on September 5, "US military aircraft "transformed" into the South China Sea, intends to escalate, provoking and causing trouble?"

According to the calculations of the Income Distribution Research Institute of Beijing Normal University, 964 million Chinese people earn a monthly income below 2,000 yuan (US$ 292.50); 364 million earn a monthly income between 2,000 (US$ 292.50) and 5,000 yuan (US$ 731.10); and only 72 million people, or 5.13 per cent of the total population, have a monthly income of more than 5,000 yuan (US$ 731.10).

An article in Caixin on September 5, said the idea of 'dual circulation' first came up at a Politburo meeting May 14 presided over by Xi Jinping. At the meeting, the nation was urged to “fully bring out the advantage of China’s super-large market scale and the potential of domestic demand to establish a new development pattern featuring domestic and international dual circulations that complement each other.”

Surnaa, a 33-year-old ethnic Mongolian woman who worked for a panel of the Chinese Communist Party in Inner Mongolia's Alxa administrative unit, died by suicide on September 4, in what her family members said was an act of protest over the ruling Chinese Communist Party's plans to phase out Mongolian-medium education and language teaching in schools.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Hongkong on Sunday September 6 to protest against the imposition of the National Security Law (NSL). The police resorted to tear gas firing. Clashes occurred between protestors and the police.

The Chinese Embassy in the US on September 4, said on its official Twitter account that China has become the 2nd largest contributor to the UN's regular and peacekeeping budgets, and the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the 5 permanent members of the Security Council, taking part in the handling of almost all major international and regional hotspot issues.

Hu Xijing, Editor-in-Chief of Global Times on September 6 wrote an article contesting the charge that China is diplomatically isolated. Calling it a serious misperception, he said the biggest change is the change in the attitude of the US and its 'Five Eyes' allies towards China and the intensification of border disputes between China and India which has led to a hardening of India's attitude towards China.

China's Economic Daily published (August 31) an article by He Yiting, Executive Deputy Dean of the CCP CC's Central Party School and the Director of Xi Jinping's Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era, on the recent symposium of experts in the economic and social fields.

The People's Daily on August 28 published a front page article under the caption: 'The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core is concerned about the work in Tibet', which summarized Tibet work conducted by Xi Jinping and the CCP Central Committee since the 18th Party Congress.

In its 8 pm Focus programme on August 31, the state-owned CCTV declared that according to General Secretary Xi Jinping’s evaluation at the Seventh Central Tibet Work Forum there had been "All-round progress, historic achievement" in Tibet since the Sixth Central Tibet Work Forum.

Among those attending the seventh Tibet Work Conference (August 29 - 30) were TAR Party and government officials, the 'principal comrades' in charge of the Party and government of various cities and provinces, officials in charge of the Party and government of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces and principal officials of the Party and government of the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

Li Xiaoxin (李小新) was appointed deputy head of the CCP CC Organization Department. Ke Yousheng (柯友生) was appointed Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

The Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) released a revised export control catalogue on August 28.

Sina reported (August 27) and the Shanghai-based 'The Paper (August 30) that at a recent symposium of the Global Wealth Management Forum (GAMF) on “Global Economic and Financial Situation and the Future Development of the Financial Industry in Crisis”, former Chinese Finance Minister and current Director of the CPPCC Foreign Affairs Committee, Lou Jiwei, said in a speech recently that the real general public deficit is 6.1 per cent.

Caixin (August 31) reported that the Postal Savings Bank of China Co. Ltd. and China Citic Bank Corp. Ltd., two of China's largest state-owned banks, have joined the pilot program to create services for the digital currency developed by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and conduct initial tests.

CCTV on August 30, telecast the latest training images of the Liaoning aircraft carrier where the J-15 carrier aircraft with mounted missiles took off and landed on the Liaoning and formed a formation of seven aircraft to fly in the air as part of the PLA's 'four sea areas live-fire exercise.'

Kangba TV (Shannan) telecast a report on August 31 that a Frontier Defense Regiment of the Tibet Shannan (Lhoka) Army Division recently organized a practical and comprehensive exercise at an altitude of 4,500 meters to test the combat capabilities of the multi-arms coordinated cooperation and joint strikes systems with multiple new weapons and equipment.

Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi told (September 1) an international audience in Paris that there will always be problems with India of the kind witnessed in eastern Ladakh because the boundary wasn't demarcated yet even as he claimed China wouldn’t be the first to escalate the situation and was committed to managing all issues through dialogue.

Reports essay that approx. 400-500 PLA soldiers came to the southern bank of the LAC and were challenged by Indian soldiers who saw them coming and had laid an ambush for them.

In a lengthy article captioned 'From Donglang to Galwan River Valley: Beware of Three Changes in the Sino-Indian Border Issue' in the official Shanghai 'The Paper' on August 29, Dr. Tongyu Tao of the School of International Studies at Peking University said that there would be frequent clashes on the border between India and China because the balance of power between the two in the border area has changed.

15 Chinese researchers have apparently been told on September 1, that they must leave the country as soon as possible after the University of North Texas (UNT) abruptly cut ties with the organization that funds them — the Chinese Scholarship Council, which is under the Chinese Ministry of Education. UNT hasn't said why.

China's Guangming Daily on August 31 published an article under the caption "Why "Worst Secretary of State in American History" Gets Its Name", which referred to a recent Washington Post article which, the Guangming Daily said "listed a series of Pompeo's "actions" after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia in the United States-including ignoring the severity of the epidemic, evading one's own political responsibility, refusing international cooperation, and trying to "throw away" China, etc., thinking that "since the end of World War II" Since then, perhaps no one has performed worse than Pompeo (Secretary of State)."

The Australian media reported (August 31) that Chinese authorities had notified the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs that Chinese-Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei was arrested in China on August 14.

Nikkei Asia reported (August 31) that Japanese brokerage house Daiwa Securities Group had received clearance on August 31 to launch a majority-owned joint venture in Beijing. Daiwa is to set up a joint venture, Daiwa Securities (China), with 1 billion yuan ($146 million) in capital.

Speaking at the 2-day Seventh Central Work Conference on Tibet in Beijing on August 29-30, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for efforts to build a new modern socialist Tibet.

An important article in the People's Daily on August 27, by the Party Building Institute of the CCP CC Organisation Department, emphasised the 'two upholds' or 'two safeguards'.

Global Times (August 30) reported the launch of China's reportedly eighth Type 055 and 25th Type 052D destroyers on August 30, just two days after the PLAN decommissioned two Type 051 destroyers.

China's Customs data showed (August 27) that China’s rare earth exports plunged 69.1% year-on-year to 1,620 tons in July, marking the lowest monthly volume since January 2015, as the coronavirus pandemic heavily hit demand for the minerals.

According to a report from the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis released on August 20, stated that due to the impact of the US-China trade war and the devaluation of the renminbi, over $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency has left China in the past 12 months.

Deutsche Welle (August 25) and Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit obtained copies of documents that were leaked and which reveal that Cyprus, an EU country, approved 1,400 “golden passports” between 2017 and 2019, among which more than 500 were issued to Chinese.

The 'Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center' (SMHRIC) reported (August 30) that following the central Chinese government's decision to replace Mongolian with Mandarin as the medium of instruction in schools, hundreds of students in school uniform gathered in front of the Tongliao Mongolian Middle School, one of the largest Mongolian schools in Inner Mongolia, chanting “Our mother tongue is Mongolian.

Global Times reported (August 19) that seven Hong Kong publishers have submitted changes to their General Studies Textbooks. General Studies is a core course in Hong Kong high schools.

The People’s Daily (August 26) reported that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Democratic Revolutionary Party (RPD) of Panama held the opening ceremony of an online seminar for party cadres on August 25.

In an article (August 26) captioned 'Inside Biden’s China Policy' published by US-China Focus, Yang Wenjing of CICIR analysed the 92-page Democratic Party platform and said the Democrats seem to have already inherited this premise of the 'China threat'.

On August 25, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily, in three full pages out of a total of 20, published an extremely lengthy opinion that runs through a barrage of criticisms against U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as a response to his speech on July 23, 2020, at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in California.

A paper by Tian Ye, Professor of the Department of International Politics, School of International Relations, Renmin University of China and Chen Zhaoyuan, an assistant researcher at the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) published by CASS on August 29, criticised the US for obstructing international cooperation to fight the coronavirus.

On August 26, Chinese President Xi Jinping conferred the police flag on China's police force at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. He ordered them to be loyal to the Party, serve the people and be impartial in law enforcement and strict in discipline.

A People's Daily (August 20) report on the symposium hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Anhui on August 20 said that in addition to discussing flood control and the role of the PLA, Xi Jinping also talked about the broader goals for the army for the rest of 2020, which included concentrating energy on training troops, strengthening ideological and political construction, as well as “ensuring the army’s high degree of centralized unity and secure stability.” (Para 1 of CCAS China News dated August 24 refers.)

People’s Daily (August 18) published a letter by Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed to the All-China Youth Federation (全国青联委会) National Committee and the All-China Student Federation (全国学联).

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) announced (August 24)) that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France, and Germany from August 25 to September 1.

The Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) and National Supervision Commission (NSC) published a commentary (August 20) in their official magazine titled “Strengthening Supervision of the ‘Top-Ranked Leader (一把手) and Leadership Groups.”

Peking University issued a “Notice on Regulating the Declaration and Approval of Participation in Online International Conferences Organized by Foreign Parties” on August 20, 2020.

The China Coast Guard arrested 12 Hongkong pro-democracy activists on August 27 night on the high seas 10 km from Hongkong as they were fleeing to Taiwan.

The TAR Party Committee disclosed on August 21, that TAR Party Secretary Wu Yingjie, TAR Deputy Secretary and TAR Chairman Che Dhala (also known as Che Zala and Qizhala) recently met Zheng Jianbang, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee and Vice Chairman of the Soong Ching Ling Foundation Discussion, in Lhasa.

Following the disclosure of a 'secret plan' to wipe out Mongolian-language education in the Nei Mongol Autonomous Region in the final phase of a decades-long cultural campaign, protests erupted in Southern Mongolian society.

A report datelined (Lhasa, August 25) reported that recently, a special operations brigade and an army aviation brigade under the PLA Xizang (Tibet) Military Command jointly organized the first large-scale parachute drill in an unfamiliar area on the plateau at an elevation of about 4,000 meters above sea level, in a bid to further hone the troops’ joint combat capabilities.

The South China Morning Post reported (August 26) that the PLA fired the 4000-kms range DF-26B, launched from the northwestern province of Qinghai, and a DF-21D, launched from Zhejiang province in the South China Sea in a ‘warning to the United States’ on August 25.

A report by Alex Joske entitled 'Hunting the Phoenix' and published by The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) on August 20, 2020, establishes that the CCP has at least 600 stations around the world that identify and recruit scientists and technologists who would be valuable to China’s quest for technological dominance.

The Wall Street Journal reported (August 24) that J.P. Morgan recently boosted its 2020 China growth forecast to 2.5% from 1.3% in April. Economists at the World Bank and elsewhere have also upgraded their forecasts for China.

Xinhua (August 24) reported the election of China's Ambassador to Hungary, Duan Jielong, as a member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on August 24.

U.S.-China tensions over the South China Sea escalated on August 26, with Beijing firing four medium-range ballistic missiles into the disputed area between Hainan Island and the Paracel Islands.

The Wall Street Journal published (August 24) an article by US Defence Secretary Mark Esper with the caption 'The Pentagon is prepared for China'.

An investigation of corruption allegations against suspended Los Angeles Councilman Jose Huizar, brought to light a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving several Chinese developers seeking the politician’s backing for lucrative property deals in Los Angeles.

TikTok and its Chinese parent, ByteDance Ltd., on August 24, sued in federal court in Los Angeles to challenge an August 6 order from President Donald Trump prohibiting U.S. residents from doing business with TikTok.

A Chinese media platform reported on August 25 that the first of the four advanced frigates built by China for Pakistan was launched on August 22.

International Department Head Song Tao and Jiangxi Party Secretary Liu Qi attended the second meeting of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Political Parties Joint Consultation Mechanism via video call on August 20.

