Fears of a Trump Re-election: China Withholds Stimulus; Jack Ma ‘Subverts’ Alibaba

Fears of a Trump re-election, China holds back on economic stimulus amid trade war concerns. Jack Moth subverts Alibaba, I don't have the answers, but I have direction. She visits Europe as the White House strikes again against Huawei. Expert, she secretly sets policy for fentanyl exports to the U.S. Space Force intel chief, China's satellite fleet poses threats to U.S. troops. It's all covered in today's China Truths. Fears of a Trump re-election, China holds back on economic stimulus amid trade war concerns. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on May 8, despite the ongoing slump in the real estate market and weak investor confidence, the Chinese government has yet to roll out major stimulus policies. Xi Jinping's desire to reshape the economic model is only part of the reason, another is Beijing's concern that Trump could return to the White House. The CCP views that if Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in November, a direct consequence could be another trade war between the U.S. and China, thus the need to reserve firepower. During Trump's first term, the trade war he initiated saw neither the U.S. nor China emerge as winners. However, by some estimates in China, the tariffs imposed by Trump, which are retained by current President Biden, inflicted three times the economic damage on China compared to the U.S. In the summer of 2019, during the height of the trade conflict, the yuan-to-dollar exchange rate once fell below the psychologically important 7 yuan threshold. For CCP leaders, drastic fluctuations in the yuan are to be avoided at all costs. This requires constantly balancing pros and cons, both preventing excessive yuan volatility and maintaining the competitiveness of Chinese goods overseas. At that time, to counter the impact of Trump's tariffs, a significant depreciation of the yuan was both necessary and beneficial. A similar depreciation could occur if another trade war breaks out. Trump and his trade deputy, Robert Lighthizer, had publicly suggested almost completely cutting off Chinese goods from the U.S. market and blocking China's access to U.S. technology and capital. Trump had stated that if re-elected, he might impose tariffs as high as 60 percent on imports from China. Washington analysts say that imposing such tariffs wouldn't be difficult for Trump, as long as he investigates Chinese subsidies to priority industries. China has shifted more of its exports to developing countries. Nevertheless, losing the U.S. market would be a huge blow to Xi Jinping's strategy to pull China out of its current economic slump through manufacturing and exports. Although there is renewed hope for genuine reform with the upcoming third plenum in July, this strategy is unlikely to change. Europe also leans towards reducing imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles, solar panels, and many other products that European countries wish to produce themselves. Faced with this threat of a demand-side shock, the Chinese government is holding back on stimulus, believing that if a trade war 2.0 would the U.S. erupts next year, along with sharply deteriorating trade relations with U.S. and European allies, it might then need to use it. So far, although the CCP government has been talking about stimulating domestic demand, such as through policies aimed at encouraging factories and other businesses to replace old equipment with new, the government has hardly used its own funds. Beijing is reserving its firepower, watching for what November brings. Jack Moth subverts Alibaba. I don't have the answers, but I have direction. Alibaba's e-commerce platform, Tmall, recently announced the abolition of its long-criticized pre-sale mechanism, seen as one of Alibaba's steps towards self-reform. In recent years, Alibaba has faced difficult challenges, and its founder Jack Moth seemed to have faded from the management team only to make a low-key return later. Alibaba Group has been frequently splitting and reorganizing, which the public humorously refers to as Jack Moth subverting Alibaba. Twelve years ago, when Tmall first introduced the pre-sale system, this practice quickly became popular throughout the e-commerce industry in China. The pre-sale system allowed platforms to secure orders in advance and capture the market, benefiting merchants by helping them manage sales volumes and reduce inventory accumulation. However, it offered no benefits to consumers. To revive morale, Alibaba began to undergo changes over the past year, attempting to find a new direction. Shifting focus from prioritizing merchants on the Alibaba platform to a customer-first stance is just one of the steps. Alibaba's current chairman Zhou Cai recently admitted in an interview with Chinese media that Alibaba's morale has been low for the past three years, saying, When we look internally and reflect on ourselves, we realize that Alibaba has fallen behind because we forgot who our real customers are. According to Tencent News, since Jack Moth's return to China, Alibaba has nearly overturned its important strategies from the past nearly 10 years, with Jack Moth deeply involved at every critical juncture. After many years abroad, Jack Moth's sudden appearance in Hangzhou on March 26 last year alerted the public to his quiet return to China. Just two days later, Alibaba Group announced a major restructuring plan, 1 plus 6 plus N, transforming into a holding company overseeing six key business segments in various other enterprises, and two months later, the board of directors for Alibaba's six major subsidiaries was finalized. It is widely believed that this transformation was personally led by Jack Moth and was the main reason for his discreet return. While Alibaba tries to reform and save itself, another e-commerce platform, Pinduoduo, has seen soaring performance and is aggressively capturing the domestic market. Amidst the encirclement of emerging e-commerce players like Douyin, JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Kuaishou and their intense price competition, Alibaba's Taobao has also started advertising across various channels, promoting Taobao is cheaper than Livestream shopping. To win back consumers, Taobao is investing millions of dollars to create short dramas. According to Taobao's