uyghurtimes.com
Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10595559 Chinese propaganda outlet Xinjiang Daily reported from the Autonomous Region Market Supervision Administration that “there are currently 2.476 million registered business entities in Xinjiang, including 266,700 in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, representing a 7.75% increase compared to the previous year. Among them, there are 548,300 enterprises, showing a 10.41% year-on-year increase, and 1.8816 million individual businesses, reflecting a 7.25% year-on-year rise. “ However, the Chinese government’s report on “Xinjiang”‘s thriving business sector did not mention the ethnicity of the registered business owners. It has been widely reported that Uyghur business leaders in the region have encountered significant challenges, with many being arrested and their properties seized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Prominent Uyghur business leaders were reportedly detained in the region starting early in 2015. In a detailed report by Uyghur Hjelp citing the detention of nearly 5000 Uyghur businessmen, a figure also reported by the Wall Street Journal. Of particular importance is the fact that while the Chinese government arrested Uyghur business leaders and seized their properties, they also sent and forced those Uyghur millionaires, among millions of other Uyghurs, to Chinese factories to work under harsh labor conditions without any freedom, effectively as slaves.
uyghurtimes.com
Chinese propaganda outlet Xinjiang Daily reported from the Autonomous Region Market Supervision Administration that “there are currently 2.476 million registered business entities in Xinjiang, including 266,700 in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, representing a 7.75% increase compared to the previous year. Among them, there are 548,300 enterprises, showing a 10.41% year-on-year increase, and 1.8816 million individual businesses, reflecting a 7.25% year-on-year rise. “ However, the Chinese government’s report on “Xinjiang”‘s thriving business sector did not mention the ethnicity of the registered business owners. It has been widely reported that Uyghur business leaders in the region have encountered significant challenges, with many being arrested and their properties seized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Prominent Uyghur business leaders were reportedly detained in the region starting early in 2015. In a detailed report by Uyghur Hjelp citing the detention of nearly 5000 Uyghur businessmen, a figure also reported by the Wall Street Journal. Of particular importance is the fact that while the Chinese government arrested Uyghur business leaders and seized their properties, they also sent and forced those Uyghur millionaires, among millions of other Uyghurs, to Chinese factories to work under harsh labor conditions without any freedom, effectively as slaves.
www.telegraph.co.uk
Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10594012 Alicia Kearns, chairman of the UK foreign affairs select committee, said that with the US and EU both passing laws to ban solar products made by Uyghur slave labour, many will end up in the UK where an estimated 98pc of solar panels are already Chinese made. The warning comes at a crucial time for the UK’s burgeoning solar industry. The Government is about to publish its long-awaited Solar Roadmap committing the UK to a massive expansion of solar farms and domestic rooftop installations, from 18 gigawatts now to about 70 gigawatts by 2035.
www.telegraph.co.uk
Alicia Kearns, chairman of the UK foreign affairs select committee, said that with the US and EU both passing laws to ban solar products made by Uyghur slave labour, many will end up in the UK where an estimated 98pc of solar panels are already Chinese made. The warning comes at a crucial time for the UK’s burgeoning solar industry. The Government is about to publish its long-awaited Solar Roadmap committing the UK to a massive expansion of solar farms and domestic rooftop installations, from 18 gigawatts now to about 70 gigawatts by 2035.
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"one party communist Vietnam, sees ties with two party capitalist shit hole US"
@reagansrottencorpse, what makes them prefer the "two party capitalist shit hole US" over China?
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Australian PM seeks closer ties with Vietnam as hedge against China
Australia is poised to join a small group of countries holding the highest level of diplomatic ties with Vietnam, as Anthony Albanese looks to build connections with key South-East Asian nations as a hedge against China.
[...] China’s foreign ministry and state-run media pushed against Australia and the Philippines deepening maritime security co-operation, after President Ferdinand Marcos jnr’s address to the Australian parliament.
