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March 31, 2016

HKNP formation exceeds free speech says Zhang - RTHK

rthk.hk - Express NewsToday, 21:17
  • File photo of Zhang Xiaoming, the director of Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Photo: RTHK

    File photo of Zhang Xiaoming, the director of Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Photo: RTHK

The director of Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong says the formation of a political party advocating Hong Kong's independence has exceeded free speech. 

Zhang Xiaoming said the matter had touched on the bottom line of the One Country, Two Systems principle, and cannot be tolerated. 

Earlier this week, the Hong Kong National Party announced its formation. The party wants Hong Kong to be an independent republic.

Zhang was speaking in an interview with Phoenix Television.

Meanwhile the former Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, has said he hopes more people will speak up in opposition to Hong Kong's independence. 

He described the idea as "very naive" and not something properly thought through. 

Tung, who's now the vice chairman of China's top advisory body, said independence has absolutely no benefits for Hong Kong.

The discussion of Hong Kong independence, however, is legal, according to a leading legal academic.

Speaking on RTHK’s Newswrap programme, Simon Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said simply discussing Hong Kong independence is not against the Basic Law. 

“We have to be clear. The Basic Law itself does not prohibit this kind of speech,” he said. “In fact because of its protection of freedom of expression one would think it sanctions just speech in that regard.”

Young said the discussion would have to be accompanied by violence for it to be considered an offence.

“I think where things become of more concern is when the speech is accompanied by actions that may be violent or unlawful.”

Beijing has praised SAR officials for refusing to register the Hong Kong National Party as a company. 

Hong Kong has no law governing the establishment of political parties. They are usually formed by setting up a company.

http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1251886-20160331.htm

How much should we pay our ‘White House’ spokesman? -by Ben Kwok

EJ InsightToday, 18:38

Andrew Fung (R), the top media official of CY Leung (L), has seen a huge bump in his salary since he took office in December 2013. Photos: HKEJ

Andrew Fung (R), the top media official of CY Leung (L), has seen a huge bump in his salary since he took office in December 2013. Photos: HKEJ

It will come as a surprise to many if they learn how much our government is paying an official who has the admittedly unenviable task of projecting our chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, in good light.

According to a Legco filing Wednesday, Andrew Fung Wai-kwong, the Information Coordinator for the Office of the Chief Executive, stands to make as much as HK$3.83 million this year.

That amounts to more than HK$10,000 per day for the official who once described his job as being akin to that of the White House press secretary.

Well, Fung can now be happy as he is, in fact, making more than anyone in the White House, including President Barack Obama.

In case you don’t know, the US president gets an annual salary of US$400,000 (HK$3.12 million).

It’s sweet revenge for Fung, given that he has been mocked endlessly by the local media as he defended Leung against all sorts of allegations in the past two years.

Call it hardship reimbursement!

The salary details came to light this week after lawmakers sought the expenditure breakdown on the Chief Executive Office for the coming financial year.

From the information made available, we know that out of the HK$4.1 million additional expense, nearly one-third is due to the end-of-contract gratuity for Fung and special assistant Yau Ping-fei.

Fung’s total salary, including end-of-contract gratuity, and allowances is almost double the HK$2 million that the official received when he first took up the position of information coordinator in December 2013.

For the outgoing fiscal year (2015-16), Fung’s salary was HK$2.96 million, up from HK$2.74 million in the previous year.

Of course, we should acknowledge that he has taken up a very difficult task, given the low approval ratings of Leung since the chief executive took office almost four years ago.

Apart from the routine work of coordinating Leung’s schedule and public engagements and crafting the right messages for media consumption, Fung also offered personalized public relations services.

After quitting the Democratic Party and joining Leung’s government, Fung has defended his boss by penning media columns using his real name.

Meanwhile, there were also rumors that the official was using a pen name to write articles in which he criticized various political parties.

At the height of the Occupy Central movement in 2014, Fung earned the ridicule of netizens as he uploaded a TV drama photo that he mistook to be that of a cop beaten up by demonstrators.

His extra efforts, which sometimes helped shift negative focus onto Fung himself and away from Leung, perhaps explain why Fung is making more than Edward Yau Tang-wah, director of the Chief Executive’s Office.

Yau will make HK$3.6 million in the coming year.

Fung’s annual take-home pay will put him at par with Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah and only slightly below Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who will make HK$3.97 million.

The media official’s compensation also compares favorably with that of his boss Leung, who has total emoluments of HK$5.36 million — annual salary of HK$4.46 million plus HK$897,000 non-accountable entertainment allowance.

The “White House” spokesperson will also make more money than Liu Tianni, chairman of Wonderful Sky Financial Group, the only listed public relations firm in Hong Kong.

Liu made HK$3.68 million last year.

Now, we’ll leave it to you to determine whether Fung, indeed, deserves all that he gets.

– Contact us at english@hkej.com

BK/DY/RC

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Localist, Loud and Proud: Social media influencer Lewis Loud

by afharbourtimes

HarbourTimesToday, 20:40
Localist, Loud and Proud: Social media influencer Lewis Loud

Lewis Loud (盧斯達) , blogger-freelancer-radio host, plays into Hong Kong’s more radical circle of the political spectrum.

Lewis Loud’s Facebook account is followed by some 4,000 people. Other’s may rack up  bigger follower numbers, but numbers don’t tell the full story of the recognition Lewis receives on major social media outlets and onPassion Times in particular.

Lewis is known for his pro-localist stance, but perhaps even better known for his brilliant writing skills, earning praise from the prominent journalist and political commentator Joseph Lian (練乙錚). He is more commonly known as ‘堂主’, or the ‘hall-master’ because of the name of his blog – ‘無待堂’ (literally translated as ‘the hall of no desire’). He is also a freelancer for Local Press, and hosts a radio show every Wednesday on MyRadio. Hong Kong Indigenous’ Edward Leung (梁天琦) and Hong Kong National Party’s Chan Ho-tin (陳浩天) have been among his recent guests.

Why did you pick ‘盧斯達’ as your pseudonym and ‘無待堂’ as your blog’s name?

Lewis: I started using the name ‘無待堂’ about seven to eight years ago. The word ‘無待’ is a concept from Taoism, which describes a status in which a person has no more desire, leading to ultimate happiness [Ed note: Similar to Nirvana in Buddhism]. I also ran some blogs before that. I first wrote more on life and everyday issues as I suffered from some emotional issues back then.

As for ‘盧斯達’, there is no special meaning behind the pseudonym. I had to come up with a name when I started writing for Apple Dailyas a columnist and picked up a pseudonym which sounds close to my English name which still seems like a normal name.

What is your political stance?

Lewis: I feel like it’s harder to align myself to a particular political group. Take Civic Passion for example, I don’t understand why they would team up with Chin Wan (陳雲) to put forth a plan to get into the LegCo and restart the de facto five geographical constituencies referendum. I draw a lot from Chin Wan’s city state theory and other publications, and I know him personally, but I have tried to distance myself a bit from him.

I am the sort of person who can’t feel really comfortable throwing myself into any particular organisation. You may say I lack the confidence and find it hard to fully support certain things. But generally speaking, I am certainly on the side of the localists.