On August 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting to discuss the PLA’s efforts at flood control and disaster relief. A Xinhua report (Hefei, August 20) said that “As of Wednesday, dispatches totalling more than 1.2 million head counts from the PLA and the People's Armed Police Force and more than 300,000 from the militia had been made in flood control missions in 17 provincial-level regions.”

During his visit to Anhui province, on August 19 Chinese President Xi Jinping went to the Xuejiawa ecological park in Ma’anshan, a dam in Feidong county to inspect flood control efforts, a memorial hall in Hefei marking the PLA's campaign to cross the Yangtze River during the Chinese Civil War and the Anhui Innovation Center.

Chinese venture capitalist and staunch supporter of Chinese President Xi Jinping has written an article in Foreign Policy (August 14) extolling Xi Jinping and his leadership, especially in handling the Coronavirus epidemic.

Premier Li Keqiang was in Chongqing on August 20, talking to local people and inspecting the impact of the aforementioned catastrophic seasonal flooding.

Politburo member and Director of the CCP's Foreign Affairs Office, Yang Jiechi, was in Singapore on a two-day (August 19-20) visit at the invitation of the Singapore government.

The Central Discipline Inspection Commission website (August 18) announced that Gong Daoan, Deputy Mayor of Shanghai City and head of its Public Security Bureau is under investigation for corruption.

TAR Troops stationed at the Ngari (Ali) Border Defence frontlines with elevations of more than 4,000 metres conducted long-range precision strikes exercises from August 10-14. A Combat capabilities competition was also held on August 11.

The state-owned CGTN reported (August 17) that a brigade of the PLA Tibet Military Region recently conducted field training at an altitude of 5,600 meters.

The Print, based on the latest available satellite imagery provided by an anonymous analyst using the twitter handle @detresfa_, reports that the Chinese military is constructing a surface-to-air missile site as well as other infrastructure on the banks of the Mansarovar Lake in the India-Nepal-China tri-junction area near the Lipulekh pass.

A senior People’s Bank of China (PBOC) official said (August 21) that China’s central bank does not plan to expand its efforts to extend credit to small businesses in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic as the tools involved have already provided the support they needed and the economy has returned to normal.

Stating that "The situation in the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea is getting increasingly tense" and citing overseas media outlets that US military planes have flown to the South China Sea 67 times in a month; that the PLA started military exercises in the Yellow Sea on August 22, following its just-concluded military drills in the Taiwan Straits and will also conduct military exercises in the South China Sea and the Bohai Sea on August 24, the Global Times (August 23) said, "There have been increasing discussions on the risk of military conflicts".

The South China Morning Post (August 21) reported that Representative Scott Perry (Rep-Pennsylvania), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has introduced a bill to change the way the federal government refers to the leader of China, prohibiting the use of the term “president”.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, published (August 20) the text of the keynote speech delivered by Cui Tiankai, Beijing’s Ambassador to the United States, at a webinar hosted by the Brookings Institution on August 20.

In an article captioned 'The worse the colour, the better the inside' in the Guangming Daily (August 22), Shen Yamei, Deputy Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the China Institute of International Studies, criticised US Secretary of State Pompeo for attempting to "resurrect the "ghost" of the Cold War by launching an ideological offensive against China".

On August 18, Chinese President Xi Jinping travelled to Anhui province to inspect the extent of flooding and preventive measures taken.

Mao Weiming, Chairman and Party Secretary of one of China's largest SoEs, State Grid, wrote an article in the People's Daily (August 19) on effective ways for State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) to strengthen Party building at grassroots.

68-year old outspoken retired Professor Cai Xia, a former senior faculty member of the Central Party School in Beijing for 15 years was expelled from the CCP on August 17 and lost her pension as punishment for speeches “that damaged the reputation of the country”.

BBC (August 11) said that according to China’s English language official media CGTN, four major state-owned banks, including the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and the Agricultural Bank of China, have started testing digital currencies in Shenzhen.

The state-owned CCTV-7's Defence Programme on August 14, amid worsening tensions between Beijing and Taipei, revealed what a Chinese analyst described as ‘one of the most important advanced weapons for the Chinese military right now’.

China's state-owned CCTV-7 on August 18 questioned the intention behind the United States' 'Pacific Rim-2020' exercise which commenced in Hawaii on August 17. It said that 10 countries, 20 ships and 5300 officers and men were participating.

A report released on August 17, by two IISS researchers Meia Nouwens and Dr Lucie Beraud-Sudreau showed that while in 2018 all eight Chinese Defence SoEs ranked in the top 22 of the Defense News global list with three in the top ten, in 2019 only two Chinese Defence SoEs ranked in the top ten though all 25 figured in the top 25 of the Defense News global list.

Guangming Daily reported (August 16) that the closing ceremony of the annual meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) was held on August 15.

The Beijing Youth Daily on August 4 reported CCP CC Politburo member, Vice Premier and 'Leader of the Leading Group of the National Census for Poverty Alleviation' Hu Chunhua's visit to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

Apparently reacting to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's tweet of June 30 saying effectively that the 'one country, two systems' is no longer valid, China's Guangming Daily (August 19) published an editorial captioned 'History is Unstoppable'.

The CCP-owned Global Times (August 17) warned that "Hong Kong secessionists fleeing to the UK and promoting the "parliament in exile" severely breach and blatantly defy Article 29 of the national security law for Hong Kong" and "that those people, along with UK organizations or individuals who sponsored them, will face legal punishment no matter their whereabouts and face severe sanctions from China".

The US Department of Commerce announced (August 16) that it would expand existing restrictions by preventing Huawei from acquiring chips made outside the US but developed or produced with US software or technology. It also added another 38 Huawei affiliates in 21 countries to its Entity List.

Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 67, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, was arrested on August 14, 2020, on a charge that he conspired with a relative of his who also was a former CIA officer to communicate classified information up to the Top Secret level to intelligence officials of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

China's popular online portal 163.com on August 4, said an article captioned “This ‘TikTok Slaughter Battle’ completely tore off Zuckerberg’s mask as the ‘Chinese people’s good son-in-law’” was published widely in China's official media.

The Wall Street Journal (August 19) reported that the GTV Media Group linked to former Trump political adviser Steve Bannon and exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui which raised more than $300 million in a private offering this spring that is now being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Xinhua (August 15) publicised that an article by President Xi Jinping on opening new horizons of the Marxist political economy in contemporary China would be published in the 16th issue of the Qiushi Journal to be issued on August 16.

A Commentator's article in China's Economic Daily (August 15) reported the visit by CCP CC General Secretary Xi Jinping to Yucun, Anji County, Zhejiang Province.

The Study Times (August 14) reported that addressing the expert and scholar symposium on June 2, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasised the need to deepen the reform of the scientific research personnel development system and mechanism, improve the discovery, training, and incentive mechanism for strategic scientists and innovative scientific and technological personnel, and attract more outstanding talents to the scientific research team.

The South China Morning Post on August 16 reported that Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had visited Tibet where he praised Tibet’s achievements under President Xi Jinping, especially in securing the border with India.

A report in the Global Times (August 11) mentioned that border regions including Shannan Prefecture are stepping up efforts in relocating people to the border to boost both national security and quality of life. Budo, Deputy Party Secretary and Chief of the County told Global Times that Cona plans to relocate 3,222 people of 960 families to the "weakly controlled areas on the borders" on a voluntary basis.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported (August 13) that a public toilet has been erected on the site of the demolished Tokul mosque in Atush (in Chinese, Atushi) city, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

The state-owned CCTV (August 13) reported that China's Ministry of National Defense (MND) website had released the news that the PLA Eastern Theater Command recently 'deployed multiple services and multiple directions in a system to organize actual combat exercises in the Taiwan Strait and the north and south to further test and enhance the joint combat capabilities of multiple services'.

Reuters reported (August 15) that fears are rising in China of a deepening financial war as relations with the US deteriorate. Chinese officials and economists have in recent months been unusually public in discussing worst-case scenarios under which China is blocked from dollar settlements, or Washington freezes or confiscates a portion of China’s huge U.S. debt holdings.

Chinese Customs data, according to Caixin (August 14) showed that ocean shipping rates between China and the U.S. have soared in the last three months as Chinese exporters and their American customers' race to stock up on goods over concerns about potential new tariffs during a season that is already one of the industry’s busiest.

Caixin (August 15) that a US-China Business Council survey released on August 11 showed that nearly 70% of member companies said they are optimistic about the five-year business outlook in China. The survey showed that 83% counted China as either the top priority for their company’s global strategy or among the top five.

China's Ambassador to India Sun Weidong wrote in the July issue of the China-India Review published by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi that: "In any relationship, there are ups and downs.

Indian authorities arrested Luo Sang, a Chinese national, on charges of money laundering on August 4, night in a raid by the Income Tax Department for money laundering and representing fake Chinese companies in hawala transactions. He was earlier reported to have been arrested by the Delhi Police on spying charges in 2018.

Chinese government Customs data shows that exports to India since January 2020 have fallen by 24.7% year-on-year to $32.28 billion. China's imports from India have also gone up 6.7% since January this year to $11.09 billion. Consequently, total trade with India has registered a slightly lower 18.6% drop since the beginning of 2020 to $43.47 billion.

Reuters (August 15) reported that DPP's Chen Chi-mai, a former vice-premier, won 70% of the votes in the by-election for Mayor of Kaohsiung on August 15, roundly defeating the pro-Beijing KMT candidate Jane Lee. Voter turnout was low.

The Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted three former legislative aides on August 13 charged for involvement in developing a spy network in Taiwan for Chinese intelligence.

Bloomberg reported (August 15) that Taiwan formally signed an agreement to buy 66 of the latest model F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin Corp. Taiwan’s purchase of the F-16s marks the first sale of advanced fighter jets to the island since President George H.W. Bush announced approval for 150 F-16s in 1992.

The American National Pulse reported (July 31) that Several U.S. corporations and media companies have been supporting Tsinghua University’s Global Business Journalism School.

Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily reported (August 11 & 12 respectively) that the CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping had recently issued an “important instruction” on food waste.

The official CCP mouthpiece People's Daily on August 13 published a lengthy signed article by Huang Kunming, Politburo member and Head of the CCP CC Propaganda Department, on page 6.

Lu Yanqin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang Jiaxing University, writing in the China Education Daily (August 13) said CCP CC General Secretary Xi Jinping had recently sent a letter to congratulate the Eighth National Congress of the Chinese Young Pioneers and pointed out that it is necessary to "inherit the red gene, cultivate new generations, unite, educate, and lead the young pioneers to be the successors of the cause of communism."

An article by Li Qingsi, a researcher at the National Institute of Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China and Deputy Director of the American Studies Center, in the Beijing Daily (August 13) personally and severely criticised US President Trump, including for not handling the Coronavirus epidemic competently, and said the U.S.'s "democratic system is the democracy of capital.

Lai Xiaomin, a former Chairman of China Huarong Asset Management, one of China’s “Big Four” state-owned bad-asset managers, has been accused of taking a record 1.79 billion yuan ($258 million) of bribes over 10 years as he stood trial in Tianjin Municipality on August 10.

Caixin reported (August 11) that China's National Supervisory Commission (NSC), the top government anti-graft agency, had reported to the NPC Standing Committee that China had seized 7,831 fugitives over the past 6½ years and recouped losses of 19.7 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) under a government campaign to pursue "corrupt officials and dodgy business people" who fled abroad.

Reflecting the growing concern among Chinese researchers and officials of an all-out “financial war” between China and the US, with many saying the US side would have a clear advantage thanks to the dominant role of the US dollar in cross-border investments and payments, a senior Chinese economist warned of likely consequences.

According to Caixin (August 12) data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) showed (August 9) that China’s commercial banks reported a 9.4% decline in first-half net profits to 1 trillion yuan ($143 billion), reflecting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nikkei Asian Review reported (August 12) that Quanxin Integrated Circuit Manufacturing (Jinan), better known as QXIC, and Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or HSMC, two Chinese government-backed chip projects, have together hired more than 100 veteran engineers and managers from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s leading chipmaker, since last year.