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Australian PM seeks closer ties with Vietnam as hedge against China
Australia is poised to join a small group of countries holding the highest level of diplomatic ties with Vietnam, as Anthony Albanese looks to build connections with key South-East Asian nations as a hedge against China.
[...] China’s foreign ministry and state-run media pushed against Australia and the Philippines deepening maritime security co-operation, after President Ferdinand Marcos jnr’s address to the Australian parliament.
scandasia.com
Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10581641 21 countries, including Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the European Union, have expressed concern about dangerous maneuvers and the use of water cannons against Filipino ships by the China Coast Guard. They refer to the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UCLOS) and they call for upholding the rules, when managing the dispute in the South China Sea. The statements follows weeks of tension between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, with both countries accusing each other of initiating aggressions. The Embassy of Sweden in Manila wrote on social media, that damaging the Philippine vessels is “needlessly endangering lives”, and that the “disputes must be resolved peacefully in accordance with UNCLOS and the international rule of law.”
scandasia.com
Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10581641 21 countries, including Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the European Union, have expressed concern about dangerous maneuvers and the use of water cannons against Filipino ships by the China Coast Guard. They refer to the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UCLOS) and they call for upholding the rules, when managing the dispute in the South China Sea. The statements follows weeks of tension between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, with both countries accusing each other of initiating aggressions. The Embassy of Sweden in Manila wrote on social media, that damaging the Philippine vessels is “needlessly endangering lives”, and that the “disputes must be resolved peacefully in accordance with UNCLOS and the international rule of law.”
scandasia.com
21 countries, including Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the European Union, have expressed concern about dangerous maneuvers and the use of water cannons against Filipino ships by the China Coast Guard. They refer to the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UCLOS) and they call for upholding the rules, when managing the dispute in the South China Sea. The statements follows weeks of tension between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, with both countries accusing each other of initiating aggressions. The Embassy of Sweden in Manila wrote on social media, that damaging the Philippine vessels is “needlessly endangering lives”, and that the “disputes must be resolved peacefully in accordance with UNCLOS and the international rule of law.”
www.france24.com
Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10580624 Despite the trauma of war between the two nations, the United States and Vietnam have sharply expanded cooperation since the reestablishment of relations 30 years ago. Vietnam has historic tensions with China including disputes in the South China Sea, where Beijing has increasingly exerted claims against Hanoi, the Philippines and others.
www.france24.com
Despite the trauma of war between the two nations, the United States and Vietnam have sharply expanded cooperation since the reestablishment of relations 30 years ago. Vietnam has historic tensions with China including disputes in the South China Sea, where Beijing has increasingly exerted claims against Hanoi, the Philippines and others.
www.dw.com
"War is no longer a concept from the past. It is real, and it started over two years ago. The most worrying thing at the moment is that literally any scenario is possible. We haven't seen a situation like this since 1945," Tusk said in an interview with the European media grouping LENA on Friday. "I know it sounds devastating, especially for the younger generation, but we have to get used to the fact that a new era has begun: the pre-war era. I'm not exaggerating; it's becoming clearer every day." The former European Council president's comments came soon after the two-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war upended an era of peace in Europe and pushed nations into ramping up weapons production. Tusk further said that no one in Europe would feel safe if Kyiv lost the war.
Under President Xi Jinping, China has put forward a somewhat vague project known as the Global Security Initiative — a set of broad-brush principles that, as the Financial Times summed up, “advocates for resolving conflicts through dialogue". Many countries in China’s neighborhood are not likely to be convinced. Recently the government of the Philippines lodged a protest with Chinese counterparts after a dangerous escalation in the South China Sea, where China’s maritime expansionism is butting against the parallel territorial claims of its weaker neighbors. Authorities in Manila furnished video evidence of a Chinese coast guard vessel attacking a Philippines naval resupply ship with water cannon on March 23, injuring Filipino crew members and damaging their vessel. This follows a pattern of coercive Chinese measures, including water cannon attacks, deployed around the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, which Manila is defending from constant Chinese encroachment and provocations. The South China Sea is an artery that sees the passage of a third of global trade and its reefs and uninhabited archipelagoes have taken on deeper strategic significance in the shadow of China’s geopolitical rise. “The systematic and consistent manner in which the People’s Republic of China carries out these illegal and irresponsible actions puts into question and significant doubt the sincerity of its calls for peaceful dialogue,” the Philippines coast guard said in a statement after another incident in December. “We demand that China demonstrate that it is a responsible and trustworthy member of the international community.”