With new political developments will certainly come new organisations. But I’m not sure how attached to politics I’d really want to be. To be honest, I start feeling a bit exhausted on commenting too much on political issues and may take a step backward.

What is your vision of an ideal Hong Kong?

Lewis: In my ideal Hong Kong, people like me will not have to spent so much time on political stuff and can rightfully live as ‘Kong Pigs (港豬 – a term used by the ‘yellow-ribbons’ to describe those who do not care about politics)’.

I also hope that our tension with mainlanders can be relieved. I might have sparked more debates on this particular topics with my articles, but I think those debates are necessary at this moment to clarify how the boundaries of many issues between us and mainlanders should be set.

Whether such a Hong Kong can be achieved through independence or autonomous movement is not an issue for me as long as the means meet the end. Meanwhile, I don’t think using violence in the process is a problem as any resistance against the government will naturally be classified as violence from my point of view. What matters most, again, is the outcome. So you may say I’m a utilitarianist in that sense.

How would you explain your fame on the Internet?

Lewis: I started writing on political topics more often since the establishment of the League of Social Democrats. The party was attractive for young people back then. It was also probably the first political party in Hong Kong to promote itself on an online platform, so it’s very easy to follow its latest development.

I also felt more nonsense happening around me about the time. My conclusion was that there must be something wrong with our society, and hence I became more devoted to commenting on political issues.

I think more people heard about me in the past two years as everything became more ‘politicised.’ It’s delightful to have attracted some attention, but I can’t say I ever paid attention to how many followers I have as I just write what I want to.

With your reputation with your pen, what exactly do you like to write on?

Lewis: Apart from political issues, I also write on relationships and travelling. But it seems that people remember me more of my articles that hit out on others. I don’t deny that I may have a talent for criticising others, but I do so with justifications.

http://harbourtimes.com/2016/03/31/localist-loud-and-proud-social-media-influencer-lewis-loud/

China unlikely to declare South China Sea air defense zone: official

Latest | FOCUS TAIWAN - CNA ENGLISH NEWSToday, 20:19

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) Chances are low that China will declare an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the contested South China Sea in the near term, a Taiwanese official said Thursday, noting that Beijing is still trying to build up its military capabilities in the region.

Noting China's recent deployment of an advanced surface-to-air missile system to Woody Island (永興島), part of the Paracel Islands, National Security Bureau deputy head Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) said Beijing is still trying to build up its military capabilities there and it does not have the ability to identify aircraft passing through the region to establish an ADIZ.

It thus seems unlikely that China will declare a South China Sea air defense identification zone in the near future, Chou told a hearing in the Legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.

He was responding to questions by a lawmaker about foreign media reports citing U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work as saying that the United States has told China it will not recognize an exclusion zone in the South China Sea and would view such a move as "destabilizing."

During Thursday's hearing, Defense Minister Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) also said that his ministry would express its "solemn stance" should China move to declare an ADIZ over the South China Sea region.

But he stressed that so far it is just purely "speculation."

An ADIZ is airspace over land or water in which the identification, location, and control of aircraft is performed by a country in the interest of its national security.

Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei claim all or part of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea, which are thought to be rich in oil and natural gas reserves.

(By Tang Pei-chun and Elaine Hou)
ENDITEM/ke

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SEF chairman cancels planned visit to China

Latest | FOCUS TAIWAN - CNA ENGLISH NEWSToday, 21:01

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) Lin Join-sane (林中森), chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), has canceled his planned visit to China and has informed the relevant Chinese agencies of his decision, SEF Vice Chairman and spokesman Chou Jih-shine (周繼祥) said Thursday.

Chou made the announcement after the legislative Internal Administration Committee earlier in the day adopted a resolution that called on Lin not to visit China without its permission or to use public funds to finance such trips.

Chou said the SEF had received a response from the Chinese side, confirming that they had gotten the information about the cancelation and expressing the hope that the two sides would keep in contact.

Lin had planned to visit China April 6-12 at the head of six-member delegation, on a trip that would have taken them to Xiamen in Fujian Province, Jiangsu and Anhui.

The main purpose of the trip was to visit Taiwanese businessmen operating in China, according to the SEF.

Lin was also scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming (陳德銘), president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), during the visit, the SEF said.

The SEF and ARATS are semi-official bodies representing Taipei and Beijing, respectively, in handling bilateral exchanges.

(By Chen Chia-lun and Romulo Huang)
enditem/pc

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rsscna/EngNews/~3/Zg99jaKUGFg/201603310027.aspx

War of words over calls for independence - RTHK

rthk.hk - Express NewsToday, 18:24
  • Fanny Law says Justice Department warning against calls for independence was justified. Photo: RTHK

    Fanny Law says Justice Department warning against calls for independence was justified. Photo: RTHK

Leading pro-Beijing leaders on Thursday came out to back government’s warning to prosecute those calling for Hong Kong’s independence, but some legal scholars pointed out it's rather difficult to incriminate those who advocate it. 

The Justice secretary Rimsky Yuen on Wednesday said promoting the idea of independence could be a breach of the Basic Law, and that violation of the mini-constitution would constitute a criminal offence.

Executive Councillor Fanny Law reiterated the view and said the Justice Department was right in rejecting a registration for the Hong Kong National Party.

Law, who's also a deputy to the National People's Congress, said no organisation can register in Hong Kong if they want to set up a base here and advance the idea of independence.

But another executive councilor, Bernard Chan, skirted the issue of the legality of justice department’s warning, saying he's no legal expert. But he stressed the independence advocates will only do harm to Hong Kong.

A Hong Kong member of the CPPCC standing committee, Anthony Wu, said Basic Law makes it quite clear that the territory can never be independent. He said the SAR should focus on more important issues than debating about such issues.

Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau said there's nothing wrong with people who want independence expressing their opinion, even if it's not the mainstream view. She also said she doesn't agree that Hong Kong should only focus on economic development.

Legal scholar Eric Cheung from the University of Hong Kong, meanwhile, said the community should not overreact to calls for independence because the freedom of expression should be respected in the SAR. He said it would be an overstatement to say that such views could endanger national security.

http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1251839-20160331.htm

Dangerous containers to be removed from grounded ship by April 3

Latest | FOCUS TAIWAN - CNA ENGLISH NEWSToday, 18:05

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) Eight containers carrying toxic materials will be removed by April 3 from a container ship that ran aground off Taiwan's northern coast three weeks ago, the ship's owner said Thursday.

A crane vessel left Kaohsiung the previous afternoon and was expected to arrive at the scene Friday morning to remove the containers, T.S. Lines Co. (德翔海運) said.

It said workers have been working over the past few days to pump out heavy oil and fuel from the "T.S. Taipei" and that the work is expected to be completed by April 1.

The ship ran aground March 10 in waters off Shimen in New Taipei. Battered by rough seas, the stranded vessel began breaking apart March 24, leaking substantial amounts of oil into the sea, creating a heavily polluted area within a 500-meter radius of the ship and a slick stretching as far as five kilometers.