A toughly-worded "special article" published by the Global Times (August 13) reported a statement issued by the PLA Eastern Theater Command on August 13 that it would continuously organize actual combat exercises in the Taiwan Strait and "the north and south sides".

Wen Lii, Director of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s newly-launched Lienchiang County Chapter based on the Matsu Islands, wrote in The Diplomat (August 12) that because of growing public concern over thousands of illegal Chinese sand dredging ships in the Taiwan Strait, the Taiwan government is considering new regulations that would facilitate "sinking" Chinese dredgers seized by Taiwan’s coast guard, including for use as artificial reefs or as target ships in military exercises.

Reacting to the US announcement of August 6, that it would de-list companies failing to meet auditing requirements, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said (August 9) the right way to improve cross-border cooperation on audit inspections is to have a frank dialogue.

A Global Times (August 11) article captioned 'US rudely unpacks official furniture ordered by Chinese Mission to UN', reported that the 'US brutally unpacked a container with 60 pieces of furniture (official supplies) ordered by the Chinese delegation to the United Nations and dismantled the wrappings of 12 pieces' delivering the consignment a month after the request.

The Global Times on August 12 published an article by Zhu Feng, Executive Director of the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University, which suggested that 'the China-US relationship shouldn't be kidnapped by US right-wing forces.

Qiu Shi (Seeking Truth; 2020/15 dated August 1)published the speech Xi Jinping made at the 21st collective study session of the Politburo on 29 June.

Qiu Shi (2020/15; August 1) published a lengthy two-part article by Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi that ostensibly deals with foreign affairs but substantively serves to signal loyalty and obedience to Xi Jinping.

China's Ministry of Emergency Management reported on July 28 that the floods affected Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei and other 27 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities).

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) reported (August 7) that, as soon as U.S. President Trump officially signed the executive order to ban WeChat, the stock price of WeChat’s owner, Tencent, instantly suffered a free fall of 10 per cent on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE).

The People's Daily (August 1) reported that "a few days ago" a notice issued by the Central Military Commission (CMC) urged officers and soldiers to carefully study the third volume of Xi Jinping.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported (August 10) that China’s Ministry of Education issued a notice in July requiring students at local schools and colleges to watch a promotional video and a mini film that the Recruitment Office of the Defense Ministry produced.

China's first military hospital train was inaugurated on August 6, 2020 marking the opening of China's first railway line and railway station exclusively dedicated to the military hospital train. The train's two dedicated railway tracks are connected to China’s railway network through the adjacent Chongqing-Guizhou Railway.

Prominent pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow was arrested on the charge of 'inciting secession' under the National Security Law on August 10 morning. Jimmy Lai, the owner of the Apple Daily who was also arrested on August 10 morning, was however released on bail of HK$300,000 (US$38,708), along with a HK$200,000 surety, on August 11 following the Apple Daily's declaration on its front page: “Apple Daily will fight on.”

The Wall Street Journal reported (August 11) that all goods made in Hong Kong for export to the United States will need to be labeled as made in China after September 25, according to a U.S. government notice posted on August 11.

Joshua Lam Yeuk-hay, the younger son of HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam, one among 11 Mainland and Hong Kong officials recently sanctioned by the US government, and a graduate student in the US, pursuing a PhD in mathematics at Harvard, seems to have abruptly left Boston in late July to return to Hongkong.

Global Times (August 9) personally attacked Adrian Zenz and criticised him for accusing China of "detaining" Uygurs and other minority groups or imposing "sterilization" on ethnic minorities in its Xinjiang region.

Bloomberg reported (August 10) that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian stated at the weekly press briefing on August 10 that “In response to the U.S.’s wrong behaviors, China has decided to impose sanctions on those individuals who behaved badly on Hong Kong-related issues.”

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on August 10 that companies from China and other countries that do not comply with U.S. accounting standards will be delisted from U.S. stock exchanges from the end of 2021.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP - August 11) quoting sources said Beijing had ordered pilots and naval officers to exercise restraint in the increasingly frequent stand-offs with US planes and warships and told them “not to fire the first shot” as Beijing looks to de-escalate tensions with the United States in the South China Sea.

Writing in the Washington Times (August 8), Gerry Shih quoted Li Kaisheng, a researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, saying in an op-ed in the Global Times newspaper this week that China should focus on its “primary conflict” — with the United States — rather than respond to every slight from other countries. Li Kaisheng said: “A lion does not swat a fly as soon as it lands on it, but a porcupine pricks up as soon as anything brushes against its back.”

i) Caixin reported (August 8) that 53-year old Zhou Xuedong, former Director of the General Executive Office of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), was named Vice President of the China Development Bank (CDB). He has 12 years of experience in financial regulation and managing financial risks at the PBoC. He started at the CDB on August 4 and his duties at the central bank were taken over by his deputy Zhong Ping.

Asia Times (August 10) reported that Chinese telecom giant Huawei said production of its most advanced smartphone chips would stop in September due to US sanctions, causing a “huge loss”.

Voice of America (VOA)'s Chinese Edition reported on August 1, that Samsung had announced (August 1) that it is closing its last personal computer manufacturing factory in China – Samsung Electronics Suzhou Computer. Over 800 employees may see their contracts end. The Suzhou factory was established in 2002.

The Epoch Times (August 7) said a list obtained by it had partially uncovered names of members of Party committees in the headquarters of TikTok's parent company ByteDance.

Maldives 'The Edition' reported (July 27) that China's Exim Bank ordered the Maldivian government to pay US$ 10 million (MVR 154 million), from a loan issued to the parliament representative for Dhaalu Atoll's Meedhoo constituency Ahmed Siyam (Sun Siyam), granted via a sovereign guarantee provided by the previous administration.

Amidst reports that China's PLA Navy (PLAN) is planning a large-scale landing exercise in the South China Sea later this month which will specifically simulate an invasion of Taiwan’s Dongsha Islands (Pratas Islands, 東沙群島), Taiwan has sent additional Marines to the Pratas Islands.

Kyodo News Agency reported (August 2) that Yang Chengjun (杨承军) a retired PLA Rocket Force officer and nuclear missile expert said that China has an early warning system that can detect nuclear missiles before they land and can use nuclear weapons to counterattack. The expert pointed out that at present only the United States and Russia possess this technology.

Ten persons including Jimmy Lai, owner of Hongkong's largest media house 'Next Digital' along with his son and senior executives, were arrested on August 10 morning in Hongkong under the new National Security Law.

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has placed the following Hongkong officials on its updated Specially Designated Nationals List on August 7.

ANI reported (August 7) that China and Pakistan have begun an unprecedented intelligence sharing agreement to secure Beijing's influence in Afghanistan and that as China needs Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan as well as its connections to the terrorist groups operating there, Beijing has invited a Pakistan Army General to sit in at its highly restricted meetings as an observer.

US Health Secretary Alex Azar arrived at 12.30 on August 9, at Taiwan's Songshan (Matsuyama) airport where he has received by Taiwan's Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kuang (田中光) MOHW Centers for Disease Control Director-General Chou Chih-hao (周志浩) and MOFA Department of North American Affairs Hsu You-tien (徐佑典). He was introduced to them by Chris Christensen.

A US Defence Department statement issued on August 6 reported that Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper held a telephone call with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Minister of National Defense, General Wei Fenghe on August 6, 2020.

On July 30, President Xi Jinping attended a Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) 'study' meeting on the consolidation of defence and military modernization.

None of the seven Members of the Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) has appeared in public since July 31. Also, the weekly State Council executive meeting that normally convenes on Wednesdays didn’t take place on August 5. Observers feel these indicate that the Beidaihe meeting is underway.

Caixin (August 6) reported that on July 27, China’s State Council issued new rules to bolster the country’s integrated circuit and software industries in support of the push to expand and upgrade domestic chip-making capacity.

Caixin reported (August 6) that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) took another step forward in its strategy to build a digital central bank by setting up a financial technology subsidiary, Chengfang Financial Technology Co. Ltd.

i) A second Global Times editorial (August 6) again commented on the proposal with India's education ministry to review the establishment of China's Confucius Institutes in association with seven local colleges and universities after intelligence agencies raised security concerns over cooperation.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will lead a delegation to Taiwan “in the coming days” to discuss the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as supplies of medical equipment and technology, according to a statement on August 5, from the Department of Health and Human Services.

US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on August 6, effectively banning video-sharing app TikTok from operating in the U.S., saying the country must take aggressive action against the Chinese-owned platform “to protect our national security.”

On August 5, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a statement calling for a “Clean Network to safeguard America’s assets” against the threat of Chinese infiltration.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in an interview with Xinhua (August 5) talked about worsening US-China relations saying, according to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), “Ultimately, [some American politicians] want to drag China and the US into renewed conflict and confrontation and plunge the world into chaos and division again.”

Asahi Shimbun (August 4) quoted Japan's Defense Minister Taro Kono saying at a news conference on August 4, that “The SDF will act firmly when necessary while joining hands with the Japan Coast Guard.” Asked to elaborate on what such action might entail, Kono declined, saying, “We do not want to show our cards.

Global Times Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin on August 1, wrote that India's eight core industries indices fell by 15% year-on-year in the second quarter.

An article in Global Times (August 2) cited Chinese experts warning India of Australia's instigation on "the eased border standoff with China" after Australia's High Commissioner to India Barry O'Farrell said in an interview on July 30 that "Australia supports continued moves by India for de-escalation" at the LAC (Line of Actual Control) and "opposes any attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo".

Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a Politburo meeting on July 30, where he urged Politburo members to take the long view. The meeting decided that in October, the Party will set goals for China to be achieved by 2035.

On July 31, Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a "study" session of the Politburo. Speaking at the session, he said that the “modernization of national defense and armed forces must be in step with the country’s modernization process, and the military capabilities must fit national strategic needs.”

The People's Daily (July 28) reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a forum of China’s non-Communist political parties on July 28.

Taiwan's Liberty Times News commented (July 31) on the promotion of Xu Zhongbo, Political Commissar of the PLA Rocket Force (PLARF), to the rank of a full General. It said video footage from CCTV showed that Xu was the only officer at the ceremony accepting a promotion.

The People’s Daily (July 31) published three items on the PLA highlighting the significance of the Party’s control over the PLA. Lt General Liu Nianguang, Political Commissar of the National University of Defense Technology, stressed that “absolute loyalty must be rooted in the mind and more importantly implemented in the action.”

The spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defence, Senior Colonel Ren Guojiang said (August 1) at the routine weekly press briefing that the Naval Aviation of the PLA Southern Theatre Command during a 'recent exercise' had deployed new-type aircraft including H-6G and H-6J bombers to conduct high-intensity training during day and night time in the relevant waters of the South China Sea.

China's Ministry of National Defence, Senior Colonel Ren Guojiang said (August 1) that “the PLA Tibet Military Command has organised day-and-night fire strike drills involving multiple types of artillery and artillery fire assault drills in high altitude areas, aiming to test the troops' long-range precision strikes and fire assault capabilities in plateau environment. The exercises mentioned above are within the annual training plan and are not targeted at any specific country.”

World Journal reported (July 29) that about one-sixth of China’s land is soaked in water after the severe flooding. Much of these lands serve as the main grain-growing regions.

Norbu Gyaltsen, the China-appointed Panchen Lama arrived in Lhasa on July 31. He visited the Jokhang Temple on August 3. The Panchen Lama is in Tibet for religious and cultural festivals to be held in 2020.

Liu Zongyi, Secretary-General of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, a visiting fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China and a distinguished fellow of China (Kunming) South Asia & Southeast Asia Institute, wrote in the Global Times (August 4) that after the Galwan Valley clash on June 15, "China-India relations are even deteriorating".

The Global Times reported (August 1) that, according to Indian media quoting anonymous sources, India plans to send 35,000 more troops to strengthen its military presence along its border with China. The reasoning behind the decision is that the Indian government found the probability of quickly reducing the tension between the two countries is getting lower.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman on August 4, urged the United States to withdraw the sanctions against the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) and two of its officers as the organisation and its functioning was a purely internal matter.

On August 4, Beijing announced that any attempt to ban Tiktok or WeChat in the US would result in bans on Facebook, Twitter, Google, Youtube, Instagram, Tumbler, NY Times, Washington Post, and Pinterest in the PRC.

