European Union 'Not Informed' About New Australia-UK-US Alliance

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The EU was not told in advance about a new military partnership between the United States, Britain and Australia, a spokesman said Thursday, fueling fears Europe is being cut out by Washington.

The three countries' leaders unveiled the alliance on Wednesday in what was seen as a move to counter China's rising might.

The agreement to provide a nuclear submarine fleet to Australia raised hackles in EU member France, which saw its earlier multi-billion dollar deal with Canberra scrapped.

US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British counterpart Boris Johnson unveiled the new alliance -- dubbed AUKUS -- just as the EU prepared to detail its own Indo-Pacific strategy on Thursday.

Macron and Merkel (Merkron) "may" have been blindsided, but they are siding with China in the coming war (with the exclusion of Northern France) – French Blindsided as AUKUS Details Were Discussed at G7 Summit Leaving Macron Out - Report - 19.09.2021, Sputnik International


https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/9-EU-Mediterranean-countries-hold-summit-in-Greece-16466508.php

The Athens meetings came two days after the United States and Britain promised to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines — a pledge that abruptly sidelined Paris, leaving it out of a lucrative submarine deal.

The leaders of Europe’s Mediterranean countries pledged late Friday to expand cooperation in the fight against climate change and to back common security and defense initiatives in the European Union.

The nine Mediterranean countries expressed their “strong conviction that urgent and ambitious global action" to fight climate change is needed at national, regional and local levels, according to a joint statement issued after the talks got underway.


The UK (Ephraim), USA (Manasseh), Australia (Issachar) Alliance makes perfect sense if you understand Biblical prophecy about the True Tribes of Israel.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE and THE TWO WITNESSES

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Britain’s then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond (C) and Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua (C-R) applaud the launch of a stock link between the Shanghai and London stock exchanges, in London, on June 17, 2019.

China’s Web of Geopolitical and Economic Goals, Objectives

September 19, 2021 - by Stu Cvrk

Two well-publicized major strategic initiatives were announced with Xi Jinping’s ascension to power: the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as “One Belt, One Road”) and Made in China 2025. These initiatives subsequently spawned a mosaic of intertwined secondary efforts that together comprise a veritable, ever-expanding spiderweb aimed at entangling the rest of the world in order to achieve Chinese dominance and control in virtually all spheres of human endeavors.

This article is the first of three parts that briefly summarize many of the Spider Dragon’s secondary goals and objectives, all of which are synergistic and mutually supporting.

Move Toward a Chinese ‘New World Order’

The Chinese Communists (ChiComs) seek to persuade, influence, and bully the international community by penetrating and ultimately controlling international economic institutions like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The goal is to supplant the U.S.-dominated world order for a New World Order remade according to ChiCom rules. This goal involves suppression of any expression of Western values in mainland China in order to maintain the ideological purity of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Another part involves exploiting increasing Chinese manufacturing and production capabilities to influence, discredit, and ultimately dismantle the liberal values that underpin the world economic system. Another part involves leading the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” to control the world economy in the decades ahead.

Reshape Global Governance

The goal is replacing the U.S.-dominated international governing bodies such as the United Nations and subordinate entities like the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Engineering, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the International Court of Justice (the “World Court”) with a governance structure directly under ChiCom control.

Assert Chinese Leadership on the World Scene

The goal is to promote Xi as a world leader while undermining the United States by pushing for a bipolar world and multilateral solutions for problems. This includes PPE and vaccine diplomacy, international trade, leveraging China’s export economy and supply chain dominance, exploiting debt-trap diplomacy, demonstrating Chinese leadership and know-how, etc. All aimed at achieving the new “Chinese world order” goal described above.

Extend the Jurisdiction of the National Security Law

The ChiComs’ new national security law passed in June 2020 is the first step in establishing a legal framework to control overseas Chinese (and eventually everybody else, too). The law is being “tested” now in Hong Kong in controlling and shaping the population as desired by the CCP.

Fully Implement the ChiCom Social Credit System

The ChiComs are developing a domestic social credit system whose goal is to “harmonize Chinese society”—or rather, to monitor and control every aspect of Chinese behavior—by regulating the behavior of Chinese citizens based on a point system. They seek to extend this system to control overseas Chinese and ultimately others around the world.

Keep the Western Money Flowing Into China

The standard of living of average Chinese citizens must increase yearly in order for the CCP to maintain control of the country. That requires continued foreign direct investment in Chinese enterprises, including joint ventures with foreign investment banks.