Also Thursday, the Fisheries Agency said the results of tests on 60 fish samples collected from waters in the neighboring Tamsui, Jinshan, Wanli and Keelung areas indicate that the marine life there has not been polluted, and it urged the public not to be worried.

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Wednesday that it will finish cleaning up the pollution caused by the ship within two months.

(By Wang Chao-yu, Yang Shu-min and Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/J

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Face of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party: students and 20-somethings who shun outside donors

Convenor Chan Ho-tin says the radical group is entirely funded by its members to guarantee its ‘autonomy and sustainability’

OWEN FUNG AND TONY CHEUNG

UPDATED : Thursday, 31 March, 2016, 5:50pm

Chan Ho-tin announces the launch of the Hong Kong National Party on Monday. Photo: Nora Tam

The emergence of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party has led to intense media scrutiny of the group’s background, as few details have emerged since it announced itself on the local political scene.

At the party’s first press conference on Monday, which was held in an industrial building in Tuen Mun, only the group’s convenor Chan Ho-tin and another person to handle the press were in attendance.

While a student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University last year he led a campaign in an attempt to split the student union from the Hong Kong Federation of Students.

It would be great if we could at least punch him

CHAN HO-TIN IMAGINES A FORM OF PROTEST IF A PARTY MEMBER WAS ELECTED TO LEGCO

When asked by reporters who the party’s other members were, Chan said: “Our party members are made up of active university students, as well as some fresh graduates who have been working for a few years, and professionals. They are mostly in their 20s.”

Chan stressed the party was entirely funded by its members, a point the group has since reiterated on its Facebook page.

Speaking on myradio.hk, an online radio programme, Chan on Tuesday stated that the party did not have a single funder, as he believed such an arrangement would hamper the group’s autonomy and sustainability.


Hong Kong Indigenous leader Edward Leung has not yet advocated independence for Hong Kong. Photo: Edward Wong

A day after it held the press conference, the party posted photos of members preparing the press conference venue.

“Due to limited resources, all the decoration of the press conference venue was done by party members through day and night,” the post read.

The group has said it would use “whatever means effective” to push for independence, including fielding candidates in the Legislative Council elections in September.

When asked on the radio programme how they would protest if elected into the legislature, Chan said he would at least punch someone to “vent his anger”.

“When someone asked [the legislature] to approve the funding request concerning hundreds of millions dollar, it would be great if we could at least punch him,” said Chan. “We might not be able to block [the funding request] but at least we could vent the anger by hitting him.”

Another member of the group also said on the programme they could emulate opposition parties in Kosovo by releasing tear gas inside the chamber.

The founding of the party comes amid a growing presence of localist groups in the city.

Hong Kong Indigenous, which rose to prominence after netting over 60,000 votes in the recent by-election, so far has not been advocating for the city’s independence.

But in light of the emergence of the new party, its leader Edward Leung Tin-kei said calling for Hong Kong to split from the mainland could become its main aim in the future.

Beijing’s criticism has raised questions about whether the Hong Kong National Party could field candidates in the Legco elections. But according to the Legislative Council Ordinance, a person would not be barred from running simply because he advocates independence.

The ordinance states that any Hong Kong resident aged 21 or above who has no right of abode in any foreign country can be nominated as a candidate. But that person will be disqualified if he is bankrupt, mentally ill, has not served his time in jail, or if he was imprisoned for more than three months within five years before the poll.

Additional reporting by Jeffie Lam

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1932336/face-pro-independence-hong-kong-national-party-students-and

Hong Kong's credit outlook cut to negative from stable: S&P

24703666 - 10_07_2012 - ratings11.jpg

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong's credit outlook was cut to negative from stable by global ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Thursday, citing economic imbalances in China.

The city's 'AAA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term issuer credit ratings were left unchanged however.

"Our outlook revision on Hong Kong reflects our similar action on the People's Republic of China... which reflected economic imbalances in China that are unlikely to diminish at the pace we previously expected," S&P said in a statement.

The ratings agency also warned that if ongoing political tensions over democratic reforms and a growing grassroots push by radical protesters seeking greater autonomy from China grew, it might impact Hong Kong's long-term rating.

"We might lower our rating on Hong Kong without a downgrade of China, if Hong Kong's political polarisation worsens to a point where it compromises policymaking and the business environment," S&P said.

"In such a scenario - which is not our base case - we would expect a gradual deterioration of (Hong Kong's) above-average growth, healthy fiscal reserves, and strong external position."

REUTERS

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/hong-kongs-credit-outlook-cut-to-negative-from-stable-sp

China tax rule poses challenge for cross-border e-biz startups

by Stephen Tang Man-yiu

EJ InsightToday, 18:24

Intense competition has led to price wars in China's cross-border e-commerce industry. New tax rules have added to the problems of the smaller players. Photo: Xinhua

Intense competition has led to price wars in China's cross-border e-commerce industry. New tax rules have added to the problems of the smaller players. Photo: Xinhua

Cross-border e-commerce has become increasingly popular in China in recent years. This has led to an influx of money as well as new players into the sector.

At the beginning of 2015, we saw the largest-ever financing round for a cross-border e-commerce company in the mainland: Sailing Capital’s US$100 million investment in Ymatou.com.

During the capital feast in the past few years, huge number of startups raised money from angel investors, and competition has become increasingly fierce.

With many big players as well as startups, price wars have broken out in the sector. Firms without sufficient capital support will be washed out.

Many big players, like Kaola, which is NetEase’s cross-border online retail platform, have been given tax incentives, helping them keep billions of yuan worth of inventory in bonded zones in China.

The small startups in the sector, in contrast, can only afford to keep smaller quantities of stock in their warehouses. That makes them basically less efficient than the bigger ones.

In addition, big companies are able to offer large amount of subsidies to the sales channels.

Chinese authorities recently released a new policy which would impose new tariffs on cross-border e-commerce and significantly increase the cost of many low-value items.

The new rules will also eliminate duty-free exemption for goods whose tax payable does not exceed 50 yuan. Those with thin margins will have to transfer the cost to customers and place themselves in an unfavorable position in the price war.

The new rule may reflect the government’s intention to integrate business in the sector. Under such circumstances, even those startups which have successfully completed B round financing will face big competitive pressure. If they fail to get new money, the game is over.

That said, I believe that if the startups bear in mind consumer demands and deploy unique business models, they still have a chance to beat the big players such as those backed by Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.

This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on March 31.

Translation by Myssie You

[Chinese version 中文版]

– Contact us at english@hkej.com

MY/DY/RC

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying Frustrated by His Team

by Li Zhen, Epoch Times

China – The Epoch TimesToday, 18:16
Two secretaries of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah and Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim, have been caught up in a controversy. (Composed photo by Epoch Times)

In Hong Kong, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s team is in the soup, as two of his secretaries have recently drawn criticism.

Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim has been accused of being standoffish towards student suicides, refusing to receive a petition from students, and expressing great disapproval of the opinions given. He has been asked to step down.

Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah has been criticized for the way he responded when the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) was accused of demanding that the word “national” be deleted from the credits in a local theatrical troupe’s performance booklet.