A report released by the Hoover Institution identifies more than 250 published research collaborations between scholars based in the United States and counterparts from seven universities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that are integral to that nation’s defense research and industrial base.

A review of public PPP loan data by consultancy firm Horizon Advisory found that $192 million to $419 million in loans were given to more than 125 Chinese-owned or -invested companies operating in the United States. It found that many of the loans were substantial, with at least 32 Chinese-owned firms receiving over $1 million under the program, totalling between $85 million and $180 million.

Radio Free Asia reported (July 31) that, in an interview with retired PLA Navy Lieutenant Colonel Yao Chen, he said that if China and the U.S. start a war in the South China Sea, the CCP will soon collapse.

The latest (August 1) issue of the CCP's leading theoretical fortnightly magazine Qiu Shi (Seeking Truth) published 13 articles by ranking CCP cadres expressing fealty to Xi Jinping, in addition to another article by Xi Jinping urging Party cadres and members to "Implement the party's organizational line in the new era and continue to build the party stronger".

A WeChat post on July 21, 2020, revealed that 90 out of 180 researchers from the Institute of Nuclear Energy Safety Technology of the Hefei Institute of Material Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) all quit their job on June 15, 2020.

According to Reuters (July 29), a report by the investment banking unit of Bank of China said China should prepare for potential U.S. sanctions by the increasing use of its own financial messaging network for cross-border transactions in the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 28 talked to French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian about the severe problem in US-China relations.

Wall Street Journal reported (July 29) that the US State Department had nominated James DeHart, a career diplomat, as the first U.S. coordinator for the Arctic region to coordinate Arctic policy and engaging other Arctic nations in regional talks efforts to bolster the U.S. position in the Arctic.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corporation (XPCC), an eco- paramilitary organization that plays a central role in the development of the Xinjiang region, and two associated officials, Peng Jiarui and Sun Jinlong.

Huanqiu (Chinese version of the Global Times) on July 24, quoted Lu Xiang, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, taking a softer tone and suggesting that from the perspective of confronting China, it is not impossible for the U.S. to close more Chinese consulates (e.g. the San Francisco Consulate).

In a note verbale dated July 26, the Malaysian mission to the U.N. wrote to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that it "rejects China's claims to historic rights, or other sovereign rights or jurisdiction, with respect to the maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the 'nine-dash line.'

The German daily newspaper Die Welt reported (July 31) that the University of Hamburg and the University in Bonn in Germany are reportedly cutting ties with the Confucius Institute (CI) by the end of this year.

Xinhua reported (July 23) that Chinese President Xi Jinping travelled to Jilin on July 22 on an inspection visit.

The New York Times reported (July 24) that the CCP had "expelled" outspoken and prominent 69-year old property tycoon and 'princeling' Ren Zhiqiang who had denounced Chinese President Xi Jinping in an open letter posted on WeChat earlier this year saying “I see not an emperor standing there exhibiting his ‘new clothes,’ but a clown who stripped naked and insisted on continuing to be an emperor.”

Nikkei Asian Review reported (July 23) that China has removed foreign ownership limits in almost all areas of its $45 trillion financial sectors, taking the country a step closer to its long-promised "big bang" reforms.

At a meeting of the State Council on July 22, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also talked about boosting employment. Acknowledging that the job market is presently difficult, LiKeqiang asked struggling job seekers to be flexible and consider starting their own businesses.

The Chinese owner of the popular TikTok video app, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., spent $500,000 in the three months ended June 30, up from its previous record of $300,000 in the first quarter, in a bid to fend off allegations that it is funnelling Americans’ data to Beijing.

China launched its first independent unmanned probe to Mars on July 23. The probe is expected to reach Mars in February where it will attempt to deploy a rover to explore the planet for 90 days.

Speaking at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, on July 23 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in provocative remarks said the free world must change China or 'China will change us'.

The US State Department on July 23 ordered the closure within 72 hours of the Chinese Consulate in Houston. In retaliation, China on July 24 ordered the shut down of the US Consulate in Chengdu.

Tang Juan, who came to the U.S. on a J-1 visa and was a researcher at the University of California, Davis, entered the Chinese consulate in San Francisco after being interviewed by the FBI on June 20 about alleged visa fraud and has remained there, according to the FBI assessment.

Chen Quanguo, Party Secretary of the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region and Politburo member, was reported by Mingjing News on July 21 to have recently made a rare appearance and made shocking remarks: "The people who sanctioned me are disgusting, and I am honoured to be sanctioned".

CCP cadres have begun competing for elevation to the Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee at the 20th Party Congress in 2022. A strong, leading contender is Chen Yixin, an Alternate Member of the CCP's 19th CC and current secretary-general of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC).

In a nearly 2460-word speech on July 22 at the inauguration ceremony of the 'Xi Jinping Research Center for Diplomatic Thought', Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi mentioned Xi Jinping 22 times and said "General Secretary Xi Jinping used the foresight of a great strategist" and in "Xi Jinping’s Diplomatic Thought, has pointed out the direction and provided fundamental follow for the Chinese diplomacy entering the new era".

Liu Zhao was appointed Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Public Security on July 10, 2020.

Former Tsinghua University Professor, prominent legal scholar and activist Xu Zhiyong, who has been held incommunicado for five months, was formally arrested on June 19 for “inciting subversion of state power”.

The People's Daily reported (July 14) that on July 13, central departments including the Propaganda Department, Organization Bureau, Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Cyberspace Administration of China, General Office of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, and National Legal Awareness Office published a joint notice launching a program of study and education about the national civil code.

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA - July 15), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has launched a new campaign requiring its members and school students to study the “Four Histories,” which refers to “the history of the CCP, the history of new China, the history of the reform and opening up, and the history of socialist development.”

Xinhua (July 8) reported that the CCP CC General Office forwarded the “Notice of the Central Propaganda Department and the Central Organization Department on Earnestly Organizing and Studying the Third Volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China”.

The state-owned CCTV telecast a video released by the PLA on its WeChat account on July 17 for the first time showing a Y-9 aircraft deployed by China's Western Theatre Command transferring a critically injured officer from a base in Tibet to a hospital in Xian.

A new round of heavy rain that started on July 17 is wreaking havoc on the middle and lower reaches along the Yangtze River.

The Guangming Daily (July 17) said data for the first half of this year released by China's Ministry of Commerce on July 16, showed that Chinese domestic investors made non-financial direct investments in 159 countries and regions around the world, for a total investment of 362.14 billion yuan (US$51.79 billion), a decrease of 0.7 per cent compared to the same period in 2019.

Reacting to the joint India-US Naval exercises near the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago on July 20, in an interview in Global Times (July 21) Tian Shichen, a retired PLA Navy Captain, Vice President of the Grandview Institution and Director of the Center for International Law of Military Operations, noted Indian media reports interpreting the joint exercise as an effort by New Delhi to step up pressure on Beijing in the sea to "acquire leverage over China" and as a "strong strategic signal to China" and "a show of solidarity" between the US and India amid tensions both countries face with China.

Song Chen, a 38-year old visiting Stanford University researcher on a J-1 visa meant for work- and study-based exchange programs, supposedly as a neurologist interested in studying brain disease, has been charged with visa fraud for allegedly concealing her job as a member of the Chinese military.

China's state-owned CGTN quoted China's Ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai as saying (July 18) during an interview with Farid Zakaria on CNN that “Actually, the Chinese civilization has been there for about 5,000 years, much longer than the United States.

A toughly worded Global Times (July 20) article by Zhou Wenxing, a research fellow at Shang Dao Institute for Social Research who holds a doctorate in Public Administration from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and was Asia Fellow at Harvard University, said Taiwan's 36th annual 'Han Kuang' military exercise, which began on July 13 and is based on the scenario of an "invasion" by the mainland military reveals the US role behind the island's display of its military power.

The International Campaign for Tibet reported (July 20) the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell's statement of July 16 expressing the EU’s position on the Dalai Lama's succession. He said “The selection of religious leaders should happen without any government interference and in respect of religious norms.

The British Foreign Secretary announced (July 20) that the UK had suspended its extradition treaty with Hongkong.

An article in the Wall Street Journal (July 19) said that in its effort to stamp out dissent the CCP has reprimanded and, in some cases, fired teachers who backed anti-government protests in the city or supported the demonstrators on social media.

CCP CC General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping presided over a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) on July 17 to discuss flood management and response as the worst flooding in decades has been ravaging southern China since June and looks set to continue until August.

South China Morning Post (July 18) reported that Tsinghua University's notification dated July 15, terminating the services of 57-year old Prof. Xu Zhangrun, was sent to him by courier on July 18, according to a friend who requested anonymity for fear of retribution.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has once again launched a brainwashing campaign. According to Radio Free Asia (July 15), its members and school students are required to study the “Four Histories,” which refers to “the history of the CCP, the history of new China, the history of the reform and opening up, and the history of socialist development.”

The PLAAF announced (July 16) that its pilot recruitment campaign for 2020 has begun and that more than 3,800 fresh high school graduates who have passed the preliminary and second round of selection are now in the final-stage test.

Caixin reported (July 17) that China’s economy grew 3.2% year-on-year in the second quarter this year, returning to growth after a record 6.8% contraction in the first quarter, official data (link in Chinese) showed on July 16, as the world’s second-largest economy recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Caixin (July 17) reported that shares of China’s leading contract computer chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) more than tripled from their offering price in their Shanghai trading debut on July 16, as investors raced to buy into the mainland’s largest new listing in a decade.

Caixin reported (July 18) that the Chinese government had taken over nine financial companies formerly controlled by the mysteriously fallen tycoon Xiao Jianhua for alleged infractions in an unusually aggressive move to attack risks from his once free-wheeling financial empire.

Caixin (July 17) reported "dramatic changes" in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in recent years, as Beijing’s ambitious campaign to end absolute poverty by the end of this year has led to greater urbanization and generous subsidies being handed out to those deemed deserving.

In an article on China's social media posted on July 16, Lt. General Wang Hongguang, former Deputy Commander of the Nanjing Military Region, claimed that the 100,000 Indian troops deployed in Ladakh are just a show and they will not be able to sustain themselves in Ladakh in the winters.

US Ambassador to India, Ken Juster, on July 18, said he met Ngodup-la, Representative of Tibetan Spiritual leader Dalai Lama in Delhi and Secretary Gyalpo.

The U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said (July 15) in a press briefing that the US will impose visa restrictions on certain employees of Chinese technology companies, including Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

Citing government sources Asahi Shimbun (July 15) reported that 59-year old Hideo Tarumi, a Foreign Ministry official with close connections in Beijing has been selected as Japan's next Ambassador to China at a time of increasing uncertainty over the bilateral relationship.

China's Foreign Ministry website on July 18 posted a report on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on July 17.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's new article in the latest edition (2020/14 dated15 July 2020) flagship CCP Party ideological journal Qiushi is important. In addition to the CCP CC Propaganda Department describing it as such, it is the lead article on all China’s major state media channels on July 16 – CCTV evening news, Xinhua, People’s Daily, etc.

21 people died and 37 were injured when a bus crashed through the guard rails and drove into the Hongshan Lake Reservoir, Anshun City at noon on July 7.

The government of Nanjing, Jiangsu announced (July 13) that it will appoint eight 'Supply Chain Chiefs'.

The British newspaper The Times reported on July 10 that Cambridge University’s Jesus College produced a paper accused of “reputation laundering” for Huawei and that it had received £200,000 (US $255,000) from the Chinese state and £155,000 (US $198,000) from Huawei.

Zhang Junshe, senior research Fellow at the PLA Naval Research Institute wrote in the Global Times (July 15) that British plans to base the HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the UK's new aircraft carriers as the centrepiece of a carrier strike group in the Far East, is to play a part in countering "an increasingly assertive China".

Reacting to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's announcement on July 13 of the US' formal rejection of China's claims in the South China Sea, an article in the the CCP-owned Global Times (July 14) said "The US now stands on the opposite side of China and is aiming to turn the waters into a hot spot again".

