China’s security authorities disclose details of a US meritorious medal-awarded spy 中國安全部門披露一名美國功勳間諜的詳細信息
China’s national security authorities on Monday released details about the case of John Shing-Wan Leung, who holds permanent residency in China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and a US passport, and was sentenced to life in prison on espionage charges, including when Leung became an informant of the US intelligence agency, conducting spy activities for the US under the disguise of charity.
Leung was handed down the life sentence on May 15, marking an end of Leung’s “spy career” for the US which spanned more than 30 years, China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in a release on its official WeChat account on Monday.
Leung, who was born on May 1, 1945 in Hong Kong, is deprived of his political rights for life and will also have 500,000 yuan ($71,800) of personal assets confiscated, according to the court verdict.
The Ministry of State Security’s statement said that Leung went to the US to run a restaurant in 1983. In 1986, agents from American intelligence agencies repeatedly contacted Leung, identified themselves explicitly and requested Leung’s cooperation. In 1989, American intelligence agencies officially signed a “cooperation agreement” with Leung, recruiting him as an informant. They agreed on a secret means of communication and promised to pay him $1,000 per month, with additional bonuses based on his performance. That same year, Leung obtained American citizenship.
In order to shape Leung’s social image, the US side went to great lengths to create a “persona” for him ̶ they fabricated his background, claiming that he had studied at a university in the United Kingdom, worked as a United Nations official, and served in the Vietnam War. They also required him to donate money to American state legislators in order to burnish his image.
Moreover, to enhance Leung’s influence among overseas Chinese communities, the US side also provided funding and instructed him to assume positions such as president, honorary president, and chairman of various Chinese community organizations through donations and other means. To increase Leung’s visibility in China, US spy agency instructed him to carry out charitable donations and tried to create a false image of him as a “patriotic philanthropist.”
Under this pretense, Leung conducted extensive espionage activities against China. For example, by organizing overseas Chinese community activities, Leung approached Chinese diplomatic institutions and personnel in the US, monitored Chinese nationals and overseas Chinese in the US, and reported to American intelligence agencies through designated phones and emails, according to the MSS release.
Moreover, whenever Leung learned about Chinese personnel traveling to the US for official businesses, he would report to American spy agencies and followed instructions to take Chinese officials to restaurants or hotels pre-installed with surveillance devices to obtain intelligence. He even set up sexual entrapments in an attempt to coerce and incite defection of Chinese personnel.
Leung was also found cooperating with the US’s efforts to entangle law enforcement. The American side instructed Leung to meet with targeted individuals at designated locations, enticing them to engage in sensitive transactions and gathering “evidence” to fabricate the so-called Chinese spy cases.
Under the command of several American spies, Leung collected a large amount of intelligence related to China which he fed to American spy agencies. He was even awarded a meritorious medal by a US intelligence agency.
In 2020, when international flights were suspended due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US intelligence agencies, eager to obtain Chinese intelligence, instructed the 75-year-old Leung to enter the Chinese mainland. At the end of 2020, Leung used multiple identity documents to transit through the HKSAR and arrived in the Chinese mainland. He then frequently participated in various social activities, extensively contacting individuals from all walks of life in China, while seeking to gather intelligence.
State security authorities in Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province took compulsory measures against Leung in April 2021 on suspicion of him conducting espionage.
The Chinese national security authority noted in the release on Monday that according to China’s Criminal Law, individuals who organize or participate in espionage activities and endanger national security would be sentenced to between10 years to life in prison. And according to China’s Counter-Espionage Law, individuals who are coerced to participate in spy activities overseas may not held accountable if they report themselves to Chinese security authorities.
A Hong Kong permanent resident and US citizen who was jailed for life in China in May for espionage posed as a philanthropist to snoop for information, the Ministry of State Security said on Monday. 中國國家安全部周一表示,一名香港永久居民和美國公民因冒充慈善家刺探信息而於五月在中國被判終身監禁.
John Shing-wan Leung, 78, was sentenced in May, two years after his arrest in Suzhou, in the eastern province of Jiangsu. The Suzhou court also issued a fine of 500,000 yuan (US$72,000) but further details were not released until now. 他於五月份在東部省份江蘇省蘇州被捕兩年後被判刑。 蘇州法院還處以 50 萬元人民幣(72,000 美元)的罰款,現在才公佈更多細節.
Some overseas Chinese asked why not grant them permanent residency in China, this is the reason why. It is estimated 1/2 of the Chinese lives in US are anti-China. Many are happy to become foreign agents for the Americans. 有些海外華人問為什麼不給予他們中國永久居留權,就是這個原因。 據估計,在美國的華人中有1/2是反華的。 許多人很高興成為美國人的外國代理人, 賣國求榮.