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Last year, researchers at AidData, the World Bank, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany found that Beijing has dramatically expanded emergency rescue lending to sovereign borrowers in financial distress—or outright default.
Essentially, however, China has been bailing out its own banks, the study found. You can download the study here.
TLDR:
China had undertaken 128 rescue loan operations across 22 debtor countries worth $240 billion [by March 2023 when the study was published]. These include many so-called “rollovers,” in which the same short-term loans are extended again and again to refinance maturing debts.
Less than 5 percent of Beijing’s overseas lending portfolio supported borrower countries in distress in 2010, but that figure soared to 60 percent by 2022. Therefore, China's new funding schemes pivoted away from infrastructure project lending to ramping up liquidity support operations. Nearly 80% of its emergency rescue lending was issued between 2016 and 2021.
China does not offer bailouts to all BRI borrowers: low-income countries are typically offered a debt restructuring that involves a grace period or final repayment date extension but no new money, while middle-income countries tend to receive new money to avoid default. The reason is that these middle-income countries represent 80% or more than $500 billion of China’s total overseas lending, thus posing major balance sheet risks, so Chinese banks have incentives to keep them afloat via bailouts.
Borrowing from Beijing in emergency situations comes at a high price. Rescue loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) carries a 2% interest rate, while the average interest rate attached to a Chinese rescue loan is 5% in comparable situations.
asiatimes.com
Several African countries depend on China as their main technology provider and sponsor of large digital infrastructural projects. Under the so-called “EPC+F” (Engineer, Procure, Construct + Fund/Finance) scheme, Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE oversee the engineering, procurement and construction while Chinese banks provide state-backed finance. Angola, Uganda and Zambia are just some of the countries which seem to have benefited from this type of deal. The Chinese government’s expectation is that mobile applications and startups in Africa will increasingly reflect Beijing’s technological and ideological principles. That includes China’s interpretation of human rights, data privacy and freedom of speech. Researchers like Arthur Gwagwa from the Ethics Institute at Utrecht University (Netherlands) believe that China’s export of critical infrastructure components will enable military and industrial espionage. These claims assert that Chinese-made equipment is designed in a way that could facilitate cyber attacks. Human Rights Watch, an international NGO that conducts research and advocacy on human rights, has raised concerns that Chinese infrastructure increases the risk of technology-enabled authoritarianism. In particular, Huawei has been accused of colluding with governments to spy on political opponents in Uganda and Zambia. Huawei has denied the allegations. In the long term African countries should produce their own infrastructure and become less dependent.
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The headline is outright garbage given the article's content.
GermanyA German bank IsSeizingfreezingJewsJewish organization'sMoneybank account over alleged pro-Palestine stance
dialogo-americas.com
State-sponsored cyberattacks are a leading cause of concern among government entities throughout the world, and Latin America is no exception to this reality. Most of the attacks come from China and Russia and seek to steal and hijack data and personal information, said Jean Reyes, of Honduran technology firm GBM. “As part of the technological deployment, Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi, and TikTok and online stores of Chinese origin are involved in collecting user data, which they share with the Chinese government,” Víctor Ruiz, founder of the SILIKN cybersecurity center in Mexico, told Diálogo on March 5. “This poses significant risks in terms of privacy and information security.”
orf.at
Gegen Egisto Ott einem ehemaligen Mitarbeiter des Bundesamts für Verfassungsschutz und Terrorismusbekämpfung (BVT), werde von der Wiener Anklagebehörde wegen Amtsmissbrauchs und geheimen Nachrichtendiensts zum Nachteil Österreichs ermittelt, teilte die Staatsanwalt mit. Auch für Otts Ex-Schwiegersohn klickten die Handschellen, er wurde in Wien festgenommen – er wird der Beitragstäterschaft verdächtigt.