recently released Billion Taobao Drama Plan, the platform plans to invest millions of dollars in custom dramas for brands, along with over $1 billion in traffic support, and collaborate with popular IPs, celebrities, and top influencers to create short drama content. Since the second half of last year, Taobao has launched over 20 short dramas. When Pinduoduo's market value surpassed Alibaba's, Jack Moth sent an email within the group, proclaiming that the AI e-commerce era has just begun. Alibaba aims to establish AI e-commerce as the core of the group's new strategy. In order to further revitalize the faltering Alibaba group, Jack Moth has abandoned nearly 10 years of deep investment in physical retail, then recently reconsolidated the various parts that had just been split. Former Alibaba employee Oh Dejong revealed on his WeChat public account that last year, Jack Moth asked the same question to the management of each business unit of Alibaba, how do you understand AI e-commerce? Jack Moth said, I don't have the answers, but I have direction, and you need to give me the answers. She visits Europe as the White House strikes again against Huawei. The US government on Tuesday, May 7 provoked some licenses granted to American companies to supply goods to Huawei, including computer chips and other items. This move is seen as another sign of geopolitical tensions between the Chinese Communist Party and Western countries, including the United States. It is noteworthy that this news comes at a time when the CCP leader Xi Jinping is visiting Europe. Some believe that, amid escalating strategic competition and contradictions with the United States, Xi's trip to Europe is largely seen as an attempt to counterbalance and even divide the US-Europe alliance. According to insiders cited by the Financial Times on May 7, the US government has revoked licenses that allowed tech companies like Qualcomm and Intel to supply chips to Huawei. Sources said that the revoked export licenses would affect the Chinese telecommunications company's supply of chips for laptops and smartphones. According to Reuters, some companies received notices on May 7, local time, that their export licenses were being revoked immediately. Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, confirmed the government's decision to Bloomberg on Tuesday, May 7. He stated that this move is key to preventing CCP from developing advanced artificial intelligence, blocking Intel and Qualcomm from selling any chips to Huawei, as there have been ongoing concerns about these companies' overly close relationships with China. The US Department of Commerce confirmed the revocation of certain licenses for exports to Huawei but did not disclose which American companies are affected. Bloomberg reported that while this decision may not affect a large number of chips, it underscores the US government's determination to restrict CCP from accessing a broad range of semiconductor technologies. US officials are also considering sanctions against six Chinese companies they suspect might supply chips to Huawei. The US government accuses Huawei of being closely linked to Chinese communist authorities, thus posing a security risk. In 2019, due to concerns that Huawei could spy on Americans, the company was added to the US trade restriction list, part of the US efforts to limit the CCP's ability to enhance its military capabilities. Being on this list means that Huawei's suppliers must apply for a special and difficult-to-obtain license before shipping. Despite this, some of Huawei's suppliers have still received licenses worth billions of dollars to sell goods and technology to Huawei, including a particularly controversial authorization that has allowed Intel to supply central processors to Huawei's laptops since 2020. Meanwhile, sources said that very few new licenses targeting Huawei have been approved over the past year. Currently, Qualcomm can still supply modems for 4G data radio equipment but cannot supply the modems needed for faster 5G networks. Expert, She Secretly Sets Policy for Fentanyl Exports to the U.S. The CCP has repeatedly stated its intention to control the export of fentanyl to the United States. However, Yuan Hongbing, an Australian-based legal scholar, has revealed that Xi Jinping had already internally decided to support the export of fentanyl to the US, and following this, CCP's Minister of Public Security, Wang Xiaohong, ordered the expansion of export channels to the US. Professor Yuan Hongbing, who often discloses insider information about the CCP's top echelon, recently told Vision China that many international criticisms of the CCP's tyranny are misinformed and lack substance, primarily because they do not fundamentally understand Xi Jinping's mindset. Now that the CCP has formed a personal dictatorship under Xi, his will represents the power will of the CCP's tyranny, and his mindset determines the orientation of the CCP's political operations. He exemplified that in late April this year, during discussions in Beijing between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Xi Jinping's trusted Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong aimed at addressing the issue of China-produced opioid-like drugs being dumped in the U.S., Blinken treated the issue as an important topic of cooperation with the CCP, showing that neither Blinken nor the Biden administration understand Xi Jinping's mindset. Yuan Hongbing stated that according to conscientious sources within the CCP system, about a year and a half ago during a secret meeting of the National Security Council, Xi Jinping made a so-called important speech on the issue of fentanyl exports to the U.S. In that speech, she referred to the opium wars that occurred in China in the past and claimed that the current drug epidemic in the U.S. is retribution. He also stated that the drug crisis in the U.S. is a basis for Beijing's east-rising, west-declining judgment. He accused the U.S. of needing to investigate its own moral decay causing the drug crisis, instead of holding Beijing responsible for American drug use. She specifically emphasized that the U.S. demands for Beijing to limit fentanyl production and regulate its import channels into the U.S. are attempts to harm China's development interests, which he described as acts of economic warfare, adding, we firmly oppose