The Lack of Major Wars May Be Hurting Economic Growth NYT 6.13.14 and video by Zhang Weiwei on the Joseph Needham puzzle
The attached article justified the existence of the US military industrial complex, published perhaps in mind the US preparation for the Ukraine war. Here is a Chinese language video dealing with an issue that is somewhat related.
Points from this video为什么科学革命和工业革命没有在近代中国发生?与张维为 文一 共同解开科学革命的密码!
This video addresses the issue raised in 1969 by Joseph Needham:
why modern science and technology developed in Europe and not in China, which was much more advanced than Europe from first century B.C. to 15th century A.D.
Modern science and technology developed in Europe from the 15th century because Europe underwent 300 years of continuous wars. Around 80% of the revenue of the European countries were spent for war. What distinguishes this period of history of Europe is not Renaissance art and music, but Dante ‘s inferno, depicting hell on earth due to continuous wars which caused millions of deaths, refugees and misery.
From 1500-1799, through war and conquest, 400-500 European countries were combined into 20-30 countries. Most of the time during this period, the biggest countries in Europe were at war. Spain was at war during around 80% of the time, and England and France were during around 50% of the time. This is because many of the countries were peer competitors and they needed to fight it out for control of territory and population. With war, these countries invested heavily in military technology. After they gained an upper hand in such technology, they turned this advantage to military conquest of lands outside Europe, for looting and slavery. Many groups other than kings also were interested in investing in scientists and technology, even among some cardinals. This provided a large talent pool for science and technology.
Galileo is known for his contribution in astronomy. Less known is the fact that he was the head scientist of the Venetian ordnance factory. He conducted many experiments on shelling to see where the shells fall. A slight error in the angle of the projectile of shelling can mean a shot off to left field which would be totally ineffective in war. From these experiments he discovered the law of falling bodies and that the trajectory of a projectile is a parabola.
The same applies to the manufacture of gun powder. Gun powder research led to the development of chemistry. One of the key components of gun powder is potassium nitrate which can be extracted from human and animal excrement. During the continuous European wars, potassium nitrate was very expensive (1 pound of potassium nitrate is worth 5 pounds of gold). Both England and France conducted mass mobilization to gather human and animal excrement to extract Potassium nitrate. Such demand for gun powder spurred the development of chemistry and provided a talent pool of chemists.
Another factor for rapid European science and technology revolution is the development of modern finance for financing the revolution that underpins wars and colonial conquests. The rich merchants of the city states such as Venice started to invest in war, by loaning to sovereign kingdoms. This practice was inherited by Holland and England. Money from taxing farmers cannot meet the demand for war spending. Money could only be obtained by looting resources and enslaving people from other parts of the world. European countries granted licenses to pirates to act as their navies for looting and pillaging. A triangular slave trade was developed. Modern finance also grew from financing such expeditions.
There is thus amble funding for developing military technology and the science on which it is based.
Here are the reasons why China missed out on the science and technology revolution:
Even though China was the first to discover gun powder, the demand for it fell during peace time in the Ming dynasty, and its technology fell behind that of Europe by the Opium War of 1840. Unlike Europe, China had no peer competitor for a long time and had no incentive to devote much of its resources for developing military technology. Its survival did not hinge on such advances. Its resources instead were devoted to improving people’s livelihood during peace time.
China had its own theory of the end of history, like Fukuyama’s for the US, namely that the Chinese system was the best in the world, and China had nothing to learn from any other parts of the world. From mid-Ming dynasty on, China cut itself off from the world and missed out on the first and second industrial revolutions and recognition of the importance of science and technology.
Many explanations have been offered to Needham’s puzzle thus far.
One theory taught that western civilization originated from Greece that had a tradition of pursuit of truth for its own sake, not for any practical purposes, and discovered geometry. When combined with the European tradition of thorough philosophical debate, this resulted in Newtonian physics. In contrast, China’s tradition is to pursue something only when it has a practical application. China lacks logical thinking. That is why even tough China had made many discoveries, it never had a scientific revolution. People holding this view further assert that China must not only learn western science and technology, but must totally embrace western civilization of rationality, democracy and western style modernity. Otherwise China can never catch up with the west.
Zhang Weiwei’s and his guest’s views:
Demand creates supply, and theory comes from experiments. The necessity of war with other countries in the same vicinity drove Europe to develop science and technology. China experienced peace during most of the time period from 1500-1799, and had no reason to devote much resources to military technology and the science that underpins it.