Make Shanghai the World’s Top Financial Center

The objective here is for both prestige and control purposes, demonstrating Chinese leadership in the financial sphere and also providing for financial control of major enterprises.

Promote Global Use of the Yuan

The goal is to challenge the U.S. dollar as the key international currency underlying the world trade system and eventually supplant the dollar with the Chinese yuan as the world’s primary reserve currency.

Lead the World in Digital Currency Implementation

This objective is synergistic with the preceding goal. Convertibility of the yuan and an accompanying digital exchange and payment capability with the Chinese central bank would enable the ChiComs to extend their financial empire worldwide. The aim is to decouple Western companies and banks from global capital markets and money flow, making it easier for the yuan to prevail.

Implement Blockchain-Based Services Network (BSN)

The ChiCom goal is to implement a BSN featuring reliability, security, decentralization, and transparency to monitor and control all economic/trade transactions of users around the world. Joining the ChiComs’ BSN might be a future condition to trading with Red China, and that would mean accepting their surveillance, monitoring, and ultimately, control.

Become a High-Tech Manufacturing Powerhouse

This goal involves incorporating automated manufacturing and “internet of things” technologies in Chinese production facilities. A key element is the establishment of the Alliance of Industrial Internet for “internet and collaborative manufacturing initiatives.”

Prepare the World for ‘Fangkong’ (Prevent and Control)

The ChiComs seek to export “fangkong” overseas as a kind of psychological preparation for future authoritarian control by Beijing. The lockdown measures implemented to control the spread of COVID-19 are good examples of what the future holds if/when the ChiComs achieve their world domination goals.

Conclusion

The list of secondary interlocking Spider Dragon’s goals is very lengthy, limited only by the imaginations of ChiCom bureaucrats and the CCP Politburo. And why wouldn’t it be since the West is providing the resources for the ChiComs to explore every possible opportunity to eat our collective lunch? Whatever goals that they can concoct are being pursued synergistically in parallel in order to achieve the objectives they have publicly announced to the world in the Belt and Road Initiative and “Made in China 2025,” as well as at the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party held every five years. Inexorable, relentless, and seemingly irresistible. China’s Web of Geopolitical and Economic Goals, Objectives

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China Issues NUCLEAR ATTACK THREAT Against Australia over new submarine deal

As part of a new three-way alliance with the UK and US, Australia will be given the technology to build at least eight nuclear-powered – but not nuclear armed – submarines as the West counters China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the ‘AUKUS’ alliance ‘seriously damages regional peace and stability, intensifies the arms race, and undermines the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.’

And China’s Global Times news website – a mouthpiece for the communist government – went one step further, saying the move could result in a nuclear strike on Australia.

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Australia defends scrapping of French submarine deal, Macron and Biden to talk

https://www.oann.com/australia-says-it-was-upfront-with-france-over-submarine-deal-as-crisis-continues/

Canberra’s move enraged Paris, triggering an unprecedented diplomatic crisis that analysts say could do lasting damage to U.S. alliances with France and Europe. It has also riled China, the major rising power in the Indo-Pacific region.

“I don’t regret the decision to put Australia’s national interest first,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday.

European Union leaders are certain to discuss the issue at talks in Slovenia on Oct. 5, said an EU diplomat, saying it had raised questions over the transatlantic relationship and Europe’s own geopolitical ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.

Britain’s role in the trilateral partnership demonstrates its readiness to be “hard-headed” in defending its interests post-Brexit, newly appointed Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in an article published on Sunday.

Continued at link.

Why is Southeast Asia so concerned about Aukus and Australia’s plans for nuclear submarines?

Fear of a nuclear arms race – many of them think there is no such thing as acquiring nuclear-powered submarines without the prospect of acquiring nuclear weapons in the future.

It's not just about submarines - shared capabilities, will include cyber secriity, quantum computing and artificial intelligence - AUKUS Defence Pact Between US, Britain & Australia

China greatly fears alliances such as AUKUS – China greatly fears alliances such as AUKUS « Khabarhub

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China Issues NUCLEAR ATTACK THREAT Against Australia over new submarine deal

Is the GSLP still in love with the Chinese?

Overnight, the world became staggeringly more dangerous as China publicly warned Australia would be considered nuclear armed if it goes ahead with building nuclear powered (propelled) submarines.

Chinese state media has warned Australia will become a ‘potential target for a nuclear strike’ after it acquires nuclear-powered submarines.