The theatrical troupe, called the Nonsensemakers, was invited by the LCSD to put on a play titled “Three Novels: The Third Lie” between March 18 and 20. However, the LCSD demanded that the word “national” be removed from the words “Taipei National University of the Arts.”

The university was where the troupe’s director and executive producer Luo Shu-yan graduated. The matter has been viewed as political censorship.

Taipei National University of the Arts president Yang Chi-wen told On.cc, a Hong Kong Web-based media outlet, that the LCSD’s demand was “incredibly stupid and totally without taste, respect, and wisdom.” The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office said they will take the matter up with the Hong Kong government.

The way Leung and Lau responded to the controversy sparked further outcry.

On March 22, 2016, Leung was asked about the incident when he attended the council meeting. He said the media would hear from Lau, and he made no further comments.

At noon, Lau was hounded by reporters, who asked him to clarify the matter.

He said, “The cooperation is good and fruitful, and we welcome these cultural exchanges and will continue our efforts.”

“We will look into the communication and practice with an aim to benefit our future good cooperation,” Lau added. He repeated his words in English and left in about two minutes without taking any questions.

Convenor of the Executive Council Lam Woon-kwong feels the officials concerned owe the public an explanation.

Leung, who is experiencing dwindling public trust, has had his reputation further dented by the strong criticism his assistants receive.

‘Pandering to CCP’

A few pro-democratic parties staged a protest at the LCSD office and the headquarters of the government.

Civic Party legislator Kenneth Chan Ka-lok said Lau was irresponsible for taking no questions after a two-minute speech. He said Lau owed the troupe an apology.

He added that since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took over Hong Kong, many departments in Hong Kong have practiced political censorship, and he finds that unacceptable.

League of Social Democrats (LSD) chairman Avery Ng Man-yuen says political censorship is not new, and he criticized the LCSD for being politically biased and pandering to the CCP. He feels the incident has impeded cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and Taiwan and that the authorities have imported the practice of having blacklisted words.

He urges the authorities to apologize to the troupe. Members of the LSD also displayed their fury by sticking the word “party” printed in red, as well as the CCP’s emblem, on the stone lions and walls at the LCSD door.

Democratic Party chairperson Emily Lau Wai-hing has written to Lau to express her rage. She believes the LCSD’s demand was most inappropriate, and it has hurt the feelings of the people of Taiwan and put Hong Kong to shame.

Legislative Council (LegCo) member James To Kun-sun says the incident has undermined the Hong Kong-Taiwan relationship, and it might be an indication that there is a change in the Beijing government’s policy towards Taiwan. He feels the Hong Kong government should clarify the matter and apologize if they have made mistakes.

LegCo member Leung Yiu-chung has noticed that since Leung Chun-ying took office, the LCSD has been politically biased, including barring the persecuted spiritual practice Falun Gong from renting venues. He said it is too ridiculous if the word “national” has to be banned too.

Convenor urges respect

Convenor Lam Woon-kwong also questioned the demand made by the LCSD. He feels the LCSD should explain why they wanted the word “national” removed. He also feels the authorities should respect the performing troupe.

“The LCSD should come forward to clarify the matter. Maybe there are sensitive words under ‘one country,’ but I think it is feasible to follow the ‘one country, two systems’ policy. Hong Kong is a free city. We should respect the people who come to Hong Kong to perform or undertake other activities,” Lam said.

Lam was Secretary for Home Affairs during the time of the first Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, between 2000 and 2002.

Translated by Su Lin. Edited by Sally Appert.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2009327-hong-kong-chief-executive-leung-chun-ying-frustrated-by-his-team/

Communist Party Theoretician Knows Who His Godfather Is

by Larry Ong, Epoch Times

China – The Epoch TimesYesterday, 03:02
Communist Party theoretician Shi Zhihong waves off a reporter from Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao Daily in Beijing, China on March 14, 2016. (Screen shot/Ming Pao)

A prominent Chinese Communist Party researcher recently spurned a surprise chance to openly declare fealty to the Party chief—a brief moment of intransigence that goes some way to revealing the current state of power politics in China.

When asked by a reporter from Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao Daily on the sidelines of an annual political conclave about what he thought of Chinese leader Xi Jinping as China’s new “core” leader, Shi Zhihong, a deputy director to a top advisory body, and former deputy head of a Communist Party think tank, rebuffed him with: “I’ve already answered that question. Go read that article by me; my opinions are all there.”

As the reporter readied a camera, Shi said “No pictures,” and held out his hand to block a clear shot. The result was a meme-worthy image of a pouting Shi, with what appears to be a food stain on his blazer, in a pose that would impress most Chinese traffic police.

The unwillingness of Shi, sometimes called “Zhongnanhai’s brain trust” in news reports, to openly back the Party chief, highlights a dictum of Chinese politics: when a Party leader demands loyalty and uniformity, it means he doesn’t yet have it. Shi Zhihong’s career trajectory owes much to one of the key Party elders obstructing Xi Jinping’s rule, and his open defiance of the untrammeled leadership of Xi suggests that he still retains high-level backing.

One ‘Core’

Since January, dozens of provincial and senior Communist Party leaders have publicly endorsed Xi Jinping as China’s “core” leader, or “he xin.” Historically, only Party leaders who wielded near total control over the entire Party machinery—Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin—have been hailed as “core” leaders.

But Shi Zhihong has expressed his opposition to the relatively early coronation of Xi Jinping. In the article he claimed to have written—really an interview with Phoenix Television, a pro-Beijing Hong Kong news outlet, on March 3—Shi made three points: The Party is “core” in leading China towards socialism with Chinese characteristics; the Party Central Committee, particularly the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee, is the focal “core” of Party leadership; and the Politburo Standing Committee “collective leadership core” must be “universally acknowledged and satisfactory to the people.”

When Shi Zhihong expressed dissatisfaction towards Xi Jinping, he is conveying the dissatisfaction of his backers, political elders Zeng Qinghong and Jiang Zemin.
— Chen Pokong, Book author and current affairs analyst

Shi’s ideas aren’t new. He appears to be championing “collective leadership,” a system of governance where power is apportioned to a group rather than consolidated in the hands of an individual. Scholars of Chinese politics note that the concept first became part of Party rhetoric under Deng in the late 1970s as he sought to distance the Party from the atrocities committed by Mao, and his personality cult (though Deng himself came to wield power far greater than his supposed peers).

Though state theoreticians, like Hu Angang of Tsinghua University, sometimes claim that the Party has in fact been practicing collective leadership since the late 1920s, genuine collective leadership has often enough been simply a means of concealing who’s really in charge.

Godfather Politics

The Chinese Communist Party is perhaps best visualized as a Mafia type-organization. Regular Party cadres seek political patronage from a handful of powerful Party dons, who in turn aspire to the position of Party godfather. Once a Party don becomes the proverbial capo di tutt’i capi, or “boss of bosses,” as put by Alice Miller, a scholar of Chinese elite politics with the Hoover Institution, he typically controls the political affairs of the day, regardless of who the incumbent Party leader is at the time.

For instance, top Party cadres Liu Shaoqi, Lin Biao, and Hua Guofeng were all at some point installed as official leader of China, but Mao Zedong pulled the strings until his death in 1976. Similarly, Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang took turns as head of state in the 1980s until Deng Xiaoping, the actual paramount leader, replaced them as he saw fit.