China discovered gun powder. But it is the European countries that turned it into a weapon of mass destruction during the hundred years of war.
China’s rapid rise in the science and technology in the last few decades has been driven from the need to throw off the joke and threat of imperialism. Henceforth, it will be driven by Chinese people’s hope for a better life.
China is now on par with the US during the current 4th industrial revolution. The poor and irrational response in the west to the COVID pandemic compared with the scientific and rational Chinses response bolstered our countrymen’s confidence in China’s approach and system. Which system is really more democratic, and resemble what is truly modern nation should look like?
Zhang and his guest referred to a quote from Bertrand Russell:
The fact that Britain has produced Shakespeare and Milton, Locke and Hume, and all the other men who have adorned literature and the arts, does not make us superior to the Chinese. What makes us superior is Newton and Robert Boyle and their scientific successors. They make us superior by giving us greater proficiency in the art of killing. It is easier for an Englishman to kill a Chinaman than for a Chinaman to kill an Englishman. Therefore our civilization is superior to that of China. (Russell 1993, 52)
Kenneth J. Hammond Professor of History at New Mexico State University: This is an important topic, which has received considerable attention in recent scholarship. The work of Benjamin Elman in particular has shown pretty clearly that the idea that China’s development in science and technology somehow dropped off after the Song or perhaps the mid-Ming is simply unsustainable. His book On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550-1900 demonstrates the continuous transformations in knowledge production in China under the linguistic cover of 格物 gewu, often translated as the investigation of things. This is an ancient term, but from the 11th century on it was strongly associated with new insights into the workings of material world, what in the West was called “natural philosophy” and which has been retroactively designated as science. Needham was working in a Chinese intellectual environment shaped by the legacy of the May 4th Movement, which, while putting forth a radical critique of Western imperialism, also built on the New Culture Movement in the repudiation of traditional Chinese orthodoxies, viewing Confucianism and many other aspects of late imperial/early modern Chinese civilization as having held back China’s modernization. This was an important conversation in the context of the times, but more recent work in both China and the West has allowed a more nuanced understanding of the wide variety of thought and practice in the broad field of cultural production in Chinese history.
China did not have a “scientific revolution” because the patterns of thought, the investigation of things, which were the indigenous form of scientific endeavor in China, were already a well-established mode of intellectual inquiry, drawing on roots in the Classic 大學 Daxue, the Great Learning, a text which was originally part of the Classic of Rites 禮記 Li ji, and which became one of the 四書 Sishu, Four Books, during the emergence of 道學 Daoxue, Learning of the Way (often called Neo-Confucianism in the West) in the Song dynasty.
As with many other aspects of Chinese history, the misunderstanding of China’s distinctive mode of scientific inquiry, like the mischaracterization of late imperial/early modern China as somehow “feudal” has warped Western perceptions of China, and even the thinking of many Chinese in the 20th century and into our own times because of the influence of Western culture on China’s educational practices.
Fox News Video: Hawaiian locals got a true taste of US President heartless attitudes towards victims & families outraged at Biden response, while officials ‘suck up’: Hawaii State Rep. Diamond Garcia blisters President Biden. You will not find this kind of uncaring cold blooded leaderships in China, HK, Macau or Singapore 福克斯新聞視頻: 夏威夷當地人真正體會到了美國總統對受害者和家屬的無情態度,他們對拜登的反應感到憤怒,而官員們則“拍馬屁”:夏威夷州眾議員戴蒙德·加西亞對拜登總統進行了水皰攻擊。 這種冷血無人性的領導人在中國、香港、澳門或新加坡永遠找不到也不會發生 https://rumble.com/v3gkm5c-fox-news-video-hawaiian-locals-got-a-true-taste-of-us-president-heartless-a.html https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT827wm1L/
US sends ‘commonplace type of munition’ to Ukraine, not common at all, it is another acts of Crimes Against Humanity 美國向烏克蘭發送“普通彈藥”, 根本不常見,這是另一種危害人類罪的行為
GT investigates: Who is the black hand behind conspiracy to smear ‘Overseas Police Service Station’ and attack China?
“Overseas Police Service Stations” are volunteer platforms established by overseas Chinese groups to assist Chinese nationals in seeking services from competent and relevant departments in China online, according to public materials.
For example, many overseas Chinese who have worked abroad for many years need to return to China to undergo physical examinations to extend their driving licenses. However, due to prohibitive costs, as well as being time- and energy-consuming to return to China, they often turn to local overseas Chinese groups, hoping for alternative assistance from relevant departments in China.