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Techdirt has been publishing and extremely high number of stories on Bluesky since it was launched, and all of them are praising the tool as if it were the beginning of a new era. And this just another public relation text for Bluesky.
The article on how BlueSky is cosplaying decentralization is a year old, but very good imho. Jack I-regret-what-I-did-but-this-time-I-will-not-screw-you-up Dorsey may have (and had) a lot of things in mind, but it's not for the wellbeing of others (and it never was). And BS isn't an excemption.
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The [pro-Palestine Jewish activist] group suspects the move was triggered by its involvement in a forthcoming pro-Palestine conference that has attracted intense scorn from the German mainstream.
Even the group itself claims the account freeze (which is, btw, not the same as 'seizing money') was due to its pro-Palestine stance (and not bc the group is Jewish).
Bank accounts shouldn't be frozen bc and organisation is Jewish nor bc its pro-Palestine, but what the title suggests is obviously completely different from the article's content.
I'd also agree with what is already said in this thread. There's a lot wrong with the way how this story is framed.
apnews.com
Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10517613 As China’s population ages, so are its migrant workers. About 85 million were over 50 in 2022, the latest year for which data is available, accounting for 29% of all migrant workers and up from 15% a decade earlier. With limited or no pensions and health insurance, they need to keep working. Migrant workers can get subsidized health care in their hometowns, but they have little or no coverage elsewhere. If they need to go to hospital in Beijing, they have to pay out of pocket. Older workers are being hit by a double whammy. Jobs have dried up in construction due to a downturn in the real estate market and in factories because of automation and the slowing economy. Age discrimination is common, so jobs tend to go to younger people.
apnews.com
As China’s population ages, so are its migrant workers. About 85 million were over 50 in 2022, the latest year for which data is available, accounting for 29% of all migrant workers and up from 15% a decade earlier. With limited or no pensions and health insurance, they need to keep working. Migrant workers can get subsidized health care in their hometowns, but they have little or no coverage elsewhere. If they need to go to hospital in Beijing, they have to pay out of pocket. Older workers are being hit by a double whammy. Jobs have dried up in construction due to a downturn in the real estate market and in factories because of automation and the slowing economy. Age discrimination is common, so jobs tend to go to younger people.
www.dw.com
Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10510714 Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party has become more controlling than at any stage in the past four decades - rarely good news for free enterprise. In this episode we ask if that lust for control at all costs is the main reason why so many people - both within China and outside of it - have lost faith in a global economic powerhouse’s capacity to bounce back from its current troubles.
www.dw.com
Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party has become more controlling than at any stage in the past four decades - rarely good news for free enterprise. In this episode we ask if that lust for control at all costs is the main reason why so many people - both within China and outside of it - have lost faith in a global economic powerhouse’s capacity to bounce back from its current troubles.
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The President of Renew Europe, Valérie Hayer, has written to President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, calling for the launch of an immediate and transparent investigation, in cooperation with national authorities, to uncover the scale of the influence operation conducted by Russia within the European Parliament and allegations of potential corruption. Disciplinary action must be swiftly taken against any MEPs or candidates involved.
[...]
'European voters need to know if their MEPs or candidates in the upcoming elections are working with the support of Russia or its proxies. Democracy in Europe must be defended from external threats at all costs,' [Ms. Hayer wrote.]
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The President of Renew Europe, Valérie Hayer, has written to President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, calling for the launch of an immediate and transparent investigation, in cooperation with national authorities, to uncover the scale of the influence operation conducted by Russia within the European Parliament and allegations of potential corruption. Disciplinary action must be swiftly taken against any MEPs or candidates involved.
[...]