The wooden Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping’s direct predecessor, was hamstrung throughout his tenure, having been surrounded by appointees of Jiang Zemin and straitjacketed with a “collective leadership” in which most of the collective was loyal to someone else.

The collective leadership of Jiang Zemin’s political clients has forced Xi to push through his policies through other channels.

In the process of consolidating his position and truly coming into his own, Xi Jinping has been embroiled in what some political commentators are calling a “life and death struggle” with this old guard, most prominently the former godfather, Jiang Zemin, since coming to office in late 2012. Although Xi has secured a strong foothold—many of Jiang’s clients and top lieutenants have been purged in Xi’s anti-corruption campaign, and a comprehensive military reform and public tour of state propaganda organs are obvious efforts at power consolidation and signaling—Jiang still appears to wield some clout, judging by the recent comments of Shi Zhihong the Party ideologue.  

Shi rose to prominence in the early 1990s after he wrote several articles for a Shanghai state newspaper backing Deng Xiaoping’s economic reform plan in the early 1990s. He later served as the secretary to Zeng Qinghong, the former vice president of China and Politburo Standing Committee member, and most prominently Jiang Zemin’s long-time consigliere.

Being the secretary, or mishu, of an elite Party cadre is a mark of prestige in the Chinese regime. Handling administrative decisions and cultivating important personal relationships with other Party elite aside, mishu are often earmarked for promotion to the upper echelons of Party leadership—Xi Jinping was a mishu to Geng Biao, a former defense minister, and Zeng Qinghong was once mishu to Jiang Zemin.

Family Warfare

Over the past dozen years, Jiang Zemin continued to exert significant influence from behind the scenes through the efforts of the wily Zeng Qinghong.

Zeng saw that Jiang’s political clients were placed in key positions in the regime, and that they were succeeded by other clients during leadership cycles: Luo Gan, then Zhou Yongkang, controlled the bloated, all-powerful security and legal apparatus; generals Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong ran the military; Liu Yunshan headed the propaganda department and later got promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee; and until he was betrayed by his associate Wang Lijun, former Chongqing boss Bo Xilai was primed for the Standing Committee. Bo appeared to be in the process of inheriting Jiang’s mantle when the tumultuous events of 2012 played out, derailing everything. Bo was purged in 2012 after his deputy, Wang, attempted to defect at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu.

Thus, when Shi Zhihong talks about the desirability of a “collective leadership core” that is “universally acknowledged and satisfactory to the people,” he is really referring to Shi’s “peers in the Party, including political elders,” writes Chen Pokong, the author of “Machiavelli in Beijing” and a commentator on current affairs, in his regular column on the Chinese edition of Radio Free Asia.

“When Shi Zhihong expressed dissatisfaction towards Xi Jinping, he is conveying the dissatisfaction of his backers, political elders Zeng Qinghong and Jiang Zemin,” Chen writes.

Although Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has weakened Jiang’s network in recent years, the highest decision-making body in the country is still heavy with his men. “Jiang Zemin played a major role in the shaping of the Standing Committee chosen in 2012,” writes Cheng Li, a director of the John L. Thornton China Center and a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings Institute, in an introductory book on Chinese politics.

Four of seven members in the Politburo Standing Committee are understood to be clients of Jiang, and they are said to have persistently outvoted Xi on major personnel appointments—such as which military officer should be made vice chair of the Central Military Commission, for example.

The collective leadership of Jiang’s clients has forced Xi to push through his policies through other channels—instituting a comprehensive military reform, forming ad hoc “leading small groups” in important areas like Internet control, and personally performing spot checks on the propaganda apparatus.

Xi has also appears to have encountered extensive resistance in his efforts to circumvent the obstructionism inherent in the collective leadership model: recently, severalcurious censorship decisions and propaganda inconsistencies have tarred Xi’s reputation in recent weeks—the handiwork of Liu Yunshan, according to some analysts.

And Shi Zhihong has refused to bend his knee to Xi, instead throwing his support behind a collective leadership structure.

Shi had last year shown his allegiances in a more public, though bumbling, fashion: Speaking with reporters at the annual political conclave, Shi definitively dismissed the rumors that his former boss Zeng Qinghong was being targeted by the Party’s anti-corruption agency, after its website ran a cryptic article about a wildly corrupt Qing dynasty prince. The question was whether the unusual piece was in fact—as widely supposed—an allusion to Zeng Qinghong, whose Chinese name and political proclivities bear a superficial resemblance. Shi’s stout denial seemed only to confirm the suspicions.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2007259-communist-party-theoretician-knows-who-his-godfather-is/

China Launders Cash of Foreign Criminals

by Associated Press

China – The Epoch TimesYesterday, 06:28
People are reflected on a glass case displaying a poster featuring a 100 dollar Hong Kong colonial bank note in Hong Kong on March 2, 2016. China and Hong Kong are emerging as a global hub for money laundering, with criminals from around the world slipping their dirty money into the region's great tides of legitimate trade and finance, taking advantage of entrenched corruption and informal banking channels that date back over 1,000 years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

ASHDOD, Israel—Gilbert Chikli was rolling in money, stolen from some of the world’s biggest corporations. His targets: Accenture. Disney. American Express. In less than two years, he made off with at least 6.1 million euros from France alone.

But he had a problem. He couldn’t spend the money. A tangle of banking rules designed to stop con men like him stood between Chikli and his cash. He needed to find a weak link in the global financial system, a place to make his stolen money appear legitimate.

He found it in China.

Gilbert Chikli, 50, and his wife Shirly Chikli, 31, at their home in Ashdod, Israel, on March 28, 2016. Chikli, a visionary fraudster, ripped off some of the world's biggest corporations, and then laundered millions in China, which is serving as a massive money laundering machine for foreign criminals, an AP investigation has found. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Gilbert Chikli, 50, and his wife Shirly Chikli, 31, at their home in Ashdod, Israel, on March 28, 2016. Chikli, a visionary fraudster, ripped off some of the world’s biggest corporations, and then laundered millions in China, which is serving as a massive money laundering machine for foreign criminals, an AP investigation has found. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

“China has become a universal, international gateway for all manner of scams,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Because China today is a world power, because it doesn’t care about neighboring countries, and because, overall, China is flipping off other countries in a big way.”

A visionary con man, Chikli realized early on—around 2000, the year before China joined the World Trade Organization—the potential that lay in the shadows of China’s rise, its entrenched corruption and informal banking channels that date back over 1,000 years. The French-Israeli man told the AP he laundered 90 percent of his money through China and Hong Kong, slipping it into the region’s great tides of legitimate trade and finance.

Today, he is in good company.

Criminals around the world have discovered that a good way to liberate their dirty money is to send it to China, which is emerging as an international hub for money laundering, an AP investigation has found. Gangs from Israel and Spain, North African cannabis dealers and cartels from Mexico and Colombia are among those using China as a haven where they can safely hide money, clean it, and pump it back into the global financial system, according to police officials, European and U.S. court records and intelligence documents reviewed by the AP.

