Canada vs. China, & Huawei

[Randy W]

On 5/21/2019 at 10:35 PM, Allon said:

This will be very interesting. Google will not be able to sustain this boycott for a long time. They will lose money and steam in other areas of the China market, even Asia in general. The implications with the 5G development will be quite challenging indeed. Meanwhile, the markets will be volatile and investors will get a bit anxious. But so far, I bet with Google and the others.

I'm pretty sure that, for phones sold within China, the Chinese phone manufacturers use the Open Source version of Android already. So this should be no change within the Chinese market. Is that correct?

From Winston

https://www.facebook.com/winstoninchina/photos/a.271810479595144/2039343722841802/

SerpentZA

 

Page Liked · 2 hrs ·

 

Quote

Just again to put in perspective... Some of the foreign tech products banned in China vs the Chinese tech products banned in the USA

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Allon]

No change in the Chinese market for Android devices but updates will not be allowed to the OS. But to me, the major problem is no access to email or Youtube. That means weChat and other such social media forums that use Google email as an ID to store photos and chat messages, won't work at all. For us anyway, if she goes to China, that is a major disruption. We use WeChat a lot. So does her friends and others in China. WeChat might have to convert some access points and/or ID's -- not exactly easy to do. They will have to go back to saving all that stuff on the local phone. They have done that before and if I recall, it still might be an available option (doubt it) but nonetheless it's a major disruption to users.

 

I note that Google today is acting as go-between for Huawei in some of the negotiations. Very strange but makes sense if Google is in the game for the long haul. They cannot afford not to.

 

I have not seen where China is providing any kind of assurance that Huawei or Qualcomm or any other entity is NOT being set up as a spying device. The problem is simply that there are holes in the software that can be exploited for spying purposes, or really any other malicious use. Just FIX it.

 

My experience with other Chinese software makes me very suspicious as well. I was looking for a replacement to Adobe PDF (I hate Adobe stuff but unfortunately, I have to use some of it) and found 2 other PDF vendors that were Chinese owned. Both were crap, despite all these "recommendations" of how they were such "excellent" PDF makers, and editors. They sucked. I could not even get one licensed and usable. Nor did the company care. I asked for a refund and they gave me back the money, no question. I noticed on the forums, a lot of other people experienced the same install problem I thought I could overcome. No way. (By the way, Nuance is a great replacement.)

 

So I am really interested in how this thing floats out. I think Britain is mistaken that they can keep Huawei's stuff separate from their other networks.

[Randy W]

On 6/7/2019 at 11:25 PM, Allon said:

No change in the Chinese market for Android devices but updates will not be allowed to the OS. But to me, the major problem is no access to email or Youtube. That means weChat and other such social media forums that use Google email as an ID to store photos and chat messages, won't work at all. For us anyway, if she goes to China, that is a major disruption. We use WeChat a lot. So does her friends and others in China. WeChat might have to convert some access points and/or ID's -- not exactly easy to do. They will have to go back to saving all that stuff on the local phone. They have done that before and if I recall, it still might be an available option (doubt it) but nonetheless it's a major disruption to users.

I note that Google today is acting as go-between for Huawei in some of the negotiations. Very strange but makes sense if Google is in the game for the long haul. They cannot afford not to.

I have not seen where China is providing any kind of assurance that Huawei or Qualcomm or any other entity is NOT being set up as a spying device. The problem is simply that there are holes in the software that can be exploited for spying purposes, or really any other malicious use. Just FIX it.

My experience with other Chinese software makes me very suspicious as well. I was looking for a replacement to Adobe PDF (I hate Adobe stuff but unfortunately, I have to use some of it) and found 2 other PDF vendors that were Chinese owned. Both were crap, despite all these "recommendations" of how they were such "excellent" PDF makers, and editors. They sucked. I could not even get one licensed and usable. Nor did the company care. I asked for a refund and they gave me back the money, no question. I noticed on the forums, a lot of other people experienced the same install problem I thought I could overcome. No way. (By the way, Nuance is a great replacement.)

So I am really interested in how this thing floats out. I think Britain is mistaken that they can keep Huawei's stuff separate from their other networks.

 

WeChat is Weixin, a Chinese application - Chinese users use it with no access to Google.