At the request of overseas Chinese, some enthusiastic overseas Chinese groups and chambers of commerce voluntarily founded such mutual-aid platforms.
Why then would such voluntary service centers be labeled “police service stations”? In China, the formal name of the police force is the “People’s Police,” whose mission is to serve the people. Therefore, different from their counterparts in many other countries, the Chinese police are also be tasked with fulfilling many diverse administrative functions such as approving and issuing household registration documents, the issuance of driving license, as well as traditional law enforcement.
The term “Overseas Police Service Station” alludes to the voluntary service stations’ active role in bridging the gap between overseas Chinese in need of services and Chinese police-designated service delivery such as the extension of driving licenses.
China & America: The End Game Has Already Arrived…China’s rise to superpower in peace is a first for mankind, ushering in a new world order. The United States needs to get with the program. By MARIO CAVOLO Sept 9 2023 中國與美國:結局已經到來……中國和平崛起為超級大國是人類的第一次,開創了新的世界秩序。 美國需要參與該計劃
I have come to the place where the #1 reason I am most supportive of China is because they have risen to world superpower in peace. This is a gargantuan world-changing shift for mankind. They have managed to rise to history’s third world superpower after Europe (1500-1900) and after the United States (1900 – 2000) but unlike the previous two, China (2000 – Present ) has risen to this status in the world in peace. No bombs, no attacks, no wars, no overthrowing of other govts and foreign elections of those who don’t agree with your interests, Imran Khan of Pakistan, being the lastest leaving once again, Pakistan in chaos and misery.
“The world is now China’s oyster in peace and cooperation with well over a hundred countries across the world that will only continue to expand. To answer The Economist cover’s recent question, that is what’s next for China.”
And of course, this shift also shines a bright lot on and disrupts many aspects of the existing world order beholden to the United States. The thing is, while we want the bad things related to the United States to stop, we should not forget all the good things too. Extreme talk and generalizations declaring the desire to see the end of America, the end of the dollar, the collapse of America, etc is senseless, silly and immature. People who say it are not thinking about what it would really be like if such things occurred.
We can’t forget that the European expansion did great things for the world and America has done great things for the world. What we are all saying needs to stop is the bad stuff, the unnecessary bad stuff, which really only boils down to two main points:
1) Control by the U.S. Military Industrial Complex, and apparently the CIA, the warmongering causing despicable violent death & ruin across the world (Can you imagine that there are actual business seminars of defense contractor industry people getting together to talk about the profits of war in a supposed civilized society devoted to democracy, freedom and human rights? Its despicable)
2) The corrupted Washington leadership which is an oligarchy running the country for themselves, for the elites, who have allowed the middle class to deterioriate, civil society to split and deterioriate in ways that are far beyond unacceptable and truly shocking to onlookers.
So as always, generalization is the enemy of sensible talk. A country can be a world leader without being horribly violent warmongering psychopaths going around the world secretly arranging the overthrow of democratically elected goverments and whipping up wars killing millions of innocents to die or have their lives decimated.
Which brings us to the miracle of China, its rise to superpower in peace, a first for the history of mankind, I believe. The good news in all of this dark talk which is, if you are really paying close attention with me, The End Game Has Already Arrived In Peace For The World. It really has.
In my mind and many others as well, the recent Huawei announcement served as a critical marker. Huawei overcoming a brutal campaign and sanctions by the United States to destroy the company by confirming domestic 7nm chip tech makes it crystal clear to the world that the US has no power to “stop” China’s steady continuing rise across the world, across multiple industries. Remember, the reason the U.S. wanted to stop Huawei in the first place had nothing to do with national security, that was the excuse. Huawei was the world’s 5G development leader, and as Jeffrey Sach’s recently did a very nice job of explaining, was about to start rolling it out across the world, leaving the U.S. in the dust in that market. The U.S. stepped in and stopped it. Plain and simple.
Fortunately for the western world’s sense of “leading” the world, China really has no interest to lead the world like the United States has been this past century. And with China’s native language being Mandarin, that would be sort of impossible anyway. Yet the continued rise in trade with China across the world along with its dominance of various industries and sectors does together serve as a threat, this circumstance, this unexpected rise of China, is a legitimate economic threat to the U.S. position, as well as Europe. So here we are.