China's ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) announced (July 15) that it would sanction US aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin, the principal contractor in a US$ 620 million arms deal to Taiwan.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported (July 7) that, according to the Italian newspapers 'Il Tempo' and 'La Verite', Pope Francis’ speech on July 5 removed the content related to the Hong Kong situation from the original draft that was released.

On July 9, China's Ministry of Public Security convened a meeting on mobilization for the new “Persist in Political Construction of Police, Comprehensively and Strictly Govern Police” education and rectification campaign, which included a speech by Ministry of Public Security Head Zhao Kezhi.

The Central Discipline Inspection CommissioN (CDIC) and National Supervisory Commission (NSC) published an article on their website about party retirees who were found guilty of corruption after retiring.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported (July 15) that outspoken Chinese Professor Xu Zhangrun has been fired from his post at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University after being released from police detention.

Wu Yongjie (吴永杰) was appointed General Manager of China National Machinery Industry Corporation; Xu Qiang (徐强) was appointed General Manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation; Liu Liehong (刘烈宏) was appointed Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; Liu Zhao (刘钊) was appointed Vice Minister of the Ministry of Public Security; Chang Zhengguo (常正国) was appointed Vice Minister of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs; and Wang Jingtao (王京涛) was appointed deputy head of the National Administration of State Secrets Protection.

People’s Daily published a series of Commentator Articles between July 1 and 5, eulogising and defending the decision to pass national security legislation for Hong Kong against international criticism.

Eric Chan (陈国基) was appointed secretary general of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Britain will stop using equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. in the country’s 5G telecom network and will completely eliminate all existing Huawei gear by the end of 2027, the U.K. government said on July 14.

On July 14, the US President imposed severe restrictions on the Hongkong SAR restricting its relationship with the US.

In commentary in the PLA Daily (July 12) PLA Navy Senior Colonel Zhang Junshe, who is also a senior research fellow at the People’s Liberation Army Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said the US should stop its provocative acts in the South China Sea and Beijing was determined to safeguard its maritime sovereignty.

Dai Yonghong, Director of the Institute of Global Governance and Area Studies at Shenzhen University, wrote in the Global Times (July 14) that by "echoing the US' attempt to decouple from China, India has recently sought confrontation with China in economic fields.

The CCP Politburo held its twenty-first collective study on "In-depth Study, Understanding and Implementing the Organizational Line of the New Era Party" on the afternoon of June 29. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee, emphasized that organization building is an important foundation for party building.

Xi Jinping presided over a CCP Politburo meeting on June 29, which discussed two new regulations. The first, titled “CCP Military Party Building Regulations” (中国共产党军队党的建设条例), is intended to “carry out the Central Military Commission Chairman responsibility system (军委主席负责制) and ensure the Party’s absolute leadership over the military” as well as maintain the goals and missions of the military.

The first meeting of the Ping An China Construction Coordination Group Political Security Task Force was held on July 6, 2020, in Beijing.

Tsinghua University Law Professor Xu Zhangrun, who has been a trenchant critic of Chinese President XI Jinping since at least 2016, was released by the authorities on July 12.

China's People Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) wrapped up five days of drills around the Paracel Islands, (Xisha Islands), a chain also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan on July 5, 2020. China did not give details about the Paracel drills involved, but the Global Times (July 5) called them "intensive".

At the 58th meeting of the Council of the Global Environment Facility, created after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, China’s delegate unexpectedly raised objections to Bhutan’s having placed the entire Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary on its side of the Bhutan-China border, claiming that is a “disputed area.”

Lt Col. Khalid Masood (Retd) of the Pakistan Army wrote in 'The Nation' (July 13), that "The present Sino-Indian crisis can be attributed to multidimensional factors.

The New York Times (July 13) reported that it had in its possession the copy of an 18-page agreement signed between Iran and China envisioning a sweeping economic and security partnership.

The UK is expected to announce on July 14 that it will bar new deployments of Huawei equipment in its fledgeling high-speed 5G network.

China’s Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming told reporters on July 6: “We hope that they will reconsider their position. With regard to what the response China is going to make, we have to wait and see what will be the specific actions of the British side.”

In a tit-for-tat retaliation, China on July 13 announced sanctions on four American officials for “interfering in China’s internal affairs” through their condemnation of Beijing’s human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.

The US State Department issued a notice (July 13) advising its nationals to: "Exercise increased caution in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws for purposes other than maintaining law and order.

On July 13, the U.S. Department of State unveiled an important set of clarifications concerning U.S. policy in the South China Sea.

A protege of Chinese President Xi Jinping and 60-year-old Zhejiang native, Chen Yixin, Secretary-General of the Party’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC), convened a meeting in Beijing on July 8 to launch a new nationwide “education and rectification” campaign.

PBSC Member and CPPCC Chairman Wang Yang visited the Tibet Autonomous Region from July 6-8, 2020.

Major General Lai Wenyi, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army in the PLA Western Theatre Command went to Xide County on July 3 to investigate poverty alleviation.

An Gang of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Wang Yiming of Renmin University and Hu Xin of China's National Defence University (NDU) co-authored a lengthy 5-part article, which was published on July 6, 2020, in a journal.

China Social Science Network (June 22) reproduced an article by Zhou Li, a former Deputy Minister of the CCP’s International Liaison Department (now called the International Department), entitled, “Proactively Responding to Changes in the External Environment” and published the same day (June 22) in the China Social Science News magazine brought out by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

On July 9, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed a forum on China-US relations. In the audience were participants from think tanks of both countries.

Hong Kong scientist Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a respected doctor who specialized in virology and immunology at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, boarded a Cathay Pacific flight to the United States on April 28.

Chinese Premier Li Keqing inspected Tongren and Guiyang during his visit (July 6 & 7) to Guizhou province. He was accompanied by Guizhou Provincial Party Committee Secretary Sun Zhigang and Governor Chen Yiqin. Li Keqiang advocated promoting the government’s “new infrastructure” drive.

Under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which enables the U.S. government to place travel bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers, the US Treasury Department on July 9, 2020, named Chen Quanguo, the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) Party Secretary, and Zhu Hailun, a former XUAR Deputy Party Secretary as on the list of those sanctioned.

Beijing (Caixin, July 7) reported no additional confirmed Covid-19 cases on July 7.

Health officials of Hubei province, that had the highest number of coronavirus deaths in China, on July 6 held a press conference to announce its plans to reform its disease control systems as policymakers mull a public health overhaul in the wake of the pandemic.

Radio Free Asia (July 6) quoted the state-run China's Tibet portal as saying on July 1, that following the drive last year by China to enrol ethnic Tibetans in the ruling Chinese Communist Party, at least 16,000 Tibetans joined the CCP bringing the total Tibetan membership number to 398,000. Almost 8,000 new members are Tibetan nomads and farmers.

Born in 1969, Ms Wang Chunying was appointed Deputy Chief of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), which manages more than US$ 3 trillion in reserves, on July 6.

Xiao Gang, former Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), speaking at a financial forum in Shanghai about the development of China’s capital markets, said he had a message from the leaders in Beijing.

The Global AI Conference opened in Shanghai on July 2. Despite its title, the forum will see almost entirely Chinese attendees because of travel bans and geopolitical tensions.

Wu Shicun, President of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies and Chairman of Board of Directors of China-Southeast Asia Research Center on the South China Sea, writing in China Military on July 7, 2020, anticipated that 2020 will witness the situation in the South China Sea shift from "stabilizing" to "turbulent".

At the regular weekly press conference in Beijing on July 7, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian, responding to a question about the status of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Zoom and others in the wake of the National Security Law (NSL) said: "I recall what Deng Xiaoping noted in 1982 when he met with Margaret Thatcher, after Hong Kong's return to the motherland, "Horses will still run, stocks will still sizzle, and dancers will still dance" in Hong Kong.

Guillaume Poupard, head of the French cybersecurity agency ANSSI, was quoted by Reuters (July 6) saying there would not be a total ban on using equipment from Huawei in the rollout of the French 5G telecoms network, but that it was pushing French telcos to avoid switching to the Chinese company.

Pakistan's News International on July 8, reported that the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Vice Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue’s third round was convened virtually on July 7.

China's State Council announced the formation of the new apparatus to enforce the newly passed Hong Kong national security law. On July 3, the Hong Kong government established its new Committee for Safeguarding National Security.

Chinese social media’s nickname for Xi Jinping is 加速器/Accelerant.” He’s accelerating the downfall of the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a pun on the nickname for reform and opening “Chief Architect“/總設計師 Deng Xiaoping.

Reliable reports state that Tsinghua University Law Professor Xu Zhangrun has been formally detained in Beijing. He was arrested on July 6.

Radio Free Asia reported (June 26) that Xu Zhangrun, a Professor at Tsinghua University who has published articles critical of Xi Jinping and the CCP many times, on June 25, criticized the Beijing authorities for the demolition of the art district, which was actually for the benefit of the land, and even more to crack down on the art world and monopolize ideas.

The South China Morning Post reported (July 6) that Hong Kong education officials have told schools to review their book collections and immediately remove those titles that might breach Beijing’s National Security Law.

Axios compiled the following list of countries supporting and against China's crackdown on Hongkong.

Major Taiwanese news network China Times reported (July 2) that Cambridge Wolfson College President, Professor Jane Clarke, issued an announcement that the College paid strong attention to the series of events that happened after China passed the Hong Kong National Security Law.

PRC Ambassador to UK Li Shaoming hinted (July 6) that HK people who try to use their BNO passport to leave Hongkong for the UK could be subject to an exit ban.

China's official media reported that China’s stock market recorded its biggest rally in more than a year on July 6, after state media encouraged investors to invest and reap the benefits of a post- coronavirus economic boom.

The Global Times report (July 6) on the statements issued by India and China: "The Chinese Special Representative of the China-India Boundary Question, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval spoke July 5 night, and the two sides reached a consensus on de-escalating border tensions.

Li Hong, an editor with the CCP-owned Global Times, wrote (July 5) a hard-hitting article captioned 'India should not make a bad situation worse', which warned the "Indian leadership to ponder the outcome of continuously antagonizing China" adding that "It should not make a bad situation worse".

China’s Ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming has told the 120,000 Chinese students to “leverage their strength” as the UK overtakes the US as the most popular destination for Chinese students for the first time.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on July 6, 2020, reported that U.S. goods imports from China stood at $36.6 billion in May 2020, down 6.6 per cent year-on-year; the U.S. and that global demand for Chinese exports is likely to remain weak through the summer.

On July 7, the US State Department announced that the Chinese Communist Party and government officials responsible for keeping Americans out of Tibet will be denied entry to the US. In his statement US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said the department restricted visas for the officials under the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act (RATA), which forbids entry to the US by Chinese authorities “substantially involved” in creating and enforcing policies that keep American citizens out of Tibet.

Taking cognisance of the growing global backlash against the Confucius Institutes promoted by China's Hanban, China issued a notice on July 4, announcing that the name of the Confucius Institutes has been changed to the 'Centre for Language Exchange and Cooperation'.

National Interest (July 3) in an article on China's A.I., said that under General Secretary Xi Jinping, China has invested heavily in AI-related technologies, making it a core focus for the modernization of Chinese industry.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported (July 2) the Chengdu Municipal Agriculture and Rural Bureau had issued a document encouraging farmers to stop producing fruit and cultivating gardens and to start producing rice grains instead.

China's military media on July 4 announced that construction of its third aircraft carrier Type-003 has now been almost completed and it is getting closer to the launch of outfitting!

The 85th birthday of the Tibetan spiritual leader, HH the XIV Dalai Lama was celebrated globally as World Tibet Day on July 6, 2020.

One of Demisisto's founding leaders Nathan Law told (July 2) the US's National Public Radio (NPR) that he has fled Hongkong in order to carry on his pro-democracy movement abroad. He did not disclose where he was. Demosisto and Studentlocalism have also announced their disbandment.

On July 1, Taipei opened the new Taiwan Hong Kong Service Exchange Office to facilitate large-scale migration of Hongkongers to the island. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council minister, Chen Ming-tong, described the move as “not only a statement on Taiwan’s support to Hong Kong’s democracy and freedom but also highlights our determination to care for Hong Kong people.”