What I'm thinking is that Huawei's market in China will not be affected (including updates to the open-source Android O/S), but that its foreign market will be blown out of the water completely, including to those foreigners like us who need access to Google functionality within China. This is exactly why I won't buy a phone in China, but head to Hong Kong instead, even for a Samsung.

I have Corel PDF Fusion, at under $50, but I mainly use it to combine multiple jpeg images into a single document - which it does VERY well.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Allon]

Well, that is really what I am saying as well. China will do ok since they don't (not all of them) use Gmail, but youTube is catching on over there I understand.

Elsewhere, weChat (and I know it is Chinese, although in America it is supported in Silicon Valley) will be useless if Gmail is used and it is a lot. I suppose it might be an opportunity for Yahoo. You think? I don't know where they stand here.

There are a number of ways to handle jpg. I like Evergreen and One Note. And I have Snagit anyway, another piece of excellent imaging software. For me, Nuance Power PDF works best, even if more expensive. I use it at the office quite a bit -- against office policy but I can since I am an admin there. I do a lot of .docx/.pdf back and forth and it is quite handy doing that. The OCR is not as good as One Note. I have yet to find OCR that is really 100% anyway.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

An interesting proposal . . . from the SCMP

As I understand it, this would create a one time split. That is, the Western buyer would be free to develop their own technology, while Huawei keeps their own version.

It's not clear that this would be advantageous, since the West has their own development path already.

Huawei’s Ren Zhengfei ready to sell 5G tech to a Western buyer to help create rival, level playing field

• Comments from Ren come as the Chinese telecoms giant remains in the middle of US-China trade war and after it was put on a US trade blacklist in May

Quote

Ren Zhengfei, the billionaire founder and chief executive of Huawei Technologies, said he is ready to share its 5G technology with potential western buyers.

 

Ren said Huawei is willing to give buyers perpetual access to Huawei’s existing 5G patents, licences, code, technical blueprints and production know-how for a one-time fee, according to a two-hour interview with The Economist on September 10, the contents of which were confirmed by Huawei.

 

The acquirer would be allowed to modify the source code, meaning that neither Huawei nor the Chinese government would even have hypothetical control of any telecoms infrastructure built using equipment produced by the new company. Huawei would likewise be free to develop its technology in whatever direction it pleases.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2020 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

from the WSJ - June 19, 2020

 

Two Canadians Detained in China Indicted on Espionage Charges

Cases of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, first detained over 18 months ago, are seen as retribution for Canada’s arrest of a Huawei executive

 

 

HONG KONG—Chinese prosecutors have formally indicted two Canadian citizens on espionage charges, more than 18 months after the men were first detained, advancing a pair of cases widely seen as retribution for Canada’s arrest of a well-connected Chinese Huawei executive.

 

Michael Kovrig, a researcher and former Canadian diplomat, was charged with “probing into state secrets and intelligence” on behalf of foreign actors, while entrepreneur Michael Spavor was accused of “probing into and illegally providing state secrets” to foreign actors, according to separate announcements issued Friday by municipal prosecutors’ offices in Beijing and the northeastern city of Dandong.

 

Neither office identified the alleged foreign actors. The indictments move both cases closer to trial, which would take place in Beijing and Dandong courts.

 

 

[Randy W]

from the SCMP - Nov. 30

How the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou soured China's relations with the US and Canada

Quote

Meng Wanzhou, the Chief Financial Officer of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, and daughter of the company's founder, was arrested by Canadian police in December 2018 at the request of US authorities. Washington has accused Meng and her company of violating US sanctions against Iran. Her arrest drew a sharp rebuke from China, and two years on, relations between Beijing and both Washington and Ottawa remain severely strained.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

from Aljazeera Dec. 4, 2020

US discussing ‘deal’ allowing Huawei’s CFO to return to China

Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her home to attend a court hearing in Vancouver where she is fighting extradition to the US [File: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters]

Under such an agreement, which prosecutors usually use with companies but rarely grant to individuals, Meng would be required to admit to some of the allegations against her, but prosecutors would agree to potentially defer and later drop the charges if she cooperated, the people said.

Meng has so far resisted the proposed deal, believing she did nothing wrong, the report said.