Chinese men sit outside the Bank of China headquarters in Beijing, China, on Feb. 25, 2016. Convicted con man Gilbert Chikli is credited with masterminding a fraud that has cost major multinational companies $1.8 billion in just over two years. Chikli said he laundered 90 percent of his money through China and Hong Kong. Police traced tens of thousands in transfers from Chikli front companies to Bank of China accounts. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese men sit outside the Bank of China headquarters in Beijing, China, on Feb. 25, 2016. Convicted con man Gilbert Chikli is credited with masterminding a fraud that has cost major multinational companies $1.8 billion in just over two years. Chikli said he laundered 90% of his money through China and Hong Kong. Police traced tens of thousands in transfers from Chikli front companies to Bank of China accounts. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China’s central bank and police refused repeated requests for comment.

In a regular briefing with reporters Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the government “places great emphasis” on fighting crimes such as money laundering and is working to expand international cooperation. “China is not, has not been, nor will be in the future a center of global money laundering,” he said.

Chikli is widely credited in France with inventing a con that has inspired a generation of copycats. Chikli’s scam, called the fake president or fake CEO scam, has cost companies around the world $1.8 billion in just over two years, according to the FBI. And the damages are rising fast.

Security cameras poke over the high wooden fence that encircles Chikli’s property, a sleek, three-story home in Ashdod, a port city on the Mediterranean. Beyond that, a swing set, pink-and-purple tricycle and orange ball jumble his lawn. And then there is Chikli himself, tan and smiling at his massive front door. He was sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison by a French court last year and remains a wanted man, but here in Israel, he lives openly and talked about his criminal exploits with pride during four hours of interviews with the AP.

“It’s the power of persuasion,” he said. “It’s not easy to turn the head of a bank president.”

Dirty money has long washed through China, but has been viewed primarily as a domestic problem. Now, mounting evidence shows that non-Chinese criminals are learning to tap entrenched, sophisticated Chinese systems to move money illegally— largely beyond the reach of Western law enforcement.

The house belonging to convicted con man Gilbert Chikli is seen in the port city of Ashdod, Israel, on Nov. 10, 2015. A French court convicted Chikli of defrauding five companies of 6.1 million euros and attempting to extract over 70 million euros from at least 33 others. He was sentenced to seven years in absentia and fined 1 million euros. Chikli remains a wanted man, but lives openly in Israel. Israel and France share no bilateral extradition treaty, but Israel has surrendered French citizens in the past. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

The house belonging to convicted con man Gilbert Chikli is seen in the port city of Ashdod, Israel, on Nov. 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

China’s underground financial systems are of rising concern to top policymakers there, who are struggling to stem massive capital flight as the economy slows. Despite strict currency controls, a record net $711 billion gushed out of China last year, not counting foreign direct investment, according to estimates by Fitch Ratings.

A lot of that money leaks out illegally. Corporations undervalue exports or overvalue imports to move capital abroad, for example. Money changers and underground banks routinely help mainland Chinese slip cash out of the country in excess of the official $50,000-a-year limit. Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-D.C. non-profit, ranks China as the world’s largest exporter of illicit money.

“Wherever I go in the world, there is a growing Chinese presence,” said John Cassara, a former financial intelligence agent at the U.S. Treasury Department. “It’s only natural that the Chinese are going to bring their financial systems with them—their above-board financial systems and their underground systems.”

“It’s completely off the radar screen,” Cassara said. “No one knows about it.”

But Chikli knew.

“Gilbert Chikli knows that China is a springboard to be able to bounce money off of,” said the con man, who often spoke of himself in the third person. “It’s not a secret. The whole world knows that China is a hub for sending and receiving money.”

People walk beneath a sign for foreign currency exchange in Hong Kong on March 2, 2016. China and Hong Kong are emerging as a global hub for money laundering, with criminals from around the world slipping their dirty money into the region's great tides of legitimate trade and finance, taking advantage of entrenched corruption and informal banking channels that date back over 1,000 years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

People walk beneath a sign for foreign currency exchange in Hong Kong on March 2, 2016. China and Hong Kong are emerging as a global hub for money laundering, with criminals from around the world slipping their dirty money into the region’s great tides of legitimate trade and finance, taking advantage of entrenched corruption and informal banking channels that date back over 1,000 years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The ‘Fake CEO Scam’

The first con, the one that made Chikli realize he had “the gift,” began in Paris on the afternoon of July 25, 2005, with a phone call.

When Madame G., who ran a branch of La Banque Postale, picked up the phone, a man with a sure, powerful voice said he was the bank’s CEO and needed her help on a top-secret terrorism investigation, French court documents show. He dropped details about past meetings that left Madame G., whose name cannot be published due to French privacy laws, convinced of his identity. The man told her a secret agent named Paul would be in touch.

Following instructions, Madame G. bought a burner phone to communicate with Paul. Over the next three days, he hammered her with 43 calls.

Some of the bank’s clients, Paul explained, were suspected of running money for terrorists. Less than three weeks earlier, four suicide bombers linked to al-Qaida blew themselves up in central London, killing 52 people and injuring 700 more. Photographs of bloody, burned commuters staggering from the London Underground were everywhere.

Paul told Madame G. he needed the names of the bank’s biggest clients. He wanted her to bring him cash. He would scan the bills to see if they were stolen, then they’d meet at a bistro on Rue de la Paix and he’d return the money. She was a key player in a major anti-terrorism operation.

He was counting on her.

People walk in a Chinese wholesale clothing district in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, on Feb. 24, 2016. France's financial crimes squad in June busted a money transfer network in Aubervilliers, where Chinese merchants are accused of laundering money for North African drug dealers. Sign in Chinese reads

People walk in a Chinese wholesale clothing district in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, on Feb. 24, 2016. France’s financial crimes squad in June busted a money transfer network in Aubervilliers, where Chinese merchants are accused of laundering money for North African drug dealers. Sign in Chinese reads “China Europe Trade and Commerce City.” (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

On July 28, Madame G. stuffed 358,000 euros ($398,000) in a bag and took a taxi to a cafe in eastern Paris. She walked into a stall in the restroom. She heard a woman say the secret password. Madame G. passed the cash-filled bag under the stall. Mission accomplished.

Then she went to the bistro on Rue de la Paix and waited on the terrace. But where was Paul?

After she went to the police, investigators eventually traced the calls to Chikli. Paul was, in Chikli’s telling, just one of his many stage names. The woman who took the cash in the bathroom was Chikli’s mistress. Chikli’s brother, Simon, drove the getaway car, according to French court documents.

Back then, it was a game to Chikli. But if he wanted to get more money than would fit in a sack, he had to take his criminal ambitions global.

Banks are supposed to know their customers—not just their identities, but also where their money comes from. To scale up his fraud, Chikli needed a way around international anti-money laundering norms.