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Thank You
Any politician who is this deep in the game, is clinging onto what lifeline they have left. If its the Chinese, they will be in for a sad surprise.
There is ONLY One Way to stop these people, and that is to prove their evil "System" wrong (which they are already doing by themselves by destroying the planet) and show them The Real Law which is perfectly fair and unbiased; is friendly to the environment and has been there for thousands of years.

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You're welcome.

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Another reason that the Chinese might be furious is they have spent an enormous amount of time, money and energy to control Australia.

That control has been realized in not only Australia's BRI projects but also with Australia's Communist line when it comes to controlling its population given this scamdemic – Australia is a Full Scale Pilot Test For The New World Order

As Clive Owen said Premier Gladys Berejiklian is under investigation – ICAC Inquiry Reveals Australian State Premier Gladys Berejiklian Was In Secret Relation With China-linked MP

Corruption in Australia was also featured in a previous edition of the Gibraltar Messenger – Gibraltar’s Interest in China’s Belt and Road InitiativeMight NOT BE in the Best Interest of Gibraltar

Here's another example of how Chinese Investment seems to "influence" politicians -

Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo's political donations revealed; parties 'too reliant'

Documents lodged as part of a planned shopping centre redevelopment have shed new light on the complicated political dealings of Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo.

The planning application will eventually be determined by a panel chaired by a member of the Greater Sydney Commission, which is headed by Lucy Turnbull, the wife of the Prime Minister.

Mr Huang is the chairman of Yuhu Group, which is behind a $276 million plan to demolish and redevelop the Eastwood shopping centre in Sydney's north-west suburbs.

And because Gibraltar is secretive about its MOUs with China-CCP, it's hard not be believe they aren't back of the backing to all the real-estate development projects on the Rock.

And while the Australia-UK-US alliance may seem to be a spanner in their world-dominion plans, it is definitely aligning with Biblical prophecy.

Plus, the Banksters want war - thus all this may be part of their plans, either as the completion of the Evil Great Reset or as a defense for getting caught. Infuriating the CCP might just work to get this hot war started.

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Anyone not seeing a hot war coming is blind.

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BLACK MONDAY? China Real Estate Entering FULL COLLAPSE; 28% of their national economy – Expect War – They have no choice.

Evergrande is China’s largest property developer and they are Bankrupt. Their tentacles reach into MANY other areas of China’s economy, not just banking.

This is NOT a contained event. Starting Monday China’s overall economy . . . will IMPLODE.

Nothing can stop it.

https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=243055

Expect war.

Soon.

“All I have and all that Evergrande Group has achieved were endowed by the party, the state and the whole society,” Mr. Xu said in a 2018 speech thanking the Chinese Communist Party for his success.

China is threatening to take it all away.

The debt that powered the country’s breakneck growth for decades is now jeopardizing the economy — and the government is changing the rules. Beijing has signaled that it will no longer tolerate the strategy of borrowing to fuel business expansion that turned Mr. Xu and his company into a real estate powerhouse, pushing Evergrande to the precipice.

Last week, the company, which has unpaid bills totaling more than $300 billion, missed a key payment to foreign investors. That sent the world into a panic over whether China was facing its own so-called Lehman moment, a reference to the 2008 collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank that led to the global financial crisis.

When China’s economy began to cool down, the damage caused by Evergrande’s voracious appetite for debt became impossible to ignore. There are nearly 800 unfinished Evergrande projects in more than 200 cities across China. Employees, contractors and home buyers have held protests to demand their money. Many fear they will become unwitting victims in China’s debt-reform campaign.

If Beijing tries to make an example out of Evergrande by letting it collapse, the wealth of millions of people could vanish along with Mr. Xu’s empire.

Debt-saddled corporate giants like Evergrande were given the freedom to “open their bloody mouths and devour the wealth of our country and our people until they are too big to fall,” Li Guangman, a retired newspaper editor whose recent views have been given a platform by official state media, wrote in an essay.

Without proper intervention, Mr. Li argued, “China’s economy and society will be set on the crater of the volcano where all may be ignited any time.”

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What’s next for the AUKUS agreement? Australia is becoming the stronghold of the new anti-china alliance. This includes a plan to turn a northern Australian city, Darwin into a key strategic base for US and UK jets and ships. This is a major move in anticipation of a potential military action taking place in the near future.

Plus, we’ll talk about what makes the Chinese Communist Party so confident in their aggression? This comes as a video shows a Chinese professor speaking about 300 years of humiliation for China “saved” by the CCP.

All that and more.