this and cannot accept it. Because of Xi's speech, Wang Xiaohong, after the 20th CCP National Congress, was tasked with coordinating relevant departments to support the expansion of fentanyl production and to extend the direct or indirect channels of importing fentanyl into the U.S. Wang Xiaohong also demanded at an internal meeting of the Ministry of Public Security that these actions be considered as part of comprehensive and unrestricted warfare strategy with the U.S. Yuan Hongbin pointed out that this situation further proves that Xi Jinping regards the strategic showdown with the U.S. as a so-called fundamental national policy. The Biden administration hopes to solve the fentanyl export issue through negotiations, which is like asking a tiger for its skin, they completely misunderstand the mindset of the dictator Xi Jinping and his perspective on the issue. Fentanyl is a synthetic drug also used illicitly with a very high fatality rate. It has become rampant in the U.S., causing tens of thousands of deaths annually. U.S. official reports indicate that fentanyl is cheap to produce, mostly manufactured in mainland China and continuously smuggled into the U.S. via Mexico or through mail. The Washington-based think tank, Center for Advanced Defense Studies, uncovered detailed locations of 92 Chinese fentanyl-selling entities, 41% of which are located in Xijiazhuang, Hebei Province, just 248 kilometers from Beijing. Fox News has reported that the CCP intentionally allows a large amount of fentanyl to flow into the U.S., possibly as retribution for the historical opium wars, dubbing it the New Opium War. Some political figures have noted that this New Opium War is part of the CCP's unrestricted war against the U.S. The so-called unrestricted war is a concept originated by the CCP, meaning no adherence to any rules, with no moral boundaries. The nine commentaries on the Communist Party cite CCP historical materials revealing that the so-called Great Production Movement launched by the CCP in Yenning was actually the mass cultivation of opium, which was then sold to the nationalist-controlled areas. This not only poisoned the people in these areas, but also generated huge profits used to purchase weapons to fight against the nationalists. Rinbishi was appointed as the Opium Commissioner by the CCP at that time. During the Trump administration in the United States, Trump had forced Xi through negotiations to agree to control the export of fentanyl to the U.S. The Biden administration has also reached several so-called cooperative agreements with Xi Jinping to control fentanyl. However, the CCP's cooperation often remains merely verbal, with few substantial actions. Recently, leaks from within the CCP system have indicated that in today's world, the market for plant-based drugs has been replaced by chemical substances, with China having become the world's largest producer of drugs. Space Force Intel Chief, China's Satellite Fleet Poses Threats to U.S. Troops China has achieved a strategic breakout in space, now deploying a vast network of satellites capable of targeting U.S. forces should a conflict break out between the two nations in the Western Pacific, according to the U.S. Space Force's intelligence chief. Major General Gagnon, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Intelligence, told the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies on May 2, the People's Liberation Army has rapidly advanced in space in a way that few people can really appreciate, I tried to think about historical analogies, about rapid buildups. I haven't seen a rapid buildup like this. I was thinking about World War II, but even as I was looking more broadly, an adversary arming this fast is profoundly concerning. Major General Gagnon said that the CCP has increased its on-orbit capability by 550% since the end of 2015. China's military development in space has grown to become a great U.S. national security concern in recent years. In April, General Stephen Whiting, Commander of U.S. Space Command, warned about the CCP's developing its military capabilities in space at a breathtaking pace. In January, a U.S. military report warned that China and Russia are populating space with dual-use satellites, concealing their military applications. Major General Gagnon said, for the last two years, they've placed over 200 satellites in space, both years, of that, over half of them are remote-sensing satellites, remote-sensing satellites that are purpose-built to surveil, do reconnaissance in the Western Pacific and globally. By putting up so many remote-sensing satellites, China was recognizing the importance of proliferated architecture, one that Major General Gagnon said makes China's space infrastructure more resilient against attack because of the sheer number of satellites. He added, it's an architecture that isn't designed for efficiency and cost-effectiveness, an architecture that's designed to go to war and sustain a war. With China's boosted military intelligence-gathering ability in space, the U.S. military no longer holds a monopoly on hitting mobile targets at extremely long distances, which to date has been ensured by its leading space capabilities. Now, China has a similar ability given its fleet of satellites. Major General Gagnon highlighted the strategic importance of space reconnaissance for military decision-making, particularly in response to the growing space capabilities of adversaries like China, which he noted were partly developed using stolen U.S. technology. He also addressed the function of a Chinese radar satellite positioned in geosynchronous orbit, ostensibly for agricultural purposes but realistically aimed at monitoring the Western Pacific. Since the inception of the Space Force in 2019, there has been a significant increase in the number of satellites monitored, from a total of 9,500 satellites to 1,000 designated as priority targets. The Space Force now issues approximately 11,000 maneuver alerts monthly, a stark increase from the handful issued in its early days. Let us know your thoughts on today's topic by leaving a comment below. If you've found this video helpful, please share it with a friend, it inspires us to continue creating more quality and reliable content. Don't forget to like and subscribe for more interesting insights from China Truths. Thanks for tuning in.