Convicted con man Gilbert Chikli during an interview with the Associated Press at his house in the port city of Ashdod, Israel, on Nov. 10, 2015. Chikli is widely credited with inventing a con that has inspired a generation of copycats. Chikli's scam, called the fake president, fake CEO or business email compromise scam, has cost companies around the world $1.8 billion in just over two years, according to the FBI. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Convicted con man Gilbert Chikli during an interview with the Associated Press at his house in the port city of Ashdod, Israel, on Nov. 10, 2015. Chikli is widely credited with inventing a con that has inspired a generation of copycats. Chikli’s scam, called the fake president, fake CEO or business email compromise scam, has cost companies around the world $1.8 billion in just over two years, according to the FBI. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

He had a number of options for cleaning his cash. Chikli called HSBC and tricked an employee into sending money to one of his Hong Kong front companies, which bounced it to a guy in Fujian province, who told investigators that he often used his bank account to launder money for Israelis, in exchange for a 5 percent commission. Police traced tens of thousands in transfers from Chikli front companies to Bank of China accounts.

The Bank of China refused to comment.

But Chikli’s preferred method, which he described for the first time in detail to the AP, was to use import-export schemes.

Such trade-based money laundering is a growing concern for U.S. authorities. Mexican and Colombian drug cartels laundered more than $5 billion in drug proceeds in part by exporting counterfeit goods from China, according to a U.S. Justice Department indictment against three Colombians based in Guangzhou.

Chikli ordered companies to send money to bank accounts around the world—often, he said, in Eastern Europe. Then, he’d bounce the funds to Hong Kong and China and arrange for them to be withdrawn in cash. The money was used to purchase merchandise—shoes, gold, steel, textiles—in China. For a commission, the Chinese vendor then issued highly inflated receipts to Chikli’s shell companies, creating a “legal” paper trail. Typically, Chikli said, he’d actually buy some goods, while forwarding most of his cash to another account he controlled. He might purchase, say, 20 tons of steel, but bribe the vendor to give him a receipt for 100 tons.

Chikli sold the goods and then sent the money to Israel, where false invoices made the entire sum look like legitimate trading profits, he said.

“Everything is clean,” he said. “Give me the documents and everything is fine.”

People walk in a Chinese wholesale clothing district in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, on Feb. 24, 2016. France's financial crimes squad in June busted a money transfer network in Aubervilliers, where Chinese merchants are accused of laundering money for North African drug dealers. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

People walk in a Chinese wholesale clothing district in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, on Feb. 24, 2016. France’s financial crimes squad in June busted a money transfer network in Aubervilliers, where Chinese merchants are accused of laundering money for North African drug dealers. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

The Washing Machine

Chikli used to run a clothing company in Sentier, a late 18th-century Paris neighborhood built atop a medieval slum. Sentier was once a neighborhood for strivers—first Jews from Eastern Europe and North Africa, then Chinese who moved into the wholesale textile trade. Chikli forged the idea for his scam on these streets.

The tools of his trade are simple: telephones. Chikli called the company that runs Disneyland Paris, pretending to be the CEO. He called French technology conglomerate Thomson SA and persuaded an employee to transfer millions to accounts in Russia, Switzerland and England. He called Barclays, Galeries Lafayette, American Express.

Eventually, French authorities caught up with him and put him on trial for dozens of attempted frauds, many thwarted only at the last moment. In 2009, Chikli posted 30,000 euros ($33,500) bail. His passport was confiscated and he was ordered to remain in France to stand trial. Instead, he chartered a private plane, he claims, and fled to Israel.

A French court found him guilty last May of defrauding La Banque Postale, LCL bank and HSBC, along with Thomson and Accenture, out of 6.1 million euros, and attempting to extract over 70 million euros from at least 33 others. But by then, he was living by the sea in Ashdod.

It was, perhaps, his most masterful con of all.

Visitors walk near Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland Paris, in Marne la Vallee, France, on May 12, 2015. A French court convicted con man Gilbert Chikli of attempting to extract over 70 million euros from at least 33 companies, including Barclays, American Express, and the company that runs Disneyland Paris. He was sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison and fined 1 million euros. Chikli remains a wanted man, but lives openly in Israel. Israel and France share no bilateral extradition treaty, but Israel has surrendered French citizens in the past. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Visitors walk near Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland Paris, in Marne la Vallee, France, on May 12, 2015. A French court convicted con man Gilbert Chikli of attempting to extract over 70 million euros from at least 33 companies, including Barclays, American Express, and the company that runs Disneyland Paris. He was sentenced in absentia to seven years in prison and fined 1 million euros. Chikli remains a wanted man, but lives openly in Israel. Israel and France share no bilateral extradition treaty, but Israel has surrendered French citizens in the past. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Israeli authorities would not say whether France had made a formal request for Chikli’s extradition. French judicial officials have not responded to repeated requests for clarification on the status of any extradition request related to Chikli. Israel and France share no bilateral extradition treaty, but Israel has surrendered French citizens in some cases.

Israeli authorities also declined to explain why Chikli is able to live freely in Israel. A spokesman for the state attorney’s office, Noam Sharvit, would only say that Israeli law enforcement is “doing all they can to fight and contain these criminal phenomena.”

Law enforcement has not globalized as fast as crime, and the legal firewall that surrounds China has added to its appeal as a money-laundering hub.

Chinese authorities generally have done little to help Western companies defrauded in Chikli-style scams recover their money, according to European intelligence documents reviewed by the AP.

The U.S. State Department, in a report this month, reproached China for lackluster performance on money-laundering investigations.

“China has not cooperated sufficiently on financial investigations and does not provide adequate responses to requests for financial investigation information,” the State Department wrote.

Jay Bienkowski, an FBI supervisory special agent in Washington who has retired since speaking to the AP, said extradition is crucial for apprehending criminals across borders. But China and the U.S. do not have an extradition treaty.

Europol, the European Union law enforcement agency, has no cooperation agreement with China.

“For us it’s a blind spot,” said Igor Angelini, Europol’s head of financial intelligence.

Gilbert Chikli, 50, at his home in Ashdod, Israel, on March 28, 2016. Chikli, a visionary fraudster, ripped off some of the world's biggest corporations, and then laundered millions in China, which is serving as a massive money laundering machine for foreign criminals. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Gilbert Chikli, 50, at his home in Ashdod, Israel, on March 28, 2016. Chikli, a visionary fraudster, ripped off some of the world’s biggest corporations, and then laundered millions in China, which is serving as a massive money laundering machine for foreign criminals. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

‘Maybe it was good’

Chikli insists he no longer runs fake CEO scams. But a new generation of fraudsters is copying his technique. Using information gleaned from social media and hacking, they impersonate top executives and convince employees to route money to accounts they control, ostensibly to do business deals or pay suppliers.

The FBI said it received 13,500 complaints from fake CEO scam victims around the world—a rise of 270 percent last year.

“It’s a significant scam. Big dollars, and relatively recent,” said Bienkowski. “It’s scary.”

The frauds hinge on delicate detail: A faked email ending in .co instead of .com. A name off by a single letter. The pressure is always relentless. A critical deal must be executed immediately, in total secrecy. A new supplier urgently needs payment.

The FBI traced fake CEO scam transfers to more than 70 different countries. “At the very top of that list is Hong Kong and China,” Bienkowski said.

Some of the networks now running fake CEO scams are collaborating with Chinese migrants in Europe to launder their money, according to European intelligence documents reviewed by the AP.