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Christ has been warning everyone for thousands of years. Sadly there be few who have taken notice of Him and His words of Wisdom. Read the signs.Signs of the End Times
All of this power, material greed, pride, fear, ignorance, and much more sin is coming to A HEAD, WAR. It is inevitable. The Spiritual Teaching in The Silent Flute

F.W. Engdahl -- China Debt Crisis Eclipses 2007 Credit Crunch( War is a never ending money making deal for elites.)

September 23, 2021


On July 1, Beijing announced that local government revenues from land sales to developers, some half of all local revenues, must be sent to the central Beijing Finance Ministry and no longer used locally. That insures a catastrophic collapse in the multi-trillion dollar local shadow banks and construction projects. No more Beijing bailouts. At the same time, solvency of China's fragile multi-trillion "small" banking sector is in doubt, as bank closings increase. Now, with national state-owned giants nearing bankruptcy, the verbal war between BlackRock and George Soros takes on a significant new light. China is in a serious debt collapse crisis.

China already has the world's largest extent of high-speed rail track, and those are losing money.

The Belt Road Initiative is bogged down in debts that countries are unable to repay and China banks have sharply cut loans to BRI Silk Road projects from $75 billion in 2016 to $4 billion in 2020. Its demographic crisis means the endless flow of cheap rural labor to build that infrastructure is sharply declining.

The middle class is deeply indebted from buying new cars and homes when times were good. Total household debt including mortgage and consumer loans for cars and household appliances in 2020 was a whopping 62% of GDP. The Institute of International Finance (IIF) estimated that China's total domestic debt rose to 335 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020. Beijing's Wall St Bailout?

It appears that Beijing is seeking a major de facto bailout from foreign investors into its troubled stocks and bonds led by Wall Street.

Major Wall Street banks and investors have had close involvement in China for several years. With the US stock markets at dangerous historic highs and the EU in deep trouble, they perhaps hope China can save them, despite the clear evidence that Chinese corporate accounting rules are opaque, as Evergrande shows.

Since 2019 Morgan Stanley's widely used MSCI All Country World Index has been allowed to list major Chinese companies, which, as Soros accurately noted, forces western stock funds to buy billions of dollars of China stocks. BlackRock is permitted now to invest Chinese personal savings in its funds. It is not clear if there are other parts to the deal.

This is the pot of potential gold which has Wall Street and BlackRock lining up outside Beijing. The Soros condemnation of BlackRock, the largest private investment fund in the world, clearly is strategic. Could it be that Soros intends to replay his 1998 toppling of the Russian bond market bubble after taking his profits? If so, no wonder the official China media calls Soros an "economic terrorist." Whatever the trigger, such a collapse of the China debt bubble would make the 2008 Lehman crisis pale.

https://journal-neo.org/2021/09/17/the-strange-china-feud-of-soros-and-blackrock/![image|666x500](upload://yWpI1BK7Jrwqqal7uiO8HILE89N.jpeg)

Australia's decades-long balancing act between the US and China is over. It chose Washington

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CNN Digital Expansion 2017. (https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/170824153201-ben-westcott-profile-small-11.jpeg)

Analysis by Ben Westcott, CNN

Updated 8:10 PM ET, Fri September 17, 2021

For more than 20 years, Australia tried to maintain good relations with both the United States and China.

It was good for trade and peaceful regional relations. But on Thursday, with the announcement of a new security deal with the United States and the United Kingdom, which will see Australia eventually field nuclear-powered submarines, Canberra made its position clear -- it has chosen Washington over Beijing.

By choosing sides, some experts say Australia has unnecessarily antagonized China, the country's largest trading partner, while at the same time making itself overly reliant on the US for protection should tensions escalate in the Indo-Pacific.

In recent years, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has moved to embrace the US more closely as a security partner, building a personal relationship with former President Donald Trump and attempting to do the same with his successor.

At the same time, relations between Canberra and Beijing have been slowly unraveling, a spiral which only worsened after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic amid questions over the virus's origins.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/16/australia/australia-china-us-aukus-submarine-intl-hnk/index.html

China sparks war rallying cry: 'We must be prepared for first nuclear strike!' By Dylan DonnellyHow Banksters Rule The World – Shifting from Central Planning to a Decentralised Economy

00:00, Sat, Sep 25, 2021 | UPDATED: 13:07, Sat, Sep 25, 2021 In response to Beijing’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific, The US, UK and Australia have agreed a new nuclear-submarine deal called Aukus. As new alliances form in the Pacific against Beijing, a senior Chinese diplomat has said the country should abandon its “no-first-use” policy on nuclear weapons.
Sha Zukang, former ambassador to the United Nations, told the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association Beijing should “re-examine and fine-tune” its approach to nuclear weapons.