If you don’t already know it, China is already dominating industries and sectors pretty much the entire world, it can’t be denied – now the world’s #1 automotive exporter, EVs, minerals/rare earths/lithium, shipping ports around the world, patents, manufacturing, building out the entire African continent infrastructure, 5G, medical, solar, pharmaceutical, need I continue because the list of China’s sheer dominance is still a lot longer.
Yet again, they have managed to achieve this in peace. Tell me, which country has China dropped a bomb on? NONE. Invaded? NONE. Started war with? NONE. Two weeks ago, they shot some water at a Philippine ship. It was water. From a distance. AFTER several warnings. Oops. That’s about as violent as China is willing to get. That is, unless you decide to threaten their sovereign claims such as Taiwan. This is the only confusing part to many people, how China has built up military activity all around its sovereign territory Taiwan. One way or another, Taiwan is part of China and/or as you wish, China is part of Taiwan. Either way, I really don’t care how you wish to argue the tidbits, they are part of China and that’s China’s point. It is an unsettled matter going to back to when Mao beat Chiang and Chiang fled to Taiwan. That’s fine, argue until you’re blue in the face. Argue until its settled. But meanwhile, Taiwan will NEVER, and I really do mean NEVER become independent from China. Just look at what happened with the British occupation of Hong Kong and you’ll understand the meaning behind what I am stating here.
But western govts and media are misreporting this as offensive aggression to invade Taiwan rather than defend Taiwan as a sovereign part of China in the event any entity’s attempts to further efforts towards sovereign independence.
Via the many existing and developing sovereign alliances including ASEAN, BRICS+, BRI, RCEP, AIIB, the world is now China’s oyster. And cooperation with well over a hundred countries across the world will only continue to expand. To answer The Economist cover’s recent question, that’s what’s next for China.
In truth, the end game the US has been trying to prevent has already arrived.
Huawei just proved it. The US successfully stopped Toshiba, Alstom, Japan. But now we see this parallel 30 years later, and they can’t stop China.
Ukraine proves it. Those parties are in an endless quagmire draining resources and adding more innocent deaths to their warmongering list every day. China, you noticed, stays out of it. The will NOT participate in war.
Trump becoming President proved it. Proved what? That America’s decline is already over the cliff. Even since the 2020 election under Biden, the societal deterioration has only continued. I 100% blame the United States government leaders. It is their responsibility to enact and enforce laws to insure a safe, stable society and they have failed, some say, intentionally so.
China magnificently building out Africa proves it. China is now exporting its own successful domestic urban development and economic model to the entire continent of Africa. The amount of infrastructure, roads, rails, hospitals, schools, etc, that have already been built is mindboggling and it is just getting started.
Tucker Carlson’s interview of Larry Sinclair, sadly, proves it. America has fallen so far from grace, I wanna cry. I am heartbroken as are so many Americans. Carlson’s interview with Sinclair is the very worst of a rotten ruined wrecked neoliberal America, how incredibly sad and pathetic good people have to be exposed to this nonsense, true or not, as morbid national entertainment. It says everything about what has happened to that country, turning into a sick, twisted rotten society intentionally so, driven by the oligarchs, the govt bodies, the political leaders, the institutions and mainstream media who have gladly created it fostered it and made it become what it has sadly become.
Well, like I said, a look back at the history books shows us the world’s first violent expanding hegemon was Europe and then the second world’s violent expanding hegemon was the United States and now the world’s hegemon is China, this time rising in peace, without violence without war without death without bloodshed with any other country
Isn’t that wonderful? This is a watershed moment for mankind, literally a first in history for centuries.
Thus, it seems clear Obama’s pivot to Asia, arming up the region militarily, is already far too late. You may as well turn them all back around and go home. This is why i’ve been arguing during the past few months that war with China over Taiwan will never happen. It’s too late. China obviously has no interest in war, no one does. China has already won and its obvious.
If war with China remains a puzzle piece in US foreign policy and it actually happens, it will be because the US started it and it will be devastating, the end of the global economy as we know it, and maybe even mankind on earth. I know the US warmongers are crazy, and they’re even profit-driven, but I just don’t think they’re that insane.
In summary, understand this moving forward:
China is simply going to continue doing exactly what it’s been doing the past three decades, expanding & growing, both domestically and across the world. There is no need for a crystal ball or expert to tell us something that is happening as we speak.
This future dominated but not led by China, goes along with the world’s hope that US foreign policy will now finally have a complete rethink and retooling of priorities and values so desperately needed for the world to live in peace and cooperation, without death without bloodshed without war, just like China.
And guess what? I believe doing so would make America great again. The world would greatly benefit from that too.
We can all be great together in peace & prosperity.