China's popular social media platform Baidu on July 3 carried the following post: On June 30, China and India held more than 12 hours of army commander-level talks. The third round of talks reached a consensus that the two parties organized a batch of front-line troops to "disengage" and the talks have made positive progress.

The Times of India (July 2) reported that India's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Rajiv Chander said, "We have heard several statements expressing concern on these developments.

South China Morning Post (July 2) reported that after the Russian embassy posted a video on Weibo of a party held on July 2, to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the founding of the city, whose name means “ruler of the east” in Russian, it prompted an online backlash.

Hongkong's Apple Daily and the Epoch Times separately reported some interesting data about the whereabouts of China's leaders in recent days. They said that since June 11, when Beijing reported its coronavirus cases, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) top leaders have rarely appeared in public settings.

CPPCC Chairman and PBSC member Wang Yang presided over the 12th meeting of the 13th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee Standing Committee in Beijing on June 24.

Politburo member and Vice Premier Ms. Sun Chunlan inspected the epidemic prevention and control work in Beijing on June 23, and emphasised the need to keep an eye on the key parts and key links and said the prevention and control points should be moved forward, prevention and control measures should be more precise, and all-out efforts must be made to prevent the spread of the epidemic. Politburo member and Beijing Party Secretary Cai Qi accompanied her.

PLA Daily published (June 22) a lengthy nine-part 'Xie Xinping' commentary affirming that China’s development would not be obstructed by challenges such as the novel coronavirus epidemic and the tensions with the US that the disease exacerbated.

The Associated Press reported (June 30) that population control measures backed by mass detention, both as a threat and as a punishment for failure to comply, are being imposed across the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Singapore’s main Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao on June 26, reported on the China Import Export Fair (also known as The Canton Fair), which concluded on June 24.

The Chinese-owned US-based Duowei (June 30) said that the "dispute over the Galwan River Valley caused tensions between China and India.

An unusual article in the Global Times (July 1) by Yang Jirong, a former correspondent of the Global Times, commenting on the ban on 59 Apps saying they are "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order", said "we can see that anti-China sentiment among Indians stems from something more than just the border clashes between the two countries.

Writing in the Global Times (June 28) Xie Chao, an Assistant Professor at the Institute for International and Area Studies, Tsinghua, said while "Modi came to power with a lot of charm and confidence and his "Neighborhood First" initiative.

The South China Morning Post (July 1) and Bloomberg (July 2) reported that on July 1, the first full day of the new National Security Law (NSL) being in force in Hong Kong and despite police raising a new flag warning the crowds that they were violating the national security law, campaigners still gathered in Causeway Bay.

United Daily News (UDN), one of Taiwan's main newsgroups, reported on June 26, that the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) had released the results of a poll that Reuters commissioned on the National Security Law that the Mainland communists imposed on Hong Kong. Around 56 per cent of the people polled were against the new law. Among them, 49 per cent were “strongly against” it.

In a statement on June 29, 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the “United States will today end exports of U.S.-origin defense equipment and will take steps toward imposing the same restrictions on U.S. defense and dual-use technologies to Hong Kong as it does for China.

The US Navy announced (June 28) that the Nimitz and Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Groups are conducting dual-carrier operations in the Philippine Sea.

Following personnel changes over the past two years in China's Ministry of Public Security, the official website of China's Ministry of Public Security lists a total of 9 'leaders'.

The LA Times reported (June 27) that Sun Peidong, a teacher in Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University, was turned in to the authorities by her students.

The Chinese government is denying that the infamous Three Gorges Dam is at risk of collapse after heavy flooding and a warning from notable Chinese hydrologist Wang Weiluo — raising suspicions that it is in fact at risk.

The National Flood Control and Drought Relief Department hosted a video conference and disclosed that, as of June 23, flooding was reported in 26 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) including Guangxi, Guizhou, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Chongqing.

More than a dozen Chinese financial institutions, mainly trust companies, loaned 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) over the past five years to Wuhan Kingold Jewelry Inc. with pure gold as collateral and insurance policies to cover any losses. Recently at least some of 83 tons of gold bars used as loan collateral turned out to be nothing but gilded copper.

In a letter to Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) convenor Jimmy Sham, the Hong Kong police have prohibited the annual pro-democracy march on July 1 on the basis of coronavirus social distancing measures and previous unrest.

The South China Morning Post (June 27) reported that official Chinese news outlets on June 20, disclosed news of the PLA sending martial arts trainers to Tibet. China's state-owned CCTV said 20 fighters from the Enbo Fight Club would be based in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. There is no indication of whether they would be training troops on the border with India.

The South China Morning Post (June 27) said hawkish Chinese military strategists have called on Beijing to be better prepared for an escalation in its border dispute with India, saying the potential for armed conflict between the two nuclear powers is on the rise.

The US-based Chinese-owned Duowei News on June 28 published an article titled 'Coveting Tibet: The First Diplomatic Friction in China and India in 1950'.

China's military media reported (June 26) that PLA Air Force aircraft had entered and exited Taiwan's airspace eight times in two weeks. It said in the southeast coastal area, between June 9 to June 21 in just 13 days, the PLA Air Force fighters carried out eight tactical pieces of training in the Taiwan Strait and the airspace south of Taiwan.

Taiwan's first indigenous fifth-generation advanced jet trainer (AJT), codenamed Brave Eagle, is unveiled at the Ching Chuan Kang airbase in Taichung on Monday.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced (June 26) the imposition of "visa restrictions on current and former CCP officials who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, as guaranteed in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, or undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong. Family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions".

University of Oklahoma spokesperson Kesha Keith said (June 23) that "In March 2019, the U. S. Department of State conducted an inquiry into the Confucius Institute housed at OU and made certain operational recommendations.

Tensions flared in the Australian Prime Minister's courtyard on June 26, when Bai Xu, Chief of Xinhua's Canberra bureau, became angry that an SBS [public broadcaster] cameraman was filming her.

Exiled Chinese billionaire dissident Guo Wengui in an interview (June 20) with Breitbart (June 23) alleged that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “allocates $2 billion a year” to pay off the Vatican for its silence concerning Chinese atrocities.

Radio Free Asia reported (June 24) the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is to issue regulations later this year curbing the use of Mongolian.

The China Media Project on June 22 reported that Shanghai-based citizen journalist Zhang Zhan (张展), who was arrested in May after posting a video criticizing the government’s epidemic response measures, was formally charged on June with the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.

China Media Project on June 23 reported that on June 10, the website chinamil.com.cn, a PLA news portal, published an 'attack' piece on the author Fang Fang, whose diary documenting 74 days under quarantine in Wuhan during the coronavirus epidemic was recently published in both English and German editions.

China's Ministry of Finance (MoF) on June 23, clarified how it plans to use proceeds from its Special Treasury Bonds (STBs) which the government announced at the 'Two Sessions' in May, to support the economy. This marks the first STB issuance since 2007.

South China Morning Post (June 21) reported that China Securities Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Fang Xinghai warned that China needs to guard against the risk of the US cutting it off from the dollar payments system.

The Hong Kong new online media HK01 Network reported (June 15) that, according to unverified internal sources from Huawei, the company is planning a mid-July announcement that it will cut its workforce in half.

The Central News Agency reported on June 25, that on June 23, the website of the “Military Weapon and Equipment Procurement Information Network” (http://www.weain.mil.cn/), headed by the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission, released “nine new procurement needs and 53 procurement announcements.”

Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane visited the forward areas in Ladakh on June 24 and 25 when he awarded Commendation Certificates to the soldiers who fought in the action at Galwan Valley.

In a tweet on June 25, Hu Jixin, Editor-in-Chief, that Indian public opinion is impulsive and overbearing on international issues, putting own dignity & pride above others’ & not understanding importance of mutual respect.

As de-escalation talks are underway between India and China, Hu Jixin, Editor-in-Chief of the Party-owned Global Times tweeted on June 23 evening: "New Delhi has loud voices, but needs to restrain actions.

On June 22, the US State Department notified that four major Chinese state-owned media outlets will be required to inform the U.S. State Department of their personnel rosters and real-estate holdings as if they were foreign embassies.

Medical staff were dispatched from other parts of the country to help treat COVID-19 patients in Beijing as the city launched more travel restrictions.

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the draft 'Veterans Support Law' and draft 'Rural Revitalisation Promotion Law' through July 21, 2020.

Radio France Internationale reported (June 20, 2020) that Ms Liang Yanping, a Professor at the School of Liberal Arts of Hubei University in China, was dismissed from her CCP party membership and suspended from teaching.

An editorial in the South China Morning Post (June 23) observed that a summary of the new national security law for Hongkong was published over the weekend by the official Xinhua News Agency.

As China’s Energy Authority announced in May that a public consultation would be held for a draft energy law, setting the agenda for “green, low-carbon” production and a “safe and efficient” energy system, there is concern about compliance by China's State-owned Enterprises.

A Reuters report of June 24, said Chinese analysts have said, following the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers in hand-to-hand fighting in the Galwan Valley, that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces strident calls for a strong response, but Chinese President Xi Jinping is under no such public pressure.

Hu Jixin, Editor-in-Chief of Global Times in an article in the newspaper (June 22), referring to Indian media reports that India had given "complete freedom of action" to commanders deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to "handle situations at the tactical level", described it as seriously violating the Agreement on Confidence Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the China-India Border Areas.

Writing in US News on June 23, 2020, Paul D. Shinkman claimed that according to a U.S. intelligence assessment senior Chinese General Zhao Zongqi, head of the PLA Western Theater Command, authorized his forces to attack Indian troops in the Galwan River valley last week, resulting in a brutal skirmish that killed dozens and dramatically escalated tensions between the two Asian powerhouses.

Japan on June 21 is reported to have begun the legal process of complete integration of the Senkakus island chain, approx.1,931 km southwest of Tokyo, that Beijing has long claimed.

Ms Chen Chu, former longtime Mayor of Kaohsiung, who shared a prison cell with former Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu for many years after they were arrested December 10, 1979, for their Human Rights Day rally, is to head Taiwan’s Control Yuan and the recently-established National Human Rights Commission.

Xinhua reported (June 21) that the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, will convene its 20th session from June 28 to 30 in Beijing, within a week of its 19th session. The decision was made during a meeting of the Council of Chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee Saturday, which was presided over by Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.

China is completing one of the biggest wheat harvests ever this month and the government is expected to purchase a significant chunk of the crop to prop up the price and keep its farmers happy. China's official media reports that the summer grain harvest is 90 per cent complete.

China's National Audit Office found that 50.4 billion yuan ($7.1 billion) of funds local governments raised from new special-purpose bonds (SPBs) went unused last year, including 13.2 billion yuan that had been left idle for more than a year, after it examined the books of 18 provincial-level governments and 36 cities and counties.

On June 20 afternoon the Chinese authorities got the Chinese social media platform WeChat to delete the Indian PM's statement, read out of Wang Yi-Jaishankar meeting and MEA reaction on India-China stand-off, released by the Indian Embassy in Beijing.

The US-based Chinese-owned Duowei News reported that Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese official media "Global Times", tweeted on June 17, mocking the Indian army.

Zhang Yangqing, Vice Chairman of the TAR People’s Government and Party Secretary of the Shigatse Municipal Party Committee inspected the border checkpoints and met frontline officers on May 21.

On the background of the conflict between the Chinese and Indian armed forces on the border and damage to both sides, the PLA Tibet Military Command and the Tibet Autonomous Region organized five militia units in Lhasa on June 15. According to a Chinese military media report on June 18, the Tibetan military on June 15 held a militia unit flag-giving ceremony at the Lhasa police district militia training base.

A pro-Beijing Hong Kong media reported that the PLA Tibet Military Region has conducted joint exercises frequently during this time.

Pakistan's Centre for Aerospace and Security Studies (CASS) hosted a webinar titled “China-India standoff: Implications for Regional Security” to discuss the rapidly evolving situation on the China-India border and risks of further escalation.

An opinion by Samson Simon Sharaf in the Nation (June 20) titled " Bereaving hearts of Galwan heights" is critical of the recent clash between the Chinese and Indian forces in the Galwan valley.