Mr Sha said the “no-first-use” policy should be scrapped as the US “builds new military alliances and as it increases its military presence in our neighbourhood”.

While only using nuclear weapons in retaliation gives China “the moral high ground”, Mr Sha argued it is ”not suitable . . . unless China-US negotiations agree that neither side would use [nuclear weapons] first”. V

He added: “For some time in the future, the US will see China as its main competitor and even i

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1496289/china-news-nuclear-war-australia-aukus-warning-latest

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Dr Vernon Coleman – Nobody is Coming to Save Us! (20th September 2021)

by tts-admin | Sep 25, 2021

https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=243168

China Massing Troops Along India Border; India Says Responding in-kind with “large deployments”

China is sending 100,000 additional troops to the border along with tanks, artillery and armored vehicles. India, surprised by the move, says it is responding in-kind.

Chinese President Xi Jin Ping stated flatly today “Every centimeter of Chinese land will be reclaimed.”

A war between numbers 3 and 4 in the world would be catastrophic. Especially since India reminded everyone today with the following graphic:

'Military' planes are spotted landing at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan after it was claimed China is 'considering' sending soldiers to ex US airbase to strengthen ties with Taliban

There have been multiple reports of military planes arriving at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, just hours after images emerged showing that power was restored to the base for the first time since US forces evacuated the stronghold in July.

According to U.S. News & World Report, China has been considering sending military personnel and economic development officials to Bagram airbase, and has conducted a 'feasibility study' on the effect of such a plan as part of its 'Belt and Road Initiative'.

A move to occupy Bagram airbase would go towards strengthening relations with the Taliban and further embarrassing America.

Afghanistan is likely to be a key element in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative across the Middle East.

A Taliban spokesman told an Italian newspaper that Afghanistan's new rulers will rely primarily on financing from China as it seeks to head off a looming humanitarian crisis

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Evergrande - the end of Chinas property boom FT Film

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EVERGRANDE STATISTICS & FACTS FOR 2022: TOO BIG TO FAIL?

Some analysts out there are worried that it could be China’s Lehman Brothers’ moment, which means that it could have a severe impact on the world’s second-largest economy.

The latest news is that Evergrande has failed to pay bond repayments, and as a result, they have declared default overnight.

What’s interesting about this move is that they are not the only company to do this in the Chinese real estate sector. Kaisa, a much smaller real estate firm, has defaulted on $400 million worth of bonds.

Evergrande was given a month of grace period to make payments, but last week, a filing made to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said that creditors had demanded their debt be paid off roughly $260 million.

Evergrande statistics showed that it missed its Monday deadline to repay bond coupons that totaled $82 million. They didn’t respond to a request for comment on these coupon payments.

As a result, their shares decreased to a new low, closing down 20% at 1.81 Hong Kong dollars.

This means that their stocks are worth as little as they were when they were first listed in Hong Kong in 2009, which means that they have lost 80% of their value since the beginning of the year.

It appears as if the Chinese government wants to step in and intervene.

Over the last few days, The People’s Bank of China has put some cash into the financial system, hoping that this will settle some people’s nerves.

On Tuesday, it added approximately $15.5 billion to keep liquidity going.

The central bank also promised to keep the real estate market developing at a healthy rate and safeguard the interests of housing consumers and fundamental rights.

On Wednesday, it met with regulators, where authorities reassured individuals that they didn’t want to use real estate as a temporary tool for economic stimulus.

Authorities encourage the financial sector to focus on stabilizing housing prices and land, recommending that companies work with local governments to maintain the healthy development of the real estate industry.

Authorities are watching closely to see what’s going to happen.

The coming days and weeks will be significant. So far, it has failed to address the two interest payments on bonds over the last week publicly.

Evergrande Statistics & Facts for 2022: Too Big To Fail? - EarthWeb

Florida’s Senators Want Answers From SEC Chairman on China Evergrande Group

Marco-Rubio-and-Rick-Scott-1000x800.jpg

Florida’s two U.S. senators–Republicans Marco Rubio and Rick Scott–joined U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and colleagues sent a letter to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler stressing the risks that the China **China Evergrande Group’**s default and Chinese businesses’ financial and accounting practices pose to U.S. investors.