'European voters need to know if their MEPs or candidates in the upcoming elections are working with the support of Russia or its proxies. Democracy in Europe must be defended from external threats at all costs,' [Ms. Hayer wrote.]
apnews.com
Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10503259 The Philippine president said that his government would take action against what he called dangerous attacks by the Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships in the disputed South China Sea, saying “Filipinos do not yield.” Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not provide details of the actions his government would take in the succeeding weeks but said these would be “proportionate, deliberate and reasonable in the face of the open, unabating, and illegal, coercive, aggressive and dangerous attacks by agents of the China coast guard and Chinese maritime militia.” “We seek no conflict with any nation,” Marcos wrote on X, formerly Twitter, but said the Philippines would not be “cowed into silence.” Marcos’s warning is the latest sign of the escalating disputes between China and the Philippines in the contested waters that have caused minor collisions between the coast guard and other vessels of the rival claimant nations, sparked a war of words and strained relations.
apnews.com
The Philippine president said that his government would take action against what he called dangerous attacks by the Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships in the disputed South China Sea, saying “Filipinos do not yield.” Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not provide details of the actions his government would take in the succeeding weeks but said these would be “proportionate, deliberate and reasonable in the face of the open, unabating, and illegal, coercive, aggressive and dangerous attacks by agents of the China coast guard and Chinese maritime militia.” “We seek no conflict with any nation,” Marcos wrote on X, formerly Twitter, but said the Philippines would not be “cowed into silence.” Marcos’s warning is the latest sign of the escalating disputes between China and the Philippines in the contested waters that have caused minor collisions between the coast guard and other vessels of the rival claimant nations, sparked a war of words and strained relations.
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Von der Leyen kündigt Rücknahme des umstrittenen Pestizidgesetzes an
Die so genannte Verordnung zur nachhaltigen Nutzung (SUR) wurde erstmals im Juni 2022 mit dem ehrgeizigen Ziel vorgelegt, den Einsatz von Pestiziden bis 2030 zu halbieren. Sie sah auch ein vollständiges Verbot dieser Produkte in sensiblen Gebieten wie städtischen Grünflächen und Natura-2000-Gebieten vor und förderte den Einsatz von risikoarmen Alternativen.
[...]
Von der Leyens Entscheidung [die SUR zurückzunehmen] fällt in eine Zeit, in der der rechte Flügel gegen den europäischen Green Deal aufbegehrt und die Proteste wütender Landwirte zunehmen, die sich unter anderem über die Belastung durch die Umweltvorschriften beschweren.
Die Protestbewegung erreichte Brüssel letzte Woche während eines hochrangigen Gipfeltreffens der EU-Staats- und Regierungschefs und verursachte Szenen von Chaos und Zerstörung.
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Elderly Chinese rights lawyer who was tortured in detention is finally free
While she was incarcerated, this elderly [74-year old] woman was subjected to inhumane abuse and mental torture. This included denying her essential medicines for serious diseases such as heart issues, forcing her to take ice baths and depriving her of food and water. Officers also humiliated her by urinating on her food.
Li suffered multiple heart attacks in prison and lost her ability to walk unaided. Her family’s multiple appeals to secure her release on medical parole were all rejected.
[...]
According to Li’s lawyers, the evidence that she “picked quarrels and provoked trouble” [the reason why she has been detained] was her repeated petitioning attempts in Beijing and Shenyang on behalf of her son. And her “fraud” charge? Well, that was attributed to her applications for financial assistance for her son’s mental disability.
[Edit typo.]
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So it's about verbal abuse? Yeah ok. That's not nice.
Three quotes from the articles.
Grievances about excessively long work hours, especially in terms of lack of days off, were also common, along with complaints about mandatory overtime and harsh wage penalties for missed work.
[...]
'Workers used to call the Chinese gods’, he told us. ‘Whatever a Chinese man decides is what is supposed to be implemented, even if they beat you. They do anything to you and you do not have a right to say anything.’ During his work in the tunnel he reported being ‘assaulted by a Chinese manager; I was severely beaten’.
[...]