Bloomberg reported (June 16) that the Chinese government allowed a landmark World Trade Organization dispute aimed at forcing the European Union to recognize it as a market economy in trade investigations to lapse on June 15.

Former Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ms Fu Ying published an important article in the latest edition of China Newsweek (June 17) titled “Sino-US relations after the pandemic: Is it possible to realize benign competition?.”

Caixin (June 17) reported that the Shanghai government has allowed United Airlines Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. to resume flights to China after months of suspension amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The two American airlines were cleared to operate two flights a week.

Japan's Defence Ministry reported (June 20) that on June 18 a submarine of foreign origin, presumed to belong to the Chinese Navy, was spotted passing through the contiguous zone off the coast of Amami-Oshima island in southern Japan.

Caixin (June 18) said Beijing reported 31 new Covid-19 cases on June 17, four more than the day before, as other parts of China imposed restrictions on people entering from the capital.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported (June 15) that China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) issued a “Notice on Further Strengthening the Administration of Online Literature Publishing.”

Caixin (June 18) disclosed that small and midsize banks in China worried about the bad debts on their balance sheets may soon get a helping hand from local governments.

Commencing on the National Security Law recently passed by the NPC plenum in Beijing in May, the Guardian (June 17) said that Deng Zhonghua, the deputy head of China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told a conference that “in very special circumstances” and in “very few cases”, China must have the power to exercise jurisdiction over offences in Hong Kong that “seriously endanger national security”.

Global Times (June 17) quoted Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, as saying on June 17, that China has no intention to change the border situation at all, and the incident happened on the Chinese side of the LAC, so the confrontation causing the deaths of 20 Indian military personnel was entirely provoked by the Indian side.

The South China Morning Post (June 17) quoted a source close to the PLA as saying that Beijing was “very sensitive” about military casualties, saying all numbers had to be approved by President Xi Jinping, who heads the Central Military Commission, before being released.

A Global Times article (June 17) noted that the Chinese Foreign Minister had pointed out to the Indian Foreign Minister during their conversation that "it was the Indian side that intentionally provoked and started a violent attack.

The Global Times (June 17) quoted Liu Xiaoxue, an Associate Research Fellow at the National Institute of International Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, reacting to the calls for boycott said some extreme anti-China groups and individuals in India have been promoting a China "boycott."

The Washington Post reported (June 18) that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese Politburo member in charge of foreign affairs, Yang Jiechi are meeting in Hawaii on June 18 afternoon.

The US Department of Commerce added more Chinese technology companies/institutes to its Entities List in May 2020.

Well-known Chinese news site Sina reported (June 6) that the European Union is considering further tightening up foreign investment policies. It is aiming at the Chinese government’s subsidies to Chinese companies’ international acquisitions.

The Central Discipline Inspection Commission announced on June 14, that 55-year old Deng Huilin, police chief of the Chinese Municipality of Chongqing is under investigation for suspected “serious violations” of the Communist Party’s code of conduct.

China Digital Times posted the 20-minute recording by a retired senior Central Party School Professor Cai Xia that has circulated widely on China's internet through May 2020.

China Digital Times posted the 20-minute recording by a retired senior Central Party School Professor Cai Xia that has circulated widely on China's internet through May 2020.

The wife of Wuhan whistle-blower Dr. Li Wenliang, Ms Fu Xuejie, 付雪洁 (pure as snow), an optometrist at Wuhan Aier Eye Hospital, on June 12 gave given birth to their second child. She wrote on WeChat: 老公你在天堂看到了吗？你送给我的最后的礼物今天出省了。我一定会好好的爱护他们。

Kyodo News Agency reported (June 10) that 50-year-old Zhang Hai had sent a complaint against the municipal governments of Wuhan and Hubei Province to the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court on June 10, but it is uncertain whether it will be accepted.

As new Coronavirus cases became known on June 3, the authorities swabbed 1,940 workers in major supermarkets and other food markets in the capital and collected 5,424 environmental samples.

Yue Jijun, Political Commissar of a research institute of the PLA Rocket Army, wrote in a commentary in the People's Daily (June 10) that political loyalty is at the heart of assessing cadre performance, even when it comes to the response to Covid-19.

An Epoch Times report (June 12) stated that numerous Chinese crew members of civilian ships and cruises have been stranded for months due to entry restrictions amid the pandemic.

The South China Morning Post reported (June 12) that the US Department of Commerce added the Harbin Institute of Technology and Harbin Engineering University to its “entity list” late last week, barring them from access to products subjected to US Export Administration Regulations.

A report in OpIndia.com dated June 12 reported that China Daily, a propaganda outlet of the Chinese government, is under scrutiny by US authorities. It said China Daily has reportedly paid $19 million to American newspapers in advertisement and printing charges in the past 4 years.

Xin Wang, a Chinese scientific researcher suspected of espionage was arrested in Los Angeles on June 7 as he prepared to board a flight to Tianjin, China, the US Attorney’s Office in San Francisco and the local FBI office said in a joint statement.

The Republican Study Committee, which includes 147 members of Congress, published a new national security strategy on June 10, aiming to “push back against the [Chinese Communist Party] and its efforts to undermine U.S. interests, remake the world order, and promote an alternative form of governance.”

The Spokesman and Press Officer of the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, Wang Xianfeng, on June 11 tweeted: "India's actions of unilaterally changing the status quo of Kashmir and continuing to exacerbate regional tensions have posed a challenge to the sovereignty of China and Pakistan and made the India-Pakistan relations and China-India relations more complex."

The Beijing Daily (June 6), People's Daily (June 6) and CCTV (June 7) all carried reports on Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the city of Yantai in Shandong province on June 1 and 2, 2020, when he said street stalls and small shops “are important sources of jobs.”

Caixin (June 11) reported that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will meet with European Union leaders online during the week starting June 22, clearing the way for a summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and leaders of the 27-country bloc previously scheduled for September in Leipzig, Germany.

The New York-based New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) on June 7, 2020 reported that a six-page internal document was issued by the CCP Central Committee and the State Council on May 20.

Hong Kong based Sing Tao Daily reported that the Domestic Security Bureau (DSB), code-named Bureau No. 1 under China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), has been renamed the “Political Security Bureau (PSB).”

The Paper reported (June 10) that the State Cyberspace Administration instructed the Beijing Cyberspace Administration to interview and punish Sina Weibo according to law.

The Central News Agency (June 5) reported that China's Ministry of Education announced (June 5) the introduction of “Guidelines for the Ideological and Political Development of the Higher Education Curriculum,” which will modify the contents of courses around the issues of political identity and national feelings.

China Finance Online reported on June 1, that with the destructive pandemic and a very weak reopening and economic come-back, average Chinese are seeing significantly reduced income.

Caixin (June 11) reported that data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on June 10, showed that China’s consumer inflation eased to a 14-month low in May, dragged down by moderating gains in pork and food costs, while the decline in prices at the factory gate deepened to a four-year low as oil prices slumped.

People’s Daily (June 5) reported that the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce responded to the recent actions taken by the U.S. Department of Commerce to list additional Chinese individuals and agencies on the “Entity List” for sanction.

On June 10, the Global Times (Chinese version) reported that the US and Russia would be holding a new round of Russian-US military control and strategic stability consultations in Vienna on June 22.

The Well-known Chinese news site NetEase reported on June 3, that Canada’s two largest telecommunications providers, Bell Canada and Telus Corp., announced they will partner with Ericsson and Nokia for their core 5G networks. Both companies had said earlier in the year that they would still use Huawei’s 5G technology.

Xinhua reported (June 8) that CCP CC General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on June 8.

Writing in the People's Daily on June 5, Gao Xian, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Academic Adviser of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 'Xi Jinping's New Age Socialism Thought Research Center with Chinese Characteristics', described the sudden outbreak of Coronavirus as "an extremely severe test for a great civilisation like China".

Xu Lin, Deputy Head of the CCP CC's Publicity Department released China's 4-chapter, 37,000-word White Paper on fighting COVID-19 during a press conference at the State Council Information Office in Beijing on June 7, 2020.

TAR official government sources (April 21, 2020) reported that Dorjee Tsedup, Deputy Chairman of the TAR People’s Government and Head of Pangong Lake Governance went to Rutok County of Ngari to conduct ‘on-site inspections of the water level of Pangong lake and overall environment of the lake.’

Ngari News publicised (April 30) that The Judicial Bureau of Rutok County and Ngari Regional Customs and Commerce Bureau, were reported (April 30) by the Ngari (Ali) government, to have conducted propaganda campaigns in the border villages of Deru and Jaggang also known as Chagkang village, not far from Demchok of Ladakh, India.

In late May, the Municipal Public Security Bureau of Ngari revealed it had organised a three-stage intensive ‘real combat training’ of all Public Security organs in Ngari.

A report (May 25) disclosed that China started construction of a new military training base (Base No: 32) at Drowa village, Lodrak, Lhuntze County from May 8.

The CCP-owned Global Times (June 9) publicised the conduct of military manoeuvres by the PLA. It said PLA paratroopers held intensive tactical drills and mock battles in June.

China released video clips of a military exercise in which thousands of paratroopers, armoured vehicles and equipment were mobilised, saying they could be deployed “within hours” to the border with India in the Himalayas.

At a round-table meeting hosted by the pro-Beijing DAB party on Sunday, Nip said that – under One Country, Two Systems – the city’s civil servants also served the Chinese government.

Zhang Xiaoming, Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) said, according to the South China Morning Post (June 8) that the new national security law for Hong Kong is meant to strengthen, not undermine, the “one country, two systems” principle and will ensure the freedoms granted to the city can be extended beyond 2047.

CNN reported (January 28) that United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized $900,000 in counterfeit US currency from a commercial rail shipment from China. They were packed in 45 cartons of counterfeit $1 bills.

China’s all-time record goalscorer Hao Haidong and his wife Ye Zhaoying, an ex-badminton world champion, both face being wiped from the country’s record books after denouncing the Chinese Communist Party and announcing an intention to overthrow the government.

People's Daily (June 3) reported that China’s Ministry of Education and the CMC's National Defense Mobilization Department jointly issued a notice on enlisting college graduates in 2020.

Caixin (June 4) reported that Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., which has long been stocking up on custom-made chips as a hedge against U.S. sanctions, should have enough to last at least until the end of the year.

A day after the US banned seven Chinese airlines from flying to the US in retaliation for China prohibiting two US airlines flying to China, China announced (June 4) it will allow foreign airlines that previously operated flights to the country but are now barred under virus control measures to resume limited flights.

Thousands of people in Hong Kong defied a police ban on June 4 evening, breaking through barricades to mark the 31st anniversary of the crushing of a democracy movement cantered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

The Central News Agency reported (June 3) that after the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Coordination Group for Hong Kong and Macau Affairs was recently elevated to the Central Leading Group for Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, the group leader Han Zheng met with Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam in Beijing.

An intriguing editorial in the Hongkong-based South China Morning Post of June 4 claimed that nationalists in China and India eager to deflect attention from their countries’ Covid-19 crises are pushing deployment of soldiers to the border.

An article based on an interview given by Liu Zongyi, Secretary General of the Research Centre for China-South Asia Cooperation at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, a visiting fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China and a distinguished fellow of the China (Kunming) South Asia & Southeast Asia Institute, was published by the Global Times on June 5, which warned India against joining the G-7.

The PEN organisation announced (June 5) that they are bestowing the 2020 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award on Chinese essayist and human rights defender Xu Zhiyong.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi suggested in a television interview (June 3) that Xi Jinping's visit would wait until after the Group of Seven summit, now being rescheduled for September, and the Group of 20 summit slated for November.

At a press conference on the side-lines of the 13th NPC on May 28, People's Daily (May 28) reported that China’s Premier Li Keqiang said the government would focus its stimulus measures on domestic economics while admitting that China is a developing a country with a large population, with an average annual per capita disposable income of 30,000 yuan (US$4,213.30).

In a written instruction to a teleconference held in Beijing on June 3, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang observed that "college graduates are facing grim employment prospects due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic".

Ta Kung Pao reported (May 28) that meeting 200 members of the CPPCC on May 28 in Beijing, Xia Baolong said that it is "Hong Kong independence", tyranny and external hostile forces that cause harm to Hong Kong.