“Non-Chinese criminal groups committing CEO frauds are sending money to China because Chinese criminal groups in Europe are giving them cash,” Angelini told the AP. “The scale of this phenomenon is quite substantial.”

Two men are silhouetted as they cross the street in Central, a business district of Hong Kong, on March 2, 2016. China and Hong Kong are emerging as a global hub for money laundering, with criminals from around the world slipping their dirty money into the region's great tides of legitimate trade and finance, taking advantage of entrenched corruption and informal banking channels that date back over 1,000 years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Two men are silhouetted as they cross the street in Central, a business district of Hong Kong, on March 2, 2016. China and Hong Kong are emerging as a global hub for money laundering, with criminals from around the world slipping their dirty money into the region’s great tides of legitimate trade and finance, taking advantage of entrenched corruption and informal banking channels that date back over 1,000 years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Police believe Chinese migrants and Israeli con men first learned to work together in Chikli’s old neighborhood, Sentier, forging a system for laundering money so elegant that today some migrants consider it “the fastest and most secure and most reliable method for Chinese merchants to transfer their funds to China,” according to European intelligence documents.

The methods they’ve devised are a variation of the ancient Chinese system of fei qian (FAY ch’ien), or “flying money.”

Chinese immigrants first give their cash to a trusted member of the local Chinese community in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium or Germany and indicate where their money should be remitted. That Chinese intermediary—the bagman—provides the Israeli contacts with the relevant bank account information. The Israelis then direct their stolen money to those accounts in China. Once the Chinese confirm the money has landed in the correct account, the bagman hands over their cash, in euros, to the Israelis.

People walk in a Chinese wholesale clothing district in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, on Feb. 24, 2016. Chinese characters on the banner read

People walk in a Chinese wholesale clothing district in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, on Feb. 24, 2016. Chinese characters on the banner read “China Commerce City.” France’s financial crimes squad in June busted a money transfer network in Aubervilliers, where Chinese merchants are accused of laundering money for North African drug dealers. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

The Israelis get euros in Europe, the Chinese get yuan in China. “It works like an offsetting operation between (the) Chinese community and crooks in Israel,” according to the intelligence documents, which note that the Israelis usually charge a 2.5 percent fee.

France’s financial crimes squad in June busted a similar money transfer network in a Chinese wholesale district in Aubervilliers, in the suburbs of Paris, where Chinese merchants are accused of laundering money for North African drug dealers.

While Chikli’s copycats may have tapped into flying money networks, Chikli said he never used them himself. He claimed that many of the people running scams today are French Jews who have fled anti-Semitism in France and use the con to rebuild their lives in Israel.

“If it can help these families who have lost everything in France,” he said, “then all the better. Maybe it was God that gave me this idea.”

Gilbert Chikli, 50, at his home in Ashdod, Israel, on March 28, 2016. Chikli, a visionary fraudster, ripped off some of the world's biggest corporations, and then laundered millions in China, which is serving as a massive money laundering machine for foreign criminals. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Gilbert Chikli, 50, at his home in Ashdod, Israel, on March 28, 2016. Chikli, a visionary fraudster, ripped off some of the world’s biggest corporations, and then laundered millions in China, which is serving as a massive money laundering machine for foreign criminals. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

‘Thank you for calling’

At 50, Chikli’s even, chiseled face is beginning to show signs of age. He insists his intention was never to harm people, but to take revenge on a financial system that lets the rich steal with impunity. He saw who wielded real power in the world: Corporations and the people that run them. And if the son of a poor Tunisian car mechanic could not be a CEO, he could at least pretend to be one.

“I understood that the bankers were never convicted,” he said. “If the bankers were never convicted, then I needed to indirectly become an official banker.”

As a scrappy 8-year-old, Chikli stole notebooks from school and resold them to his classmates. He later got into credit card fraud. “We would go shopping,” he said. “It was pretty nice because we felt like we were the owners of something, which we were not.”

He studied acting. Worked in advertising and real estate. But his true vocation was persuasion.

“The brain is the world’s most dangerous weapon,” Chikli said. “I learned not to control but to try to make someone believe that I was right. And from that moment, all the doors opened.”

Chikli calls this “the gift.” With it, extracting millions from some of the world’s best educated and most privileged can be a matter of a single phone call. “It can last two hours. It can last four hours. It can last five minutes,” he said. “It’s cinema.”

Chinese paramilitary policemen march outside the Bank of China headquarters in Beijing, China, on Feb. 25, 2016. Convicted con man Gilbert Chikli is credited with masterminding a fraud that has cost major multinational companies $1.8 billion in just over two years. Chikli said he laundered 90% of his money through China and Hong Kong. Police traced tens of thousands in transfers from Chikli front companies to Bank of China accounts. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese paramilitary policemen march outside the Bank of China headquarters in Beijing, China, on Feb. 25, 2016. Convicted con man Gilbert Chikli is credited with masterminding a fraud that has cost major multinational companies $1.8 billion in just over two years. Chikli said he laundered 90% of his money through China and Hong Kong. Police traced tens of thousands in transfers from Chikli front companies to Bank of China accounts. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chikli maintains that his real accomplices were the employees who took his calls and complied with his demands. He threatened them. He bullied them. He seduced them.

He said he made amends to about 30 people who executed his orders—some of whom lost their jobs—by sending credit cards linked to offshore bank accounts with about 50,000 euros ($55,800) each.

“Everyone took—everyone. There was not one who refused,” he claimed. He said he gave one bank manager 18 roses. “She was pulverized,” he said. “If I remember correctly, we sent her 180,000 euros. That’s how we wanted to apologize.”

Chikli would provide no evidence to support his claims.

Today, Chikli has himself amassed many trappings of a banker’s life: White baby grand piano. Glass elevator. Fendi bedboard. A glam wife 19 years his junior tattooed with “Gilbert” in curling letters next to a heart on her slim wrist.

“I have six children,” he said. “I take my kids to school. I am home at 8 p.m. every night. Sincerely, I am the most simple man in the world.”

This fugitive from French justice is the hero of a new film starring Julie Gayet, the companion of French President Francois Hollande. Producer Isaac Sharry met Chikli while he was awaiting trial in a French jail and paid him for the rights to his story.

The heist-thriller based on Chikli’s life, “Je Compte sur Vous,” is also being marketed in English.

The title: “Thank You for Calling.”

Convicted con man Gilbert Chikli during an interview with the Associated Press at his house in the port city of Ashdod, Israel, on Nov. 10, 2015. Chikli realized the potential that lay in the shadows of China's rise. He said he laundered 90% of his money through China and Hong Kong, slipping it into the region's great tides of legitimate trade and finance. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Convicted con man Gilbert Chikli during an interview with the Associated Press at his house in the port city of Ashdod, Israel, on Nov. 10, 2015. Chikli realized the potential that lay in the shadows of China’s rise. He said he laundered 90% of his money through China and Hong Kong, slipping it into the region’s great tides of legitimate trade and finance. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Such trade-based money laundering is a growing concern for U.S.http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2007631-china-launders-cash-of-foreign-criminals/