The letter also calls for enhanced risk disclosures and due diligence from registered investment funds when considering investments in China.

Other signers include U.S. Sens Mike Braun, R-Ind., and Ted Cruz, R-Tex.

The letter is below.

Dear Chairman Gensler,

We write to express concern regarding the investment and accounting methods used by China Evergrande Group, an investment holding company, and the risks such practices may pose to U.S. investors. In the interest of U.S. capital markets, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (P.L. 116-222) was a much-needed step to safeguard against Chinese-based entities engaging in non-transparent business practices. But as the Evergrande default further demonstrates, the risks to U.S. investors from certain Chinese business practices extend beyond traditional auditing disclosures.

As you know, Evergrande is a large real estate developer with more than $300 billion in liabilities, including nearly $20 billion in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. For years, U.S. investors have invested in the company, through both debt and equity markets. In December, U.S. ratings agencies assessed Evergrande to be in default after it failed to make coupon payments on its U.S. dollar-denominated bonds, even after an extended grace period. This followed months of uncertainty due to the company’s lack of disclosures regarding its bond payments and questions regarding possible intervention by the central government of China.

Evergrande appears to have engaged in dubious financial and accounting practices including 1) listing unbuilt and unsold properties as assets, 2) overcapitalizing interest payments, 3) collateralizing new loans with previously financed deals, and 4) using complex overseas structures, many tied personally to the CEO and his family, to obscure the extent of the company’s liabilities. Unsurprisingly, Evergrande is not alone and is one of several China-based companies engaged in deceitful practices, as exemplified by Luckin Coffee, TAL Education Group, and HNA Group, to name a few recent examples.

In the case of Evergrande, risks to American investors stem not only from its legal structure, but also from its underlying business practices and China’s arbitrary actions. Of growing concern too is the overall quality of auditing since China began aggressively assuming control of Hong Kong. In June 2021, Hong Kong’s own Financial Reporting Council noted that nearly three quarters of audits reviewed were below standards, and more than 80 percent of inspected audits showed “inadequate skepticism” of underlying assumptions. We are concerned that even international auditing firms now face growing political pressure in Hong Kong and China that could potentially further undermine the transparency of Chinese business practices.

While China Evergrande Group was not directly listed in the U.S., its shares were traded via American Depositary Receipts using a variable interest entity (VIE) structure, enabling the company to take advantage of U.S. investors and capital. We applaud the Security and Exchange Commission’s Investor Bulletin from September 20, 2021 highlighting risks associated with investing in VIEs, but we are concerned the Commission is not doing enough to protect U.S. investors from fraudulent or politically motivated actions of Chinese companies.

Florida’s Senators Want Answers From SEC Chairman on China Evergrande Group - Florida Daily

Washington is reportedly seeking to provide Canberra with advanced undersea capabilities by the mid-2030s to counter China

US wants to build first nuclear subs for Australia – WSJ

FILE PHOTO. The USS Indiana, a nuclear powered United States Navy Virginia-class fast attack submarine. © Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Amid heightened tensions with China, the administration of US President Joe Biden is looking to expedite the production of nuclear-powered submarines for Australia by building “the first few” vessels on US soil, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

According to unnamed Western officials, the potential agreement on the matter seeks to provide Canberra with a number of nuclear subs by the mid-2030s, while also laying the groundwork for long-term production of the vessels in Australia itself.

The move is reportedly being mulled by senior officials from the US, Australia, and UK. All three nations are members of AUKUS, a security pact that was announced in September 2021. Besides promoting “a free and open Indo-Pacific,” it also envisages providing Australia with conventionally-armed and nuclear-powered submarines, thus significantly boosting its naval capabilities.

[China warns of nuclear proliferation threat

According to the WSJ, Western officials want to enable Australia to deploy a nuclear-powered fleet more quickly. The agreement to expedite the process, however, is still pending formal approval, with the final decision expected in March, the report says.

Meanwhile, the proposal is said to have its own issues. The US would reportedly need to spend billions of dollars to expand submarine production capabilities on American soil, although Australia is supposedly expected to contribute to these efforts.

While AUKUS members claim that the pact is merely aimed at protecting the international system that respects human rights and the rule of law, China has slammed the alliance, arguing that its projects pose grave risks to nuclear security.

This view has to some extent been echoed by Russia. In August, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu warned that AUKUS could “detonate” the entire Asia-Pacific region, since the pact has the makings of becoming “a military-political alliance.” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, however, dismissed the notion, saying that Washington is not seeking to set up “an Asian NATO.”