‘The [Ugandan] government protects those Chinese more than Ugandans, so they wouldn't want anything to happen to them’, said Michael, the labour organiser. ‘They would rather you get a problem as a whole village rather than a Chinese man getting a problem. They [the Chinese managers] get protection and immunity here so you can't do anything to them.’
You'll find more when you read the article.
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The EU's relevant rule here closes gap in the review of government support for companies doing business in the EU. While aid granted by EU states must comply with the EU’s rules, there has been no comprehensive EU mechanism preventing subsidies granted by non-EU countries from providing an unfair advantage to companies doing business in the EU’s internal market. The rule does not prohibit foreign subsidies per se, though, but it does prohibit, for example, that companies benefit from from zero-interest loans or below-cost financing.
The Net Resource Transfers from developing to developed countries are a much greater issue. The largest part of capital outflows from developing countries can be traced back to (often illegal) capital flight. For example, many corporations (from developed and developing countries alike) show false prices on their trade invoices to get money out of developing countries into tax havens. Or corporations transfer money from developing countries by shifting profits between two subsidiaries. For example, a subsidiary in country A might avoid local taxes by transfering money to a subsidiary in country B - a tax haven, where the tax rate is zero.
The beneficiaries of all this are large corporations and an often corrupted political elite.
To solve the Net Resource Transfer problem, we need to shut down the dozens of global tax havens which just a small global financial elite (of which most, though not all, are located in the West) is benefiting from.
The EU's rule to protect its internal market has a minimal effect on the NRT. This is essentially a different issue.
Sorry for the long post.
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Thank you for your opinion. Please feel free to also comment on the articles' contents.
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Genau das hab ich mir beim Lesen der Überschrift auch gedacht. Mir geht nicht der Keks-Banner auf den Keks, sondern der Keks. (Disclaimer: Das gilt natürlich nur für die digitalen Kekse, nicht für.jene im echten Leben.)
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Lindner: Die stark steigenden Sozialausgaben, die nicht mehr nur Bedürftigkeit verhindern, sondern in großer Dimension umverteilen, stehen in Konkurrenz zu allen anderen Aufgaben: Klimaschutz, Bildung, Infrastruktur, Verteidigung. Und auch notwendige Entlastungen bei Steuern und Abgaben für die arbeitende Bevölkerung stehen im Wettbewerb zu den Sozialetats.
Die Sozialausgaben in Deutschland sind seit Mitte der 2000er Jahre bis Anfang der 2020er von rund 600 Mrd. Euro auf über eine Billion Euro gestiegen, allerdings bei sinkender Arbeitslosigkeit (von knapp unter 12% auf rund 6% im genannten Zeitraum.
Hohe Sozialleistungen trotz geringer Arbeitslosigkeit sind normalerweise ein Hinweis auf viele schlecht bezahlte Jobs. Diese These ließe sich noch durch weitere Zahlen erhärten, aber dann wird das ein langer Kommentar und ich will niemanden langweilen.
Ich verstehe nur nicht, warum der Journalist in diesem und vielen anderen Punkten nicht weiter gefragt hat. Das meiste davon kann man leicht widerlegen.
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Der Typ soll bitte einfach mal selbst richtig arbeiten gehn.
Er hat ja gearbeitet. Lindner hat 2000 sogar das Internetunternehmen Moomax gegründet, an dem sich ein VC-Fonds beteiligt hat. Nach rund einem Jahr musste er die Geschäftsführung "zur Sicherstellung der Handlungsfähigkeit des Unternehmens“ aber wieder verlassen.
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From Chinese students in Germany, a technology promise to the motherland - (2014)
Illustrating the grip the Communist party and government try to maintain on overseas Chinese students, researchers and business people, an exchange of letters between President Xi Jinping and Chinese students in Germany has produced passionate promises from the students to serve the motherland - and deliver advanced technology backed to China, the state news media reported.
[...]
To at least one Western intelligence official, the exchange was a textbook exercise in ensuring a steady flow of science and technology back to China from educational institutions and companies in the West.
[Edit typo.]