 . . .

Meng is due back in British Columbia Supreme Court on Monday as she fights extradition to the United States.

If she were to admit wrongdoing, the Trump administration could claim victory in a thorny dispute with China, and relieve the pressure on Canada, which has found itself in the cross fire of the US-China trade war.

[Randy W]

from the NY Times - Dec. 9

For Canadians Held in China, Two Years of Isolation and Uncertainty
The fates of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor appear tied to a Chinese technology executive detained in Canada on a U.S. warrant. Some hope the new Biden administration could hasten their release.

Demonstrations were held in Vancouver last year to protest the arrests of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.Credit...Jason Redmond/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Quote

For two years, the Canadian men have been held in separate prisons in northern China, largely cut off from the rest of the world. They have been accused of espionage, without evidence, and forced to go months without visits from diplomats. They have waited as their cases have meandered through China’s opaque legal system, despite calls around the world for their release.

The men — Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur — were once relatively low-profile expatriates working in Asia. They have now become symbols of the consequences of Beijing’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy, their fates seemingly intertwined with the future of China’s tumultuous relationships with Canada and the United States.

China has made clear that it remains angered by Canada’s decision in December 2018 to detain Meng Wanzhou, a prominent Chinese technology executive, at the request of American prosecutors. The detentions of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor shortly thereafter — two years ago on Thursday — were widely perceived as retribution.

The fates of all three are being watched as President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. prepares to enter the White House next month. In Canada, some experts and officials are hopeful that U.S.-China relations might improve under the Biden administration, perhaps smoothing the way for the release of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor. Others are less optimistic that the world’s two largest economies can easily resolve their disputes, the Meng case being just one of many.

 . . .

Mr. Kovrig, who worked for a nonprofit organization, has been confined to a small jail cell in Beijing and was subjected to repeated interrogations early in his detention. During his incarceration, his diet has, at times, been restricted to rice and boiled vegetables, he told his family.

The Chinese authorities have kept Mr. Kovrig so isolated that he was not aware of the details of the coronavirus pandemic until October, his wife, Vina Nadjibulla said, when Canadian diplomats informed him during a virtual visit.

“He is remarkably resilient, but his situation is difficult to endure,” Ms. Nadjibulla said in an interview. “We worry about the toll this is having on his mental health.”

Edited December 21, 2020 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Canada's FM decries ‘arbitrary’ detention of two Canadians held in China that will have court hearings this month for spying allegations.

AL Jazeera
https://www.facebook.com/7382473689/posts/10159840594608690/

Quote

 

“Our embassy in Beijing has been notified that court hearings for Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are scheduled to take place on March 19 and March 22, respectively,” Marc Garneau said in a statement.

Chinese authorities have said the pair are being held on suspicion of endangering national security and have rejected accusations their detention is retaliation for the case against Meng, who is facing fraud charges in the US.

 

 

[Randy W]

China urges Canada to stop human rights abuses:

1. From 2006 to 2014, Canada detained over 10K migrants, treating them inhumanely.
2. Canada's army illegally kill civilians abroad.
3. Canada has systemic racism, Islamphobia.
4. Canada killed indigenous people, eradicating their culture.

from CGTN and PandaPaws on Facebook 
PandaPaws is CGTN Reporter Han Peng's Facebook Account
https://www.facebook.com/565225540184937/posts/6490457877661644/

Edited June 23, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

A Canadian court refused to accept additional evidences provided by #Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou in battling her extradition to the US, and Huawei said in a statement to GT on Saturday that “it respects the court's ruling, but regret the outcome.”

Can't say that I understand this - it seems like Canada is still holding her, while the US has little interest. Does she just WANT to stay in Canada?

from the Global Times on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/globaltimesnews/posts/4264576043623263

[Randy W]

 

Chinese court upholds Canadian drug smuggler’s death penalty
Verdicts ‘show open, principled diplomacy’

or "hostage politics"

in the Global Times

Quote

 

Canadian drug smuggler Robert Lloyd Schellenberg's death penalty was upheld by the High People's Court of Liaoning Province on Tuesday in a second trial. The case has won broad support from the Chinese public, as they detest drug trafficking and believe mercy to drug dealers would equal infringement on the rights of millions of Chinese people. 