Carrie Lam told reporters in Beijing on June 3, after a three-hour meeting with Chinese officials including Vice Premier Han Zheng, Public Security Minister Zhao Kezhi and Xia Baolong.

Main battle tanks (MBTs) and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) attached to an armoured brigade under the PLA 76th Group Army were on exercise in a high altitude area in Tibet on May 19, 2020.

The Washington Post reported (June 3) that in a move bound to exacerbate tensions between the US and China, the US Department of Transportation said (June 3) it will ban all commercial passenger flights by Chinese carriers beginning June 16.

The US State Department issued a statement on June 3 to mark the Tiananmen protests in which thousands of Chinese lost their lives.

Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of the Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily, said the United States was marking the Tiananmen anniversary “in a unique way”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired the Politburo's 20th Collective Study Session on May 29, on China’s newly enacted Civil Code, during which he emphasised the important role of the Civil Code in the “legal system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Xinhua (May 26) reported that Chinese President and CMC Chairman Xi Jinping attended the plenary meeting of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police (PAP) delegations to the third session of the 13th NPC. He appreciated the military's response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The People’s Daily published (May 28) a front page editorial commending the conclusion of the third session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee on May 27.

Official Chinese media reports on May 23, 2020 disclosed that Lieutenant General Wang Qiang, Deputy Commander of the PLA Western Theatre Command has succeeded Lieutenant General Zhan Houshun (战厚顺), who was 63 years old, as the new Commander of the PLA Western Theatre Command Air Force.

The Tibet Military Region Support Department organised a comprehensive support practice drill with the transfer of wounded personnel and airdropped medical supplies to explore new methods of support in the Plateau and cold environment on May 20.

RTHK reported (June 1) that the heads of five universities in Hongkong issued a statement supporting Beijing's imposition of the National security Law for Hongkong while also stressing that they cherish the city's freedoms.

Xiaomi's co-founder and Chairman Lei Jun has, according to South China Morning Post (June 1) already started pre-research into the next generation of mobile connectivity.

Global times (June 1) reported that China's Foreign Ministry had stressed that "the situation on the China-India border is stable and controllable, and diplomatic and military channels of communication between the two sides are unimpeded".

In a statement on June 1 night, US Congress’ House Committee Chair Eliot L Engel said, “I am extremely concerned by the ongoing Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control on the India-China border.”

A Xinhua commentary (May 31) said by prohibiting entry of Chinese students and researchers into the United States, the US Administration had broken the U.S. leadership's promise of welcoming Chinese students who want to pursue studies there.

CNN Business News (May 25) reported that Washington has accused Beijing of blocking American carriers from resuming flights to China, prompting US authorities to more heavily scrutinise Chinese airlines.

Projections released by the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on June 1 estimated that the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic will shrink the size of the U.S. economy by roughly $8 trillion over the next decade.

The Global Times (May 31) quoting Chinese experts said that China may scale back direct lending to the region to minimise credit risks, but the long-term infrastructure projects will likely boost local economies after the Covid-19 outbreak is contained.

The South China Morning Post (June 2) reported that speaking at a road construction ceremony in the coastal city of Sihanoukville, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said (June 1) that China has not been given exclusive rights to use a naval base on the country’s southern coast, and said that warships from all nations, including the United States, are welcome to dock there.

Mutanlip Khasem, a member of the CPPCC and Deputy Head of the AR Congress Standing Committee, said on the side-lines of the 'Big Two' meetings that the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has recorded no terror-related incidents in the past three and half years.

Speaking at Beijing's Great Hall of the People during the NPC and on the 15th anniversary of the Anti-Secession Law, General Li Zuocheng, Chief of the Joint Staff Department and member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) told the NPC that an attack on Taiwan with help from people on the island was a possibility.

Ji Chaozhu, long-time Chinese Communist Party cadre translator and diplomat, died on April 29, 2020, aged 90 in Beijing.

Sina.com publicised (May 29) that according to a survey released by the China Film Association on May 27, 2020, the pandemic has had a severe adverse impact on the entire Chinese film industry.

China's plans to improve its own countryside, namely the public works, environmental protection, and beautification projects under the Rural Revitalization Campaign have visibly improved China's rural landscape but put the villages under huge hidden debts.

In late May, the Municipal Public Security Bureau of Ngari revealed it had organised a three-stage intensive ‘real combat training’ of all Public Security organs in Ngari.

Writing in The Print (May 30) Snehesh Alex Philip wrote that fresh construction activity of blacktopping of a motorable road by the Chinese has been spotted happening around Finger 4, a disputed territory.

The People's Daily (June 1) published the highlights of an Op-Ed (May 31) by Chinese Ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai in which he justified the NPC's approval of the National Security Law for Hongkong.

On May 28, British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said the UK would extend visa rights for about 350,000 British national (overseas) (BNOs) passport holders if Beijing went ahead with its plans to impose a national security law on Hong Kong.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 29 that the US government will begin eliminating special policy exemptions it grants Hong Kong, following its determination earlier this week that the city is “no longer autonomous” from mainland China.

Radio Free Asia reported (May 28) that as Beijing pushed forward and imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong, Chen Ming-Tong, Minister of the Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), announced on May 29 that Taiwan developed the Hong Kong Humanitarian Assistance.

On April 23, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) posted a song on YouTube with the Filipino name “Lisang Dagat” (meaning “One Ocean,” the song’s Chinese name is “海的那邊”).

The plenary session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) officially closed in Beijing on May 28, 2020, and Li Zhanshu, PBSC member and Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, delivered the closing speech.

China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announced on May 29 evening that they will "DIRECT and support" the Hong Kong police force.

The China Youth Daily (May 28) reported that the final version of the Government Work Report contained 89 revisions to the version delivered by the Chinese Premier on May 22.

China's central government expenditures approved by the NPC on May 28 are projected at 3.5035 trillion yuan, down 0.2%.

State-owned CCTV said (May 27) that China's second aircraft carrier and the first domestically built one, the Shandong, is now conducting testing and training missions in an undisclosed location at sea.

The US-based Chinese news outlet 'Duowei' published a detailed article on May 27 on the Sino-Indian border confrontation, which it said, "is still continuing".

Bloomberg reported (May 28) that the US intends to cancel student visas for students and researchers with direct ties to universities affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army.

Senior Colonel Li Huamin, spokesperson of the PLA Southern Theatre Command, said (May 26) that the PLA Southern Theatre Command organised naval and aerial forces to follow the US guided missile destroyer USS Mustin when it illegally trespassed into China's territorial waters off the Xisha Islands on May 21 without authorisation from the Chinese government.

The closing meeting of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 27.

South China Morning Post (May 26) said Chinese President Xi Jinping told dozens of top economic advisers in Beijing over the weekend that China was pursuing a new development plan in which "domestic circulation plays the dominant role".

Xinhua reported (May 26) that speaking to PLA and PAP Deputies to the NPC on May 26, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the delegates to accelerate research and development of COVID-19 drugs and vaccines.

The Wall Street Journal (May 25) reported that anger spread across Chinese social media sites over the weekend following an announcement that officials in Hangzhou could create a permanent version of a smartphone-based health-rating system developed to fight Covid-19.

China's Ministry of Finance and the Civil Aviation Administration issued a notice to compensate airlines for costs associated with international cargo shipping.

Chinese technology news site Moore reported (May 19) that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) received a US$ 700 million emergency order from Huawei on May 18.

A report (May 25) disclosed that China started construction of a new military training base (Base No: 32) at Drowa village, Lodrak, Lhuntze County from May 8. Construction of the base was to commence in February but has been delayed due to Covid-19 till now.

Lahore-based Defence and Security analyst Ammad Malik wrote in the Diplomat (May 27) that while the Pakistan Air Force needs additional platforms to balance the Indian Air Force.

The South China Morning Post (May 26) reported Chen Daoxiang, Commander of the PLA’s Hong Kong garrison, saying it would “act with firm resolve to implement the central government’s decision and plans” as well as continuing to implement the “one country, two systems” policy in the city.

The overall situation in the China-India border area is stable and under control, and the two countries are capable of resolving border issues through dialogue and negotiations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, following reports claiming China had moved 5,000 troops to the China-India border area.

Reuters (May 25) reported that China's planned national security law may prompt Taiwan to revoke the special status it extends to Hong Kong, in a move that could anger Beijing and make it harder for Hong Kongers to visit and invest.

Writing in the Diplomat, New York City financial analyst Chutian Zhou said (May 26) while the U.S. stock market is recovering amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Chinese companies listed in the country have just received a severe blow.

Chinese Ambassador to Zambia, Li Jie made representations to the Zambian Foreign Ministry on May 25, after three Chinese nationals were murdered in the capital Lusaka, demanding the Zambian authority solve the case immediately.

Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET), the leading financial daily in Hong Kong, reported (May 14) that, based on the latest polls conducted by the Angus Reid Institute, the number of Canadians with positive views about China reached a record low.

A Canadian judge ruled (May 27) that Meng’s actions could be considered a crime in Canada, thereby removing an important barrier to her deportation to the United States to stand trial.

Premier Li Keqiang announced in the Government Work Report he delivered to the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature, on May 22 in Beijing that China will not this year set annual economic growth targets as it used to since 1994.

In a surprise move, the NPC dismissed 17 Deputies, who held higher positions in the past, due to 'violations of discipline and law'.

Of the 17 NPC Deputies dismissed in a surprise move "due to violations of discipline and law", 4 were senior former officers of the PLA who held high positions in the past.

Cao Jingyi, a Deputy to the NPC and Research Director with the PLA Navy Academy, in a recent interview, said that her team has extensively researched and offered strategic suggestions to PLAN on its requirements for AI-based future naval warfare.

i) Zhang Chuanwei, a Deputy to the NPC who is also Chairman of Mingyang Smart Energy, a wind turbine manufacturer and clean energy integrated solution provider based in South China's Guangdong Province, proposed on May 23 that China should accelerate the pace in the adjustment of its energy structure to shape a clean energy support belt around the sea by building multiple wind power projects on the sea.

The US Department of Commerce on May 22 announced that the US Government has sanctioned 33 Chinese companies and institutions, putting them on two so-called entity lists.

Writing in the SCMP (May 23), Finnbarr Bermingham said 'A recent advisory paper by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government-linked think tank, suggested that the next five years would present “major changes unseen in a century” for China, as “the strategic game between superpowers has intensified, while international systems and orders are reshuffled”.

PLA troops violated the LAC in 5 places at Hot Spring, Galwan Valley and Gogra in Ladakh and Naku La in north Sikkim on May 5. The intrusions were deliberate and preplanned.

President Xi Jinping on May 23 morning et CPPCC Delegates from the economic sector attending a joint group meeting at the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

In his speech to the CPPCC, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang dropped the word 'peaceful' whilst talking about the unification of Taiwan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping took part on May 22 afternoon in a deliberation with his fellow Deputies from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region delegation attending the third session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC).

Xinhua (May 22) reported that Wang Chen, Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on May 22, explained the draft civil code to NPC Deputies and explained the draft decision on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

China in its draft defence budget hiked the allocation from last year’s US$ 177.6 billion by only 6.6 per cent to 1.268 trillion yuan (US$ 178.2 billion), the lowest increment in recent years apparently due to the heavy disruption caused to its economy by the COVID-19.

The first flight of AV500C UAV, designed for high altitudes, has been successfully completed by the Chinese group AVIC.

The ninth of Type 052D destroyers of PLAN, Tangshan (Pennant no 122) is in the final stages of her trials and is likely to be commissioned in Aug 2020.

Radio Free Asia (May 15) and EU Observer (May 6) reported that the Veiligheid van de Staat (VSSE), a Belgian state Intelligence agency, recently disclosed China’s spy activities in the military and scientific arena posing threats to EU security.

People's Daily (May 18) reported that according to the statistics released by China’s Ministry of Finance on May 18, in the first four months of this year, Mainland China’s general public budget revenue fell by 14.5 percent year-on-year, indicating that the Chinese economy has been hit hard by the Wuhan virus and its fiscal revenue has also declined.