The court in the second trial rejected Schellenberg's appeal, upheld the original first judgment, and reported the death sentence to China's Supreme People's Court for approval in accordance with the law, according to a statement published on the court's website on Tuesday.

In Schellenberg's first trial at the Intermediate People's Court of Dalian in November 2018, he was sentenced 15 years in jail for smuggling 222.035 kilograms of meth. The Dalian court held a retrial of the case on January 15, 2019 as prosecutors presented new evidence which showed that Schellenberg was not only the prime culprit of drug smuggling but was also engaged in organized international drug trafficking, and he was sentenced to death by the Dalian court.

 

 . . . and from the UK Guardian

Michael Spavor trial: China court sentences Canadian to 11 years for spying
Ruling comes amid tensions over death sentence handed to another Canadian, and fate of arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Canada

Quote

 

The verdict in the case of Michael Spavor, which was delivered on Wednesday morning, comes as Beijing steps up pressure ahead of a Canadian court ruling on whether to hand over a Chinese executive to face US criminal charges.

Spavor, and fellow Canadian Michael Kovrig, were detained in China in what critics labelled “hostage politics” after Meng Wanzhou’s 2018 arrest in connection with possible violations of trade sanctions on Iran.

They were tried separately in secret earlier this year, after spending more than 830 days in detention.

On Wednesday a court in Dandong announced Spavor had been found guilty of spying and illegally providing state secrets to other countries, according to reports. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail, confiscation of personal property, and fined 50,000 yuan ($7,715), according to a statement by the Liaoning Dandong intermediate people’s court. The court also said Spavor would be deported but it was not clear when this would occur.

 

 

[Randy W]

US reaches deal with Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou, allowing her to return to China

• Taking off from Vancouver a few hours after the US withdrew its extradition request, Meng thanked the Chinese government in an emotional inflight statement
• The deal to free Meng appears to have resulted in China releasing detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who are also flying home

from the SCMP

At the same time that Meng took to the air, a flight carrying Kovrig and Spavor took off from China, Trudeau announced. The men, who were arrested days after Meng, were accused by China of espionage, but were regarded by Ottawa as hostages.

The agreement with the US did not refer to Spavor or Kovrig.

“I think this is a smart move to try and put this issue behind us and try to go to other US-China policy issues,” added Bruen, the White House head of global engagement under former president Barack Obama. “This allows China to make other compromises while telling its folks at home that it got something.”

According to acting US attorney Boeckmann, Meng’s admissions of “multiple material misrepresentations … confirm the crux of the government’s allegations in the prosecution of this financial fraud – that Meng and her fellow Huawei employees engaged in a concerted effort to deceive global financial institutions, the US government and the public about Huawei’s activities in Iran”.

‘Meng has taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution,’ US prosecutor says

The agreement does not include a deal that would release Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig

Appearing before the court via video link from Vancouver, British Columbia, Meng did not plead guilty to the charges but, as part of the agreement, admitted to providing “knowingly false statements”. The Justice Department will also withdraw its request that Meng be extradited to the US from Canada.

“Meng has taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution,” said acting US Attorney Nicole Boeckmann.

 . . .

Canada’s Globe and Mail reported that the agreement with the US does not include any deal that would release Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who were arrested in China on espionage charges shortly after Meng’s detention.

Chinese media, meanwhile, remained relatively muted on China freeing detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, whose release was announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

There were few comments about the release of the two Canadians on Chinese social media. A Global Times editorial, while mentioning the release of Kovrig and Spavor, said the nature of their release was different from Meng‘s because the pair were convicted of criminal charges while Meng was “suffering politically”.

State news agency Xinhua reported that Meng’s release was a result of the efforts by Beijing.

[Randy W]

Yes, she is supposedly arriving in China about one hour from the time of this post.

Meng Wanzhou believed to have left Canada after B.C. court drops extradition case

from Canada's CBC

David Kessler, an attorney with the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, told the court the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) will last four years — from the time of her arrest on Dec. 1, 2018, to Dec. 1, 2022.

Kessler said that if Meng complies with her obligations, the U.S. will move to dismiss the charges against her at the end of the deferral period. If she doesn't, she can still be prosecuted.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)